Are we humans omnivores ? does that mean its natural for us to eat both veg AND meat ?!
This person went on to say that lions only had sharp teeth, thus were primarily carnivores as opposed to cows, which had flat teeth and were veg eating mammals.
Since, we have both types of teeth, it only made sense according to this guy, that we were naturaly omnivore mammals.
if carnivore animals survive on meat, whats so unnatural about us eating it ? im not taking a pop shot at vegans here, or even the most diehard vegan out there - i think the real food is 'non meat' anyway, but meat is a kind of luxury, that we can freely have.
whats your take on this folks ?
Answers: somebody told me that its normal for humans to consume meat alongside vegetables, because we have both flat teeth and sharp teeth, the former being for 'chewing/grinding' our food and the later being used mainly for 'ripping into/tearing apart' food.
This person went on to say that lions only had sharp teeth, thus were primarily carnivores as opposed to cows, which had flat teeth and were veg eating mammals.
Since, we have both types of teeth, it only made sense according to this guy, that we were naturaly omnivore mammals.
if carnivore animals survive on meat, whats so unnatural about us eating it ? im not taking a pop shot at vegans here, or even the most diehard vegan out there - i think the real food is 'non meat' anyway, but meat is a kind of luxury, that we can freely have.
whats your take on this folks ?
I am vegan and I think humans are omnivores as well.
I do not want to eat meat because I do not want to support the meat industry, which is an unnatural industry.
In nature, "prey" is free roaming - the animals consume plant life and live their lives as nature intended. When they eat plants they excrete the seeds in their waste - and this allows for new plant life to grow. Predatory animals only seek out food when needed. And, not to make this sound like a Lion King quote, but, in nature all animals - even predators - in death disintegrate back into the soil, and the nutrients in their body fertilize the land so that plants can grow, so that once again there is food for herbivores and for bottom-of-the-food-chain consumers to eat... it's a cycle of life.
We as humans have perverted nature. We have made a system that is unethical, that is not biologically or ecologically sound, and above all that is NOT sustainable.
This is different than the unnatural process of piling thousands upon thousands of cows in tiny dirt pens and forcing them to eat corn, which their bodies cannot handle, and then slaughtering them by the millions. Once again this goes back to the way nature ought to be, the way ecosystems ought to function.
To top it all off, thousands of gallons of water and thousands of pounds of grain go into raising a single cow for meat - when you add it all up, it totals to about 16 pounds of grain and close to 2,500 gallons of water to make ONE pound of beef.
That food and water is such a waste when we humans could eat lower on the food chain and just eat the grain and use that water for ourselves. There are people starving, that could use that grain and that water. We are so selfish in our desires to have endless hamburger chains, to have food even when we aren't hungry, to have food available to us 24/7. Statistics show that any given day, there is over 3000 calories worth of food available per American in the US. That is disgusting.
I wrote this in another answer a few weeks back, I'll tack it on here:
'Our current relationship with the world is causing a slow but total destruction of all life... the way we mass-farm and produce animals is polluting our environment with sewage runoff and excess methane.
I refuse to sponsor the meat and dairy industries, period. Not only do they propagate an unnatural, inhumane approach to life, they endlessly manipulate the government in the USA; anyone who takes a look at the dairy and meat lobbyists influence on the writing of the USDA's Nutritional Guidelines for 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005 (they come out every 5 years) will see a clear relationship between pressure from lobbyists and then a response in which the USDA suddenly changes their nutritional advice to the public... suddenly we need to drink more dairy, eat more meat... to me veganism is not just a way to keep from eating dead animals but it's a political statement as well.'
Yes, humans have evolved to eat both meat and plants. This is basic biology. It's healthier to eat an all-plant diet than an all-meat diet, but our digestive systems are designed to handle both.
I'm with you on this, even though my oldest is a vegetarian of 3 years.
We are adapted to eat meat in SURVIVAL situations but in everyday life we should be herbivorious.
You pretty much just said it, a luxury we have...at what expense?
I don't know and don't care if we can eat meat, I am not supporting that industry. My choice. Nothing unnatural about that!
yes and yes
We are indeed omnivores. We are free to choose what we wish to eat. Even vegans are technically omnivores. They just choose not to eat animal products, but could do so (in moderation as in all things) without harm to themselves if they so chose.
George---I eat raw fish, raw shrimp and raw beef....guess that ruins your argument eh?
King---omnivores with healthy diets eat "ruffage".....plants that sweep our intestines clean.
Krister---"Living in a house is unnatural."---why? All sorts of animals build homes for themselves. We're just animals making shelter, no different than a bird and a nest, a beaver and a dam, and your personal favorite, ants and an anthill.
SST-"have you ever tried to take a bite of an apple using just your molars?"--the reason you can't bite the apple is because it won't fit back there, not because your molars couldn't do the job. If you had molars for front teeth they would bite the apple just fine.
Maggie--"We as humans have perverted nature."---I disagree. As animals, we are part of nature. Everything we do is part of nature. Only the human ego views it differently.
Yes we are biologically omnivores, but we ate much less meat historically than we have in recent times. For 99% of our history, we were hunter-gatherers, and hunter-gatherer groups generally eat about 80% plant foods.
Basically we evolved the ability to eat meat because having more options increased our ability to survive, but meat is not necessary to live, whereas plants are necessary.
http://i26.tinypic.com/314qqgg.jpg
if we were natural meat eaters we would eat it raw
Read Maggie's response. she seems to know her stuff.
My take is that I let my ethics determine what I should eat more than I let my teeth do so.
you might be right. But this doesnt mean people have to be omnivores. Unlike animals, people can think a bit more deeply about health issues and animal cruelty, thats why we have the power to choos whether to be an omnivore, herbivore or even a carnivore :\
have you ever tried to take a bite of an apple using just your molars? whoever told you that is full of it. Sounds like your friend needs to think things through...
Think that this animal eats meat. Sure looks like it from your friends reasoning. However, I can tell you that sharp teeth do not denote meat eating. Especially when it involves a deer.
http://www.skullsunlimited.com/Chinese_W...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexheimer/3...
read about it here and make sure you share the information with your friend:
http://www.ultimateungulate.com/Artiodac...
yes. humans evolved to eat both because over the years (millions of evolutionary years) food sources were not as reliable as it is today and men at what was available, meat or plants. But go beyond teeth. start with the gall bladder, an organ that produces bile. Bile is only necessary for the digestion of meat and human produce copious amounts of bile. Most true herbivores do not have them or have underdeveloped ones producing very little bile. Then your intestines: you have short but large intestines that your body uses to primarily digest meat. Then you have long but small intestines mainly used for plant food/fibers. Since plant take longer to digest because of the cell wall found only in plants, longer intestines are required.
Because food normally is not as hard to come by today as it was during man's earlier years, both diets are lifestyle choices not a biological necessity. Vegetarians simply replace needed nutrients normally derived from meats with with plant food sources. While omnivores combine both.
**1st ancient man impossible a neither carnivore nor omnivore. He had not born with axes, bow or knives. Yet the use of fire is a modern invention!
**Human’s toddler could never immediately possessed tooth, unable to run, escape neither hunt; neither ate solid food nor prey likewise other carnivorous and omnivorous do naturally since small. Toddler could never able to defend against any beasts. Physically and naturally he is still at BOTTOM OF FOOD-CHAIN than most other carnivore / omnivores do. Human just supersedes other creatures INTELLECTUALLY. The ideology of FOOD-CHAIN- is a psychological belief, but scientifically (the science explored by us, is not always perfect). Modern human is not part of “law of jungle”...human creature is still an “endangered species” by lions, tigers, etc. He will not partake in fighting for territory, rape in public, random sex and murdering others to earn living.
**Raw meat not ideal for man for all times, unless he is starving to eat “anything”, or well cooked, and with condiments.
**Psychologically humane hate to murder, blood, strangling, enslaving, scream and cry. If you personally perform a slaughter, most likely you may hate it for life!
**Meat (cooked or raw) does more harm than good. It passes through a very long digestive system 40-45hrs, and is not a good news. Veggies & fruits passes through digestive system for 20-24hrs. (You can experiment this your own. You would wonder now why meat harms…with inborn pathogens, diseases, etc. It is a myth that human is “only omnivore on the earth” that could not digest inedible bones, skin, intestines, fat, shell, etc!).
** If you argue that plant also posses live, it only possible for vegetarian/vegan to follow you! In most religious doctrine stated that 1st man commanded by the Creator to be a vegetarian (fruitorian-crudivorism).
**Other specific & scientific evidence proves our "machine" (human anatomy) MORE resemble to an herbivore (unless very few of them EVOLVED / MUTATED since homo sapiens)...
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/2062...
Politics and religions still restrict to publish such fact in the schools’ text book. As I said earlier, if you STILL argue that modern man evolved to be an omnivore (just based on his tooth alone-why don’t you argue about gorillas as well! Human tooth easily decay and drop faster than other creatures due to his “unnatural” diet), then it is possible one day that human would POSSIBLE to evolve to an herbivore AGAIN considering the benefit for future earth. And the first step begins from you, today!
Therefore you may be right if human is omnivorous psychologically. As human SURVIVAL is merely due to his intellectual capacity and adaptation, but physically NOT by omnivorous attributes!
It doesn't matter if it's natural.
Living in a house is unnatural. I choose not to sleep in the cold.
Teenage girls becoming pregnant with the children of much older males is "natural". I prefer that young women decide their own futures.
I would not like to be killed and eaten. I choose to show consideration to the less powerful species and spare as much suffering as possible. "Nature" does not dictate my actions.
A very valid point
Humans have evolved the ability to eat both Meat and Veg, its what allowed mankind to survive in some pretty tight situations.
However simply because we can does not mean we need to. and I think thats where the Vegetarian/Vegan position stems from.