Let's bring up the herbivore / omnivore discussion again...?!
Answers: I was just wondering about whether we are herbivores or omnivores. Sure, our bodies can process meat, but I have heard again and again that our bodies THRIVE on a plant-based diet. Doesn't this mean that even if we are capable of processing meat, that really we are more herbivorous? And just because our digestive tracts are similar to a pig, that doesn't mean much to me, because our digestive tracts have changed over the years. My guess is that the reason we CAN digest meat is because over time, we created our bodies to be able to do such a task. There was a time in history where meat was the most accessible food to man, right? Therefore our systems adapted to be able to process meat, because we had to eat it. This is my guess. So my question is, can anyone give me any websites or sources on this information, because I am really interested.
Humans have all of the characteristics of a herbivore. We really cannot digest meat very well at all. That is the reason it comes out all putrid smelling. Meat requires a short digestive tract, different digestive fluids, and not to mention, it should be eaten fresh and raw, not old and cooked. Humans have been cooking, tenderizing, processing, etc. meat for a long time in order to try to make it more digestible. If we were designed to eat meat, all this would be unnecessary, not to mention the use of knives for cutting would also be just as unnecessary.
This article is all over the internet and is quite interesting:
The Comparative Anatomy of Eating. by Milton R. Mills, M.D.
http://www.earthsave.ca/articles/health/...
type it in google! that's the answer to everything! lol. well, however many years ago, we were herbivores, we had no need for meat and ate very healthily but, in the ice age, we were forced to find other sources of food: meat. over time, our bodies adapted to this change and we eventually thought that this was what we were meant to do. but we still do have things that show our herbivore ways, like that organ (i've forgotten its name) that processes large amounts of vegetation
Personal observation here...my family does not THRIVE on a plant-based diet! My stepdaughter is a vegetarian, and when she comes to visit, I prepare vegetarian dishes for her. They will eat, but they don't care for dishes without meats in them, and by the time she leaves, I had best have a gigantic pot roast waiting for them!
The last time she was up, my husband complained of headaches until he got his meat.
Just my 2 cents worth.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Eat+mea...
I love being vegetarian, and I can get very defensive when somebody slanders vegetarians/vegans.
Humans *can* digest meat, but I prefer to avoid it. I feel so much ''cleaner'' as a vegetarian. I love my diet! :-)
[edit] Flower, This may surprise you, but I am veggie and I have lots of energy. Humans don't *require* meat to be healthy!
The fact that man can and does eat both plant and animal based foods should dispel any doubt in your mind about what humans are biologically. Whether you thrive or not in an omni or vegetarian diet is immaterial. Vegetarianism is a choice not a biological necessity.
Whether it makes sense to you or not is also immaterial. Science is true to itself and does not have to explain or justify itself to anyone or anything. Just because many people at one time thought the earth was flat and it being round does not make sense, did not mean it was true.
Maybe someday new research will prove otherwise but for now, the scientifically accepted data points to humans as omnivores..
The problem w/this discussion is that too many people will come in w/the bias that if you eat meat, you surely must eat it all the time and or eat it fried accompanied by few vegetables and a sedentary lifestyle. No one should live that way but you can not only survive but thrive if you eat the right amount and properly prepared meat along with good vegetables (not potatoes and corn all the time) and get a good dose of exercise.
Mockingbird: best explanation possible!
I know my grandma back in India used to feed the dog rice and lentils left over from the day. Sometimes some meat. As far as I know he was healthy and energetic.
Dogs are definitely carnivores. Their teeth and organs and hunting instincts indicate that as do their ancestors.
And if you want to go to 'natural roots' we instinctually eat meat. In general we were tribal hunters first and then settled to become farmers.
There are a lot of things we would do instinctually that we should avoid and do avoid using our developed prefrontal cortex. Just because we have the instinct to run and hide when we see out boss coming doesn't mean we give into it.
Perhaps vegans should avoid this argument as many are trying to overcome our 'animal instincts' to improve the state of affairs for the domesticated animals. Perhaps they should consider that we could have evolved beyond needing to eat meat.
Smelly gas is also a poor reason... have you ever owned a cow/ dog? Or eaten beans?
Biologically we are clearly omnivores. We have the ability to consume, digest, and derive nutrition from both plant and animal foods. You don't need a website to prove that, just look around you. The fact that the majority of humans are born, live and die as omnivores is proof enough to me that we are omnivores. Even if the ability to digest meat is an evolutionary adaptation, so what? So is bipedalism; are you going to argue that we had ancestors who were quadrupeds and therefore we're really quadrupeds?
However, we also clearly have the ability to thrive on an herbivorous diet. And being able to consume animal foods in no way obligates us to. I choose to live as an herbivore for a number of reasons, but I don't kid myself that one of the reasons is that I'm not biologically capable of omnivorism.
I think one of the biggest reasons our diets should be primarily plant-based is our teeth. Our molars are similar to those of animals that chew grasses and plants, for instance. Our incisors are an evolutionary trait designed to help us eat meat...to help us slash the protein. There is nutritive value in meat, however that nutritive value decreases if the meat is not cooked because you burn as many calories chewing/digesting as you take it! (as our ancestors did).
I posted an article I found interesting about human's changing diet and it's affect on the jaw from the National Geographic.
It's my personal belief that we are omnivores and are "designed" to eat whatever we can find. Our ancestors probably ate what was available to them. In some areas they could probably thrive by eating a vegetarian or vegan diet but in other areas they were probably left to primarily eating animals. I think the bigger question is in todays' society with overpopulation, overdevelopment and increasingly depleted resources should we be eating meat?
I think the answer is the teeth. Ours are made for tearing and for grinding - therefore allowing us to be omnivorous. I believe that biologically we were made to be able to eat whatever we could find or catch. The extra protein and fats that meat offered (and back then didn't have antibiotics and the other garbage now found in meat) allowed us to be able to develop our other skills. Children NEED cholesterol for brain development and what better supplier for cholesterol is there than meat? Ha.
However, what we choose to do with the teeth today is entirely different. Aren't we lucky that we get to choose? I think a big part of the benefits of an herbivorous diet is that a lot more people eat organic, less processed foods and watch what they put in their mouths. Their is so much junk in meat and even commercially grown veggies nowadays that is unhealthy, and there are less nutrients in them than 200 or 10,000 years ago. So the important question to me is what we are doing about it NOW. Maybe in our history we were meant to eat fresh veggies and fresh meat and now that the meat is 'poisoned', we need to evolve to keep up.
Just a thought
Humans are omnivores.
Herbivore, omnivore and carnivore are all biological classifications based on physical make up.
There is nothing you can do to change it.
A vegetarian diet is one that an omnivore CHOOSES to adopt.
Herbi- , omni- and carnivores are somewhat arbitrary definitions. There are lots of grey areas in between (example: grizzlies and foxes are mostly carnivorous omnivores, monkeys and possibly humans tend to the herbivorous side of omnivory). Tigers have been seen eating durian fruit, and deer have been observed eating bird eggs in some cirumstances.
I think humans are omnivores but with the capacity to be healthy on a herbivorous diet, just like apes (i.e. primates *tend* to be closer to the herbivorous side of things).
I don't think there are too many examples of 'perfect omnivores' - those who get 50% of their calories each from plants and animals. Some birds might fall in this category.