Are we meant to eat meat or vegetables, or neither!?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Humans have the choice to eat plants and animals, or just plants.

Vegetarian since birth

Biologically we are omnivores, capable of eating meat and plants. We need nutrition from both plants and animals to be healthy. When someone throws the claim at you that humans aren't "meant" to eat meat, ask them were they get their vitamin B12. It's an essential nutrient and is not available in any plant. It only comes from animal products, meat, dairy, eggs. When manufacturers process veggies to make fake meats or cereals they often add B12, but it's not a reliable source and certainly processed foods should only be a small part of a health conscious person's diet. So they need to take pills, shots or eat that fortified junk.

Who says B12 is not available in plants? Several major veg*n websites. VeganHealth, the Vegan Society, Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG). From VegHealth: "...The overwhelming consensus in the mainstream nutrition community, as well as among vegan health professionals, is that plant foods do not provide vitamin B12, and fortified foods or supplements are necessary for the optimal health of vegans, and even vegetarians in many cases..."

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vita…

Number 1 flaw in those apparent observation tests of our anatomy is they ALWAYS compare human anatomy to that of a carnivore & herbivore.
A carnivore is a totally different sub-group, it would be like say comparing a fruit to a vegetable to a cereal.
If you want to determine if humans are omnivore you compare them with various omnivorous species.

The simple fact of the matter is that our ability to actually digest meat & vegetables already is a full lengths start against arguements that we are herbivores. Eat grass, look at your stool you will see grass in it from where we cannot break down Cellulose which is in the cell walls of grass & in vast amounts. Eat meat, look at your stool you won't find meat blatantly in it....therefore you can conclude that we have digested it & therefore we are capable of eating it.

Difference between us not being able to digest cellulose is that we used to be able to, our intestines have bumps & bacteria just like other herbivore/omnivores & if i recall write we used to have a caecum (pouch essentially that rabbits also have) that has been cut out with evolution.
Our molars like many other animals grind open the cellulose wall to let us digest it, similarly with foods with high fibre, we can't digest a specific type of fibre yet we still use it in our diet to pass stool.

Those saying we are herbivores have little credit in the science community & respected biological fields & their arguements fall apart when debated.


**** the ''we dont have claws etc'' arguement is also easily disproved by the use of weaponry & fire with evolution over tens of thousands of years, that is more than enough time for a significant change in morphology. Why chase & rip apart an animal when you can kill it with weapons in groups?

Biologically, we are obligate herbivores capable of omnivorism. Meat is not necessary for good health, and in fact, many health organizations such as the American Dietetic Association RECOMMEND plant-based diets as a preventative to many diseases.
http://www.eatright.org/About/Content.as…

From our long intestinal tract, our teeth, our lack of claws and night-vision, our low stomach acidity, to the diets of our closest genetic cousins, there's no doubt about it- our body most strongly resembles that of an herbivore.

There's a serious problem with logic when someone starts off by saying "Humans are DESIGNED...."

Also, in someone who apparently thinks meat and vegetables are the only two food groups. O_O

According to science, we are Omnivores. We can and do eat meat. We do NOT lack the enzymes to digest it. I'm not sure where you read this? The only time I have ever read it is here in this section. Our digestive tracts are not as long as herbivorous and not as short as carnivores. They are in-between. Thus our classification as Omnivores. Humans have been eating meat for Hundreds of Thousands of years. The only place there is a debate about this is here in this section. The rest of the world accepts the truth that we are Omnivores.

Logic, Science, Education, Common Sense

Are we meant to... we are evolved to survive, were there no meat we would adapt to gaining what we need from eating only vegetables and dirt, if we could no longer eat vegetables we would adapt to eating meat. there is no meant to do anything. For instance, in time evolution could allow cats become able to eat no meat over a gradual process and a long time (something that they require at this time to exist whereas dogs do not). It has nothing to do with what we were meant to do save we are designed to survive as is all life. It has to be else it becomes extinct. Can we get over this alreay? if you like meat eat it, if you dont as i do not, then dont eat it. we have enzymes to digest what we need from plants or animals and that is it.

cows also lack the enzymes to digest cellulose. Thats why they have bacteria to do it for them.

Vegetarian

our bodies are designed to eat both.
How the hell do you think we survived all these generations?
Our bodies are designed to digest the fruits of the plants, not most plants themselves or the immature plants. there is a difference.
WE do not LACK the enzymes to digest meat. How would we have survived if we did not have those enzymes.
This is an old argument with many pros and cons.

Our digestive system is more like a herbivores... a carnivores system is designed to pass the bacteria in meat quickly... however, we can eat meat if it's cooked properly to kill the bacteria.

Biologically, humans are capable of extracting nutrients from both meat and plant sources.

What we are MEANT to eat (or do) goes beyond science and into philosophy, which is really beyond my expertise as a humble YA! user.

This site might help answer your questions about how our anatomy and diets are tied together.

http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp… morph

We can't digest either one really well enough for everybody to live off one or the other; it takes too much effort. We need both.
And that's what our teeth are made for too! (meat and plants)

k

Dude.... stop that. You're trying to bring logic into this. No one in here seems to have a need for it. In fact it appears to be completely unwelcome.