Why do many vegetarians think humans are not meant to eat meat?!


Question: Why do many vegetarians think humans are not meant to eat meat?
I just had a roast beef sandwich today. Generally I avoid red meat (takes longer to digest, more cholesterol/calories), but I see no harm in eating it once or twice a month. The meat I mainly eat is chicken, turkey, and fish (all grilled/roasted, never fried).

But I've had vegetarians lecture me saying that humans are meant to consume meat. I know vegans have different reasons for not eating meat. Some are doing it to keep their weight down. Some are animal rights people. Some may just not like the taste of meat. Some have the belief that humans are herbivores. Or all of the above.

I talked to a personal trainer, who's he's in excellent shape (low body fat, toned physique), and he told me that without question humans are supposed to eat meat. He eats it every day. He mainly sticks to chicken or fish, but has red meat once a month. He was explaining to me that human teeth is designed like a omnivore's, not a herbivore. We have canine-like teeth designed for shredding meat. Also he was explaining that there are like 17 different proteins (I don't remember the exact number) and meat has many of them. My biology professor also explained to me that vegetarians are missing out on certain nutrients, proteins, and amino acids.

When you look at a lot of vegetarians, many of them look sickly, weak, and scrawny. Somebody I know was telling me about a fruit-a-terian that he knows that only consumes fruit, and described him as looking ghostly & skeleton-like. Almost all professional athletes consume meat for strength.

Look, I'm an animal lover. And am for animal rights. But I feel humans are meant to eat meat. If I were swimming in shark infested waters, the sharks would eat me too. It's about survival of the fittest. And mankind has been consuming meat since caveman times. Biology intended for us to eat meat. Meat is a food meant for humans, and we know it is, because A -- our tastebuds tell us that it tastes good, and B -- it's packed with various nutrients that give us fuel and keep us alive.

Answers:

why do you think you have the right to force your beliefs on vegetarians?

Where did the personal trainer that you spoke with get his Ph.d at or any credentials that makes the educated enough for me to believe what they state about what I should or should not be eating?

Do not know any stick or weak vegetarians. Unless they have an eating disorder.

FYI- the you interchange the words vegan and vegetarian way too much that it makes it confusing. Then again you probably do not know the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan.

You made personal attacks on people so they do have the right not make a personal attack onto you. Do unto others.



Because we are not.
We can live very fit healthy lives without anything from or intended for another living creature.

Totally vegan for many years and very fit and healthy



Why are you wasting your time telling other people what they can or should eat? Does it really bother you that much?



TL;DR



you've been misinformed. people don't need meat to be healthy.



All that means nothing to me, i know that human body is not designed to eat meat. I have been vegetarian for 20 years and run marathons, train 50 miles a week and swim. I have loads more energy than my meat eating friends and hardly ever get ill.



Was there a question in there somewhere? Millions of people who eat meat are NOT healthy and millions of people who don't eat meat ARE healthy, so it's a matter of knowing what to eat if you take meat-source protein out of your diet. If you want to eat meat, by all means, go ahead--but don't feel the need to take swipes at vegetarians in the process. I eat meat in moderation a few times a week. But, there's no denying that the vast majority of meat and dairy industries in today's world are environmentally unsound, and their products--along with being pumped with chemicals, growth hormones and bleach--are high in contaminants and toxins. A lot of vegetarians today object to the way meat in our world is processed: the treatment of the animals and the deregulated corporations who slaughter and process animal flesh for consumption, etc., etc., etc. They make many good points in favor of a more plant-based diet; so do the majority of doctors. As for saying we're not supposed to eat meat: our teeth, our digestive tracts and everything else about the human body says differently. The "meat is murder" crowd can be annoying. I think they can let their emotions about cute, cuddly animals get in their way. There's not much proof in the animal world that consuming meat is wrong. It's the way humans do it (killing a whole animal for a tenderloin or a hide and then throwing the rest away) that is the problem--to our health and the environment.



Having the ability to eat meat and being meant to eat meat are two completely different things.

If I have to tell one more person to compare their teeth to a gorillas teeth (an herbivore) and then tell me that ours look most suited to eating meat, I may scream. Our canines are absolutely PATHETIC even compared to many herbivores. I'm on the omnivore/herbivore fence but I most definitely do not see my teeth as proof of anything.



And here we go again. An omnivore who doesn't think its right for vegetarians to force their beliefs on people, so he forces his beliefs on them. Listen buddy, you have obviously never seen an actual vegetarian, as I, and many other vegetarians I know, am anything but scrawny, sickly and weak. I play Rugby and Hockey and I'd love to have a go at you out on the field or the ice and show you just how much of a weakling I really am. You do know that a lot of MMA fighters choose vegan and vegetarian diets don't you? But I forgot, you're stronger then they are too so they must be sickly twigs.

Vegetarian



I know many sickly meat eaters...does this somehow invalidate omnivorous diets as unhealthy? No. Sorry, but that argument is BS. I know healthy vegetarians, unhealthy vegetarians, healthy omnis and unhealthy omnis.

Fruitarianism is an extreme way of eating and does not represent the majority of vegetarians at all.

Your biology professor is wrong, as I told you last time you trolled with this very same question. If you can tell me one nutrient that genuinely cannot be had from a vegetarian diet, I will go straight down to McDonalds and order myself a bacon double cheeseburger. You can't do it. BECAUSE THERE IS NONE. All of the essential amino acids are available in vegetarian foods (the essential ones are the ones we cannot make up in our own body), and so is every available nutrient. Perhaps your biology professor should bone up on his nutrition.

If meat keeps you alive how come I haven't keeled over dead yet? Howcome my life-long vegan friend who is 32 this year is still alive and healthy as a horse?

Perhaps doing some research of your own instead of just swallowing what people tell you might benefit your knowledge. Oh, and posting the same incorrect information twice does not make it any more correct.



It is nothing wrong with eat meat. We meat eaters including myself should learn how to limit how much meat we eat and eat more of the fruits and vegetables.

If you look into the bible. Mankind did not eat any meat before the flood. It wasn't until after the flood that man ate meat for the first time.

Yes we have those canine teeth, but we don't have as many canine teeth as most other carnivores or omnivores. Also some vegetarians believe that our digestive system is not equipped to digest meat properly. In a since they are correct. Our bodies digest fruits, veggies, nuts and grains a lot easier than it does meat, especially red meat.

Vegetarians and Vegans can get all of their nutrition without eating meat. Some vegetarians eat fish or poultry. For some odd reason they don't consider those at meats. Peanut butter is a good source of protein. Nuts are another good source. Eggs are great!. Now the vegan will not eat those nor have milk or any meat by product. They must get the amino acids that are only found in meat by a couple of ways. Most common is supplements. The other way is a grain that is called Quinoa. It is one of the most healthy food you ca eat. It contains every amino acid that you only find in meat. it has fiber, carbohydrates, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, and is easily digested. It is gluten free. There may be others that I'm unaware of but these are the ways I'm familiar.

Just because it on our taste buds don't mean we should eat it. We eat many things that are on our taste buds that we shouldn't. y taste buds tell me pizza, fried foods, pork, excess salt, sugar are good, but I shouldn't eat those things. Not that we can't have salt or sugar, but it should be in moderation. My sugar should come from my fruit, not as an added ingredient to make my food more palatable.

Vegetable also have protein in them that can be used to build and repair muscles.

Just because they don't eat meat doesn't mean they will be weak or scrawny.
http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/

They are usually healthier. Likely because they don't eat to satisfy themselves. They eat to provide nutrient to the body.



Because even an elementary holistic study of our anatomy, from our teeth to our jaw to our intestinal tract length to our saliva to our our stomach acid reveals that our bodies are far more similar to natural herbivores than natural meat-eaters.

If you're taking your lessons on human anthropology from a PERSONAL TRAINER, it's evident that meat consumption has affected your logic, and in a bad way. Our so-called "canine" teeth are found in OTHER herbivorous species, such as horses and our closest genetic primate cousins.

Sure, meat has protein. So does tons of other foods. Your biology professor should really inform the entire field of HUMAN NUTRITION that vegetarians are "missing out on" certain nutrients, because they don't agree with him.

When you look at a lot of omnivores, many of them look fat, weak, and greasy. Somebody I know was telling me about a guy who ate fast food every day and he was 300 lbs. Of COURSE almost all professional athletes consume meat. Almost all PEOPLE (at least, in the privileged West) consume meat. There are nevertheless vegetarian and vegan athletes in every field, because (sing it with me, now!) there IS no nutrient found only in meat.

Saying you're an animal lover and for animal rights while you EAT them is like a Nazi saying he loves Jews as he presses the gas button. Humans are not "meant to" do anything- this would imply we were consciously-created somehow, which is suggested by not a shred of empirical evidence. Humans eating meat is not analogous to sharks eating meat. Natural meat eaters do not breed, raise, intensively-confine, and slaughter BILLIONS of animals per year, fouling the earth, rivers, air, oceans, and their bodies in the process of gorging on their flesh. Animals have no sense of ethics. We do. Natural meat eaters cannot survive and thrive on a plant-based diet. We can. We have NOT been consuming meat since "caveman times"- Australopithecus afarensis does not have a dental structure adapted to consumption of meat. Biology has no conscious "intent". If our "tastebuds told us it tasted good", we wouldn't have to cook it...season it...fry it...drown it in sauce..for it to be even remotely palatable. Next time you see a roadkill carcass I want you to dive into it and see how nice you think meat tastes. None of the nutrients in meat are ONLY found in meat.

You fail. A thousand times you fail, my child.



What do you mean by 'meant to eat meat?'

Our teeth are not designed to eat meat. We have two blunt little canines but the other teeth are not designed to eat meat. Our intestines are not the same as a carnivores or a scavengers. Many of our health problems are caused by our meat heavy diet.

I'm sure your personal trainer is a nice guy but just because he eats to increase his muscle mass doesn't mean he won't have a coronary later on.

Your bio professor misses out that intelligent vegetarianism will give you all the proteins, amino acids and enzymes you will ever need.

I am an omnivore but there is more to this question than your investigations.

http://mydailylunch.blogspot.com
http://mydailylunchrecipes.blogspot.com



*The fact that any professional athletes who are vegan tells us that meats are not required for optimum health.

*The fact that some of these vegan elite athletes are huge bodybuilders and martial artists tells us that it is not required to build muscle and strength.

*The fact that we can survive without meat but not without plants tells us that we are not "meant" to eat meat, just as the fact that we can survive without chocolate means we are not "meant" to eat chocolate. It is just something which humans CAN eat because humans have an extremely wide diet due to the absence of specialisation.

*The fact that canine teeth have NOTHING to do with diet in primates but are about male-male competition and mate selection tells us that canine teeth say nothing about whether we should eat meats or not.

*The fact that other animals eat meats tells us nothing about our own species, other animals can eat things which are poisonous to us but I never hear people using this as a reason to eat them.

*the fact that you don't seem to realise that proteins are made of amino acids tells us you have never spoken to a biology professor about proteins or amino acids. Or vegetarian diets.

*The fact that no biologist in their right mind would ever say an outright lie like there are nutrients in meats which cannot be found in non-animal products (especially amino acids LOL) tells us you are making this up or you have the worst professor in history. Your prof should have been the one to tell you that canine teeth are not related to meat consumption in primates before you embarrassed yourself here.

*The fact that you have misused the Darwinian quote "survival of the fittest" tells me you haven't bothered to open that biology text book you should have been reading. Darwinian fitness relates to genes within a population and has nothing to do with diet or physical strength in an individual. A sick individual eating poisonous foods which will eventually kill them can have greater fitness than one who eats healthy food if they produce more viable offspring due to being good looking and as a result getting more opportunities for breeding.

So fail. Fail, fail, fail.

vegan biologist



They think that because they are uninformed.

To say that meat does not have any vitamins that cannot be found in plants is true enough. But that is being presumptuous because not all people have access to the variety of fruits, vegetables and grains that constitute a well balanced vegetarian/vegan diet. For all practical purposes, for those who do not have access to such foods, meat is the only exclusive source of these nutrients. Protein deficiency may not be prevalent in the West but it is a serious problem is many countries. It is even more ridiculous to say that meat is not a good source of the nutrients mentioned. That is vegetarian propaganda influenced thinking at it's finest (and most delusional). A good example is b12 which even the Vegetarian Resource Group has acknowledged that does not have a viable source in plant foods outside of a special yeast and specific fortified foods.
The vegan diet is not natural. Humans are biologically omnivores. The only way people can be vegans is because of money and fully stocked grocery stores. There are literally millions of people on this planet that don't really have a choice of what to eat. They have to eat whatever they can find to survive. Before world wide shipping, money, and grocery stores, this is how it was for everyone. For MILLIONS of years people had to eat what was in their LOCAL region (walking distance). When a human is stuck with foods that are only in their local area, there is not much variety and they have to eat whatever they can get just to survive. Most places on Earth are either a cold climate, a hot dry climate, or a climate with seasons. In all cases meat was a MUST for survival, and since it was this way for Millions of years humans have evolved as omnivores. Its in the science books.

Actually sugarlips there are Billions of healthy omnivores.

Even this vegetarian web site agrees that humans are omnivores.
http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/omni.htm




The consumer Foods information on foodaq.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007 FoodAQ - Terms of Use - Contact us - Privacy Policy

Food's Q&A Resources