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Question for vegans/vegetarians who think that humans should not eat meat because it's not natural?
Why do we have enzymes in our blood that assist specifically in breaking down animal proteins, oils, and fats? We have a separate set for breaking down proteins, oils and fats from plants. And why don't humans have a reaction to eating raw meat, like people who're lactose intolerant can't eat dairy because their ancestors weren't acclimatized to it? Me and people I know have eaten raw meat quite a few times and it's fine, and we're quite fit and healthy and we stay that way. I know several people who have reached a ripe old age in full possession of their mental faculties who didn't skimp on the meat either. The Japanese eat raw fish all the time, it's part of the national cuisine. And I know of several European dishes that use raw meat as well.
And importantly, every society, prehistoric or modern, eats or has left evidence (in the form of spear and arrowheads, buffalo jumps, paintings of hunting scenes, and cracked bones, etc) that they ate animals, often raw.
If you're a vegan/vegetarian, but don't think it's unnatural to eat meat and have no problem with others doing it, I salute you good sir/ma'am. And I appreciate any answers I get.
Here is a page detailing the enzymes in our bodies, if you're interested.
@ Jake: I have. There's a thriving community of them on the internet and in Vancouver where I live. I assume that there are other communities as well.
@ FruityDreams: I'm aware of the moral arguments against eating meat, and I think that they contain several good points although I don't personally subscribe to them. You mentioned factory farming, for example, which I am very aware of and try to avoid. I kill and butcher my own meat when I can so you can rest assured that I am very aware of where it comes from. But this isn't a question about morals. This is about biology.
@ Vegan: Don't you think that other carnivores would probably end up with hardened arteries as well if they lived for 70 to 80 years, much of that spent in a chair? We're one of the longest lived animals on the planet and the hardening of the arteries tends to be something that builds up over the years and gets into full swing during late middle age, so around the time that the arteries in question are about 50 years old. Most carnivores simply don't live that long and lead very active lives. Other animals are known to fall prey to hardening arteries as well, such as wild dogs and cats. This means that hardening of arteries does not only affect humans, it also affects other animals who eat meat and have specifically evolved to be predators. Low amounts of exercise, old age, genetic predisposition, obesity, diabetes, and smoking are all strongly linked to the hardening of the arteries too. It's not something that only affects those of us who eat meat, and eating animal p
Disregard that last bit after the comma, don't know how that got there.
@ Friendofchip: Normally I'm fairly respectful while talking to vegans and vegetarians. As I've said, I think you have some good points (such as the disgusting immorality of factory farms) , even though I don't subscribe to all of them. That said, I'm taking off the gloves for you, buddy.
Firstly, I take it then that you've never heard of ikizukuri, sashimi, odori emi, and others. Not to mention the fact that dozens of cultures use raw fish in food. I can provide links for all of them if you want.
The studies that suggest that vegans or vegetarians live longer have an agenda. They are one sided and not recognised within the medical profession. Veg/vegans (the holier-than-thou ones like you, anyway - most of them are great people) tend to compare how great they are to unhealthy omnivores who eat nothing but rubbish. Living healthily or longer is much more than diet, its has to do with genetics, stress, exposure and lifestyle, and so on. Healthy omnivores often li
ve just as long as healthy vegetarians. That said I know some vegetarians and vegans who are constantly shivering like leaves, and are often sick, and could get blown over in a gentle breeze. I also know meat eaters who are fat slugs. I know several people in their 80's and early 90's who are still independent and living in their own homes, and few or none of them are vegetarians. In the same way, I know healthy vegetarians and healthy meat eaters. Vegans and veggies don't have a monopoly on healthy.
Looking at the link you provided, I see that you misunderstood. What it says is that enzymes for meatwork live in the lower intestine, whilst enzymes for plantwork live in the stomach. This makes sense because plants are harder to digest than meat, for all animals, so a bit of extra time to digest the plants in the stomach is welcome and needed. It is not evidence that we are plant eaters. It is not even close to that. You are grasping at straws.
Proof that humans are natura
l meat eaters? B12. You need B12 to stay healthy and B12 is NOT found naturally in any plant foods. Period. End of argument. The Vegan Society says you should supplement for B12. They started the whole vegan thing. Do you think they don't know what they're talking about? VRG, probably the largest vegan resource on the net says you should supplement for B12. Do you think they don't know what they're talking about? VeganHealth and the veganRD, are both sites run by registered dietitians who promote the vegan diet. And they both say you ~must~ supplement for B12 if you want to stay a healthy vegan, particularly if you want to have children. We wouldn't have lasted long as a species if we couldn't have healthy children. This invalidates your cholesterol argument, not to mention the fact that we need to get a certain amount of our cholesterol from outside sources - probably about 15%.
I'm a subhuman beast if I eat meat, eh. You might want to get off of your high
horse before you run out of oxygen, bro. It must be pretty thin at that altitude. Everything dies. Everything is eaten, it's just a matter of when and how. Hell, when I die, however it happens, I plan on being cut up and thrown into the woods so that I can get eaten myself. Life and death aren't special or sacred. I know for a fact that you don't think life is sacred, because you are fine with the fact that the smallpox virus has been eradicated. You are fine with the fact that scientists are working around the clock to eliminate the HIV virus - which is only doing what it is in it's nature to do. You are fine with killing the bacteria that make you sick, and you are fine with killing millions of mosquitos every year who only want to lay eggs and are unaware that they are malaria carriers. Unless you're crazy, you're fine with killing man-eating animals, or termites that eat the foundations of houses. You're fine with eating the organisms that settle on your
food in the few minutes between it coming out of the oven and entering your stomach. Me and you are not different, as much as you want to believe we are. Life is life. Nothing has a right to it. We just have it till it's gone. Nor is death anything special. It's just something that happens.
I'm just going to re-emphasize that I have no problem with most vegans and vegetarians, and most of you guys have good answers. It's only the ones that imply that they're somehow more than human that annoy me.
And just a quick response to the intestinal claims - Our intestine is about eight times our body length. This puts us at about midway between cats, whose intestines are about 3 times their body length, and cows, whose intestines are about 20 times their body length. As a separate point, plant eaters can digest cellulose, the main component of plant tissue. But cellulose just makes people sick.
I think that there is a lot to be said for vegetarian food, but it gets annoying when people take the argument over a cliff.
@ Snooki: *salutes
11 Answers
- 8 years agoFavorite Answer
Salute me, then. Because I am a vegan who believes that humans are natural omnivores- and I'm someone who refused to go to a hospital when I broke my wrist (animal testing reasons).
It's HOW the animals are killed and treated whilst they're alive that turns me off eating, wearing and using anything with animal products in it.
I was brought up on a farm, where we raised and killed our own animals. No suffering or torture involved at all- and everyone in my family is as fit and healthy as can be.
"Life is life. Nothing has a right to it. We just have it till it's gone. Nor is death anything special. It's just something that happens." Couldn't have said it better myself.
Source(s): Thanks for the two points. - friendofchipLv 78 years ago
Japanese eat raw fish all the time?
FUnny. I've never seen a Japanese person eating raw fish outside of the very occasional sushi, and I'm here.
Tell me, where did you live in Japan to say that?
Your argument and point is so very vague.
We have plant eaters' teeth, intestines, stomachs, and limbs.
All meat eating land animals have fangs and claws. Al of them sweat through their tongues, not skin like we do. All plant eating animals sweat through their skin like us. All plant eating animals have the same flat teeth as we do.
Meat eating animals cannot chew. Plant eating animals can chew, and they do it deom side to side, like us.
When we start eating meat, we die younger quicker. That is basic fact. Vegetarians live longer overall, and healthy vegans live the longest overall.
Your point about the spearheads and raw meat is very lovely but so what? Men also beat women in those days and continued doing it til today and still do it. Even now, girls in many parts of the world are considered low class citizens.
Just because we've been doing it for ages, doesn't mean it's a good habit. Smoking is another example. In fact, it is with the scientific proof we have today, that meat shortens life, that animals who speak different languages than you, also feel pain be they Chinese, North Korean or French, bovine or feline, that people are now able to do the right thing. Wether you like it or not, human intelligence and the ability to reason and think of choices, is a huge big deal that some other animals don't possess. If you continue to live with the reactionary habits of an ape ( he does it, so will I), then you're not an evolved human being. The whole point of being human is ( besides other things) to chose the right things, and the most intelligent responsible and compassionate ones do great things like giving up all their money to charity, not eating innocent animals even when they're craving a steak and so on. It takes a truly evolved person to do these things, and perhaps you don't understand that.
There's no point living like a subhuman beast, who only reacts on instinct.
There's a few items you conveniently forgot. Meat and all animal products contain a very damaging product called cholesterol.
Simply put, no human needs animal cholesterol and it is a substance which is known to cause heart disease- heart attacks, stroke, and cause blood born diseases, and heighten all cancers. We make our own cholesterol to keep our blood healthy. It's in our DNA. You cannot say we need meat or it's off produtcs or that it's a natural food for a human being to thrive off.
DOn't confuse what some people started doing a few thousands years ago in a time of famine, with the scientific design that nature created these bodies to thrive off.
And your own link contains an interesting page which repeatedly says animal proteins and enzymes are not best suited to a human body.
- 8 years ago
Respecting other and what they eat is important but letting them know that being vegetarian has negative effects. That it's not all what it is cracked up to be. Below are some answers to common questions that come up on Yahoo.com
Do Vegetarians or vegan live longer?
You life expectances has nothing to do with whether or not you are a vegetarian or a vegan. You life expectances is basined on A. Genetics- your parents live long, chances are you will also B. if you smoke. smoker cut time off their life. C. If you exercise D. Stress levels E. Eating a balanced diet. You body is a temp and need a verity of foods in which includes Complex carob hydrates and protein which is found in fish and meats a great sources. -Time Magazine
Is the vegetarian movement working?
Absolutely 100% not. A. McDonald's the biggest producer and distributers of burgers stock has gone from 13.90 to 100 in the last ten years. -CNBC Note: that does not make McDonalds okay to eat every day. Once a week is not horrible. TEXAS still uses pesticides to kill termites from eating their homes
B.Most Americas food come from the mid west and south were children and illegal immigrants work. Pesticides and fertilizers that are added to the plaints are very harmful. These chemicals have a long lasting effect on children working in these fields from cancer to birth defects. .- 60 minutes or Chanel 7 news I don't remember. Basically you are giving up meat to help the animals but you are screwing the people who are giving you the veggies
Is there any difference between eating human flesh and animal meat?
LOL yes. those who eat humans have mental illness . Wikipedia
istheir allot of choices when it comes to being a vegetarian?
(YES) there is with Plenty of good stuff to eat but not complete.
Are Vegans' on the right track?
NO. The very Soap use is made with lard. Many products like make up and solvents are tested on animals. -YOUTUB How it's made soap.
- Anonymous8 years ago
Frankly, I don't care if it's unnatural or not. The fact is we CAN LIVE on a plant based diet and do just fine, therefore why should we not?
However, you may know, we cannot eat raw meat. (you can but it's on you) Why? (cuz it's unnatural lol) Yet we can eat raw vegetables. Also, true meat eaters can never get clogged arteries because the food goes through their system faster than in ours. As I'm sure you know, humans have a huge problem with clogged arteries.
But don't take it from me. If you really want to have your mind blown. Watch this ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4
.....Red....you are not a vegan, and I feel sorry for you that you have been brainwashed into thinking you aren't getting everything you need. Meat would kill you and yet you still need something from it?????? Please explain to me how you do not see the connection here.
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- 8 years ago
I think most veg's agree that it is neither natural or unnatural. All we know is it's unnecessary. In this day and age we have access to all kinds of foods in any given supermarket that would supply all the nutrients we need without relying on animal products. All of those prehistoric societies didn't have all the food options we in modern society do. Plus many of them were nomadic so they didn't grow crops, they ate what they could. Especially in winter. The reality is we don't need animal products anymore, and actually do better without them. The only thing I ever hear from omnivores is excuses "but tribes a million years ago ate meat!" "but we have canine teeth!" "but I work out I need protein!" "vegan food isn't convenient!" "but I need meat (aka bk whoppers) to survive!" "but but but! but bacon!!!!!!!!!!!!!". There are no excuses
- 8 years ago
Human being's teeth (Few sharp and few thick) show us that we are Herbivorous(Vegetarian) and Carnivorous (Meat). So the balanced diet is very much important.
- ?Lv 48 years ago
I am a vegan and i think people should eat both meat and plants. I dont have any stereotype or orders about meat eaters. They should eat whatever food they get in their surroundings because its created by god for humans to eat but (not finish it off) I am a vegan and i cant eat chicken fries, sushi, hot dogs etc :( i really cant get full proteins to my body. But i cant eat meat because my heart will stop me from doing that. So there's nothing like what you think.
Source(s): I am a vegan - ?Lv 48 years ago
I've never heard a vegetarian say that the reason they don't eat meat is because it's unnatural.
- Anonymous8 years ago
Typically they cite this study as irrefutable proof
http://www.vegsource.com/news/2009/11/the-comparat...
Vs the rebuttal
Source(s): ex vegan - 8 years ago
from what ive read, we dont have the same stomach acids that real meat eaters do. our digestive tract is also long for grains/veggies and not short like meat eaters. we also do not have the same teeth or jaws like meat eaters (lions for example.) true meater teeth and jaws are made to rip open animals and tear off the meat with their mouths. human teeth and jaws are not like that. also, all that meat eating from ancestors is cave man like. the world and people are starting to evolve. people are evolving to see we dont need meat. and the factory farming is just way out of hand what they do. those hormones arnt natural.
