I get this question all the time. People compare our biology to wolves, bears, horses, cows… Biologically we are most like pigs actually. Pigs are omnivores, but can live off a purely vegetable diet. So can we.
Cows have several stomachs so they can eat grass. Humans can only digest the grass we eat (wheat and other grains) when cooked, which is something humans have been doing for thousands of years.
Wolves and other pure meat eating species have special types of teeth we don’t have. Similarly, we don’t have the types of teeth and the intestinal tracks of species that eat only raw vegetable matter. Like cows and horses. The biological argument can go both ways.
As omnivores our biological make up is between that of vegetarian animals like cows and that of purely meat eating species like cats and dogs. In other words: we get to choose.
Human beings are quite adaptable. Our teeth, like those of other omnivores, are adapted to both meat (cooked usually though) and vegetable matter. A diet purely based on health considerations would include very little, but some meat or fish products. There has hardly been a time in history when people ate meat daily. Meat was simply too expensive to eat daily. Food like chips and fries have little resemblance to what our ancestors ate.
Similarly there have been very few people in history to be purely vegetarian. Those Brahmans who were, would resort to Ayur Vedic medicine when things went wrong. Some of the things that went wrong were solved by medicines which would include meat.
On the other hand: our modern hygiene makes it harder for some of the nutrients we need to develop naturally in our foods. I’m talking about vitamin B12 which we usually get through animal products (yogurt will do, though meat and fish have it as well). It is one of the most difficult nutrients to get for a vegan, but it is present in rice that has gone off a bit.
Ultimately humans have been known throughout history to have all kinds of diets. In the days before the grand migrations of the 20th century it was found that what was most healthy for people was the local diet. That is: for people used to living off blood and milk for generations - that was the most healthy. Similarly people used to living off rice, fruit and vegetables for generations, that is what they will thrive off.
Most of us come from mixed stock however. We have to find our way in our modern world. This includes options our ancestors never had. A vegetarian diet is possible these days with the full use of modernity. I can get meat substitutes in the supermarket that make it easy to turn out a dinner in 20 minutes or less. I can get fruits and vegetables from all over the world into my refrigerator, which means that the various nutrients present in them are at my disposal. When I worry about the few nutrients that may not be present in my diet automatically, I can take pills to supplement. [See also my collection of health tips for vegetarians for details on vegetarian health issues]. However, I recently had my blood checked out, and there were no abnormalities. That is without taking any pills whatsoever for months and living on a purely vegetarian (not vegan) diet.
Taking pills or eating meat substitutes based on soy may not be ‘natural’, but then neither is typing at this computer, or riding a bike, or flushing the toilet. For humans it is natural to have a culture that makes us eat differently all over the world and do things our ape like ancestors would never have done. Our time is unique in that we have more freedom than ever before in determining our diet.
As biological omnivores we have a choice to be vegetarian or not. There are several reasons why I’m a vegetarian (ethical, environmental and spiritual). Each person has to make their own choices in that regard. But the ‘nature’ argument is just not a good one. It’s our nature to be responsible. It’s our nature to be flexible. It’s in our nature to make choices.
I don’t have a problem with people eating meat. But please don’t rationalize eating meat daily by saying ‘it’s natural’. It’s not. It is very unlikely your ancestors even three generations ago could afford to do that.
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9 Comments
I seriously doubt that diet has little if any effect on longevity, unless one suffers from diabetes or some other abnormality. I don’t believe a true vegetarian or vegan even exists, because although one may refrain from eating meat or dairy products, each of us nevertheless consumes animal products every day. Soap, for instance, is comprised of animal fat. A true vegan could not even use paper, because animal products are used as starches in the processing of wood pulp.
Do you really think vegetarians and vegans hadn’t thought about all that before? We do the best we can in minimizing the impact on the environment and cruelty to animals. Can you say the same?
As for the health thing - the effect of eating only French fries and burgers on human health has been pretty well established.
Whether or not it’s for health reasons, ethical reasons, or impact on the environment . . .the one thing no one seems to be mentioning is that being a vegetarian will be much better for the economy. One book that addresses this is Spiritual Wisdom for a Planet Peril. I recommend.
Spiritual Wisdom for a Planet in Peril
Preparing for 2012 and Beyond
I’ve never undestood these dietary concerns. Hitler was a vegetarian, and what difference did it make? I’ve worked with vegetarians, and their level of protein seems to be so deficient that they are always in some kind of mental fog.
Daniel Boorstin in his book The Discoverers points out how the use of the printing press in the Muslim world was delayed for centuries because of the dietary ban on pork, the concern among Muslims being that if the printing block contained the name of Allah, he would be defiled if the block were cleaned or touched by a hog bristle brush. In fact the first officially published edition of the Koran did not appear in Egypt until 1925, and even then moveable type was not used, but block printing which reproduced written manuscripts.
For me the vegetarianism is not a question of a diet nor a religion but the way of good behaving to the rest of the world. Unfortunately there is a sort of people who are not able to understand this.
P.S. Hitler wasn’t a vegetarian. He mentioned himself sometimes to be, but people of his pack after the War wrote about his occasional eating meat.
Vegetarianism doesn’t mean a panic or phobia from accidental eating meat, but it grows out of conscious tendency not to maltreat the world. An effort not to kill and not to eat animals is an inseparable part of it.
You mentioned meat substitutes… in US supermarkets they are mostly packaged, and health food stores/co-ops often have those (expensive,) but also similar dry mixes, and there are recipes for all that: mostly legumes/beans & spices, and usually glutinous grain/flour for cohesion. It is said people need only 5% protein, and either sometimes more, or legumes do not usually add up to that much, since they are partly starch/carbohydrate, and because of that composition they are not considered great by Natural Hygienists, who recommend use enough nuts/seeds and avocadoes, and (maybe, or recommended for avoidance or moderation,) if one needs fats (which one needs more than people think who were on SAD diet and think ‘eliminate it,’) then olives–which have mainly/only good fats, like most nuts/seeds. Good recipes include blending fruits, nuts/seeds of simliar PH.
Your recommendations say b12 is in “rice that is off.” It is likely in several “off” foods: spoiled or poorly washed, especially dug up, and it is in certain torula yeast (AFAIK,) maybe purslane (or it has ω-acids or both,) and ‘fortified’ processed foods (soy-based or simlar.) AFAIK, non-vegans need not pay much attention to b12, but should for ω-acids (vegans must.) However, dirty or processed food are as unreliable to the extent they are hard to use consistently and keep track of, which they mostly are verily, and they can be unhealthy. Many b12 tablets are vegan; most may have a little bit of excipients, but if they are even slightly harmful, they are better than inconsistent use and can be counteracted.
This page mentions ‘natural,’ which the rest of my comment is off-topic on. I think some toilets, bikes, computers are relatively natural (otherwise supernatural, sub-natural, or otherwise unnatural, which probably still refers to ‘natural.’) They use no nuclear force; they might not use electromagnetism; maybe they use gravity–primitive simple mechanics, which all animals use; plants, maybe even minerals, react to gravity. Flush toilets were used by an ancient Cretan civilization–the Minoans (IIRC
likely one of the 2 - 3 most natural civilizations (top or 2nd in Eurasia-Africa, besides India, equal in different ways,) and many/most other primates in civilization use drained toilets; maybe some other animals use them or latrines. If those include the recently invented composting toilets, people could switch back.
Pedalled vehicles may be more natural than animal-drawn ones; bikes are certainly more natural than cars: they contain metal, but, like its production, need only primitive machines, most/all of which some animals apply, except to ignite, but some animals are used to humans’ fire and results. The control of mind & body, classical elements, physics forces are only progressively less natural (and animals use part of all listed.) I could explain better in-depth, but not perfectly. Rational animals may not always be afraid of natural forces or humans’ usage. Particles are in atoms, which HPB calls souls, so discarnate beings may be more used to souls & parts, such as (ideal) forms, which along with kosmic nature (all the above) is natural, i.e. understood, for adepts, so it should become so for humans, despite & because of ‘human nature.’
Most computers are not (electro)mechanical, not electronic. The quadrivium uses computers: arithmetic uses abaci, slide-rules, hands; geometry uses those & other (still used) simple mathematical instruments, music uses arithmetic & time-based instruments (and tools for instruments,) astronomy uses some combined from quadrivium 1 - 3, and post-quadrivium is similar. Relatively recently computers were electromechanical (and electromagnetism includes magnetism, of somwhat old use.) many machines are: anything industrial pre-electronic. Any computer that is (one was) like a loom or uses punch cards could work from simple mechanics, though power by organisms’ mechanics starts from at least electromagnetism (nerves.)
Sorry my comment is displayed long: newlines must have been ignored. I should try html newlines or spaces. These were paragraph places:
‘Your recommendations…’
‘This page mentions “natural,…”‘
‘Pedalled…’
‘Most computers are [not] (electro)mechanical…’ (also, omit that 1st not.)
The new lines get cut off by my blogtheme. I’m working on a new one which will display comments WAY better than this one. For now you’ll have to live with it as it is.
You’re right about the fact that anything that’s a bit off is likely to have B12. The main criterion is whether the bacteria that get it to be off create B12. Yeast bacteria do, so anything with living yeast is likely to have B12.
As for beans: they need to be combined with rice for an optimum blend of aminoacids. But for most people in the west getting enough protein is hardly a problem - vegans included.
You are right about the fats and oils: going to the other extreme of eliminating fat altogether isn’t a good idea either. The same is true for eliminating sugar or fiber etc.