Comments on: Are humans meant to be vegetarian?

By: Eugene

Eugene — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:49:26 +0000

The cruelty behind it is the only reason I am a vegetarian. I am not convinced that not eating meat is any healthier than eating it. You have to realize that the cultivation of grains and legumes on a wide scale is relatively new, 10,000 years, and just a blip in the time span of human history. For a large part of that time, 10′s of millions of years, humans ate what they could hunt and gather which included some meat and fish, nuts, seeds, and leafy greens. We have to process and cook grains and legumes, tubers too, in order to be able to extract nutrients from them and to reduce toxins. We were not doing that for most of our history and there is evidence that eating these foods that we have not had time to evolve to eat without processing and the resulting insulin spike caused by eating foods that turn to sugar in our bodies is a major cause of obesity and disease. You mention fast food a lot but a large part of a fast food meal is the soy used to “cut” the meat, the grains used in the buns, and the starch in the potatoes. Could it be that the meat in a burger is not the problem but the grains and legumes, simple carbs, present that are causing the massive health problems we are experiencing. Author Jared Diamond said something to the effect that the development of agriculture was the worst thing that has ever happened to the human race in terms of human health. Something to think about in any event.

Julia made a good point about the dark past of Christianity. I hope they learn to leave the rest of us alone.

By: Julia

Julia — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:52:14 +0000

While I don’t disagree that a slaughter house is not a happy place for animals, I would have to say that evolving as a species, as you suggest, involves more learning from our “barbaric” past instead of simply leaving it behind. If you cannot understand the motivation behind why someone does something, you are at an incredible disadvantage when trying to alter their behavior.

Including descriptors such as cruel, sadistic, brutal and murder makes clear what your point is, but at the same time, if we can’t stop ourselves from acting in such ways toward each other, it seems difficult to believe that it should be so easy for humans to stop acting in such ways toward animals. I understand the ideology behind vegetarianism/veganism and I don’t disagree with it, I just believe it’ll take more than calling people murderers to effectively eradicate consumption of animal meats.

And let’s not forget Christians have committed their fair share of cruel, sadistic, brutal and murderous atrocities against their fellow man. Not to mention coveting many aspects of pagan spirituality and “relics” from our “barbaric” past and attempting to pass it all off as being completely original.

By: Katinka - Spirituality

Katinka - Spirituality — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:02:37 +0000

I don’t have the data at hand, but last time I asked a biologist they made it clear that there are some features that we have in common with omnivores or even meat eaters while we have others in common with fruit eaters or herbivores.
I have a hard time believing that living ONLY on raw food is good for us: our stomachs really aren’t suited to eating all vegetables raw. We’re not cows: we don’t have multiple stomachs to get the most out of vegetable food.

By: JM

JM — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:34:05 +0000

Actually, evidence points to humans being frugivores – animals with a mostly FRUIT-based diet – which would explain our need to cook the grains we consume. This also points to how many people are raw foodist, and get along fine. Our teeth don’t actually resemble omni/carnivore teeth – they’re characteristic of herbivore teeth. Same with a number of other features of our bodies, from saliva and stomach acid pH, to our kidneys and small intestines, that suggest we are herbivorous animals by nature, and opportunistic, not biological, omnivores.

By: Eva

Eva — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:35:44 +0000

Thank you for a very interesting write up on Vegan/vegetarians.

I am proud to be Vegan, but agree that everyone has a choice!

Well written article!

By: Katinka - Spirituality

Katinka - Spirituality — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:58:11 +0000

One of my readers comments:

Meat eating is associated with great suffering in the animal kingdom. These highly organized, sentient beings are herded into slaughterhouses with the smell of death in the air, shocked with cattle prods, shackled, hoisted, and murdered. It is a cruel, sadistic, brutal process that leads to the eating of the poor creatures’ corpses by humans. As we evolve as a species, we should leave that behind along with bullfighting, bear baiting, throwing Christians to the lions, and all other relics of our barbaric past.

By: art

art — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:44:38 +0000

This is one of the more responsible explanations a vegetarian has produced. However, it is not entirely accurate. For example, there are ways to eat meat w/o the need for the animals to suffer like so many like to point out. Meat eating can also be done in an environmentally friendly way as well.

Because we are biological omnivores I would argue it is very natural for us to eat meat. Why wouldn’t a prehistoric human have eaten a raw kidney scavenged from a freshly killed mammal (killed by lions or whatever)? What about a hand full of grubs they may have found? Eating a humanely raised/butchered steak a couple times a week sure is more natural than taking pills.

All things considered, even as a happy and healthy meat eater, I would say moderation is the key.

By: omnivore1

omnivore1 — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:02:06 +0000

I get raged on all the time for eating meat, like the post says “we are like pigs”, so we can choose to eat meat or vegetables. So doest that mean all the native Americans were wrong for eating meat, grains, vegetables? They were doing just fine for couple thousand years along with others. I mean I guess it’s up to what ever you choose to do, but to be moderate and not to be a “”pig”" I might be wrong, but I guess we all are humans can’t live with them can’t stop being one.

By: Katinka Hesselink - All Considering

Katinka Hesselink - All Considering — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:33:32 +0000

Interesting. I look forward to further results along that line of research. But there is a definite disclaimer at the bottom there:

“these results are preliminary and were obtained from analysis of only three individuals.”

“Large-scale population studies would be needed to prove if this molecule has any role in human disease including cancer.”

By: Andras Nagy

Andras Nagy — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:50:13 +0000

Katinka,
There is a scientific evidence of eating red meat causes cancer. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3149062.stm