Veganism? No Homo
"Humans are omnivores. We're supposed to eat meat"
This is an argument I've seen a lot in the past semester and something I've definitely said in the past to justify my excessive meat and dairy consumption. However, I never had any research to back it up. "Our teeth are omnivorous, I think".
This is also an argument used most often by people on the Paleo diet. The Paleo diet is a diet based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans, consisting of meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. This diet excludes dairy, grains, and processed food. The philosophy of the lifestyle is almost the opposite of the philosophy of veganism. Paleos believe that meat is integral to good health and that you can't get the same nutrients from any amount of plant-based foods. Vegans call BS on this. Paleos believe that grain and plant production are causing the environment stress because of pesticides and mass production. Vegans respond with "LOL, but what about the animal industry?"
I'm getting this information from the website PaleoLeap, and more specifically, this article. Knowing what I know about the human body, the environmental impact of the animal and agriculture industry, and veganism, this article is straight up laughable. Give it a good read.
(http://paleoleap.com/vegetarianism-bad-environment/)
So, is there truth to this? Is veganism an unnatural diet?
When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we seem much more closely related to herbivores than meat-eating animals. From what it looks like, humans are not designed to digest and ingest meat.
-Meat-eaters have claws. Herbivores and humans do not.
-Meat-eaters have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue. Herbivores and humans perspire through skin pores
-Meat-eaters have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding. Herbivores and humans have no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding.
-Meat-eaters have short intestines, only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly. Herbivores and humans have long intestines, 10-12 times their body length.
-Meat-eaters have strong hydrochloric acid in the stomach to digest meat. Herbivores and humans have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater.
-Meat-eaters have salivary glands in the mouth that aren't needed to pre-digest grains and fruits. Herbivores and humans have well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits.
-Meat-eaters have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains. Humans and herbivores have alkaline saliva WITH ptyalin to pre-digest grain.
All of this information comes from A.D. Andrews, the author who wrote "Fit Food for Men" from the Chicago American Hygiene Society. I looked for other credible sources of information and I found a plethora of sources saying that humans were not meant to eat meat. PETA (of course) states that "According to biologists and anthropologists who study our anatomy and our evolutionary history, humans are herbivores who are not well suited to eating meat. Humans lack both the physical characteristics of carnivores and the instinct that drives them to kill animals and devour their raw carcasses." Addressing the idea that cavemen ate meat, scientists have said that these early creatures ate whatever they could to survive, including moving and breathing animals. Hunting became a source of food and a sport when soil was untenable for crops.
To sum it up: evolution most likely did not create humans to be meat-eaters. They also did not evolve to be cotton-candy eaters- damn.
This has been another serious, no BS post from runningwithterriers.com. Stay tuned for dumb posts in the near future.