Humans are not herbivores

in #diet7 years ago (edited)

Only in recent history have humans elected specific diets for themselves. Reasons are multiple: health, weight loss, ethical/moral, the environment, financial, social... We are still in a period of experimentation but there's an entire spectrum of choice, ranging from purely meat based to the hilarious breatharians who claim to live on fresh air and sunlight.

man eating tree.jpg
[man eating trees, artist: John Sokol, source]

Physiology

teeth.jpg
teeth comparison source
Our species evolved to fully exploit the food available. We use canines and incisors to tear and chop flesh. Unlike the ruminant's flat molars, our molars have sharp edges to help grind meat and various plant matter into pulp.

humans eating raw meat.jpg
Raw meat meal. Pic source
Humans eating raw meat. Notice how even small children can chew through flesh. One even enjoys a nice cup of blood.

Saliva

Human saliva contains enzymes which begin to digest carbohydrates and fats, also adding moisture to make food easier to swallow. Unlike herbivores – we don't chew, partially digest, then re-chew the same mouthful multiple times. We chew for a short time; the food is swallowed.

Stomach and down...

The human stomach, liver and pancreas produce digestive enzymes: pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, lipase and bile. These easily break down meat proteins and fats into essential nutrients. This is why you never see lumps of meat in your poo. As an ex-vegetarian, I can attest to the fact my poos often had colourful nuggets of vegetable matter – sweetcorn, carrot, nuts and other indigestible plants.
rainbow poo.jpg
rainbow poo, source

Unlike the virtually sterile human stomach, herbivorous stomachs contain bacteria and parasites, which ferment and partially digest plant matter. This micro-community converts cellulose and fibre into short-chain fatty acids which the animal uses for fuel. Effectively, they're living on a high-fat diet.

Our digestive flora live at the hind end of our very short digestive tract. By the time the bacteria in our colon start converting plantstuff into something useful, we're ready to shit it out.

gorilla eats shit.jpg
gorilla eating his own shit to get vital nutrients, source

Unless they eat their own shit, vegans suffer from low vitamin B12 because they don't eat animal products. This essential nutrient is abundant in animal foods. Bacteria in our colon can convert plants into B12 but it's just not enough for the human body. This is why vegans absolutely must inject synthetic B12 into their buttocks. Long term use of this has yet to be understood. It's not wise for a healthy person to rely on big pharma to stay alive.

Vegans will tell you we're not omnivores, and say we're not structurally similar to famous omnivores like bears or raccoons. Are bears similar to mice or chimps or chickens or turtles or catfish or rhinos or dolphins or flies? Not really, but these are all omnivorous animals (and there are many more). Just because a human isn't a bear or a raccoon, doesn't mean we're not omnivorous.

beardolphin.jpg
bear-dolphin, source

There is zero evidence of any vegan societies in the history of this planet, certainly none that reproduced and flourished. This is because it is impossible for a vegan to maintain health without synthetic chemicals. You will, however, find lots of evidence for omnivorous and even carnivorous human societies.

Don't take my word for it. Do your own research. But please don't get your information from PETA or the Vegetarian Society; they're prone to cherry-picking data and quoting pseudoscience to further their agenda.

Sort:  

I remember watching a reel to reel film in elementary school in the early 1980s. It was a video on how Eskimos / Inuit Indians survive.

They certainly don't do it by eating vegetation. They do however, survive by eating a lot of raw meat. Eyeballs are considered like candy to them.

One would ask how do they avoid scurvy and other vitamin deficiencies? The truth of the matter is most of those nutrients and substances are COOKED out of the meat. By eating it raw they get all of the nutrients they need.

Now that isn't to say we should all start eating meat raw. The environment your meat is raised in is very important. Raw meat is a quick path to many types of parasites. Some of them very dangerous. The more we manipulate the environment, inject animals with all kinds of substances, and feed vegetarian animals grain mixed with ground up members of their own species the more WEIRD things happen with our food. So I am not advocating eating any raw meat.

If you were a hunter hunting out in the wilds it might be okay, but you could still end up with some parasites. Tape Worms, etc. That's how they spread. You could get the same by ordering your meat too rare. It is a risk people are often willing to take for their flavor.

Another tid bit I remember from that video. Don't eat Polar Bear LIVER. Why? It has an over abundance of vitamin A and you can overdose and kill yourself. :)

Nice post. Resteemed.

Raw meat is fine - just make sure you freeze the meat first to kill any parasites

Good point. I hadn't considered that.

looks exciting. Steak tartare. Did you eat it? :p

That one isn't my own photo, but yes I have had a very similar meal a few times - although I prefer cooked really!

that looks nice. proper pink with a nice tasty outer yum

Thanks for the resteem and brilliant comment. I didn't know that about polar bears -- will avoid eating that from now on :D

Couldn't agree more -- the food available to us now (mostly) as been messed around with. It's poisonous and junky. I'm lucky to buy from a great farm not too far from me. All the animals are ancient breeds, fed their natural diet and not pumped full of drugs. They're humanely slaughtered too. Their raw milk and cream is to die for too.

Yes, raw organ meat is hugely nutritious. I've not tried it yet (too squeamish), but it's something to consider in the future.

I often joke when I see some type of animal I haven't eaten by saying "Hmmm... I wonder what that tastes like."

Haha what's the weirdest one you've eaten? I've not even tried kangaroo or crocodile yet. Or oysters :O

I've had oysters.... raw I dislike a lot. IT's like someone hocked a loogie down your throat. I eat them smoked though.

I had Cougar/Mountain Lion sausage once. I haven't been to many exotic places, I've never been to the ocean.

Elk, Deer, Antelope, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Fish (various kinds), Shark, Kalamari, Sushi, Cougar, Crab, Lobster, Shrimp, Bison, Scallops, Crayfish, a few insects, some other birds, beef.

And likely some I am forgetting about. Yet really not that many.

Eewwww that sounds horrific (oysters)

Wow, didn't know you could eat lion or that they made them into sausages. Cool.

Yep, you've deffo eaten more weird stuff than I have.

I wanna upvote you but I've got super-low voting power at the mo. So, here's a smiley face for now :D

Never been to the ocean? Holy cow, I've never not been next to the ocean, being landlocked would suck...

Checks to make sure ocean is still there :)

Hehe. I've spent all but 4 1/2 years of my life living in Colorado. I've been to Houston which is the closest I ever actually came to an "ocean" though I'm often told the Gulf is not much of an "ocean" experience.

I have wanted to travel the Oregon coast sometime as I really like the images I've seen from that. I don't care about swimming, sun bathing, etc. I just like to take in scenery and experiences.

Some day hopefully I'll get around to doing this.

I don't like swimming either - on the odd occasions I've fallen in, Wellington water is freezing - it comes straight up from Antarctica - so even on a hot day the water feels cold

I can't stop laughing at the picture of the Asian (Mongolian?) family enjoying the raw meat without utensils, yet one has the presence of the mind to daintily sip blood from a porceline tea cup.

Haha I know... I love that part too. It's so dainty in contrast to the carnage innit.

Can't upvote you today... I'm out of voting power. Will get back when I've got more juice in my tank :)

Great to see some real food info - Steemit is awash with vegan misinformation...

Hahah, true... yes, so many in here. Gotta get the message out.

They keep muting me so I usually avoid getting into it with them

http://www.frot.co.nz/design/funny/vegan-memes/

hahahahahaha
OMG they can MUTE you??? I didn't know that was possible here. They're creating their own version of a safe space in here. Eventually it'll just be them and the feminists sharing tofu lollies and hair dye.

Although most of the vegans on Steemit are typical vegans, I follow several who are very on to it so I usually tread very carefully around that subject and don't mention stuff like being a Weston A Price Chapter :)

http://www.frot.co.nz/design/wapf/

That's it!!! You're my hero. I love Weston A Price's work. And Sally Fallon. I've got her Nourishing Traditions book! Congratulations on getting a chapter going in NZ. You've got a pretty country there -- well, I've only seen bits on telly and Lord of the Rings but it looks gorgeous.

Have you done posts about it in here? You deffo should. Don't hide from the vegans. They're too weak to kill you :D

Is it ok for me to do posts and link to things on your website sometimes?

That would be awesome. Also keep an eye on @kiwideb she does a lot more food related posts than I do.

We have met Sally a couple of times.

The vegan subject is tricky, I've come to the conclusion that best diet follows a normal distribution curve, and that while more than 2/3 of people will be messed up by a vegan diet within 10 years, there are a small number that go well on it.

But equally there are also some that do best on a raw meat only diet.

Thanks. That's great.

Sally. She seems such a nice person on her videos. Is she as personable in real life?

Ah the distribution curve. That puts the majority at the bellend of the curve. Not fair. Seems wrong that vegans get to live on the respectable end. Yes, there are always a few outliers that cope with crazy conditions.

Another great meme. And I've followed @kiwideb

Thanks :)

"Do you want some blood to your raw meat sir?"

Do you ever get the Steemit bug where you can't show more replies? - I know you replied but I can't see your comment - if you could copy and paste it as a reply to this one I'll be able to see it - everything goes wrong after eight replies...

i didn't see anything before like this..

Cool. I hope it doesn't give you nightmares. Thanks for the upvote :)

I have always seen the fact of being vegetarian, like giving up our position in the food chain, that is, eating animals is part of being in harmony with the environment, in some strange way these subjects say that being vegetarian is friendly to the planet, I do not see it that way, I like meat, and I think it's natural that we eat meat.

Thanks Vieira. I agree. It is natural and, therefore, better for our health.

The environment arguments they have are nonsense really. They grow vegan food and use shit tonnes of shit from those cruel factory farms to fertilise it. Also, they spray toxic chemicals on the soil which then poisons all the animals and other plant life in the area. Vegans probably kill more animals than meat eaters do.

Soil erosion is caused because the animals are not replenishing the soil with their shit, feeding the natural flora and fungi, which in turn feeds the herbivores that graze there. The beautiful natural cycle of life. Vegans are brainwashed into thinking their way is the kindest way. It's not. Big food and big pharma want us all dependent on chemical products so that we're sick customers during our lifespan. Vegans are victims of this propaganda. I want them to wake up. That's why I write about it.

Thanks for popping by :)

@sift666 Always. I talk too much ahaha...

Here it is:

Oh dear... Sally's fella was the touchy-feely type then. Difficult situation for any organisation and within any marriage eek :S

Thanks for that. Very informative. I had no idea about the fermented vs non-fermented oil debate. I just buy cod liver oil capsules online or at the supermarket. Wow, your cod liver oil is expensive. That means mine is deffo crap and probs not doing me any good lol.

Nutra organics golden latte: that sounds wonderful. Does it still have the live bacteria from the manuka honey? That's supposed to be magical stuff innit.

Pretty sure I'm D3 deficient. Bloody English winter!

Do you ship abroad?

:)

PS You may get the same problem at your post relating to abiotic oil haha

I think you did not hit the person you were trying to answer... ;)

oops sorry vieira :S
Have a great day :D