Shattering The Meat Myth: Humans Are Natural Vegetarians

Kathy Freston
Kathy Freston

Author, Health and Wellness Expert
Posted: June 11, 2009 01:34 PM





'Dr. T. Colin Campbell, professor emeritus at Cornell University and author of The China Study, explains that in fact, we only recently (historically speaking) began eating meat, and that the inclusion of meat in our diet came well after we became who we are today. He explains that "the birth of agriculture only started about 10,000 years ago at a time when it became considerably more convenient to herd animals. This is not nearly as long as the time fashioned our basic biochemical functionality (at least tens of millions of years) and which functionality depends on the nutrient composition of plant-based foods."

That jibes with what Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine President Dr. Neal Barnard says in his book, The Power of Your Plate, in which he explains that "early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is to say a largely plant-based diet, drawing on foods we can pick with our hands. Research suggests that meat-eating probably began by scavenging--eating the leftovers that carnivores had left behind. However, our bodies have never adapted to it. To this day, meat-eaters have a higher incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems."

There is no more authoritative source on anthropological issues than paleontologist Dr. Richard Leakey, who explains what anyone who has taken an introductory physiology course might have discerned intuitively--that humans are herbivores. Leakey notes that "ou can't tear flesh by hand, you can't tear hide by hand.... We wouldn't have been able to deal with food source that required those large canines" (although we have teeth that are called "canines," they bear little resemblance to the canines of carnivores).

In fact, our hands are perfect for grabbing and picking fruits and vegetables.'



















http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/shattering-the-meat-myth_b_214390.html

I know I know. But I was bored. :popcorn:

"ou can't tear flesh by hand, you can't tear hide by hand.... We wouldn't have been able to deal with food source that required those large canines" (although we have teeth that are called "canines," they bear little resemblance to the canines of carnivores).

In fact, our hands are perfect for grabbing and picking fruits and vegetables. Similarly, like the intestines of other herbivores, ours are very long (carnivores have short intestines so they can quickly get rid of all that rotting flesh they eat). We don't have sharp claws to seize and hold down prey. And most of us (hopefully) lack the instinct that would drive us to chase and then kill animals and devour their raw carcasses. Dr. Milton Mills builds on these points and offers dozens more in his essay, "A Comparative Anatomy of Eating."

What about the meat from rats and small animals? What about non-plant food like insects, which are eaten all over the world today? What about snakes, fish and small birds?

Not every non-plant food source man has ever eaten and still eats requires large canines to process. Not every food source man went after was automatically larger than a Volkswagon.

And animals that scavenge for food don't need to kill it.

Going with the idea that humans evolved a bunch while living at the edges of continent (inside was too dry), what they are was insects including sea bugs like crabs.

They said to themselves, "I'm so damn hungry I'd even eat one of those big ocean bugs"
Followed by, "Damn this is good! Wish I had some melted butter."

why not try the ocean ones.

and the fact that most scientists seem to agree that it was our meaty diets that fueled the growth of our big brains.

The truth is our so-called "canine teeth" are canine in name only. Humans' "canine teeth" are unlike the canine teeth of actual canines, which are really long and really pointed. Our teeth are absolutely not like theirs. In fact, other vegetarian animals (like gorillas and horses) possess the same so-called "canine" teeth.

http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/natural.html

The fact that our eyes are in the front of our heads is and indication of the fact that humans are predators.

their eyes are in the front too but they are vegheads.

As a matter of fact on occassion they will hunt and kill other animals.

Just like humans...

my dentist removed all of mine when i was 9, my jaw was so small, he said we don't really need them. i didn't become a vegetarian till i was 35, didn't miss them.

as indicated by the fact that you can't use them to scare other dudes away from your woman.

They're certainly not predatory, you can't exactly chase down a deer and tear through squirming flesh with those puppies, ya know?

:think:

Protein is good. Ultimately, we should find the healthiest possible protein, which may or may not be animal protein. But for the developing countries, it's crucial to increase meat consumption.

With a strawberry shake and fries.


Mmmmmmmmmmmm........

My introductory Physiology course taught us that our field of vision was similar to that of most other carnivores.

Good thing I'm not normal!!! ;)

Because she is a total weenie.

...... but I think about a big corned beef sandwich or some lamb chops.... and it's all over. So what I'm trying to do is reduce my meat consumption gradually. Maybe one day I'll get there......
Part of my problem is that one of the protein substitutes for meat - beans - I can't stand.

:D :evilgrin: :toast: :thumbsup:

:thumbsup: :rofl:

"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
King James version
I was a vegetarian from around '71 to '74 and quit after my vegetarian wife and I were divorced. I love a good steak, but the human digestive system is bettersuited for fruits grains and vegies.

More and more studies are being released about the negative affects red meat has on humans, even the New York Times had a write up on it a week or so ago. :shrug:

I dont mind if other people eat whatever they want, its their bodies. Im pretty cool about tipping my hat to whatever people choose. :)

I'd love to see people cut back on meat though since it is not only healthier for them but for the creatures. I won't preach though.

As I recall, even Chimpanzees are occasional meat eaters.

BTY, Humans have unique evolutionary traits, such as the ability to process large quantities of starches through enhanced amylase production, and the ability to digest milk as adults.

Who knows what the next evolutionary advance might be; maybe we are just beginning to develop (or redevelop) carnivorous abilities.

when I am in a nursing home :)

:applause:

and engage in highly organized, cooperative hunting behavior. They are our closest living relative.

case closed.





Not really.. I don't doubt the research. But a good BLT is hard to pass up.

.

put on foods that are good for you but taste bad or bland.

"Aw, c'mon ma! A bowl of spinach? You're kidding, right?"

"There's bacon on it."

"Gimme! Gimmee, gimmee gimmee!!"

If we were designed to be just vegetarians, we would have GI tracts like horses or cows.

Because of this, and knowing what I do, I thank God every day that I am NOT physiologically a vegetarian.

:popcorn:

too many aryan threads and all, you know.
:popcorn:

a vegetarian for 3 years...
now vegan for 2 months.

Feeling amazingly better
than when I ate meat.

:shrug:

I'll need to read the original research because I just don't trust the reporter.

I stick to a restorative anti-inflammatory diet. And my stomache stopped making intrinsic factor so - I can't get the B Vitamins out of meat anyways. Eat Quinoa and nuts and fish and you'll be thinner than the red meat eaters.

civilizations....

We'd still be tribal herbifores like the apes with small, less-developed brains if we never became meat eaters.


The OP is junk science.

I dont know if thats advancement..:) :)

"We'd still be tribal herbifores like the apes with small, less-developed brains if we never became meat eaters."

Some kind of science to back up that statement?

I am mostly vegetarian, but there are certain essential vits that are best gotten from certain meats, so although I agree, that nuts, grains and seeds and fruits and veggies were the mainstay, I wonder how the average persons achieved complete nutritional excellence, but then again, maybe the toxins of the modern world, are completely overwhelming us, and our systems are really totally different from those days. Surely our bio responses are. Also, I believe the main key to all the diseases mentioned is imflammation.
Processed foods like white bread, white rice, pastas eaten along with meats, could bring on diabetis, etc. But organic meats eaten in those days, accompanied by unprocessed foods, I don't see as being the culprit. Just some thoughts.

Not to mention barbecue sauce.

to name all of those BBQ sauces after.

It's in the Bible.

I'm sorry.

No, really, I apologize for that one.

perfect for grabbing a Big Mac, too.

:popcorn:

The thumbs are perfect for opening up the cat.

Humans just ate whatever they could find to keep from starving. Sometimes it was plants but they also hunted. They would have had to rely on meat in the winter because that is all that was there. Everything else is frozen up for months. Summer and spring and fall have lots of berries and other plant foods.

I worked on a dig in southern Utah that was at least 10-15,000 years old. Those people had rabbit nets. But they just struggled to get enough calories to make it from one day to the next. They ate plants and they also ate rodents - anything that was edible.

why are they made out of meat?

if we hadn't already acquired a taste for them? I'll grant that sub-human primates are primarily vegetarian. But somewhere along the way, what became human became omnivorous.

I have no doubt that it contributed to the enlargement of our brains. It takes more brainpower to hunt than it does to gather.

good question

Given that primates are generally omnivorous, I am skeptical of this wellness "expert."

Yep, and the banana proves the existence of God. :eyes:

One could also argue that if we weren't omnivorous meat would have long been undigestable and no one would have ever started eating it. I have never seen a proper herbivore spontaneously start eating meat.

Also the whole vegan argument often feels to have the same reasoning and scientific support that intelligent design uses, so good call on that too.

Now that said we could probably choose our meat a bit more carefully. Though really from a wellness/dietary perspective it is the processed foods that destroy our bodies the most.

This is a diet faddist, not an evolutionary biologist. This doesn't make what she says wrong. Just dubiously expressed.

She's a quack. There are good arguments for a vegan diet and they don't involve "quantum wellness," whatever the fuck that is.

Our nearest relatives the chimpanzees are enthusiastic meat eaters, and engage in highly sophisticated cooperative hunting behavior. There's no reason to think that our early ancestors were any different. Then there's all the paleontological evidence of hunting tools and charred bones etc.

A meat free diet may be healthier, but it's got nothing to do with our evolutionary heritage.

As noted, most primates are omnivores and hunters, and we certainly wouldn't start farming animals that wasn't already a preferred part of our diet. You quoted that "you can't tear flesh by hand", yet previously mentioned our scavenging. We still, to a large degree, have a taste for aged meat. We certainly can tear aged meat by hand, though tool use of stones in all likelihood predated language.

We are adapted for a *primarily* vegetarian diet, and modern diets often includes far more meat than is ideal. However, deriving the notion we aren't adapted for meat because a high meat diet isn't as healthy is a non sequitur. We are omnivores adapted for variety, and restricting too much of our food intake to any single category isn't very healthy. Try living on mostly fruit instead of vegetables, or nuts without fruit.

In modern society it is possible, though not particularly easy, to replace the dietary requirements provided by meat through other means. It was a rare expensive high energy food that insured survival better than other food sources, thus our present predilection for it, much like our taste for sugar. In earlier societies forgoing meat when available was a huge risk to survival. Like sugar, our developed taste and modern choice leads to an unhealthy level of consumption. This does not mean we are not adapted for and need the nutritional contribution of meat, any more than sugar being bad means we are not adapted for fruit consumption.

yet on another thread, you (as a vegan) admit to having high cholesterol.

Okey dokey then.

first, I posted the OP not actually agreeing with the whole article..shit, man, I didnt write it I just posted it.
second, I dont have high cholesterol. there are 3 kinds of cholesterol, I just have one thats slightly elevated (they fluctuate day to day), and thats due to genetics.
3. that has nothing to do with the article. my slightly elevated cholesterol and the article.
4. I dont care who eats meat or who doesnt. I am not telling anyone to do anything, never have.
5. I personally am much healthier since I stopped meat and dairy because my whole family tends towards heart disease and stroke. they all have cholesterol readings that are off the charts and they eat tons of meat . and are all obese.
6. Im skinny and my BP is perfect and i still inherited their problems, so I have to watch it all the time.

being a vegan works for me. if being a meat eater works for you, enjoy. I dont care.
:)

1. And added a popcorn smiley. You knew full well what was going to happen.
2. "I don't have high cholesterol" ... "I just have one that's slightly elevated". Okey dokey. Always fun when someone contradicts themselves in a post, but even more fun when they do it in the same bullet point.
3. Sure it does, it says that our bodies "never adapted" to eating meat and lists several conditions that are allegedly due to that "fact," including heart disease which is linked to high cholesterol. (High LDL cholesterol, the same thing you have.)
4. If you say so. Posting this article would seem to indicate otherwise, but hey, I'll take your word for it.
5. "Tons" of meat, huh? Wow. If someone ate 2 pounds of meat each and every day they still wouldn't eat a ton of meat in a year. That's a lot of meat your family eats. And I suppose their heart disease, stroke, and obesity are SOLELY due to meat consumption and not ANYTHING else, right? I mean, silly things like lack of exercise, not eating a BALANCED diet (which most certainly can include meat), or maybe even genetics? Naw, cuz that would mean you might have high cholesterol and you don't... oh wait.
6. So it's true, vegans are thin and have health problems? I didn't think that stereotype was valid?

being a vegan works for me.

Except to lower your cholesterol. But apart from that...

if being a meat eater works for you, enjoy. I dont care.

Then why post an inflammatory, preaching article?

people can be vegans and have elevated cholesterol. if I ate meat and dairy right now it wouldnt be slightly elevated it would be off the charts. so I am doing what I need to do to keep healthier for myself.
why do you think the article is inflammatory?? its just one persons opinion, and it makes for an interesting discussion.
you seem to be all hyped up about it, and it just makes me ponder...why?
nonetheless, if you enjoy Big Macs and Steak Tartar be my guest. everyone is different.
discourse, by the by, can be genteel.

It's foods high in saturated fats. Eating lean meat, drinking skim milk, eating eggs will all have very little effect on one's cholesterol. Certain vegetable oils are extremely high in saturated fats, and CAN elevate one's cholesterol. Coconut oil, for instance, has more saturated fat than butter. (Many margarines do, too.)

why do you think the article is inflammatory??

No, the question is, why do YOU? You posted a popcorn smiley with it. You knew very well the reaction it would get. You knew it was inflammatory.

nonetheless, if you enjoy Big Macs and Steak Tartar be my guest. everyone is different.

I'm a rare breed. I've never had one Big Mac in my entire life. Something about that extra bread in the middle, plus the lack of tomatoes. A good burger needs tomatoes. Whopper beats Big Mac hands down, but I don't eat many of those either. I prefer my homemade burgers, made from grass-fed beef or buffalo. I use only real butter on my bread. I eat an average of 3-4 eggs a week. Yum, yum. And my cholesterol, BP, and triglycerides are awesome. Oh and I'm a healthy weight. So fuck that nonsense about meat eating being unhealthy. Excessive consumption of just about anything is likely going to have negative effects, it's ridiculous to make the kind of blanket unsupported assertions found in the OP article.

a midden. I doubt it. I have.

The Chumash, in California, lived near the water. The town in which I used to live was built on sand dunes next to a quiet bay. There were middens all over the place, including on my house's lot. So, I did a little dig into the midden in my yard. Not scientific, but pretty thorough.

Shells, mostly, indicating that the previous inhabitants of that area ate a LOT of shellfish. Rabbit bones. Deer bones. Bird bones. Fish hooks made of abalone shell. This went down as deep as I could dig, so they'd been there for a long, long time. One guy from the nearby University estimated that the Los Osos Chumash had been there for at least 10,000 years. I can believe it, given the huge number of middens in the area, including some on the edge of where the bay had once been, but was no more.

Hunters and gatherers they were. There was not enough vegetable matter in that area to support even a small group. Some berries, some wild buckwheat, some edible plants and seeds, including acorns, but not enough to support humans over a long period.

It is my opinion that the "expert" who wrote that stuff in the OP is no expert at all, and is propagating incorrect information regarding early humans. They ate what filled their bellies and kept them alive. Lots of it came from the water, since human settlements are most often found in those areas. Middens abound, full of evidence this writer has not considered.

He's bovine!

I won't swallow:)