Are we made to eat meat?

[Piglet]

I'm really annoyed I was just talking to a couple of mates about me being a vegetarian. I asked them the question that always baffles me - how do you chose which animals to eat and which to keep as pets... Anyway they said that being a vegetarian was stupid becuase humans were designed and made to eat meat? Is this true? Yes I know we have some sharp teeth but thats not enough to say we were built to be omnivores does it?

[mncavylover]

Here are a few helpful links:

http://www.vegetarianteen.com/questi...estion34.shtml
http://www.rense.com/general20/meant.htm

Hope that helps!

[TinaFabulous]

Umm, well even if you look back to the ancient years, we kept animals and ate animals... Then it really depended apon if you had a use for the animals, like if you were poor you probably won't use your sheep for meat, you would more likely sell them or keep them for fiber... I really believe that God created the things on this earth for our use, so chosing to not eat meat just because it was alive at one point seems rediculas to me. Even in biblical times there were sacrifices, they ate fish and all sorts of meat. I could understand holding back from a company or brand that kills the animals in a inhuman way, but that hasn't been a problem around here because in small town the meat is breed grown and "put-down" in the same place, there isnt inhumain traveling or cruel killing, they just live are fattened up and are sold at our market.

As for difference between pets and food, well a cow a chicken or a pig can be a pet, its pretty obvious they are used for meat more often so then dogs cats hamsters and smaller birds... That has alot more to do with the demand for pets, because people used to only keep and feed what animals that could pay they're way, now there is a major demand of people who want to keep animals for absoutly no reason except there own enjoyment. That is why petstores are breeding, and there are so many homeless pets, because people don't realize that no matter how hard you try most pets wont pay there way or be able to jump through a flaming hoop or whatever. I think that people should really sit down and consider the financial and time aspects of getting a pet before they actually do...

And sense we simply keep pets for pleasure, there is no distinction between a pet and food, only a persons preference.

[TinaFabulous]

And some people may argue that if you can't actually let yourself kill it and strip the meat yourself, then you probably shouldnt be eating it. I'd have to disagree, I think thats just a girl thing. I could do it myself, I see my dad stripping dear meet right out of the body, and cleaning it in the kitchen. He didnt even enjoy doing this when he was younger, and now it's no big deal.

I know this teacher, hes in high school science, anyway he found this road kill deer by the road and loaded it up in his pick-up and brought it right to his classes. Each hour had a different task to do with teh body every week, there task was to get the meat seperated and cleaned from everything else, we'll let's just say the kids got there body structure class and the guys got a glimps of the not so fun side of hunting.

Me, myself I got my first bow when I was about 5, loved it, my dad would set up targets in my yard and I got really good... Ive never shot anything alive, but if I ever was bored enough to sit in a tree with my dad for hours Im sure I could .

[CavyBree]

Well said Tina!

I agree that God put the animals here for our use. But every person has the right to CHOOSE which animals to use. In the past, say biblical or caveman times, it was probably more necessary to eat animals, because that was just what they had available.

If you want to be a vegan, GREAT! It is totally your choice and you shouldn't let it bother you if someone tries to put you down for it.

[TinaFabulous]

me, noonono, anyway yup I totally agree eat whatever you want... I just don't think someone should hold themself away from meat because they feel they "have to"

Actually, I'm one to eat whatever I want, I tried boca burgers awhile back, and even though im not vegitarian or anything I still eat them becasue I love them and they re like a ton healthier, anyway I get alot of questions like "are you veggitarian" almost like to eat boca bugers I must be, but anyway I just kindly explain that I find them yummier than regualr hamburgeres so thats why :-).

[CavyBree]

Sorry Tina, I was telling Piglet that that is great if she wants to be a vegan. I could tell from your post that you are not one. I am not one either. Meat is just so yummy! But I do wish that there were more regulations as far as how food animals are treated. I have read some horrific things in the PETA magazines I get.

[Piglet]

NO! I don't eat meat, but Im not a vegan. I was looking for answers to back me up

[tardigrade]

I have read stuff about the differences in digestive tract from meat eating animals vs. non that made it seem like we aren't. Of course it was written by vegans. I was vegan for 10 years, through a pregnancy and everything, but recently stopped. My body was using up its supply of cholesterol, which is really bad. I learned this from a series of blood tests. Cholesterol is used to make the sheathing between the synapses fire, among other things. So no cholesterol = no brain. The vegan literature says the body can make its own cholesterol, but mine apparently can't. I heard it has to do with your ancestry. Anyway, I couldn't be vegan anymore so now I eat some fish or eggs a couple times a week or so. That's my personal experience. I don't think there are any cultures in the world that are traditionally vegan and the only ones I know of that are vegetarian are in India. Buddhists aren't allowed to kill, but I have read a lot of them just have a non-Buddhist butcher in the village. So I was able to grow a new human being in my body without animal products of any type, but my body used up all its cholesterol that way. Also human milk is very high in cholesterol. I'm totally not anti-vegan -I'm still mostly vegan and very conscious of animals - but for me, my body couldn't do it.

[mncavylover]

Wow. I just have to say I disagree that animals were put here for our use. By God, you say? (Not trying to be prejudiced here at all.) Where, exactly, does he say that we can eat them? Torture them? etc. So, I see that this is not the general concensus. Did anyone read the links I gave? Unbiased medical studies show the benefits of being veg. It is a proven fact. Like meat? So do I. Do I eat it? No. It is my personal decision to cut it out of my diet. If I can make a small sacrifice for the justice of others, I will. Also, as for cholesterol--a veg diet is lower in cholesterol than a diet with meats or animal products. It is still healthy.

And Tina, as for the "distinction" between pet animals and food animals: it is a conception born into us by culture. Also, you're saying that just because we have done something in the past, it is okay to do now? Well, that's interesting. That technically makes slavery, abuse, etc. legal as well. Odd logic if I may say so. Please not that I am not trying to personally attack anyone, I am just interested in what the response will be. Thanks for reading!

[LiciaMommycott]

Originally Posted by mncavylover

Also, as for cholesterol--a veg diet is lower in cholesterol than a diet with meats or animal products.

I think that's what Tardi was saying was the problem. She wasn't getting ENOUGH cholesterol.

As for God,

Genesis 1:24

24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.

Genesis 1:26

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Main Entry: live·stock
Pronunciation: 'lIv-"stäk
Function: noun
: animals kept or raised for use or pleasure; especially : farm animals kept for use and profit

[Sparky]

in answer to the question that you ask your friends, we keep guinea pigs and rabbits because they have traits that we (especially women) are programmed to wish to nurture, such as big eyes. to put it simply they are "cuter" you cant exactly cuddle a cow. you cant (enjoyably) pet a pig.

[Piglet]

Different religions have different views on God, so we can't really bring him into this topic. In my religion, everything is seen as equal including animals. Its a sin to kill and eat them. So licia you've given one perspective about God, but what about the rest?

[citronsoul]

I don't really agree with our choice of pets being based on how we are "programmed" to nuture. It's not just the cute & cuddly that we see as pets, but there also snakes, arachnids, fish...I think the types of animals we consider to pets is also influenced by culture.

For instance, over here in Belgium horse meat is a delicacy. But to me, a horse is for riding & a companion. I would never even consider eating a horse. The idea disgusts me. And yet my grandma keeps telling me how lovely it tastes.

[tardigrade]

Licia - the Bible that we read has been translated many times over so I don't think a dictionary definition is necessarily going to work for that argument... As for people being granted "dominion" over animals, I don't think a king or president would be considered a good ruler if he enslaved, tortured, ate, and destroyed the homes of his subjects.

Religion and spiritual beliefs are very personal and sensitive. I am not trying to give you a headache about your beliefs or to change them, but to let you know of how someone else interprets the same passage.

And yeah, as a vegan diet contains no cholesterol, I wasn't getting enough and my body wasn't making enough (if it even makes it at all, I'm not sure about this).

[jacblades]

if you didnt click any of the links that mncavylover posted, here are some hilights.
[size=+1]Cardiologist William C. Roberts hails from the famed cattle state of Texas, but he says this without hesitation: Humans aren't physiologically designed to eat meat. "I think the evidence is pretty clear. If you look at various characteristics of carnivores versus herbivores, it doesn't take a genius to see where humans line up," says Roberts, editor in chief of The American Journal of Cardiology and medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. © Stephen Kroninger[/size] [size=+1]As further evidence, Roberts cites the carnivore's short intestinal tract, which reaches about three times its body length. An herbivore's intestines are 12 times its body length, and humans are closer to herbivores, he says. Roberts rattles off other similarities between human beings and herbivores. Both get vitamin C from their diets (carnivores make it internally). Both sip water, not lap it up with their tongues. Both cool their bodies by perspiring (carnivores pant).[/size] [size=+1]Human beings and herbivorous animals have little mouths in relation to their head sizes, [font=Arial]unlike[/font] carnivores, whose big mouths are all the better for "seizing, killing and dismembering prey," argues nutrition specialist Dr. Milton R. Mills, associate director of preventive medicine for the Washington, D.C.-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). People and herbivores extensively chew their food, he says, whereas swallowing food whole is the preferred method of carnivores and omnivores.[/size]

i think it is quite convincing that if you eat raw meat, you will get sick and possibly die.
personally, i think the only meat humans are meant to eat is fish. (and personally, i dont because a fish is a living animal just like me. i also have about 20 aquariums and that would be quite hypocritical of me if i were to eat my friends )
even if i didnt care about fish being living animals, i still would not eat fish this day in age because of all of the mercury and other pollutants in the oceans and water systems.

what are our teeny tiny canine teeth for?
not mammals.
fish.

[LiciaMommycott]

Actually, I'm non-religious. Someone made a comment about God, so I did some Internet research. Most people commenting on God's wishes get their info out of the bible so that's where I went. I eat meat because that's how I was brought up and I'm fullfilling my place at the top of the food chain. I'm not big on the taste of vegetables so I don't get enough. I'm low on protein and meat serves a good purpose there (in addition to iron pills so I guess maybe the meat is optional but I enjoy it).