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Veg*n Are we made to eat meat?

Piglet

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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?
 
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CavyBree

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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.
 
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CavyBree

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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

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

tardigrade

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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

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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

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mncavylover said:
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 javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?livest01.wav=livestock')
Pronunciation: 'lIv-"stäk
Function: noun
: animals kept or raised for use or pleasure; especially : farm animals kept for use and profit
 

Sparky

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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, unlike 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

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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).
 

Krysanthemum

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My understanding was that the human race would not be where it is today without the development towards eating meat.

Humanity started as herbivores, as are most modern primates, but during the Pleistocene era, there was a massive worldwide drought, climatic change, and forests, for the most part, died out. Humans, as they existed then, started to scavenge for food to survive, and that meant including meat in their diet, although they were not yet able to kill their own animals. Their digestive tracts changed over many generations, as did their brain size and intelligence. Eventually they transitioned from scavenger to hunter when we discovered the use of bones as tools and weapons. Agriculture followed, animals were domesticated to make farming easier, and civilisations grew from there.

That is a very broad generalisation of the theory, so please don't nit pick on the details. But as I understand it, if we had stayed vegetarian, humans would be extinct by now, or at the very least, certainly not the dominant species on the planet.

I also remember reading somewhere that being carnivorous or omivorous is directly relatable to brain size, that human brains grew because we started eating meat (not for a second am I suggesting that vegetarians are stupider than meat eaters, I'm talking about a long term change in human physiology).

I'm not suggesting that vegetarianism is wrong, I just disagree with the sentiment that humans were never "designed" to eat meat. For starters, that suggests that we were "designed" by someone, not simply a product of genetic selection over time to promote survival features (sorry, I believe in evolution, not creationism). Secondly, current theories do suggest that we have benefitted from meat eating.

By the same token, I don't believe we were "designed" to eat meat either. I just think that's the way our species has evolved. Obviously our bodies can handle meat because the majority of the population does it every day. It can cause health problems, but so can many, many other things that the human body ingests, such as alcohol and fat.
 
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jacblades

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Krysanthemum said:
My understanding was that the human race would not be where it is today without the development towards eating meat.

Humanity started as herbivores, as are most modern primates, but during the Pleistocene era, there was a massive worldwide drought, climatic change, and forests, for the most part, died out. Humans, as they existed then, started to scavenge for food to survive, and that meant including meat in their diet, although they were not yet able to kill their own animals. Their digestive tracts changed over many generations, as did their brain size and intelligence. Eventually they transitioned from scavenger to hunter when we discovered the use of bones as tools and weapons. Agriculture followed, animals were domesticated to make farming easier, and civilisations grew from there.

That is a very broad generalisation of the theory, so please don't nit pick on the details. But as I understand it, if we had stayed vegetarian, humans would be extinct by now, or at the very least, certainly not the dominant species on the planet.

I also remember reading somewhere that being carnivorous or omivorous is directly relatable to brain size, that human brains grew because we started eating meat (not for a second am I suggesting that vegetarians are stupider than meat eaters, I'm talking about a long term change in human physiology).

I'm not suggesting that vegetarianism is wrong, I just disagree with the sentiment that humans were never "designed" to eat meat. For starters, that suggests that we were "designed" by someone, not simply a product of genetic selection over time to promote survival features (sorry, I believe in evolution, not creationism). Secondly, current theories do suggest that we have benefitted from meat eating.

By the same token, I don't believe we were "designed" to eat meat either. I just think that's the way our species has evolved. Obviously our bodies can handle meat because the majority of the population does it every day. It can cause health problems, but so can many, many other things that the human body ingests, such as alcohol and fat.
you know the phrase, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should"

i can eat paper (and yes, i know, technically it comes from a plant) or crisco to survive but that certainly does not mean that i was made for eating those things. perhaps we were meant to eat meat a long time ago. i am sure our teeth more resembled those of a carnivore back then though. perhaps we had really short colons too. back then, i am also relatively sure that we did not have factory farms that confined animals in darkness for their whole lifespans and then tortured them before turning them into salisbury steak tv dinners. before the bear became bear kabobs, i think he lived out a pretty nice life. it is a little bit different today.

our teeth look hardly carnivorous, we have colons longer than our entire bodies and if we eat raw meat, it is very possible we will die from doing so. animals are tortured on a mass scale just so 99 cent hamburgers at wendy's can be at the tips of our fingers at anytime.

perhaps our race might not have survived had we not eaten meat, but now meat is far from necessary in our lives.
perhaps in a few millenia it might be said that we could not have survived as a race had we not been herbivorous. hopefully they would be right.
 
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