Why do humans eat meat?

Does no one care how the plants feel?

Vegetarians will shout all day long that it's wrong to eat meat, but they go and kill plants.

We don't need vegetables. You could find the supplements. Just like we don't need meat.

Hell, we don't need to eat at all. Let's just take vitamins.

Give me a break...
 
Adventchildcs said:
Does no one care how the plants feel?

Vegetarians will shout all day long that it's wrong to eat meat, but they go and kill plants.

We don't need vegetables. You could find the supplements. Just like we don't need meat.

Hell, we don't need to eat at all. Let's just take vitamins.

Give me a break...
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Well there's certainly a difference between eating animals and eating plants. Plant's don't think, they don't actively pursue anything and don't develop any real relationships with each other.
Animals on the other hand are just the opposite.

That's not to say I feel eating meat is wrong or that I agree with one side or the other, I'm just trying to make clear the difference between plants and animals.


“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handy
:P
 
hireshi said:
Its also been proved that humans can live to be over a 110 years old. There's even claims that there is a 130 year old woman in Kazhakstan (spelled wrong, I know.) and she claims to not have been dieting on meat.
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Just a quick pet peeve, never use outliers in an argument (especially ones that are probably completely untrue).

Although this would be amazing if verified, as Pablo pointed out, this is an outlier.

Allow me to give you such an example:

The woman who is verified as the oldest person who ever lived was Jeanne Calment.

She was a meat eater, who also smoked two cigarettes every day until she was 117 years old.

"When asked on one occasion for her prescription for a long life, she mentioned garlic, vegetables, cigarettes, red wine, and avoiding brawls. On another occasion, she ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet of port wine, and nearly 2 pounds of chocolate eaten every week."

I would assume you would like the vegetable part, but that, to me at least, sounds like a horrible diet. I'm going to eat 2 pounds(!) of chocolate a week, smoke two cigs a day, drink a lot wine, and rub olive oil all over myself as well as my food.

Jeanne Calment lived to be 122 years old.

As a wise man once said, "There is no "why". It Shakespeare." Translation: There isn't an explanation for everything. Some shit just "is" and you take it for what it's worth. She most likely lived to be 122 probably because she had a genetic predisposition to do so, and so she did.

I guarantee you that if we all started smoking, guzzling port wine, consuming massive quantities of chocolate, and rubbing our bodies in olive oil we would not live to be 100.

--------------------

Studies have also shown that there is a correlation between diet and mortality ratio. Take this one by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the results are not what you would expect...

(FYI- Simply put, the lower the number the better)

"Meat Eaters" : 1.0

"Occasional Meat Eaters" : .84

"Fish Eaters" : .82

"Vegetarians" : .94

"Vegans" : 1.0

So it appears based off of this information that fish eaters live the longest, followed by occasional meat eaters, vegetarians, meat eaters, and vegans, who were last in the study.

The data leads one to conclude that there really isn't that big of a difference between meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans. If anything this study tell us that people need to eat a lot more fish, and avoid the extremes such as eating only meat (meat eaters) or not eating any meat (vegans and vegetarians) if they want to live longer. Seeing as we are omnivores, this makes sense.

The study can be found here:

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/70/3/516S/T7

----------------------------

As a side note, The Vegetarian Resource group has found through extensive research that humans are naturally omnivores
 
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We eat meat because our bodies were designed to eat meat, humans are naturally an omnivorous species. Meat provides all of the essential amino acids, many necessary minerals, especially iron, important fatty acids(especially in fish), and many vitamins. Then there's the fact that its delicious, which only adds incentive to eat it.

As far as the arguments against it go, none of them hold any real scientific value. The teeth argument is especially absurd, that's like saying bears aren't meant to eat plant foods because they have carnivorous looking teeth. We know that bears eat more plant matter than animal tissue overall, so the point becomes moot.
 
Humans are omnivores. We have thin, straight teeth that act like knives, sharp, pointy teet that tear, and flat, rounded teeth to grind.

Our bodies, like all the other apes, can handle vegetable as well as animal nutrition.

So, no, humans aren't carnivores, but we aren't herbivores either.
 
I can't help but feel the info given in the first post here is a little unfounded and well...wrong. I'm no expert on the matter but perhaps you could explain why a (vegetarian) friend of mine had to take daily supplements simply to keep him going, as he didn't eat meat? There's plenty of proteins and the like in meat that humans need otherwise they simply wouldn't be getting all the nutrition they would need and become too weak.

I have no problem with people being vegetarian, hell it's their body so they can do what they want with it. It does bother me when people are preachy about it, I don't tell people that they need to shove their faces with meat and I'd like to think that others can grant me the same liberty.
 
You need to eat meat sometimes because there are some nutrients that can ONLY be found in meat. (same thing goes with eating fruits and veggies)

A person simply needs a balanced diet.
 
Personally, I interpreted the first post as a bunch of bullshit. We have several kinds of teeth, which share traits with carnivores, herbivores, and piscevores (fish eaters).
-Incisors and canines, used to puncture foods
-Molars, used for grinding
-Other teeth used for chopping.
Therefore we are omnivores.
-Human blood needs hemoglobiin to color it as well as for nutrients. Hemoglobin can only be found in blood, which also contains iron.
-Cow milk is not used to fatten up a calf, instead it is like a super liquid which facilitates structural growth of a calf. This is the basis of the "got milk" ads.
-People are not fat because of meat, but because of other factors. Example: Alabama has the highest obesity rate of the US states. It also happens to be the birthplace of many fried foods. And as Pablo said some people are just goddamn lazy.
That's all for now, but I will post more.
 
Huh? Humans are not herbivores. We are omnivores, and so are designed to ingest both meat and vegatables. Meat, as well as fish, contains lots of essential vitamins and minerals. We could live without meat, yes, but we would not be healthy. I used to be VERY skinny, but ever since I started eating meat once a week, I have filled out and look much healthier. And junk is added to most food, not just meat. One could always go organic (if they can afford it).
 
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I did not try to say that we are herbivores, just that our dental structure is that of both carnivores and herbivores.
-Pointed teeth like incisors and canines are used by carnivores, as they puncture efficiently- the killing weapon of predators.
-Molars are used for grinding, and are used by herbivores to mush up their plant food. Early herbivores like the apotosaurus used this.
 
Dunno, guess it's the way things have happened over the human past/ history.

We needed meat to survive during rough times, like our ancestors during the Caveman periods. A small plant wouldn't last them, so they had to chew on a animal to live.

Alot of people believe it's because we are kind of like animals ourselves and prey on animal behavior ( Like hunting, enjoying eating animal food )

Some also believe that it's something to do with Bloodtype. That Bloodtype O's crave more meat products because their blood needs iron than the other types.

Only heard research online, and it could be wrong. You can never really take online research too seriously.

The dangerous chemicals being in meat products is kind of true depending on where you live. Living in England during 96-98 ish it was difficult to buy meat then because of the Mad Cow Disease problem they had back then. And you can't travel back to England if you were living then, because of the Meat problem that they had.

But tend to believe that humans only eat meat now because of what they did in the past and the teeth have shaped and our bodies have formed because we are used to it.

Don't think Humans were originally designed to eat meat. And don't eat meat at all.
Think it's like murder the way Humans do things, so they can get a decent slap of Meat.

But really have no idea. We eat meat, because most like the taste I guess.
 
Chris Redfield said:
Humans usually eat meat because it is something we are used to. Every since the ice age when plants and other non-animal food was extremely rare we have eaten meat, because it was the only thing available to us to eat. Ever since then we have simply gotten used to it and over time it has become a natural thing. Meat is also good for those with iron deficiency who cannot take things such as pills which allow an iron intake. Meat is easy to get, and I must also disagree with what you have said about meat being filled with drugs and others things like that, it is very easy to get meat which isn't like that and you're likely to find that nowadays most companies do not put additives or other such things into their meat due to the fact that it has been known to be dangerous to humans.

Some companies also prefer to not even use preservatives in the hope that they are as healthy as possible for the human body. Also it's not really a fetish, calling it a fetish makes it seem as though we love it in a sexual way which in my opinion would just be wrong... So so wrong...
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You appear to be very knowledgeable, but lacking in the interest to take the knowledge, and use it to manifest the image that is the reality of the correlation between food and drugs.

"Food and Drug Administration" FDA.
Explain to me this, what do food and drugs have in common, aside from that they affect our bodies in both positive and negative aspects? Well, the answer is the administration that bonds them to us. This is just a personal observation and is not meant to create contesting ideals and a proverbial flame war.

When you eat, you gain the effects of the phenomenon, nourishment. Now let's look at the root word, "nourish."

nour⋅ish

  /ˈnɜr
thinsp.png
ɪʃ, ˈnʌr-/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [nur-ish, nuhr-] Show IPA –verb (used with object) 1. to sustain with food or nutriment; supply with what is necessary for life, health, and growth. 2. to cherish, foster, keep alive, etc.: He had long nourished the dream of living abroad. 3. to strengthen, build up, or promote: to nourish discontent among the workers; to nourish the arts in one's communityI see words like sustain, necessary, life, health, growth, keep alive, strengthen, build up, and promote. Those words sound really productive for your body, don't they? You immediately like the prospect of being nourished.

Everyone knows how corrupt our government has started out being, and has become over the years. They've increased prices on things that will kill us such as alcohol and cigarettes, so that they profit from our struggle to cope with the world they run around us.

I've noticed a cycle that drugs produce. You gain a series of symptoms, then you take a drug that removes those symptoms. So you trust drugs. Then you gain another series of symptoms, different than before. You then take the drugs you try and gain different symptoms such a Example A, B, and C. At least the initial D and E are gone. But now what? Which is less tolerable? Obviously, A is worse than B and C, but C's the least convenient. I can put B on the shelf and worry about that when the time comes. So I'll take some medicine to relieve A and partially C. Oh what's this? New symptoms. At least A and C are gone. Now there's another case of D, but much worse this time, and the beat goes on until the prescribed users choose their symptoms and take those drugs for the rest of their life. Meanwhile, they're eating meat. Good ol' meat.

First of all, pig farmers inject all of their livestock with MORPHINE, then they stack them like legos on top of each other in a trench-like walled in storage area. I'm not going to go on and tell what they do there.

Cows that die before they go to the slaughterhouse, on the way, in the truck are FDA approved, and they don't research the causes. So that delicious quarter pounder with cheese you always order after work on Fridays could very well have been one of these cows, and it's not traceable.

Chickens, cows, and other livestock sold as meat are also constantly given shots of steroids to make their muscles more plump and succulent for the packaging.

I believe humans eat meat because they're too fucking picky to stay vegetarian and they want what they want, how it's cooked. Notice how essentially, we're the cruelest species on the planet. We oppress, kill, usurp, and hunt down for our own enjoyment other species that aren't even really in our preferred ecosystem.

So why do we eat meat? We're vain and careless.
 
Because bein a vegetarian is for pansies? Idk I just eat what i like. And I like me some meat. Now if they could make a carrot or an apple that tasted like some pot roast or a big mac then maybe I'd go the pansy way. But seein as that's not the case I'll leave the plant eatin to the cows and rabbits and I'll just eat the cow and rabbit.
 
Why do humans eat meat?

  • Because it's available and it's a nutrient.

Do humans need to eat meat?

  • No, not really. They can survive without it. A vegetarian who eats a balanced diet is no less healthy than a meat eater who eats a balanced diet.
To those who have argued that 'we have always eaten meat,' yes we have, but when we were foraging in the wild, meat was a luxury, and we ate it very occasionally. The general diet consisted of fruit, veg, pulses and grains - the foods we could forage for.

The problem with meat consumption nowadays is excess. Most people eat two to three portions of meat a day, which is certainly not necessary.

Linked to this is the problematic (yet shocking popular) idea that a meal is not a meal without a chunk of meat. Too often, people forget to eat fresh veg too. A HEALTHY meal is 25% protein (meat, fish, pulses, Quorn, tofu), 25% carbs, and 50% vegetable. The majority of people probably have 50% meat, 50% carbs.

Viewing meat as the star of the meal has led to a rather unhealthy attitude towards fruit and veg. Very few kids will turn down a meal with meat because they have been made to believe that meat is exciting whilst veg is boring. More often than not, the attention to flavour and detail is made with the meat. Veg are often served as a bland side, with no imagination whatsoever. A limp, plain carrot is more likely to be served than carrot and potato mash with a hint of spice. A pile of green beans is more likely to be served than a green bean and aubergine curry. A piece of brocolli or courgette is more likely to appear, overcooked, on the plate than a brocolli or courgette fritter flavoured with feta cheese and parsley.

Basically, people should eat some vegetarian meals too so that they can discover what vegetables have to offer. This is more important to general health, I think. If you want meat too, fine, eat a little. Have your favourite chicken dish on a Monday, your spaghetti bolagnaise (it's far better with meat than it is with Quorn or tofu) on a Wednesday, and have your lamb mousakka on a Friday! There's nothing wrong with eating meat in and of itself, but don't regard veg as a lesser food.

The excessive consumption of meat has also led to unethical methods as farmers and manufacturers have leant towards mass production, but meat eaters are sick of that argument. All I'll say is: I will never be in favour of breeding hundreds of animals only to kill them. It's barbaric and it's not necessary. If you're going to eat meat, eat ethically produced meat.

Mind you, then we run into another problem. :lew: Supermarkets charge through the roof for ethically produced meat. Not everyone can afford to pay the extra money, and most of the time, the methods used to kill the animals aren't that much better. Much as we like to think that the power is with the people, the supermarkets are the problem more than the consumer. -_- In order to make a difference, the consumer would either have to stop eating meat or would have to pay more than they can afford. Neither are fair on the people who love their meat.

So I guess I'll just stick to 'eat more vegetarian meals and don't treat veg as inferior.'
 
Caedus said:
Notice how essentially, we're the cruelest species on the planet. We oppress, kill, usurp, and hunt down for our own enjoyment other species that aren't even really in our preferred ecosystem.

So why do we eat meat? We're vain and careless.
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Cruelest species on the planet? Nature isn't a huge hugfest itself - humans don't have a monopoly on cruelty. You think a pack of predators cares when it eats its prey alive? That orcas care as they drown gray whale cubs? Dolphins have been known to rape humans and kill sharks that pose no threat. Many species rape (like ducks) just as a normal means of reproduction. Chimpanzees will drive out and kill other troops and even commit cannibalism. They also go on hunts to kill and eat monkeys when they don't actually need to.

Nature is completely messed up. We're just one more product of it.

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Why do we eat meat? Because we evolved the advantage to. Whoever said meat eating is a relatively new thing with humans was wrong - hunting is a new thing. Humans and our ancestors have been scavengers and foragers for a long time. It's the chief reason we're bipedal (most energy efficient way to travel long distances + the ability to carry shit). Long before we hunted, or humans were even a species, we scavenged corpses. The first tools were used as scrapers, not weapons, to remove meat from corpses. We'd then carry it off to eat somewhere safer.

Later, meat helped us travel long distances and spread across the world. Meat is packed full of calories and can be cooked to last longer. It's an ideal food when you're traveling long distances.

Why do we eat meat now? Because we always have, it tastes good, and it is a useful food. The way I look at it, I wouldn't eat any meat that I wouldn't be okay with killing myself. If I want a burger, I go into knowing full well I would be alright with killing the cow to eat it. Really, I think the only meat I couldn't handle eating is a human, cat, or dog.

I don't really care if you don't eat meat based on some moral principle, but the health argument is flawed and divorced from fact (as many in the thread have illustrated). Just don't try and force that view on others. Or act totally batshit insane, like PETA.
 
Pity I didn't get in on this early enough.

Anyway, one of the major reasons humans eat meat?

Our brain.

Y'see, an average 1.5 kg (3 lbs) brain as active as the human one needs an awful lot of fuel to keep functioning. Any paleoanthropologist (amateur or professional) worth his breeches will tell you that the incremental growth of the human brain from our early ancestors like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus_afarensisAustralopethicus afarensisall the way up to the earliest examples of homo sapiens coincided with an incremental reduction in size of other organs, most notably the digestive tract.

That's because a longer digestive tract that's more adapted to plant matter burns a lot more fuel and the increase in brain size requires a redirection of calories from the digestive to the brain.

If our ancestors were going to support a bigger brain they were going to have to rely on other nutrient sources than plant matter, otherwise we'd have the same problem that a lot of herbivores have: we'd spend all goddamn day trying to cram as much plant matter as we could in our guts. The problem is, few primates can digest plant matter effectively--ungulates have enough trouble as it is, needing digestive tracts with multiple stomachs and the whole process of rumination... It takes them a whole day to digest enough food for the basic calories.

Humans however took a very different direction than many primates. You see, opportunism and scavenging is pretty much the reason humans went anywhere beyond large apes. The necessity to come up with inventive ways to sustain ourselves spurred the growth of the brain, which itself then demanded a different kind of nutrition. You can't feed such a massive brain on plant matter.

There's ample evidence that the earliest humans turned to omnivore tendencies fairly early. From picking apart carrion left by bigger, more capable predators to breaking bones to reach marrow. In fact, bone marrow may be what started everything. Bone marrow has an exceptionally high calorie count and is an ideal source of protein--exactly what a large brain needs. Eventually humans began to turn to predator behavior which shaped us as a species--the reason we walk upright, we are nature's only true marathon runners, are mostly hairless, depend greatly on social links, part of why we developed language, and sweat like...well, humans, is because we became hunters.

This turn to including meat led to our becoming a dominant species. The idea that we 'are not meant to eat meat' is honestly, from an evolutionary and scientific point of view...stupid. We're omnivores, we ate whatever we could find and in the long run a combination of plant and meat diet is what was able to sustain human development and evolution. Abandoning meat is pretty much like taking a step backwards and then stumbling all the way back to our earliest monkey ancestors.

And to mention the importance of starting to eat meat for human kind, let me elaborate a little bit. We began to walk upright as soon as we couldn't afford to spend all our time in trees but the reason we became so good at walking upright and most importantly, running, is largely because of hunting and competing with carnivores. You see, compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, human locomotion on two legs is pretty unique. We have comparatively huge gluteus maximus muscles (aka...buttcheeks!) and thigh muscles to accomplish this, and springy ankle tendons that allow us to recycle energy. We consume about 20% less energy running than a horse does--humans can actually outrun a horse in long distances, under conditions. We've got barrel chests and large nostrils that let us breathe hard even when we're running at full sprint--most herbivores can't breathe freely while running like crazy. We have less hair and the ability to sweat copiously--one of the most effective self-cooling systems in nature. All these are adaptations for hunting. We've been designed to run long distances because running down prey was the earliest method used for hunting and it's still used by certain peoples around the world.

We're meant to eat meat because we haven't always had it this easy, where we just pop to the supermarket to get munchies. We've had to chase dinner down when plants weren't enough and I think that (give or take) 200.000 years worth of evolution will be very disappointed...

Now excuse me, I'm going to go have the best of both worlds: Fresh salad with steak. :D
 
XDDDD @hireshi

Dude. I'm sorry. XD But I cannot help but laugh! You're sources man, my god, just look at your sources!

If you come on here with such claims, I expected you to have some serious sources to back it up, studies from universities or NGM, or something!

But instead you link us to celestialhealing.net and goveg.com. Oh god, I couldn't help but laugh! xD ^_^ No offense meant to you, it just wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting something very serious and got something that was..... not. :P

I'm sure others have said this, and I'll just probably repeat, but what the hey, it can't hurt.

Humans are, in fact, meant to eat meat. We aren't herbivores nor carnivores, but we are very good omnivores indeed. Our stomachs simply can't handle some of the tougher plant fibers, mainly because we have just one little stomach -- there's a reason goats, cows, sheep and the like have 4 stomachs -- so we have to make up for the lack in diet with meat. Meat provides essential protein and amino acids that most herbivores get from things we simply are unable to digest.

Also, for further proof, just look at the teeth. Yes, we have molars to grind and crush, the way an herbivores are, but we also have incisors and canines and those are meant purely for ripping and tearing nothing else but meat.

XD Humans have always been meant to eat meat and plants in equal proportions. Fish especially are important to a good diet. Humans are some of the best hunters as well for a simple reason: We have very little body hair.

How does this make us good hunters? you ask. Well, a short explanation, which is really just an elaboration one ElvenAngel's glorious post.

Bipedal movement is the most energy-efficient form of movement in the animal kingdom, bar none. So that means when we walk or run, we save a lot more energy than a deer -- a common prey animal.

By having so little body hair, humans can also sweat much more freely than a furred animal, and keep their body temperature down and not overheat.

These two key factors are what makes humans such great hunters: Especially for something known as persistence hunting. It's one of the oldest and earliest forms of hunting ever developed. In short, because humans save so much energy by using 2 legs instead of 4, and because humans can sweat so easily and stay cool, all a hunter has to do to get some dinner is to literally run the prey down by endurance running. A deer will run out of energy much more quickly than any human and will eventually be unable to move any further -- actually unable to take another step. The hunter, at this point, just has to walk up to the deer, gank it, then stake it and dinner is served.

I mean, it's obvious that humans were meant to eat meat. Our very bodies have been tailored to be the best kind of endurance hunter nature has ever devised. And I'm pretty sure you don't have to hunt or chase down eggplants for miles. ;))
 
I have been red meat free for about a year now and i can honestly say, i feel much more healthy. I still eat white meat though, gotta love the chicken. I also believe myself that cows and such are being tampered with all these growth hormones and other stuff that could potentially be bad for us. But anyway.. yeah, i feel healthier than ever.

-Setz-
 
Funny, because a few years ago when my parents went through this white meat phase and forced it on me, I felt no difference whatsoever, except for a marked increase in depression and frustration because of the KGB-type red meat ban that went on in our house which was frankly pretty retarded.

Bottom line, I think people, anybody really, who try to tell others what to eat, or put themselves on a pedestal based on what they will and won't eat or even brag about what they eat are all retards.

It's just FOOD people, get over it. Just remember that there are loads of people out there who don't get to eat every day, let alone choose vegetarianism or veganism bullshit.
 
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