what were we meant to eat?
what were humans actually meant to eat? this is a question i have been asking myself for years now. and since reading kevins first book, (will be reading the second one soon) he has inspired me to search for answers about what humans were really intended to eat. it would seem logical that fruits and veggies were absolutely intended to be eaten by us. as for meat, i really dont know if we are supposed to eat it. after all there were no stoves or ovens or microwaves in the garden of eden lol! if anyone would like to express an opinion on this topic, i would love to hear from you.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Christa on -
Marylin - I think us having to eat meat now is just part of the curse, you know? Since man sinned, everybody suffers, the animals included. Very sad. I definitely believe we'll all be vegans in the heavenly kingdom.
As for the Peter deal, I don't think that had anything to do with meat or eating... I think he was referring to the Roman that Peter did not wish to speak to previously because he was a Gentile. The unclean animals were just a metaphor/similie, if you will.
And I agree with just about everything you said in your last post. You and I think alike... :)
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Permalink Reply by Bobby J on -
I hate to put a damper on your anti-meat eating discussion BUT, a large majority (94%) of those people who have lived to be over 100 years old, were NOT vegetarians. I repeat, were NOT vegetarians!!! Sin to eat meat? We die for that sin? I think not. Otherwise vegetarians would live forever, wouldn't they?
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Permalink Reply by Maverick on
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Interesting thread. Any way to answer without bringing religion into it? Not all of us are Christians.
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Permalink Reply by naturenut on -
On longevity, one interesting thing for me is, I have a neighbor who is 93. She eats boxed sugary cereals, poor quality packaged foods from the local Aldi store. She is out almost every day working in her garden, walking to the bus stop to go shopping, even in the dead of winter. She's amazing! I remember our local photgraphy shop having an age 100 + celebration and one thing they found they all have in common is daily physical activity. Maybe more important than what we eat is the daily activity!? (Of course, we need to fuel up with proper nutrition to be able to do so!)
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Permalink Reply by Bobby J on
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Ok Maverick, here's a totally NON denominational look at how vegetarianism can be dangerous for the human body.
By the way, vegetarianism IS a religion, not a perfect way of life like some might believe.
The vegetarian diet is dangerously deficient in all fat soluble vitamins A, D and K because of the low 10 to 20% fat content and the typical vegetarian foods normally eaten. The vitamin E content is marginal which is surprising given the generous amount of whole grains in the typical diet above. Vegetarian typically think they get a lot of vitamin E in the grains. This is not the case.
Vegetarian women suffer worse deficiencies than shown above because they may eat only half as much as the 2524 calories.
A typical vegan diet is high in grains which should contribute to a higher level than desired of iron and phosphorus, but hair analysis proves the iron and phosphorus does is not absorbed on a cellular level. The excess iron in the digestive tract prevent the uptake of selenium and zinc, even when the intake of these minerals is near normal. The high phytic acid intake increase the likelihood of deficiencies of chromium, vanadium, lithium and zinc.
Initial Vegetarian Euphoric Surge of Energy:
People often report a awesome surge in energy and mental euphoria when they become a vegetarian. This is true, and for good reason. The euphoric surge is due the sudden jump in carbohydrates in the diet to about 80% of the calories. Fruits and vegetables are 100% carbohydrate. Grains and legumes have some protein and fat, but the majority of calories are from carbohydrates. They eat soy products in an attempt to prevent a protein deficiency, but most soy products are also high in carbohydrates and low in fats. The vegetarian diet naturally shuns protein and fats when they eliminate meat from the diet. Meat is all protein and fats without any carbohydrates.
The outrageously high level of carbohydrates in the vegetarian diet gives a blood sugar high causing insulin and adrenal hormones to spike. They feel awesome, for a while, until they burnout the adrenal and thyroid glands.
Adrenal and Thyroid Burnout:
Vegetarians eventually blow out their adrenal, thyroid and pancreas glands. Adrenal exhaustion and hypothyroidism occurs quickly, usually before the vegetarian reaches the fifth-year anniversary of their religious diet. The development of diabetes take a few more years. Vegetarian who eat more fruits and grains become sick faster than those who emphasize low-carbohydrate vegetables. The vegetarian diet causes the balance of minerals to become abnormal as can be revealed by hair analysis.
Vegetarianism and Body Chemistry --- A Research Report based on Hair Analysis.
The iron, zinc, phosphorus, sodium and potassium are generally low in the hair analysis of a vegetarian. The elevated mineral are generally copper, calcium and magnesium. Adrenal burnout is indicated when sodium and potassium level are both low, and the sodium-to-potassium ratio is less than 2.3/1. Iron deficiency in vegetarians is common because they do not get the healthy heme iron from meat.
Vegetarians attempt to correct the mineral abnormalities by taking supplements of the minerals that test low. This approach consistently shows poor results. The high-fiber, high-carbohydrate diet of the vegetarian continually works against a normal, health mineral balance.
Mineral Toxicity:
Vegetarians often reach toxic levels of copper and a deficiency of zinc because their diet has excessive levels of grains. Copper and zinc are antagonistic. In other words, they oppose each other in the body. The high level of copper in grains depletes the already low level of zinc in the diet. Meat is the best source of zinc, but that doesn't help the vegetarian.
To make matters worse, the vegetarian has difficulty eating meat again. They cannot quit the vegetarian diet easily. The vegetarian diet suppress the secretion of hydrochloric acid by the stomach, thereby making digestion of meat more difficult. This occurs when a person decides to reduce meat intake without becoming a full-fledged vegetarian. The resulting decrease in stomach acid make the digestion of meat problematic. They develop a heavy, sluggish feeling in the intestinal tract that prompts them to reduce meat farther. They are literally forced into a vegetarian diet because it makes them feel better, initially. This is a trap. It will ruin your health. The vegetarian has trouble breaking out of the declining health spiral because it take a 180 degree, instantaneous turnaround. Most vegetarian have become brainwashed and refuse to eat "flesh" no matter how sickly they become. The vegetarian diet is the religious worship of animals. They refuse to eat their "god."
Vitamin Deficiencies:
Numerous studies confirm that vegans who do not supplement their diets with vitamin B-12 are at definite risk for deficiency of vitamin B12. The effects of vitamin B-12 deficiencies may appear as soon as 6 months after adopting a purely plant-based diet, or may not appear following consumption of an exclusively vegan diet for 10 years or more,
Vitamin B-12 deficiencies:
Vitamin B12 deficiency has numerous negative consequences for health:
Artery Damage:
When vitamin B12 levels fall, homocysteine levels in the blood begin to rise. Homocysteine is a waste product of the metabolism of the amino acid, methionine. Elevated levels of homocysteine can damage the inner surfaces of arteries and in doing so promote deposition of cholesterol plaques - thus elevating the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Neurological Damage:
Peripheral nerves – numbness and tingling and burning sensation in extremities and profound muscular fatigue.
Spinal cord injury – a serious form - subacute combined degeneration - may cause paralysis and be irreversible.
Other neurological hazards of vitamin B12 deficiency: dementia and depression in adults.
Risks to children:
If mother is B-12 deficient while pregnant: birth defects.
If mother is B-12 deficient while breastfeeding: nerve and brain damage, poor weight gain and “failure to thrive syndrome.”
If child is B-12 deficient during infancy and adolescence: impaired intellectual function impairment.
Blood system damage:
Vitamin B12 deficiency leads to macrocytic anemia (abnormal shape and function of red blood cells), causing weakness, fatigue, irritability and inability to concentrate.
Vitamin D deficiencies:
Vegans who have limited exposure to warm sunshine, such as those living in northern climates, as well as those who have dark skin, and older adults, are at increased risk for vitamin D deficiency, leading to weakened bones. The vegetarian form of vitamin D (vitamin D2) is also 60 percent as available as the animal form (vitamin D3), which would raise requirements for vegans who rely on vitamin D2 in the form of supplements or fortified foods.
Mineral deficiencies:
High fiber diets conspire against effective mineral absorption because (a) minerals are bound tightly to phytate molecules in the plant fibers and (b) because the food mass moves through the intestine so quickly that there is less time for mineral absorption. In addition, some minerals, like iodine, magnesium and zinc, simply exist in far lower concentrations in plant-based foods than animal-derived foods.
Minerals Commonly Inadequate in Vegan Diets
Iodine:
Vegans who do not include iodized salt or seaweeds in their diet appear are at increased risk of iodine deficiency, needed for production of vital thyroid hormones.
Minerals Sometimes Inadequate in Vegan Diets
Iron:
Vegan iron intakes are often higher than that of non-vegetarians and lacto-ovo vegetarians. Yet many vegans and vegetarians can show low levels of iron in the tissues (as ferritin) indicating low absorption of the iron they consume.
Zinc:
A significant percentage of vegans have zinc intakes below the RDA, and suboptimal zinc status. Absorption of zinc in vegan diets is reduced relative to those consuming non-vegetarian diets. Vegan diets are higher in phytates, which can significantly compromise zinc absorption, and lower in animal protein, which would significantly enhance zinc absorption.
Sodium:
The vegetarian diet can be very high in added sodium, but deficiencies on a cellular level are commonly found by hair analysis. The deficiency of protein and fats in the diet simply causes the sodium to be flushed from the body with the urine.
Potassium:
The vegetarian diet can contain an adequate amount of potassium, but deficiencies on a cellular level are commonly found by hair analysis. The deficiency of protein and fats in the diet simply causes the potassium to be flushed from the body with the urine.
Essential fat deficiencies:
Long-term vegans commonly have low tissue levels of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) of the omega-3 family – namely, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid – 20 carbon atoms in length) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid – 22 carbon atoms in length).
Cholesterol, Energy, Healing, Sex and Babies.
Deficiencies in these fatty molecules can lead to dry skin and low energy levels, as well as increased risk for: cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, neurological/behavioral disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, depression, (possibly) ADHD, schizophrenia, immune/inflammatory disorders such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel diseases, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis. Also, deficiencies of EPA and DHA can lead to sub-optimal infant development with compromised brain function and reduced visual acuity.
The primary reasons for depressed omega-3 fatty acid status in vegans are twofold:
First, vegans consume insufficient amounts of alpha-linolenic acid (the essential omega-3 fatty acid found primarily in flaxseeds, hempseeds, canola oil, walnuts, green vegetables), relative to their intake of linoleic acid (the omega-6 fatty acid found in margarines, commercial mayonnaise and many salad dressings, crackers, chips, cookies and snack foods, as well as cooking and other oils like safflower, grape seed, sunflower, corn oil [60-75% n-6] soy, cottonseed oil and sesame [45-50% n-6]).
Second, vegans seldom consume the long chain omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, which in non-vegetarian diets, come mainly from fish.
More deaths for caesarean babies - September 7, 2006.
"Babies born by caesarean are nearly three times more likely to die in the first month than those born naturally, US research shows."
A vegetarian diet puts a woman at higher risk of having to deliver by caesarean section because her hormones are not normal. She is exceedingly fortunate her unbalanced hormones allowed her to get pregnant in the first place and not suffer a miscarriage thereafter. In addition, the baby is likely to be underweight and sickly. The vegetarian mother has a greater risk of being unable to breastfeed the baby because of the disruption to her hormones caused by the deficiency of fat, cholesterol and protein in the vegetarian diet. She is also more likely to suffer from postpartum depression. The hormones in the body are made from cholesterol. One vegetarian, named Paula from Australia, goes ballistic at the suggestion that her diet caused all of these systems in her and her baby. She didn't realize it was not my assertion, but the results of a study announced on BBC News in the United Kingdom.
"Re: Your idiotic assertion that babies born by caesarean section are 3 times more likely to die in the first month after birth."
"I am the sad statistic of a mother who was pushed into a caesarean section by my OB/GYN due to my daughter's low birth weight which caused me to be unable to breastfeed my daughter and sent me into a severe state of post natal depression. I intend to have a VBAC with my next baby."
Protein deficiencies:
Although the majority of reports suggest adequate protein intakes in vegans, the Vegan Health Study has found that sub-optimal amino acid status (the “building blocks” of protein) is relatively common among vegans, and many vegans have low levels of branched-chain amino acids (valine, leucine, and isoleucine) due to insufficient protein intake.
Vegans who do not consume enough sulfur-containing amino acids, particularly cysteine and methionine are at risk for reduced production of carnitine, a protein necessary for metabolizing fats for energy. Low levels of carnitine can lead to fatigue and reduced physical performance. A lack of these sulfur-containing amino acids also reduces the production of glutathione, a powerful antioxidant needed for detoxification of tissue- damaging free radicals, which can accelerate aging of tissues and increase cancer risk.
Caution:
Do not supplement the diet with methionine amino acid. The metabolism of methionine produces homocysteine which is a sulfur-containing amino acid. It exists at a critical biochemical juncture between methionine metabolism and the biosynthesis of the amino acids cysteine and taurine. Homocysteine is used to build and repair tissues, but an excess of homocysteine has been shown to be a major factor in hardening and obstruction of the arteries causing full-blown heart disease.
Vegetarians will have you believe that eating fish, red meat, fowl and cheese greatly increases the risk of becoming contaminated with toxic heavy metals. They cite examples like mercury in ocean fish or cows eating grass that has been contaminated by agriculture chemicals. They sometimes cite examples of pesticides and herbicides being ingested as the source of heavy metal in supermarket meats.
This is not the case. Actually, vegetarians are much more likely to be contaminated by toxic heavy metals for proven scientific reasons. Fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds commonly eaten by vegetarians can become easily contaminated by heavy metals occurring naturally in the soil or the air. Vegetarians are placed at higher risk because their diet contains fewer natural chelators than does the diet of meat-eaters as we shall see below. Whole grains and other high-carbohydrate foods hold toxic metal ions for release within the body. The high level of carbohydrates in the diet results in a heavy load of glucose in the blood, and glucose has no chelating properties. The high level of glucose causes a rise in insulin which is a powerful anabolic hormone. The insulin forces glucose into the cells, turns excess glucose into triglycerides and deposits the triglycerides in the body as saturated fats. The anabolic nature of insulin opposes the catabolic nature of chelators. Eating meat detoxes heavy metals from the body naturally using amino acids, but eating fruit and whole grains cause the accumulation of heavy metals and prevents their discharge.
Toxic Heavy Metal Poisoning, Contamination, Symptoms, Testing, Chelation and Detox Protocols.
Conjugated Linoleic Acid - CLA Deficiency
CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) is a natural fatty acid found in the dietary meat and dairy products. Cows produce CLA naturally, but humans cannot. CLA inhibits the conversion of dietary fat to body fat and promotes the growth of lean body muscle. CLA deficiency may be one of the contributing factors in the obesity epidemic. Therefore, it has become a major supplement used by bodybuilders to show off those 6-pack abs. CLA also inhibits the growth of cancer tumors. Vegetarians are naturally deficient in CLA.
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Thank you VERY much for all the information! Personally, I think we are made to live off of lower life forms, but the only meat I will eat must be organic and free range. I can't support any type of cruelty to any other life form. Thank God for Trader Joe's and Whole Foods!
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Permalink Reply by naturenut on
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Wow Indy, extensive info, even if it appears harsh - people need to know the truth. Meat would not have all of the life-giving/sustaining qualities it has if we were not meant to eat it. Slaughtering an animal for food is no more cruel than an eagle scooping down to grab a fish. They, like us, do so for sustenance, not out of cruelty. I love animals and am thankful that we are given them, they save our lives.
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Permalink Reply by Bobby J on
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I didn't think it was harsh. It's the truth, and as we all know, sometimes the truth hurts.
I guess you could call that harsh....LOL
By the way. Nice pic.
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Permalink Reply by Harley Girl on -
I can't agree that it is the truth, although an interesting read. Who wrote that article/did the study? - The cattlemen's association?
My BIGGEST problem with what Indy posted is calling it a religion and that vegetarians consider animals their "gods". NOT!! I haven't eaten animal flesh for 41 years (almost all my life, since I was about 3 years old), and not once did I consider an animal a "god". As a matter of fact, my parents are meat eaters and they used to buy my hunting license and tags for me to go bag a deer for them. Yet I love animals, so yes, I'm an oxymoron (spare me the jokes on that one). I'm just opposed to that article lumping every vegetarian in all together...and by the way I'm extremely healthy. Having said all that, I think with every diet you must be careful of nutritional deficiencies.
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Permalink Reply by Bobby J on
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Animals are "Gods" to MANY vegetarians. But I will re-iterate something just for you.
"MANY" does NOT include you, is that ok now?
It's also ok to disagree. I disagree that the world is flat, but I agree that man evolved from apes. If you don't agree with that, then you haven't met my cousins ex-wife.
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Permalink Reply by Harley Girl on
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Yup, we can disagree.
Interesting about evolving from apes. If we evolved from apes, why are there still apes? Anything else that has evolved, no longer exists in its pre-evolution state.
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