In my opinion there are various aspects to be considered.
1. I find the question, if humans were made to eat meat or not not to the point. Evolution made man as to live in an unfriendly environment, cold, harsh and hard to survive in. Only during those ancient times where survival was difficult were humans "made" for something, since later, when the first developed civilizations occurred (some few 1000 years ago), evolution essentially stopped. Thus man was "made" for survival in those ancient times. Today we do live in a completely different world. We do not work physically as hard any more. This means that we are eating much less. Thus the overall uptake of nutrients has been reduced as to compared to what we were "made" for. Thus we have to design and supplement our nutrition anyway, e.g. with vitamins and minerals. If we would be living on a healthy died, i.e. not too many calories, we are running the risk that we do not take up enough of these nutrients. I am not saying that you can not design special diets that supply all nutrient from biological sources, but our major lifestyle does not take care of this and thus simply the risk is higher that we do not take up enough of the essential nutrients. Then you also have to consider that in those times where humans adopted to their environment the plants and animals that were around were not those that we have today. Due to all the development in improving breeding we today have completely different plants and animals we feed on as compared to ancient times. This also influences the uptake of nutrients.
2. The methane gas of cows appears to be a significant factor for climate. I have not googled this but read about this in the past. It will not be the major factor though. The by far most prominent single factor for climate is CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels.
3. Eating meat has a different effect. This effect is actually the really crucial one. To produce a certain amount of calories from meat you need somewhere between 5 and 15 times more land area to feed the animals as compared to using the land area to produce vegetables directly. Our current problems in energy and food supply (tortilla crisis, uproars in Haiti, deforestation of primeval forests) are the problem of humanity running of usable land area. This can be shown by simple balances as collected in our primary post: http://www.science-parliament.eu/en/node/274 (where I do not know, if this link does not change. The title of the post is "Evaluating Roadmaps for Sustainable and Humane Human Life in a Globalized World", posted by niko01). Thus it is my conviction that by eating meat you are responsible for people starving somewhere else and the world running out of sustainable energy resources and correspondingly the problems we have with climate by using non-sustainable fossil fuels. I express this so bluntly realizing that the interactions are much more complex and I may be simplifying somewhat. But the balances we set up are so fundamental that they can hardly be dismissed and they show just that.
4. I understand that eating meat is pleasure to some (it was for me in the past, since I am vegetarian for roughly one year, since I first realized the context). But concerning ethics, you have to make up your mind as to what it really is that you want to base your ethics with respect to other living beings on. I decided for myself, that one crucial point is the infliction of suffering and/or pain. If avoiding suffering (I am not a Buddhist) is your primary norm, then you can not eat meat any more, since that would mean creating animals just to first inflict suffering and pain on them for the fun of eating them. In Germany we are discussing such weird topics as killing animals in a way proper for animals (tiergerechte Tötung). I personally find this obviously an absolute contradiction in itself. If you would like to see what this is about, you could view the movie "Unser täglich Brot" produced by Geyrhalter (ZDF, 3SAT, see e.g. http://www.3sat.de/3sat.php?http://www.3sat.de/film/woche/112105/index.html). Now you can ask, what such norms have to do with energy in Europe in 2050. It is again my conviction that it is all about norms and values. We need to create a "sustainability ethics" which has be somewhat complete and consistent. In such an ethic, the ethics of not killing animals for our joy needs to be included to ensure this consistency. And I have to contradict the meat-eaters commenting: If we find that eating meat is bad for the environment and thus the survival of humanity, I find that there is simply no point in continuing eating meat, even if you would like to.
i don't think that mushroom's have any real chance to replace meat if even wegetables could'nt...
meat is a very important source of protein's and some vitamins too im not telling that in other thing's there isn't any of those but a good diet is about meat and vegetables :)
so for me is obvoius that we have to end this discussion :) and talk about something more
practicall :)
Is there enough mushrooms to replace half of the meat? I quite don't like them, even though I am trying to eat them from time to time but I really don't think they can replace meat - It is totally different thing. Yesterday we grilled a pig and I cannot imagine that there would be mushrooms instead :D
In my opinion,There is afood that can replace meat,mushrooms.I have heard that they are similar to meat about vitamins and other nourishing substances.So why we shouldn't replace half of the meat we eat with mushrooms?
Yeah , that's right pRinCeSs_MaLiCe that omnivorous had come into evolution way , but i think , that we are talking about present and future , not about past.
And back to the theme - I have a simple answer - In a world where millions of people die on hunger it is inhuman to save CO2 emissions by reducing basic food production. We should concentrate on energy production and consumption. Even worse is fighting against genetically modified food - it is unique chance to feed more people.
I especially don't agree with this argument:
5. The food that we give to the cows that are being raised for meat only in the US can solve the problem of hunger in Africa by 70%
If people did not eat meat, they would have to eat something else and production of such a food will need also large areas (as meat is much more nutritious it will maybe need much more land) so the area used for meat-cows will have to be used for other food production and nothing will be left for Africa again.
Your biological explanation of why people should not eat meat is rather incomplete - you mention only things that are similar in humans and herbivores but you neglect all the other characteristics. People were always eating meat together with plant products. The evolutionary reason why we do not have claws and huge teeth is that we don't have to hunt like animals - we have developed brain and hands so we can use tools and we can keep the animals we need.
I admit that people do not need to eat meat daily and some people (who e.g. do not have large energetic output) do not need it at all. So if yo do not like meat - don't eat it but let people eat what they like.
first of all human being are supposed to eat meat as well as wegetables, the procces of evolution took us in a place near the pig ( we eat all kind's of food)
secondly i don't agree that we can't live without meat ( i was wegeterian for 2 year's but i had to stop it couse of my health( i had wrong diet...) but i think that it is personal choise for everyone to eat it or not.
I do agree that i have moral felling's when i see how some animal's are threathen.
to the idea of "cow energy" i know that cow's in UK are capable of making that amount of methane gas to easly support london for 6 month's a year.
but i think that this kind of energy would be only secondary way to solve our energy problem
Laura, please, let me know why are we solving this problem here? The topic of this project is "Europe energised – Will lights go out in 2050?". So, even it could bring some efect to stop eating meet, do you think that it is going to solve our problems with energy sources? I don´t think so.
However, cows can be used as an powerfull source of energy.
Hmmm, it's very interesting what You wrote pRinCeSs_MaLiCe , but human was/is/will be omnivorous creature... So I won't agree with that Humans are not made for eating meat.
the human organism was not FIRSTLY made to eat meat. It happened eventually.
I think that the evidence i gave you is quite enough proof and it's not sth that i just came up with.
If you have any points to state please do so.
But i think that you can't rebutt the facts..:)
Oh yes that´s good argument against eating meat. But people were eating meat since the prehistoric ages and I think it will not change rapidly in future. Why don´t we compromise? I eat only the chicken and fish meat and I think that the best possibility would be to eat bio-meat, although it is quite expensive - in our country the bio-chicken costs about 3 or 4 times more expensive. What do you think?
I am against eating meat,for moral issues basically but also for health issues.
Unfortunately i am 30kg below my hight so i have to eat meat until i am 18, because my father strongly disaproves of soya and if i don't eat neither i will die shortly..
So, as for the whole vegeterian/vegan thing:
Humans are NOT MADE for eating meat. If you compare our charecteristics with those of animals like cows you will find many more similarities than with animals like foxes, dogs etc.:
Facial Muscles
Carnivore Reduced to allow wide mouth gape
Omnivore Reduced
Herbivore Well developed
Human Well developed
Jaw Motion
Carnivore Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion
Omnivore Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion
Herbivore No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back
Human No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back
Teeth (Incisors)
Carnivore Short and pointed
Omnivore Short and pointed
Herbivore Broad, flattened, and spade-shaped
Human Broad, flattened, and spade-shaped
Teeth (Canines)
Carnivore Long, sharp, and curved
Omnivore Long, sharp, and curved
Herbivore Dull and short or long (for defense) or none
Human Short and blunted
Teeth (Molars)
Carnivore Sharp, jagged, and blade-shaped
Omnivore Sharp blades and/or flattened
Herbivore Flattened with cusps vs. complex surface
Human Flattened with nodular cusps
Saliva
Carnivore No digestive enzymes
Omnivore No digestive enzymes
Herbivore Carbohydrate-digesting enzymes
Human Carbohydrate-digesting enzymes
Stomach Acidity
Carnivore Less than or equal to pH of 1 with food in stomach
Omnivore Less than or equal to pH of 1 with food in stomach
Herbivore pH of 4 to 5 with food in stomach
Human pH of 4 to 5 with food in stomach
Length of Small Intestine
Carnivore 3 to 6 times body length
Omnivore 4 to 6 times body length
Herbivore 10 to more than 12 times body length
Human 10 to 11 times body length
Nails
Carnivore Sharp claws
Omnivore Sharp claws
Herbivore Flattened nails or blunt hooves
Human Flattened nails
This must persuade you that humans should not eat meat.
As for other issues, let me present you briefly some of them:
1. It's much better for your helth
2. You don't kill innocent animals
3. You don't have to lie to your child when he asks you how are burgers being made
4. If someone grows up without eating meat he gets a higher IQ
5. The food that we give to the cows that are beeing raised for meat only in the US can solve the problem of hunger in africa by 70%
I have read, on the other hand, that people are not supposed to be meat-eaters. I don't know the exact reason, but it said that our digestive system and our colons are not long enough to support eating meat. Also, since we are talkin only about eating meat, not including dairy products, i guess, when it comes to bones, the biggest amount of calcium and magnesium, which are very good for bones, comes from milk.
So, if you don't eat meat, you canstill drink milk. (although vegeterians don't)
I think that You are in mistake. Sure, that we can live without meat , but meat (animal's oil) have special nutritional value thanks to it our body can be stronger , more tough. Vegetarians are susceptible to disease in a greater degree than people who eat meat , vegetarians have very weak bones couse they dont have products which could help to strengthen them. So if one of vegetarian break his/her leg or arm , cure will be longer than usual.
It's only few arguments that without meat our body, bones and musculature are weaker.
Of course it's impossible to stop eating meat. Ok , i know that there are some people who don't eat meat. But without meat organism will not work correctly.
And this is my question:
Would you sacrifice your health for saving energy?!
Daget, i think you're right. We don't eat food because it has nutritional values, but because we like it. Very small percentage of people do that. So, let us not fool ourselves, thing that could stop people from eating meat is probably some kind of disease or sth similar.
Hi,
Laura correctly said that cow produce a huge ammount of nocive gases but as I'm a lover of meat I think that people won't stop eating it.But we could try to accumulate all this gas because it is mostly composed by methane.I know that burning mathane to produce energy causes pollution but anyway if it goes in the athmosphere colud cause only more greenhouse effect.So if we create a system that store all this methane it would be great,wouldn't it?Do you agree with me?
bye STE
Whole discussion is about nutrients in food, but we eat food for taste.People try to eat tasty food (not only nutritious food).Met is very tasty(of course soya isn`t bad too)we should eat various food including some meat ,lots of vegetables and fruits and everything cooked gooood:)to be tasty and be happy of eating.
Dear colleagues and friends Let me introduce myself. I am Miguel, from Spain, living in Germany, Telecommunication Engineer, trainer, with large experience in non-formal education and quite some in environmental issues. I will be the moderator of this space on individual responsibility. I am closely following the interesting debates. As moderator I would like invite you in your debates to clearly distinguish “facts” from “opinions” and give clear references of the sources of information you use. For example when you say “I know” or “I have read…” it will be better to quote very precisely the article, book or publication. So that we can all benefit from it and search further details. I have proposed to re-structure the forum so that we can have: 1) “Collection of possible actions” we can do at personal level. Brainstorming!!! 2) “From individual to group actions” (in our closest environment: school, at work, in family…) 3) “Changing habits: sacrifice or liberation?” It will still take some time to change it on the www but I would invite you to think in those directions… This of course together with you own thinking and creativity which is always the most important Cheers Miguel
Talking about advantages and disadvantages of soy...we can make a totally new topic. It is a very good substitute for meat, but I don't think people, in this moment would totally stop eating meat because of soya. Soy milk does not contain significant amounts of calcium
All muscle tissue is very high in protein, containing all of the essential amino acids, and in most cases, is a good source of zinc, vitamin B12, selenium, phosphorus, niacin, vitamin B6, iron and riboflavin.
Many scientist do not agree that soy is a real health food. Especially non-fermentd forms, such as tofu. Soy milk is also a questionable substance.
Furthermore, most soy products nowaday are GMOs, i.e. Genetically modified organism.
As I have said above, soya has much more proteins than any type of meat. The best meat contains 20% less proteins than the soya, thus the soya is a better source of proteins than the meat. Moreover, the soya is beneficial to the health, as opposed to meat, which is not. I have written about soya under this topic, so I will not rewrite my previous posts. As far as rules for factories go, I agree with you on that statement.
Yes, I also read that our digestive system is, I think too short to digest meat in the proper way.
But we can't escape the fact that meat contains one of the most important substances - proteins. Other kinds of food contains proteins also, but meat has the most.
I am not for stop eating meat, but I am for making rools and standards that meat factories should obey.
Are we designed to eat meat or not is not the question here, but I have to say that many studies have shown, that a diet low on meat can easily lead to, i.e., zinc deficiency. Although, humans don't need a huge amount of zinc a small disruption in zinc levels (because zinc is a cofactor for numerous enzymes)can lead to difficulties in growth, development, gene expression, immunity functions etc. Nevertheless, the thing here is, cows, sheep and other animals create gases, whether we eat them or not. Even if we stop eating animals...what is going to happen to them?Even if fertilizers are the ones that have a role in this kind of pollution and we stop using them, cows are still going to produce gases, no matter are we designed to eat meat or not.
I will have to disagree on the claim that humans are “designed” to eat meat. Human digestive system is actually more efficient when working with herbs than when working with meat. The research done so far indicates that humans are more herbivore than carnivore. This would mean that the meat could in most cases be substituted with the vegetables. Soya, for example, contains more proteins than any type of meat, while also being the cheapest source of protein. Soya also has a very positive effect regarding the treatment of cancer, where as the meat has a negative effect not only here, but also when it comes to negative cholesterol and effects on the long term health. This is, I think, an argument that goes to show that meat can be substituted with vegetables.
A scientific report published in California claimed that dairy cows in the area were producing almost 20 pounds (in weight, that's almost 10 kg) of gas every year, each. That's a huge, huge amount I agree, but to stop this, we would have to get rid of all the farm animals, because sheep also produce these gases.Humans are mammals that are 'designed' to eat meat, not because we like it, but because we need it. We are a part of the food chain, maybe we don't feel like one, because we walk around with laptops and drive cars, and we don't consider ourselves animals, but in essence we are. Avoiding meat would certainly mess up the food chain, which I think is worse than pollution, because we can't fix the natural order and we certainly don't need to disrupt the nature further.
Hm, I'm not sure I would agree. Well, it saves energy, and probably is healthier, but I think it is too much to expect people to stop eating meat. I eat meat. Mostly because it has valuable proteins important for human kind. Sure, I would survive without eating meat, but it's just the way nature works. I don't like but that's how it is. Food chain is one of the important things that keep this world in order. Cows eat grass, people eat cows.
Another dimension which would be an argument against is the cruelty towards the animals, but that isn't really the topic here.
To conclude, I'm not quite sure, perhaps making new ways to produce meat, e.g. to make standards which must be respected by people who are in meat industry.
Hi, I've read your various
Hi, I've read your various comments to Laura.
In my opinion there are various aspects to be considered.
1. I find the question, if humans were made to eat meat or not not to the point. Evolution made man as to live in an unfriendly environment, cold, harsh and hard to survive in. Only during those ancient times where survival was difficult were humans "made" for something, since later, when the first developed civilizations occurred (some few 1000 years ago), evolution essentially stopped. Thus man was "made" for survival in those ancient times. Today we do live in a completely different world. We do not work physically as hard any more. This means that we are eating much less. Thus the overall uptake of nutrients has been reduced as to compared to what we were "made" for. Thus we have to design and supplement our nutrition anyway, e.g. with vitamins and minerals. If we would be living on a healthy died, i.e. not too many calories, we are running the risk that we do not take up enough of these nutrients. I am not saying that you can not design special diets that supply all nutrient from biological sources, but our major lifestyle does not take care of this and thus simply the risk is higher that we do not take up enough of the essential nutrients. Then you also have to consider that in those times where humans adopted to their environment the plants and animals that were around were not those that we have today. Due to all the development in improving breeding we today have completely different plants and animals we feed on as compared to ancient times. This also influences the uptake of nutrients.
2. The methane gas of cows appears to be a significant factor for climate. I have not googled this but read about this in the past. It will not be the major factor though. The by far most prominent single factor for climate is CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels.
3. Eating meat has a different effect. This effect is actually the really crucial one. To produce a certain amount of calories from meat you need somewhere between 5 and 15 times more land area to feed the animals as compared to using the land area to produce vegetables directly. Our current problems in energy and food supply (tortilla crisis, uproars in Haiti, deforestation of primeval forests) are the problem of humanity running of usable land area. This can be shown by simple balances as collected in our primary post: http://www.science-parliament.eu/en/node/274 (where I do not know, if this link does not change. The title of the post is "Evaluating Roadmaps for Sustainable and Humane Human Life in a Globalized World", posted by niko01). Thus it is my conviction that by eating meat you are responsible for people starving somewhere else and the world running out of sustainable energy resources and correspondingly the problems we have with climate by using non-sustainable fossil fuels. I express this so bluntly realizing that the interactions are much more complex and I may be simplifying somewhat. But the balances we set up are so fundamental that they can hardly be dismissed and they show just that.
4. I understand that eating meat is pleasure to some (it was for me in the past, since I am vegetarian for roughly one year, since I first realized the context). But concerning ethics, you have to make up your mind as to what it really is that you want to base your ethics with respect to other living beings on. I decided for myself, that one crucial point is the infliction of suffering and/or pain. If avoiding suffering (I am not a Buddhist) is your primary norm, then you can not eat meat any more, since that would mean creating animals just to first inflict suffering and pain on them for the fun of eating them. In Germany we are discussing such weird topics as killing animals in a way proper for animals (tiergerechte Tötung). I personally find this obviously an absolute contradiction in itself. If you would like to see what this is about, you could view the movie "Unser täglich Brot" produced by Geyrhalter (ZDF, 3SAT, see e.g. http://www.3sat.de/3sat.php?http://www.3sat.de/film/woche/112105/index.html). Now you can ask, what such norms have to do with energy in Europe in 2050. It is again my conviction that it is all about norms and values. We need to create a "sustainability ethics" which has be somewhat complete and consistent. In such an ethic, the ethics of not killing animals for our joy needs to be included to ensure this consistency. And I have to contradict the meat-eaters commenting: If we find that eating meat is bad for the environment and thus the survival of humanity, I find that there is simply no point in continuing eating meat, even if you would like to.
i don't think that
i don't think that mushroom's have any real chance to replace meat if even wegetables could'nt...
meat is a very important source of protein's and some vitamins too im not telling that in other thing's there isn't any of those but a good diet is about meat and vegetables :)
so for me is obvoius that we have to end this discussion :) and talk about something more
practicall :)
Is there enough mushrooms to
Is there enough mushrooms to replace half of the meat? I quite don't like them, even though I am trying to eat them from time to time but I really don't think they can replace meat - It is totally different thing. Yesterday we grilled a pig and I cannot imagine that there would be mushrooms instead :D
In my opinion,There is afood
In my opinion,There is afood that can replace meat,mushrooms.I have heard that they are similar to meat about vitamins and other nourishing substances.So why we shouldn't replace half of the meat we eat with mushrooms?
Petr , please read earlier
Petr , please read earlier posts... I think too , that not eating meat , won't help environment(saving energy) in greater degree.
Michas, I was reacting to
Michas, I was reacting to the last comment. And I read former comments (with some of them I agree at all).
Have a nice day :-)
Petr
Yeah , that's right
Yeah , that's right pRinCeSs_MaLiCe that omnivorous had come into evolution way , but i think , that we are talking about present and future , not about past.
And do you see a future
And do you see a future without eating meat? What is the result of this? Petr
And back to the theme - I
And back to the theme - I have a simple answer - In a world where millions of people die on hunger it is inhuman to save CO2 emissions by reducing basic food production. We should concentrate on energy production and consumption. Even worse is fighting against genetically modified food - it is unique chance to feed more people.
I especially don't agree
I especially don't agree with this argument:
5. The food that we give to the cows that are being raised for meat only in the US can solve the problem of hunger in Africa by 70%
If people did not eat meat, they would have to eat something else and production of such a food will need also large areas (as meat is much more nutritious it will maybe need much more land) so the area used for meat-cows will have to be used for other food production and nothing will be left for Africa again.
Your biological explanation of why people should not eat meat is rather incomplete - you mention only things that are similar in humans and herbivores but you neglect all the other characteristics. People were always eating meat together with plant products. The evolutionary reason why we do not have claws and huge teeth is that we don't have to hunt like animals - we have developed brain and hands so we can use tools and we can keep the animals we need.
I admit that people do not need to eat meat daily and some people (who e.g. do not have large energetic output) do not need it at all. So if yo do not like meat - don't eat it but let people eat what they like.
first of all human being are
first of all human being are supposed to eat meat as well as wegetables, the procces of evolution took us in a place near the pig ( we eat all kind's of food)
secondly i don't agree that we can't live without meat ( i was wegeterian for 2 year's but i had to stop it couse of my health( i had wrong diet...) but i think that it is personal choise for everyone to eat it or not.
I do agree that i have moral felling's when i see how some animal's are threathen.
to the idea of "cow energy" i know that cow's in UK are capable of making that amount of methane gas to easly support london for 6 month's a year.
but i think that this kind of energy would be only secondary way to solve our energy problem
bless
Laura, please, let me know
Laura, please, let me know why are we solving this problem here? The topic of this project is "Europe energised – Will lights go out in 2050?". So, even it could bring some efect to stop eating meet, do you think that it is going to solve our problems with energy sources? I don´t think so.
However, cows can be used as an powerfull source of energy.
Let´s read this article: http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2002/03/032502t_cowpower.jhtml
And you will realized that prohibition is not a solution. Development of technologies is the solution.
Petr
Hmmm, it's very interesting
Hmmm, it's very interesting what You wrote pRinCeSs_MaLiCe , but human was/is/will be omnivorous creature... So I won't agree with that Humans are not made for eating meat.
the human organism was not
the human organism was not FIRSTLY made to eat meat. It happened eventually.
I think that the evidence i gave you is quite enough proof and it's not sth that i just came up with.
If you have any points to state please do so.
But i think that you can't rebutt the facts..:)
Oh yes that´s good argument
Oh yes that´s good argument against eating meat. But people were eating meat since the prehistoric ages and I think it will not change rapidly in future. Why don´t we compromise? I eat only the chicken and fish meat and I think that the best possibility would be to eat bio-meat, although it is quite expensive - in our country the bio-chicken costs about 3 or 4 times more expensive. What do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9As0YR0LNw
I am against eating meat,for
I am against eating meat,for moral issues basically but also for health issues.
Unfortunately i am 30kg below my hight so i have to eat meat until i am 18, because my father strongly disaproves of soya and if i don't eat neither i will die shortly..
So, as for the whole vegeterian/vegan thing:
Humans are NOT MADE for eating meat. If you compare our charecteristics with those of animals like cows you will find many more similarities than with animals like foxes, dogs etc.:
Facial Muscles
Carnivore Reduced to allow wide mouth gape
Omnivore Reduced
Herbivore Well developed
Human Well developed
Jaw Motion
Carnivore Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion
Omnivore Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion
Herbivore No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back
Human No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back
Teeth (Incisors)
Carnivore Short and pointed
Omnivore Short and pointed
Herbivore Broad, flattened, and spade-shaped
Human Broad, flattened, and spade-shaped
Teeth (Canines)
Carnivore Long, sharp, and curved
Omnivore Long, sharp, and curved
Herbivore Dull and short or long (for defense) or none
Human Short and blunted
Teeth (Molars)
Carnivore Sharp, jagged, and blade-shaped
Omnivore Sharp blades and/or flattened
Herbivore Flattened with cusps vs. complex surface
Human Flattened with nodular cusps
Chewing
Carnivore None; swallows food whole
Omnivore Swallows food whole and/or simple crushing
Herbivore Extensive chewing necessary
Human Extensive chewing necessary
Saliva
Carnivore No digestive enzymes
Omnivore No digestive enzymes
Herbivore Carbohydrate-digesting enzymes
Human Carbohydrate-digesting enzymes
Stomach Acidity
Carnivore Less than or equal to pH of 1 with food in stomach
Omnivore Less than or equal to pH of 1 with food in stomach
Herbivore pH of 4 to 5 with food in stomach
Human pH of 4 to 5 with food in stomach
Length of Small Intestine
Carnivore 3 to 6 times body length
Omnivore 4 to 6 times body length
Herbivore 10 to more than 12 times body length
Human 10 to 11 times body length
Nails
Carnivore Sharp claws
Omnivore Sharp claws
Herbivore Flattened nails or blunt hooves
Human Flattened nails
This must persuade you that humans should not eat meat.
As for other issues, let me present you briefly some of them:
1. It's much better for your helth
2. You don't kill innocent animals
3. You don't have to lie to your child when he asks you how are burgers being made
4. If someone grows up without eating meat he gets a higher IQ
5. The food that we give to the cows that are beeing raised for meat only in the US can solve the problem of hunger in africa by 70%
WANT MORE? WWW.GOVEG.COM
I have read, on the other
I have read, on the other hand, that people are not supposed to be meat-eaters. I don't know the exact reason, but it said that our digestive system and our colons are not long enough to support eating meat. Also, since we are talkin only about eating meat, not including dairy products, i guess, when it comes to bones, the biggest amount of calcium and magnesium, which are very good for bones, comes from milk.
So, if you don't eat meat, you canstill drink milk. (although vegeterians don't)
I think that You are in
I think that You are in mistake. Sure, that we can live without meat , but meat (animal's oil) have special nutritional value thanks to it our body can be stronger , more tough. Vegetarians are susceptible to disease in a greater degree than people who eat meat , vegetarians have very weak bones couse they dont have products which could help to strengthen them. So if one of vegetarian break his/her leg or arm , cure will be longer than usual.
It's only few arguments that without meat our body, bones and musculature are weaker.
Wait, how mAny vegetarians
Wait, how mAny vegetarians don't eat meat and have no health problems? You wont sacrifice your health if you eat food that replaces meat.
Of course it's impossible to
Of course it's impossible to stop eating meat. Ok , i know that there are some people who don't eat meat. But without meat organism will not work correctly.
And this is my question:
Would you sacrifice your health for saving energy?!
Daget, i think you're right.
Daget, i think you're right. We don't eat food because it has nutritional values, but because we like it. Very small percentage of people do that. So, let us not fool ourselves, thing that could stop people from eating meat is probably some kind of disease or sth similar.
Hi, Laura correctly said
Hi,
Laura correctly said that cow produce a huge ammount of nocive gases but as I'm a lover of meat I think that people won't stop eating it.But we could try to accumulate all this gas because it is mostly composed by methane.I know that burning mathane to produce energy causes pollution but anyway if it goes in the athmosphere colud cause only more greenhouse effect.So if we create a system that store all this methane it would be great,wouldn't it?Do you agree with me?
bye STE
Whole discussion is about
Whole discussion is about nutrients in food, but we eat food for taste.People try to eat tasty food (not only nutritious food).Met is very tasty(of course soya isn`t bad too)we should eat various food including some meat ,lots of vegetables and fruits and everything cooked gooood:)to be tasty and be happy of eating.
Dear colleagues and
Dear colleagues and friends Let me introduce myself. I am Miguel, from Spain, living in Germany, Telecommunication Engineer, trainer, with large experience in non-formal education and quite some in environmental issues. I will be the moderator of this space on individual responsibility. I am closely following the interesting debates. As moderator I would like invite you in your debates to clearly distinguish “facts” from “opinions” and give clear references of the sources of information you use. For example when you say “I know” or “I have read…” it will be better to quote very precisely the article, book or publication. So that we can all benefit from it and search further details. I have proposed to re-structure the forum so that we can have: 1) “Collection of possible actions” we can do at personal level. Brainstorming!!! 2) “From individual to group actions” (in our closest environment: school, at work, in family…) 3) “Changing habits: sacrifice or liberation?” It will still take some time to change it on the www but I would invite you to think in those directions… This of course together with you own thinking and creativity which is always the most important Cheers Miguel
Talking about advantages and
Talking about advantages and disadvantages of soy...we can make a totally new topic. It is a very good substitute for meat, but I don't think people, in this moment would totally stop eating meat because of soya. Soy milk does not contain significant amounts of calcium
All muscle tissue is very high in protein, containing all of the essential amino acids, and in most cases, is a good source of zinc, vitamin B12, selenium, phosphorus, niacin, vitamin B6, iron and riboflavin.
Many scientist do not agree that soy is a real health food. Especially non-fermentd forms, such as tofu. Soy milk is also a questionable substance.
Furthermore, most soy products nowaday are GMOs, i.e. Genetically modified organism.
As I have said above, soya
As I have said above, soya has much more proteins than any type of meat. The best meat contains 20% less proteins than the soya, thus the soya is a better source of proteins than the meat. Moreover, the soya is beneficial to the health, as opposed to meat, which is not. I have written about soya under this topic, so I will not rewrite my previous posts. As far as rules for factories go, I agree with you on that statement.
Yes, I also read that our
Yes, I also read that our digestive system is, I think too short to digest meat in the proper way.
But we can't escape the fact that meat contains one of the most important substances - proteins. Other kinds of food contains proteins also, but meat has the most.
I am not for stop eating meat, but I am for making rools and standards that meat factories should obey.
Are we designed to eat meat
Are we designed to eat meat or not is not the question here, but I have to say that many studies have shown, that a diet low on meat can easily lead to, i.e., zinc deficiency. Although, humans don't need a huge amount of zinc a small disruption in zinc levels (because zinc is a cofactor for numerous enzymes)can lead to difficulties in growth, development, gene expression, immunity functions etc. Nevertheless, the thing here is, cows, sheep and other animals create gases, whether we eat them or not. Even if we stop eating animals...what is going to happen to them?Even if fertilizers are the ones that have a role in this kind of pollution and we stop using them, cows are still going to produce gases, no matter are we designed to eat meat or not.
I will have to disagree on
I will have to disagree on the claim that humans are “designed” to eat meat. Human digestive system is actually more efficient when working with herbs than when working with meat. The research done so far indicates that humans are more herbivore than carnivore. This would mean that the meat could in most cases be substituted with the vegetables. Soya, for example, contains more proteins than any type of meat, while also being the cheapest source of protein. Soya also has a very positive effect regarding the treatment of cancer, where as the meat has a negative effect not only here, but also when it comes to negative cholesterol and effects on the long term health. This is, I think, an argument that goes to show that meat can be substituted with vegetables.
A scientific report
A scientific report published in California claimed that dairy cows in the area were producing almost 20 pounds (in weight, that's almost 10 kg) of gas every year, each. That's a huge, huge amount I agree, but to stop this, we would have to get rid of all the farm animals, because sheep also produce these gases.Humans are mammals that are 'designed' to eat meat, not because we like it, but because we need it. We are a part of the food chain, maybe we don't feel like one, because we walk around with laptops and drive cars, and we don't consider ourselves animals, but in essence we are. Avoiding meat would certainly mess up the food chain, which I think is worse than pollution, because we can't fix the natural order and we certainly don't need to disrupt the nature further.
Hm, I'm not sure I would
Hm, I'm not sure I would agree. Well, it saves energy, and probably is healthier, but I think it is too much to expect people to stop eating meat. I eat meat. Mostly because it has valuable proteins important for human kind. Sure, I would survive without eating meat, but it's just the way nature works. I don't like but that's how it is. Food chain is one of the important things that keep this world in order. Cows eat grass, people eat cows.
Another dimension which would be an argument against is the cruelty towards the animals, but that isn't really the topic here.
To conclude, I'm not quite sure, perhaps making new ways to produce meat, e.g. to make standards which must be respected by people who are in meat industry.
Best regards, Aleksandar