Are there any vegetarians who became vegetarian based on this sentence?

Question

"Meat was a necessity back then since alternatives to meat weren't available and other things to eat was scarce. Now that we have an abundance of non-animal food sources, there's no reason to eat meat and it's better to let those creatures live."

I guess what I mean is, as a vegetarian, do you believe that man is evolved to be an omnivore but can do without animal protein and that in this day and age when there is so much to eat, we can do without meat?

Or do you believe that man was intended to be a herbivore from the very start?

Please, serious answers only. Don't reply if you only intend to hurt people with your answers.

dave's fotowerks, when I say that I mean vegetables maybe weren't in abundant supply back then as it is now. Maybe the few vegetables they COULD find weren't as filling.

Answer 1

From a historical perspective, that statement could very well be true. Survival in the old days was tough enough without putting any qualifiers on your diet, and you couldn't afford to be too picky about what your next meal was going to be.

Interestingly enough, vegetarianism took a big upswing in Victorian days, when machines made life easier and the upper classes had more leisure time and money. Trains made it possible to transport fruits and vegetables from one part of the country to the other, and that also contributed to the rise of vegetarianism.

There are several arguments for the vegetarian diet. Many of us don't do hard manual labor any more, so we don't need the high protein, meat-heavy diet that yesterday's farmer or blacksmith required. We can drive to the store and buy produce from all over the world, which means we don't have to rely on whatever we can hunt or trap.

Vegetarianism is also a good idea from a health and a financial standpoint. The same amount of grain that it takes to make a pound of beef could be used to feed a lot more than just one person, instead. And since excess consumption of meat has been linked to everything from high cholesterol to osteoporosis, it only makes sense that we'd do better to decrease our intake of meat or eliminate it from our diet altogether.

All in all, vegetarianism makes a lot of sense for the way that most of us live today.

Answer 2

I think humans were meant to eat both meat and non-meat food items. Nowadays, most of the non-meat products are processed... meaning you can't just grow something and eat it like that... it usually went through manufacturing before it goes to your local mart for purchase. Think about that salad sauce you're eating with your salad... humans back then don't know how to make such things. You can't get full by just eating non-meat items either, therefore, meat items were popular. Another thing about being a vegetarian is that you would be lacking certain vitamins that meat would have provided, unless you take those vitamins, but those vitamins are usually in the form of pills/tablets, and you can't find those back then.

Don't get me wrong, I respect vegetarian people. I wish I could succeed in being one too, but meat is just so much cheaper than artificial meat and easy/fast to make a dish in. My mom is a vegetarian because of religious reasons, so I'm considered vegetarian on the days that she's cooking. ;) I'm semi-vegetarian.

Answer 3

yes, that is pretty much the reason i became a vegetarian, but it is mostly because i have always been strongly against cruelty to animals. now that there are alternatives to meat everywhere and food is available whenever you want it no matter what it is, there is no reason to kill animals for food. it's the same with wearing fur- this isn't the stone age, we have jackets and sweaters made out of various cruelty-free materials that honestly look much better than a big fur coat. back when we were primitive man, we relied on instincts that told us to hunt and kill animals for food and fur, but we have evolved, we no longer do that, so we do not need meat.

Answer 4

Historically, humans have eaten meat. Long ago, we were primarily vegetarian - our diets consisted mostly of plant material, supplemented with insects, etc (so apparently we were also 'made to eat' insects as well - enjoy!). In times of starvation, humans would scavenge for meat to supplements their diets so that they would not starve to death. It was a do or die situation (remember the movie "Alive"?).

Yes, our bodies are capable of digesting meat. But if meat is so healthy, why does an excess of meat in the diet cause such terrible health effects? You don't hear anyone ever saying "you should eat fruits and vegetables in moderation".

Historically, humans have done many terrible things. We've fought other tribes and killed them, raped their women, kept slaves, etc. That doesn't make it right.

Answer 5

As I've stated in a question I've posed, I am in the process of becoming a vegetarian. It is for ethical reasons, and has nothing to do with our anthropological origins. I, personally, don't have a problem with people eating meat per se, but I have a huge problem with the breeding and manufacturing processes that bring meat to our tables. I don't think it's the right of humans to treat animals that way. Now, if somebody lives out in the wild frontier and hunts for their survival, I think that's fair game because such is life. The rest of us have no urgent need for commercially produced meat.

(It's a sad thing to say, but I have more respect for the Inuit who clubs a seal for his own consumption than for the salt-of-the-earth cattle rancher.)

Answer 6

Anatomically speaking, humans actually aren't made to eat animal products.

When you compare the digestive tract of a human with that of a carnivore (say, for example, a lion) and with that of an herbivore (for example, any member of the ape family), you can see that the human digestive tract has far more in common with that of an ape than with that of a lion.

An animal that is a carnivore has long, sharp eye teeth, so that it can literally tear it's prey apart. Humans have short, blunt eye teeth, as do other herbivores, teeth that are well suited to cracking the shells of nuts, seeds etc. Carnivores have saliva that is very acidic, so that it starts breaking down that animal flesh before it's even swallowed. Herbivores have saliva that is just barely acidic, matching the normal pH of the rest of our body chemistry. In addition, carnivores have very short intestinal tracts, so that they can eliminate the animal by-products very quickly, thus reducing their exposure to the toxins in animal flesh. Humans have intestinal tracts that are about the same length, in comparison to their size, as are the intestinal tracts of herbivore animals.

Further, meat and other animal products have not only never been necessary to human health, but are injurious to human health. The process involved in digesting animal products and in eliminating the remainder takes large quantities of calcium, in order to pretty much neutralize the acids. This means that greater and greater amounts of calcium are necessary, and that calcium is frequently pulled form the stores in bones. Does that sound familiar, calcium taken from the bones? It should, it's a part of the process that causes osteoporosis.

Oh, and by the way, I found out all of these details AFTER I became not only a vegetarian but a vegan. That means that I consume no animal products. I stopped consuming animal products for a number of reasons, all of them very valid, but the biggest reason was that I simply felt much, much better without them.

Answer 7

From the teeth and digestive organs we can see that man was intended to be herbivore not carnivore. And if you believe in the Bible, it is written there that God says:
And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. " (Genesis 1:29).
All that we need for our healthy nutritional needs can be found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and grains. If we eat meat, we are only eating second hand food plus the diseases contained in eat like cancers, ulcers, mad cow disease, avian flue, etc., and injected hormons, and antibiotics to speed up the growth of the animals. Some of the meat have been in freezers for a long time.

Answer 8

I read a book recently that talked about the subject. It said that humans can eat meat, but not as much as people eat it nowadays. Our body it's just not made for that, beginning with the shape of our teeth, the lenght of our intestine, the lenght of our digesting process (12-18 hours), how our stomach works and even how our colon functions. Plants supply us all the vitamins, minerals, protein... necessary, so I have no need to eat something that's bad and unhealthy for me.

Answer 9

I'm a vegetarian and I've never actually thought about that. It's true that over half of the food in the world doesn't have meat in it. Why go for killing animals?

Answer 10

I do believe we were not meant to ever eat meat but then the flood neccestated it. I became a vegetarian because I once lived with a man who made me squeeze all the blood out of his meat before I cooked it for him and let me tell you when the sink started filling up with blood I got sick and will not eat it to this day