Are humans supposed to eat meat?

[Icymudpuppy]

@Icymudpuppy - Didn't know grains could be looked at in a negative light. Thought they were actually one of the best things to eat. After looking into it more, looks like you are right. By the way, after seeing your sig I have to ask. Are you a Civilization player?.

Yes, I am a Civ player. As for grains... You get more fiber from leafy greens like spinach, cabbage, brocolli, etc. They have almost no vitamins, protein, or other essential nutrients. Just carbs. Carbs are pretty useless for overall nutritional health.

Personally, if I just eat carbs, I get hungry again right away even though my belly might be full, because my body is still craving nutrients.

On the other hand, if I eat meat and vegetables, I feel satisfied for hours.

 

[ktorp18]

Yes, I am a Civ player. As for grains... You get more fiber from leafy greens like spinach, cabbage, brocolli, etc. They have almost no vitamins, protein, or other essential nutrients. Just carbs. Carbs are pretty useless for overall nutritional health.

Personally, if I just eat carbs, I get hungry again right away even though my belly might be full, because my body is still craving nutrients.

On the other hand, if I eat meat and vegetables, I feel satisfied for hours.

Word. I had to uninstall Civ 4 before it completely took over my life. Looks like I need to lower the carbs and eat more veggies. Right now my diet has a lot of carbs. Usually start off the day with 2 Panera Bread plain bagels with cream cheese, and for lunch it's usually a chicken sub on Italian bread from Panera.

 

[Icymudpuppy]

If you like your cream cheese, here's a suggestion...

Breakfast change: slice a peach, apple, or other fruit in half and put a dollop of cream cheese, yogurt, or cottage cheese in the center where the pit/core used to be. Or if you still must have that tasty bagel, cut it back to 1/2 of one.

Lunch: Try a chicken or Tuna salad with tomatoes and cucumbers instead of the sandwich.

You really only need carbs if you burn a lot of energy. If you are a manual laborer, or an athlete, carbs are useful for giving you extra calories to burn in a physically demanding task. If you sit at a desk all day, you should probably avoid them at all cost.

 

[BCR_9er]

Humans are Omnivores, they are suppose to eat a balance of Meats and Plants. IMO

 

[Todd]

Word. I had to uninstall Civ 4 before it completely took over my life. Looks like I need to lower the carbs and eat more veggies. Right now my diet has a lot of carbs. Usually start off the day with 2 Panera Bread plain bagels with cream cheese, and for lunch it's usually a chicken sub on Italian bread from Panera.

You're still young, but you've got to start good habits now or you get like some of us and learn it late....and then it get's harder.

1st rule of thumb is cut out eating out as much as possible.

If your going to eat Carbs make sure they aren't empty carbs. (candy, chips, snacks) Eat whole grains, whole wheat not white (I.E. Italian bread)

Panara bagel with cream cheese is a heck of a lot of carb overload in the morning. I'd be crashing by 9a.m.

You need more protein in the morning to avoid the crash and balance out. Try eggs on a whole wheat english muffin instead. If times a factor, the Egg mcmuffin is the best of the bad choices in fast food.

 

[ktorp18]

If you like your cream cheese, here's a suggestion...

Breakfast change: slice a peach, apple, or other fruit in half and put a dollop of cream cheese, yogurt, or cottage cheese in the center where the pit/core used to be. Or if you still must have that tasty bagel, cut it back to 1/2 of one.

Lunch: Try a chicken or Tuna salad with tomatoes and cucumbers instead of the sandwich.

You really only need carbs if you burn a lot of energy. If you are a manual laborer, or an athlete, carbs are useful for giving you extra calories to burn in a physically demanding task. If you sit at a desk all day, you should probably avoid them at all cost.

Thanks for the suggestions. I do eat a banana, apple, or yogurt with every meal, so I guess my diet hasn't been a complete failure. I know we've been talking about how grains aren't great, but what about oatmeal? I've read a lot of good things about it and I'd be happy to start off my day with a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal and an apple. The chicken salad is a good idea for lunch too, I'm going to start to switch towards that. I'm not a very active person, though I use to play basketball for hours everyday. Now I just get a 30 minute jog in every day along with some crunches and pushups.

You're still young, but you've got to start good habits now or you get like some of us and learn it late....and then it get's harder.

1st rule of thumb is cut out eating out as much as possible.

If your going to eat Carbs make sure they aren't empty carbs. (candy, chips, snacks) Eat whole grains, whole wheat not white (I.E. Italian bread)

Panara bagel with cream cheese is a heck of a lot of carb overload in the morning. I'd be crashing by 9a.m.

You need more protein in the morning to avoid the crash and balance out. Try eggs on a whole wheat english muffin instead. If times a factor, the Egg mcmuffin is the best of the bad choices in fast food.

I've started to basically never eat out, mainly because I don't have the money for it. I get the Panera bread stuff for free because my parents to some type of local church thing with them and give out food to those in need. They get to take home the leftovers, so we are always fully stocked with those empty carbs. Like I said to Icymudpuppy, I'm thinking about switching to oatmeal and an apple for breakfast, but you are right, I still need the protein. I guess I can put an egg or 2 on the side to go with the oatmeal and apple.

 

[Icymudpuppy]

Oatmeal counts as a whole grain. It is still mostly just carbs though. Your jogging is probably sufficient to burn off the calories of the oatmeal and you will still get the benefit of the fiber.

Protein is important. I'm allergic to eggs these days, so I eat meats. I prefer wild game like venison, but I do have a soft spot for bacon.

I agree with Todd. Stay away from the bagel, and get some more protein.

 

[Old Ducker]

I'm really disconnected from the food I eat, as I have never hunted, killed, skinned, and done all the other necessary steps to get an animal to where it is ready to be consumed. Today I started watching Food Inc. and I paused it to ask this question to the forum: Are we suppose to eat meat? My thoughts are that we are really suppose to eat fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. and meat should be eaten only as a last resort/survival kind of thing. I don't think I'm going to stop eating meat anytime soon, but I'd like to hear some thoughts on this topic. Thanks.

The short answer: Our digestive system is designed to process animal flesh; humans cannot digest cellulose very well. Ruminants such as cows, deer, etc., have multiple stomachs where bacteria eat the cellulose and the animals eat the bacteria so technically even ruminants are meat eaters.

 

[ktorp18]

Oatmeal counts as a whole grain. It is still mostly just carbs though. Your jogging is probably sufficient to burn off the calories of the oatmeal and you will still get the benefit of the fiber.

Protein is important. I'm allergic to eggs these days, so I eat meats. I prefer wild game like venison, but I do have a soft spot for bacon.

I agree with Todd. Stay away from the bagel, and get some more protein.

I have two sisters and both of their boyfriends are big hunters and they bring over venison all the time, it's great! Putting some of that on a whole wheat muffin with an egg instead of sausage would be good stuff.

 

[Working Poor]

as far as eating grains goes it depends on if you are buying high quality or not the GMO grains are terrible especially the corn which is the cause of many food allergies in these times.

Grains are very important for people who do not eat meat as they do supply B vitamins and other minerals.

I like the Mediterranean diet. I can't live with out my humus and taboli on pita

 

[Elwar]

If we weren't supposed to eat meat, our tastes wouldn't have evolved to the point that it tastes so good. Most of the food that tastes good to us also happens to coincide with an active lifestyle of running around all day.

 

[torchbearer]

the human body can only digest red meat if you burn it completely.
our bodies aren't setup to eat red meat. but it can digest other kinds of meat.

 

[Todd]

If we weren't supposed to eat meat, our tastes wouldn't have evolved to the point that it tastes so good. Most of the food that tastes good to us also happens to coincide with an active lifestyle of running around all day.

You can't eat McDouble's and 14oz sirloins every day simply because your an active guy. I don't know many people who've studied nutrition that think you're going to make that a part of a well balanced diet and live long and healthy.

The whole evolution thingy doesn't add up in this instance. It's a fact that you can change your taste buds preferences in a few weeks. A Boston Cream pie Dunkin donut tastes real good. Then try eating clean for several months and it's a bit of a shock to the sytem. I've found not so much of a desire after a period of time.
The empirical evidence for longevity also proves the opposite. There are too many cultures that prove that eating a diet high in animal protein leads to a shorter life.......and I love meat.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

the human body can only digest red meat if you burn it completely.
our bodies aren't setup to eat red meat. but it can digest other kinds of meat.

FWIW,
According to Dr Peter D'Adamo, some blood types are designed to digest red meat (like type O) and some aren't. I personally avoid red meat most of the time. People who like red meat also have the option of taking digestive enzymes like papaya.

 

[Mini-Me]

I don't know what any of your teeth look like, but mine indicate that I'm probably meant to eat meat exclusively.

 

[Elwar]

You can't eat McDouble's and 14oz sirloins every day simply because your an active guy. I don't know many people who've studied nutrition that think you're going to make that a part of a well balanced diet and live long and healthy.

The whole evolution thingy doesn't add up in this instance. It's a fact that you can change your taste buds preferences in a few weeks. A Boston Cream pie Dunkin donut tastes real good. Then try eating clean for several months and it's a bit of a shock to the sytem. I've found not so much of a desire after a period of time.
The empirical evidence for longevity also proves the opposite. There are too many cultures that prove that eating a diet high in animal protein leads to a shorter life.......and I love meat.

I wasn't talking about being active as in modern day running or jogging...

I'm talking about early man who had to hunt and track game and probably went for much longer without eating than we're used to. If meat didn't taste good they wouldn't go through all of the effort.

And a long life is not necessary to procreate and raise a child to an age where they can fend for themselves...we aren't really made to live long lives.

 

[squarepusher]

I'm really disconnected from the food I eat, as I have never hunted, killed, skinned, and done all the other necessary steps to get an animal to where it is ready to be consumed. Today I started watching Food Inc. and I paused it to ask this question to the forum: Are we suppose to eat meat? My thoughts are that we are really suppose to eat fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. and meat should be eaten only as a last resort/survival kind of thing. I don't think I'm going to stop eating meat anytime soon, but I'd like to hear some thoughts on this topic. Thanks.

great question, i was having this big dilema last week also about this exactly the same as you

 

[specsaregood]

I'm really disconnected from the food I eat, as I have never hunted, killed, skinned, and done all the other necessary steps to get an animal to where it is ready to be consumed.

Ya know it ain't that hard to rectify. Do you have any friends of family that hunt? Maybe somebody in a local RP group? If you don't, it should not be that difficult to put feelers out and find somebody willing to take you along. Most hunters I know would be happy to take somebody hunting that has never been --provided that you do as youare told, keep quiet, get up early, don't smoke/smell ---; even if you don't actually do the shooting you can be there for everything else. I'd recommend it....

 

[tmosley]

Most of the meat eaten by other primates is insects and carrion. Primates are scavengers, and eat whatever they come across. Much like Raccoons, Opossums, Skunks, Black bears, etc.
Humans are primates.

We aren't really physiologically designed to be a top predator. We are omnivores. capable of processing pretty much anything, but fruit and vegetables are at the top of the list of suitable foods, nuts next, meat, and then grains are last.

No omnivore except humans subsists on grains. And we aren't designed for it. Only the last 6000 years of agriculture has yielded a diet high in grains. We really don't process wheat, oats, barley, rice, corn, rye, etc very well, and those kinds of carbs are really not good for us metabolically. They are Highly fattening.

Actually, humans are a top predator. Humans are able to outrun any animal on earth (at long distances) at temperatures higher than 100 degrees F. We've been eating meat for 2 million years, since we diverged from chimps (which also eat meat, but they aren't great hunters, generally hunting down rival groups young). We became bipedal, hairless, and gained the ability to sweat to this very reason.

I would suppose that the empathy that is required for a persistence hunt is is what allowed us to develop the technology that we use today. We are able to empathize with others not only in our group, but with animals which are foreign to us. Eventually, we became able to empathize with our tools, and think of ways to improve them. That happened about a million years ago, which gave us stone tools, making the hunt easier. Eventually, some hunter gatherer tribe found a nice area and began traveling in a circle, and noticed that each time they returned to their former campsite, that fruits, berries, and grains had sprung up in their former latrine area, which eventually lead to agriculture.

It's true that we haven't been eating grain for a long time, but I can assure you that the human body is meant to be able to eat meat, and has been for millions of years.

 

[JeNNiF00F00]

FWIW,
According to Dr Peter D'Adamo, some blood types are designed to digest red meat (like type O) and some aren't. I personally avoid red meat most of the time. People who like red meat also have the option of taking digestive enzymes like papaya.

Im type O and if I dont eat enough meat I get really cranky. Seriously. I'll even drink blood or drizzle some steak blood on my baked potato when I have steak. I'm constantly craving it.