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Humans are Omnivores. We are built to get nutrients from both meat and plantlife. Our metabolisms work best when we eat both in moderation. Please let's not re
by abeppu 16y ago
Humans are Omnivores. We are built to get nutrients from both meat and plantlife. Our metabolisms work best when we eat both in moderation.
Please let's not resort to "appeal to nature", because that can certainly be abused both ways (and frequently is). There are certainly all sorts of sketchy vegetarian and vegan bogus arguments about why not eating animals is natural (and certainly eating dairy and chicken eggs isn't natural).
We weren't built for anything, and just because something is natural, doesn't mean that it's good or right. If we ruled our lives by what was natural, we'd die in our thirties, have high infant mortality, and while we would eat meat, we would also chase after it with sharpened sticks, and more of us would die from starvation. Agriculture is unnatural; it's technology. Yes, our ancestors ate meat, but that alone doesn't mean that we need to. The OP's system couldn't handle her vegan diet, so she needs meat, but that doesn't mean everyone needs meat.
If you want to eat meat, eat meat. That's reason enough. If you find that you personally physically need to eat meat, then please eat meat. But neither the omnivore nor the vegan who claims that one diet is universally nutritionally or morally optimal in virtue of being natural is making a solid justification.
- burgerbrain 16y ago>We weren't built for anything Swap out built with adapted and I think you'll have a hard time finding a dentist that agrees with that.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- jwhitlark 16y agoAgreed. It seems like many people add a "perfectly" to adapted, and that gets them into trouble.
- dejb 16y agoSwapping 'built with adapted' doesn't avoid the naturalistic fallacy. Just because we have adapted to cope with something doesn't imply it is good for our current circumstances. Any source of calories would have desirable for our early ancestors - now we have the opposite problem. Instead gazing backwards to our primitive forbears for advice, we need to use science to guide us as to what the best foods to eat are.
- abeppu 16y agoIn line with my point above that nature is irrelevant in a discussion about what's good or right, I'd like to point out that because of such unnatural practices as cooking our food, it kind of doesn't matter what our teeth are adapted to eat. I don't want to eat whatever foods our savanna ancestor ate, because now we have farms and kitchens and supermarkets, and I have better options, and better criteria to guide my choice than some interpretation of what's 'natural'.