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Humans are omnivores, and thrive by variety as Pollock has laid out nicely. While it is true that a largely plant based diet is probably a good idea, all throu

by zwaps 8y ago

Humans are omnivores, and thrive by variety as Pollock has laid out nicely. While it is true that a largely plant based diet is probably a good idea, all throughout history being healthy has implied that humans go for a large variety of food sources - conditional on what is available. As omnivores, we need many nutrients from diverse sources. Good quality protein that is difficult or impossible to get from "local plant sources" in many places. High quality fat, which is also difficult to get from plants in many places and certain Vitamins. The constraints here are wealth, logistics and locality. In Western countries, plant based diets are a good alternative. But good luck sourcing everything locally or not relying on expensive supplements in many areas where humans live! China is a poor country. So are many other places. Restricting dietary choices is simply not feasibly for them. Eating meat can be considered an unnecessary luxury for some areas of the world, true. But not everywhere.

cageface 8y ago
There’s a lot of debate right now about what the healthiest diet for people is. In my opinion the evidence that a good plant based diet is the best we can do is pretty convincing. But just for the sake of argument let’s say that a small amount of meat is helpful or even necessary. We’re still far far away from the amount of meat people just casually and thoughtlessly eat every day in most developed countries, which also necessitates all the horrible cruelty and environmental destruction of our current farming methods. So if for whatever reason you feel like you need to or deserve to keep eating meat, you can still cut way down and make sure the meat you eat doesn’t come from doing things to animals that would have you sent to jail for doing to a dog.
mises 8y ago
Indeed, we do need some meat. With that said, Americans would be wise to eat more organ meat: often very healthy, and contains micronutrients we can't get elsewhere. Some of these include things we simply can't synthesize ourselves. We do need meat, though we would be wise to consume more of the whole animal, both to minimize waste and get healthier.
- spraak 8y ago
  Name the nutrient that exists in meat that does not exist in plants or produced in our own bodies
  - mises 8y ago
    Methionene, tryptophan, lycine, and isoleucine are four essential amino acids present only in low concentrations in most veggie/nut/legume proteins. That's why these proteins are called incomplete. We need them to build and maintain muscle and tissue. I'm sure there are more.
thorwasdfasdf 8y ago
You don't need meat at all. Meat is a comfort food. Don't worry about b12, you can find it mushrooms, nutritional yeast, supplements. in the past we'd get it from fungus, etc. You can get all the nutrients you need from a whole foods plant based diet. No one need ever get heart disease or stroke, simply switch to a whole foods/plant based diet. Animals get their protein from plants. Eating meat is just eating recycled proteins. If you want to get high quality original protein, you need to eat meat. Vegetables and Beans are extremely high in protein (over 15% of calories come from protein!). Just check out this calculator which shows all the nutrients normalized on a per calorie basis: https://kale.world/c https://kale.world/c This is going to sound shocking, but the following is all true. and if you ask the people who actually do the research on this stuff, you'll see that it's right: In the last couple decades protein needs have been grossly exaggerated. The media has brain washed us into thinking that we need vast amounts of protein. You actually only need 5%, according to the WHO. I know some countries will say 10%. In any case, It's almost impossible to not get enough protein from plant based whole foods.

by zwaps 8y ago

cageface 8y ago

There’s a lot of debate right now about what the healthiest diet for people is. In my opinion the evidence that a good plant based diet is the best we can do is pretty convincing. But just for the sake of argument let’s say that a small amount of meat is helpful or even necessary. We’re still far far away from the amount of meat people just casually and thoughtlessly eat every day in most developed countries, which also necessitates all the horrible cruelty and environmental destruction of our current farming methods. So if for whatever reason you feel like you need to or deserve to keep eating meat, you can still cut way down and make sure the meat you eat doesn’t come from doing things to animals that would have you sent to jail for doing to a dog.

mises 8y ago

Indeed, we do need some meat. With that said, Americans would be wise to eat more organ meat: often very healthy, and contains micronutrients we can't get elsewhere. Some of these include things we simply can't synthesize ourselves. We do need meat, though we would be wise to consume more of the whole animal, both to minimize waste and get healthier.

spraak 8y ago
Name the nutrient that exists in meat that does not exist in plants or produced in our own bodies
- mises 8y ago
  Methionene, tryptophan, lycine, and isoleucine are four essential amino acids present only in low concentrations in most veggie/nut/legume proteins. That's why these proteins are called incomplete. We need them to build and maintain muscle and tissue. I'm sure there are more.

thorwasdfasdf 8y ago

You don't need meat at all. Meat is a comfort food. Don't worry about b12, you can find it mushrooms, nutritional yeast, supplements. in the past we'd get it from fungus, etc. You can get all the nutrients you need from a whole foods plant based diet. No one need ever get heart disease or stroke, simply switch to a whole foods/plant based diet. Animals get their protein from plants. Eating meat is just eating recycled proteins. If you want to get high quality original protein, you need to eat meat. Vegetables and Beans are extremely high in protein (over 15% of calories come from protein!). Just check out this calculator which shows all the nutrients normalized on a per calorie basis: https://kale.world/c https://kale.world/c This is going to sound shocking, but the following is all true. and if you ask the people who actually do the research on this stuff, you'll see that it's right: In the last couple decades protein needs have been grossly exaggerated. The media has brain washed us into thinking that we need vast amounts of protein. You actually only need 5%, according to the WHO. I know some countries will say 10%. In any case, It's almost impossible to not get enough protein from plant based whole foods.