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It occurs to me that this “exactly balanced proportion” argument doesn’t explain how animals turn vegetables into the meat you crave. The argument would dictate

It occurs to me that this “exactly balanced proportion” argument doesn’t explain how animals turn vegetables into the meat you crave. The argument would dictate that cows should be fed meat, which regresses into absurdity. Most people should probably cook their own food, avoid most ultra-processed foods (twinkies, not flour) and eat a healthy balance of food types.

nlitened 2y ago
Cows have huge digestive system, and chew all day long — to be able to extract nutrients from plants. You, as a human, probably have more productive uses of your day. I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat veggies. I am just saying that staying long-term healthy on a vegan diet seems to me much more complicated than just eating meat. Of course, eating a single product all the time is unhealthy, no matter what product — every living organism requires variance.
- woodruffw 2y ago
  > You, as a human, probably have more productive uses of your day. Much like a cow, I don't think about my digestive system -- I let the parasympathetic system take care of that :-) > Of course, eating a single product all the time is unhealthy, no matter what product — every living organism requires variance. This is a very different statement than "the simple answer is just fatty meat," which is what you originally claimed.
  - nlitened 2y ago
    > This is a very different statement than "the simple answer is just fatty meat," which is what you originally claimed. It's a different statement, but it's not contradictory. Simple answer is: eat fatty meat. Complex answer is: just like everything in this universe, it depends on many factors, and no single answer is correct in every single context - but eating fatty meat will get you 90% where you want to be for 10% of effort.
- smegger001 2y ago
  We could look at the diet of the species most closely related to us chimps which is mostly fruit nuts, tuberous roots, insects, and opportunisticly meat (about 2%). You could bump the meat up a few percent to avoid bugs or add more nuts/legumes and acheive a healthy diet.
  - nlitened 2y ago
    It's a good point. As I understand, it is still debated whether increased meat consumption allowed our bigger brains — though I agree that a balanced and varied diet of natural unprocessed ingredients is likely the healthiest, although not the easiest to maintain, I think.
GoToRO 2y ago
From a documentary: cows are about 30% carnivore. They grow bacteria in their guts, on low quality food (grass) and then that bacteria gets devoured with the rest of the food when it's pushed in the next stomach (or intestine). They had a hilarious setup, a cow with a plastic flap attached to the side. They would open the flap to get instant access to the guts of the cow to collect samples of food.
- woodruffw 2y ago
  Consuming prokaryotes i.e. bacteria as part isn't the same thing as eating the tissue of animals. By that definition, just about every living animal is a carnivore, which would erase the relevant distinction (eating plants versus animal tissue).
  - GoToRO 2y ago
    It's the term they used. Also, it's 30%, a significant percent.

nlitened 2y ago

Cows have huge digestive system, and chew all day long — to be able to extract nutrients from plants. You, as a human, probably have more productive uses of your day. I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat veggies. I am just saying that staying long-term healthy on a vegan diet seems to me much more complicated than just eating meat. Of course, eating a single product all the time is unhealthy, no matter what product — every living organism requires variance.

woodruffw 2y ago
> You, as a human, probably have more productive uses of your day. Much like a cow, I don't think about my digestive system -- I let the parasympathetic system take care of that :-) > Of course, eating a single product all the time is unhealthy, no matter what product — every living organism requires variance. This is a very different statement than "the simple answer is just fatty meat," which is what you originally claimed.
- nlitened 2y ago
  > This is a very different statement than "the simple answer is just fatty meat," which is what you originally claimed. It's a different statement, but it's not contradictory. Simple answer is: eat fatty meat. Complex answer is: just like everything in this universe, it depends on many factors, and no single answer is correct in every single context - but eating fatty meat will get you 90% where you want to be for 10% of effort.
smegger001 2y ago
We could look at the diet of the species most closely related to us chimps which is mostly fruit nuts, tuberous roots, insects, and opportunisticly meat (about 2%). You could bump the meat up a few percent to avoid bugs or add more nuts/legumes and acheive a healthy diet.
- nlitened 2y ago
  It's a good point. As I understand, it is still debated whether increased meat consumption allowed our bigger brains — though I agree that a balanced and varied diet of natural unprocessed ingredients is likely the healthiest, although not the easiest to maintain, I think.

GoToRO 2y ago

From a documentary: cows are about 30% carnivore. They grow bacteria in their guts, on low quality food (grass) and then that bacteria gets devoured with the rest of the food when it's pushed in the next stomach (or intestine). They had a hilarious setup, a cow with a plastic flap attached to the side. They would open the flap to get instant access to the guts of the cow to collect samples of food.

woodruffw 2y ago
Consuming prokaryotes i.e. bacteria as part isn't the same thing as eating the tissue of animals. By that definition, just about every living animal is a carnivore, which would erase the relevant distinction (eating plants versus animal tissue).
- GoToRO 2y ago
  It's the term they used. Also, it's 30%, a significant percent.