[X] My Assistant

[Eldavey]

Are humans herbivorous? Vegetarians and Vegans say it all the time: humans aren't supposed to eat meat.
What's your opinion?

[Manah]

If we weren't supposed to eat meat, we wouldn't be doing it successfully since whenever the first human tried eating it. Whether you do it or not is a personal choice.

[Mikka]

Well, I follow a vegetarian diet by choice, but I ate meat/fish most of my life. Human beings can survive on almost any diet. Whether that diet is healthy is another matter... Studies seem to suggest a vegetarian lifestyle can provide the best health and longevity. However those studies talk about including veggies and fruits at every meal. So if you're a vegetarian but you're just replacing meat by tofu and seitan substitutes, and overall eat poorly, you probably won't get any benefits.

[ROMANA]

I don't think it's a matter of supposed too - meat is a really effective form of protein and calories and, in a hunter gatherer situation, is a good return on the energy expended to get it. It's not necessary, and eaten in the sort of amounts people in first world, developed countries can eat it, it's not good for us or the environment.

[MilenaGlen]

If you have a look at our teeth and teeth of predators, you will see more similarities than with those of cow, for example.
Make your judgements.

[Calyhex]

Humans are meant to be omnivores. I have no problem with people choosing to be vegetarian, but I could never do it. Partially for health reasons, and partially because of religious reasons. I believe that you should know where your food comes from before you eat it, as much as possible. I won't lie and say I never eat out, because I do, when with friends, but I try to minimise it.

I suppose I'm very much live and let live. You don't get in my face and call me a horrible person and a bloodmouth and I won't diss your choices.

[DeltaFrost]

While I agree that humans are omnivores, I feel like because of the way humanity is developed in first world countries specifically, and just how much of an easy access we have to all types of foods in these places, being vegetarian (or vegan) is a viable choice. When we have thousands and thousands of farms dedicated to raising all types of animals specifically to eat them later on down the road, it's up to you whether or not you want to participate in that

Especially since there are companies out there that don't treat animals well, though I would argue that you usually find the worst animal treatment not in food companies but in makeup companies and the like (Companies who test their products on animals). However choosing to be vegan can be quite expensive and it eats up a lot of your time to research the companies you are buying so I get why more people aren't vegan (including myself)

[AregularFrankief...]

I don't care much for what strangers do with their lives as long as they aren't trying to force me to play along. I'm one of those people who quite literally can't survive on a plant-based diet; what vegans/vegetarians derive most of their protein from would send me to an early grave.

[Natsume Reiko]

Humans are omnivores. That's scientifically proven. What people want to do is up to them, however children should never be forced to it imo for health and safety reasons. Kids are developing and they desperately need protein to help with their growing bodies. Soy based protein and legumes aren't enough. I used to volunteer a lot at a hospital and I am disgusted how many kids have come through the hospital completely malnourished and stunted because their parents put them on an all vegan/vegetarian diet. Fuck, just let them eat meat and a balanced diet and then let them make the choice when they grow older. My mother was a vegetarian due to an allergy to red meat but she never ever forced my brother or myself to a vegetarian or vegan diet because she knew that it wasn't good for a developing kid. She'd prepare meals separately and that was the end of it.

[mcguffiejasper]

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This post has been edited by PokeNOM NOM NOM: Oct 20 2018, 03:08 PM

Reason for edit: No advertising please.

[Typhlosion]

I don't mind Vegetarians/Vegans as long as they don't try and shove their belief in my face and tell me that I'm a bad person for eating meat.

[Master PokePilot]

Humans are omnivores. That's scientifically proven. What people want to do is up to them, however children should never be forced to it imo for health and safety reasons. Kids are developing and they desperately need protein to help with their growing bodies. Soy based protein and legumes aren't enough. I used to volunteer a lot at a hospital and I am disgusted how many kids have come through the hospital completely malnourished and stunted because their parents put them on an all vegan/vegetarian diet. Fuck, just let them eat meat and a balanced diet and then let them make the choice when they grow older. My mother was a vegetarian due to an allergy to red meat but she never ever forced my brother or myself to a vegetarian or vegan diet because she knew that it wasn't good for a developing kid. She'd prepare meals separately and that was the end of it.

The opposite is true as well, though. Most children would not eat meat if they knew at what cost it came on their plates. I certainly would've been vegan a long time ago if I 1) was not disillusioned about where meat even came from and 2) my dad was not an abusive conservative who would've probably disowned me if the word "vegan" ever came out of my mouth when I was younger. Certainly it seems "abusive" to "force" kids not to eat meat, but honestly, forcing them to eat meat is the same. I'd rather educate my kids early about meat and see what they'd like to do, rather than saying "they need it" because they definitely do not. 100% of nutrition can be provided by a vegan diet. I'm sad to hear that you experienced critical cases of kids who were forced on a vegan diet; many of those "parents" aren't even parents, ykwim? But what about the kids who are malnourished even as omnivores? Kids raised on McDonald's and other shit food?

In either case, you have to be a good parent. Vegan, vegetarian or otherwise.

[Master PokePilot]

Honestly, if you are conscious of where your food is coming from and you are limiting your meat consumption to only what you really "need", then you're doing well for your health and for the environment. However, I'd consider cutting meat out entirely if you are ethically concerned for animals. While a vegan diet isn't 100% cruelty-free, it cuts out all instances of purposefully abusing and killing animals for the sake of food. A vegan diet provides 100% of what any human needs, regardless of dietary restrictions/allergies/etc. Especially in this day and age where it is easy to access hundreds of different fruits and veggies.

If you really care about the planet as well, the animal agriculture industry is at fault for more climate change stressors than all transportation means combined. Meat is not sustainable at all at the level of consumption we have it at. We have cleared millions of acres of forests for soy fields and grazing lands for billions of animals, leading to mass habitat loss, agricultural run-off into streams and subsequently into the ocean (see: "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico), and the loss of unique rainforests (the Amazon). In addition, there is plenty of research to suggest that meat--even more so, processed meat--has a pretty high chance of giving you cancer, on top of other things like high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health issues.

Just look at Harvard's healthy eating plate. That should tell you everything else.

This post has been edited by Master PokePilot: Mar 20 2019, 11:23 PM

[gregoryk]

i don’t care if you’re vegan or veg italian as long as you don’t force or let your children do it. children need high amounts of protein that is best gained through meat i remember reading about a certain thing in meat that is needed i. a child’s diet or something that helps development and taking that away is risking the child’s health. you wanna be veg? fine. but don’t try to force it on children and others around you.

[Master PokePilot]

i don’t care if you’re vegan or veg italian as long as you don’t force or let your children do it. children need high amounts of protein that is best gained through meat i remember reading about a certain thing in meat that is needed i. a child’s diet or something that helps development and taking that away is risking the child’s health. you wanna be veg? fine. but don’t try to force it on children and others around you.

You have to also understand that making kids eat meat is also forcing a lifestyle on them. Many young children will not want to eat meat if you tell them an animal had to die for it. I for one was an especially animal-loving child (and now adult) and if I would've known the suffering my meals caused, I would've stopped eating meat earlier rather than later. Though my dad would've forced me anyways. Haha. Anyhow, no, meat is not necessary. Protein--COMPLETE protein--exists in plant form through either soy beans and various seeds or just mixing and matching foods to make a complete-protein meal (an easy combo is rice and beans or peanut butter and toast). Plenty of vegetarian and vegan children have already been raised in the world into adults and furthermore, meat is not a requirement. As long as you are satisfying nutritional requirements by plant-based means (which is completely possible: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/...s-and-children).

The reason it's so easy to fail is because you have to be more conscientious about food choices and many people ("parents") are too lazy, haven't researched enough, and/or haven't even spoken to a pediatrician about it. It is difficult but very possible and extremely healthy, both physically and mentally, when carried out with complete knowledge of what needs to be done.

One last thing is all parents honestly press something on their children and when the child moves out, they decide to keep it or not. I decided to stop eating meat not only because of the environmental destruction caused by animal agriculture but also because animals are sentient and deserve better treatment than they face in factory farms. I believe they don't deserve to be exploited when we have other ways to sustain ourselves.

Overall I don't even think you have to be vegan to do something good. Step 1 is honestly just being conscious any where your food comes from. Is the source a factory farm (or multiple farms) responsible for deforestation in Brazil, as is the case with the beef industry? Is the pork you're buying from farms that drain their waste into local watersheds hazardously? And there is even more even it comes to compassion for animals. Etc. It's always better to buy local, organic, and green--meat or plants alike. Green as in sustainable, by the way. Not green meat. Gross lol.

This post has been edited by Master PokePilot: Jul 15 2019, 01:58 AM