Is it our natural way of living to be a vegetarian?

Question

I read everything about becoming vegan and every idea behind it. I care a lot about my mind function and I have a serious question:

I was wondering which way is more natural ? If we want to answer this question we have to ask “Is there anything in meat that isn't available from vegetables?” And only by vegetables and not any human made drugs or pills or anything.

Because if there was anything in meat that would be necessary for our body and mind’s function that isn't available from vegetables it’s like we ask a lion not to hunt a gazelle!

If you’re answering please provide scientific resources.

Please clarify what you mean by "natural" and why you are seeking to live that way. For example, many people consider living indoors to be unnatural, but still prefer it. — Nic, Mar 22 '19 at 07:03
@Nic By natural I mean somthing that it’s not against the nature. I’m searching the fact that if we were supposed to be vegeterians and by eating meat we are doing the opposite what we have been designed for. By all those thing I said I meant I’m searching for the fact that we are doing something wrong by eating meat .and for proving that we are actually doing somthing wtong I have to know if we can 100% replace meat by organic kind of things. Because if we can replace all those things in meat but we still eat them and hurt animals there is somthing wrong with us. — Negar Rezaei Nejad, Mar 22 '19 at 14:06
Asking about what humans are "supposed" to do or "designed for" implies the existence of a higher power. Rather than using the nonspecific word "natural", your question might be improved by asking it within a particular belief system. You could edit your question here, or consider whether it might be appropriate for one of the belief-centred StackExchange sites (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, etc.) Or if your idea of "natural" is based on human evolution, you could specify that instead. — Nic, Mar 23 '19 at 21:44
Questions of the form "do humans naturally behave like X or not X" are usually poorly framed. Biological evolution is a mess of different and often competing tendencies. For example, the commonly asked question "are humans naturally monogamous or polygamous" has no clean answer. We have tendencies that make us want to be polygamous because it helps us propagate our genes better. And we have evolved strategies for punishing our mates for being polygamous, and acquiescing to said punishment. We're in the middle of an ancient genetic dance of competing monogamous and polygamous tendencies. — Bridgeburners, Mar 29 '19 at 18:54

Manuki · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-29T16:49:54.083

The truth about the natural diet is that our ancestors were eating whatever they could get their hands on. They could digest meat as well as vegetables. Some humans have been fed mainly bread their whole life. Some people were eating only meat like some game-following nomads in the north of Canada, and some people were strictly vegetarian (maybe in India?). Some people like in Japan were eating a lot of fish.

If you think back before civilization, more than 20 000 years ago, before Ancient Egypt, among others, people were digging up onions, scavenging dead animals (we can eat the bone marrow that most predators cannot get out of a body), eating insects and small critters, as well as fruits, roots, nuts, some leaves, mushrooms, and we were also foraging through the feces of bigger animals. Hunting has also been with us for many thousands of years.

Hunting was not our thing in the beginning, it came more with advanced intelligence, use of fire and traps and tools.

If we want to look further back in the past: by logic, a monkey would be mostly frugivore, with supplements of nuts and insects and a lot of other random things. Bear in mind that Homo Sapiens is thought to be at least 300 000 years old. And the genus Homo, 7 millions years. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens) Still according to wikipedia, usage of fire by humans could be as old as 1.7 million years, while more dedicated fireplaces and creation of fire by humans could have appeared between 700 000 and 300 000 years ago. Fire then allowed cooking.

Eating non-human milk products is kind of recent in history but has also been extensively used. People were crossing deserts, drinking camel milk, goat cheese and such. Alcoholic beverages have also been very popular, and not only to get drunk: alcohol doesn't spoil like water does, so it's useful for long trips.

The luxury of chosing what foods you would eat came very recently in our history. An optimal nutrition should be very diverse to be sure your body has plenty of possibilities and is not missing anything. Every body is different and needs different foods. The most important is to have enough food to survive, for the rest the body can adapt a lot.

Another answer could probably expand on all the types of vitamins and minerals, but I think that's just looking at the same issue but with a microscope, the answer will still be to eat a variety of food.

To answer your question “Is there anything in meat that isn't available from vegetables?”, there is one vitamin that is only exclusively found in animal products: B12. See there: What is a good source of Vitamin B12 for a vegan?

Thanks a lot about all the explanation and also for the time you spent — Negar Rezaei Nejad, Mar 25 '19 at 23:03
It's worth noting that B12 isn't produced by animals, it's produced by bacteria and then ingested by the animals (they aren't washing their food, or purifying drinking water). I think humans produce B12 in their digestive tract too, only too late for us to absorb it, but that's by-the-by. https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/vitamin-b12/ — David S, Mar 26 '19 at 15:07
@DavidS Interesting nuance... I would also note that B12 is readily available in many fortified almond milks and possibly other vegan supermarket products. — Manuki, Mar 26 '19 at 15:20
The fact that we have teeth designed for meat eating and for a vegetarian diet, as well as our digestive systems being able to process both, shows that humans were meant to be omnivorous. — Nav, Nov 18 '20 at 06:32
@Manuki: Ah the ultimate question! :-) Well, for now, I'd say the "who" was a bunch of cells in a pre-historic body which detected some nutrients and figured out how to use some chemicals to digest it, and then communicated the information to the rest of the body to adapt to continue accepting that kind of nutrition. It's fascinating how these processes work: https://www.techrxiv.org/articles/Facts_and_Anomalies_to_Keep_in_Perspective_When_Designing_an_Artificial_Intelligence/12299945 — Nav, Nov 18 '20 at 16:32

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 21 '19 at 19:30

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Sorry, I don't have the time to research this as well as you request but I don't think that it needs it. There are plenty of healthy people who have been vegetarian or vegan their entire lives. Sadly, I was not either as a child as my parents were not and, in those days, you ate what your mother served without question. However, it is over 40 years since I have eaten meat yet I am more healthy than most people of my age and many younger ones as well. I have never taken any pills or other such supplements.

I think that it is far from clear whether milk or eggs hurt animals less. A problem in both cases is: what happens to the males? Of the two, I would probably regard eating unfertilised eggs as more acceptable.

I have fluctuated between vegetarian and vegan over the years but the only defence that I see for vegetarianism is a compromise with a meat oriented society. In many places, it is now easy to be vegetarian but it is still often a challenge to to be vegan.

answered Mar 21 '19 at 19:30

badjohn

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With all the respct I think it’s needed.we don’t look like carnivores our teeth are no good for ripping flesh and our guts aren’t long enough and our teeth don’t quite fit the bill .our guts are too long .are we herbivores then ? No , our guts aren’t long enough and our teeth don’t quite fit the bill .so according to the cluse we are omnivores.(according to :https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/amp/320047 )So sorry , It’s needed for me to convince myself . I don’t know how anyone could convince himself to be vegeterian or vegan if they don’t answer such questions. – Negar Rezaei Nejad Mar 21 '19 at 20:03
Our history and evolution is complex. I don't think that it can be used to prove that vegetarianism or veganism is possible or impossible, desirable or undesirable. You must answer these questions another way. I would have thought that the existence of large numbers of long term, healthy vegetarians or vegans was sufficient evidence. Of course, you are free to choose your own standard of proof and you need not regard this as sufficient. However, I doubt that you will find much better. Heck, some still deny that smoking is unhealthy and the badness of saturated fat is now questioned. – badjohn Mar 21 '19 at 20:12
Thanks for your explanation.now I can see it in another way , I didn’t find the answer I wanted but it helped me improve my thinking powers about it . So thanks a lot. – Negar Rezaei Nejad Mar 21 '19 at 20:24
Please continue your research. If you find an answer, I would be very interested. However, I rather doubt that you will find the proof that you seek. – badjohn Mar 21 '19 at 20:26
If I found anything, I will share.Thanks again – Negar Rezaei Nejad Mar 21 '19 at 20:28

Is it our natural way of living to be a vegetarian?

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