PDF Vegetarian: Should We Eat Meat?

After Being Vegan for 3 Years, I Went Back to Meat. And This Happened…

Contents:

The newfound changes have been incredible

Log in with your Medical News Today account to create or edit your custom homepage, catch-up on your opinions notifications and set your newsletter preferences. Sign up for a free Medical News Today account to customize your medical and health news experiences. Some people choose a plant-based diet for health reasons, while others do so with more ethical concerns in mind. On the other side of the dinner plate, some meat lovers put little thought into whether they should or shouldn't eat meat, while others will defend their right to chow down on animal muscles until the end of time.

Passions can run surprisingly high when it comes to dietary decisions. Food is a matter of survival, and deep down in our primate brain, we still feel that we need to defend our food sources. Today, we are not concerned with the ethics of the meat industry; it's not that they aren't important, but that we are more focused in the biology involved. Similarly, we tend not to dabble in the debate surrounding the environmental impact of meat rearing; we will leave that for others to chew over. This article will be served in two courses. First, we ask whether or not humans are "designed" to eat meat — did we evolve to consume it?

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By Diana Kelly. The Rumor: Vegetarians are healthier than meat eaters. You've heard buzz over the years that following a vegetarian diet is better for your. A vegetarian is someone who doesn't eat meat, including beef, chicken, pork When you are eating plant-based iron foods, try to maximize the.

Then, we will ask which option is best for our health. This is the first question to answer, and, anatomically, it seems to be a simple one. We don't look like carnivores; our teeth are no good for ripping flesh, and 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. We are, it seems, omnivores; our bodies can handle both meat and plant matter pretty well. It's not quite that simple, though. Just looking at an animal's teeth and gut is no surefire way to distinguish its diet.

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The panda — with killer canines and a bamboo diet — is an excellent example. That being said, it is true that most creatures have a gut suited to the diet that they consume.

The newfound changes have been incredible

Lions, for instance, have huge, smooth-walled stomachs for holding hunks of animal. Many herbivores, meanwhile, have massive, plant-destroying factories in their abdomens, where bacteria smash apart the tough constituents of plant matter. We humans like to think of ourselves as special, and, in many ways, you could argue that we are. But when it comes to our internal tubing, we are monumentally average.

Rather boringly, the human gut is very similar to that of our closest relatives: It follows that, if we are looking to work in harmony with our guts' design, our diet should be at least similar to our cousins'. When we examine the diet of virtually all monkeys and apes, it's nuts, fruits, leaves, insects, and the occasional snack of flesh.

You may have seen rather shocking footage of adult chimpanzees killing and eating baby ones, but that's a relative rarity compared with the quantities of non-meat products consumed. From these observations, we can perhaps conclude that evolutionarily speaking, we shouldn't necessarily be vegetarian and evolved to eat only the occasional tidbit of animal matter. Eating meat, according to some evolutionary scientists, gave early humans a vital head start.

Reasons For Stop Eating Meat Immediately

Meat is packed with energy and protein that may have helped us to develop and nurture the over-sized bundle of cabling between our ears. The expensive tissue hypothesis states that to have a larger brain, we need to save metabolic energy elsewhere.

To do this, our guts were shortened. But this brought another issue: Enter the animal-based diet.

Try bacon.

Here's one woman's story about why she regrets giving up meat. Many herbivores, meanwhile, have massive, plant-destroying factories in their abdomens, where bacteria smash apart the tough constituents of plant matter. Women need about 0. Since reintroducing animal protein into my diet, I transitioned to eating much smaller portions. Similarly, we tend not to dabble in the debate surrounding the environmental impact of meat rearing; we will leave that for others to chew over.

It is worth noting that this theory is not roundly supported. Some researchers believe that hunting prey contributed to our bipedal stance, and that planning and conducting a hunt could have assisted the development of language, communication, and complex societies. But, just because something has been done for eons, it doesn't mean that we necessarily need to continue down the same path. Modern life is different; the options that lie on the dinner table are much more varied.

Our forebears did not have access to tofu, for instance, and a human living in colder climes would struggle to find cashew nuts on her daily forage. Evolution is endless, adaptation ongoing. Animals don't continue to drink milk after weaning. If they tried it, it would make them sick. The enzyme that mammals need to break down lactose in milk — lactase — is not produced into adulthood. But now, entire populations of humans produce lactase long after they have stopped drinking their mother's milk known as lactase persistence.

At some point, a group of humans began making this change, and, because it gave them access to more calories and other nutritional goodies, they survived in favor of those who couldn't stomach cow or goat juice. We have adapted to make use of an energy-rich source of protein, vitamins , and minerals. So, is it natural to drink milk? If not, does that mean that we shouldn't drink it?

Our bodies are layered with a range of evolutionary changes: We are a now mishmash of compensations and add-ons that have helped us to survive over the years. If we say that we want to eat as our ancestors did, do we mean Homo erectus , Neanderthals who may well have eaten more plants than is often imagined , Australopithecus who walked the earth around 4 million years ago , the earliest primates around 50—55 million years ago , or something in-between?

If the preceding ramblings mean anything, it is that we should only eat meat if it benefits us now. The important question is how it impacts our bodies today. Whether eating meat is natural or not doesn't make a lot of difference. Nobody realistically thinks that we should meticulously go back to what our earliest ancestors ate simply because it was a long time ago.

From a medical point of view, we should only eat meat if it is healthful to do so. Over recent years, there has been a growing mountain of evidence in support of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet and the health risks of pounding too many burgers into our bodies. The first time I ate eggs, it literally felt like I finished having Thanksgiving dinner. Health and wellness touch each of us differently. I was on a percent plant-based diet for nearly three years.

Yes, that meant my plate was only whole fruits and vegetables, grains, and legumes. I excluded all animal products, including dairy, meat, and seafood.

Becoming a vegetarian

And initially, I felt amazing. My digestion was great, and I was super energized. It also felt great to no longer be contributing to the cruelty of modern animal agriculture and the negative effects livestock production has on the planet. I started to have way less energy. Completing even the smallest of tasks had become a struggle.

I also noticed that I was having horrible migraines before and during my menstrual cycle. At one point during my periods, I could barely get out of bed. I knew something was wrong, and tried to adjust my diet in every way possible. During this time, I also had an odd, intense craving for seafood, but I wanted to continue making veganism work for my body.

Listen to your body’s needs

I thought that maybe I developed an allergy to nuts or gluten, but my lab results revealed something even more shocking: I was critically low in iron — and my iron stores were even lower! Not only that, I was also very low in nutrients, including vitamins B, A, D, and zinc. My doctor was very concerned, but remained respectful of my vegan diet. I had been ignoring the signals my body was sending me for a long time already. Instead of forcing my body to adapt to veganism again, it was time to start incorporating fish and other animal products into my diet.

I slowly transitioned at first by only eating fish and eggs. I only purchase wild-caught salmon and eggs from pasture-raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free chickens. When I crave beef, I purchase grass-fed meat. I noticed major changes: I wake up fewer times throughout the night and my sleep is much deeper. Before, I often woke up during the night. Now, I sleep through and wake up feeling very rested. Toward the end of my time as a vegan, I struggled to wake up in the morning, let alone exercise!

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Since I started eating animal protein again, I have so much more energy to do everyday things. I even have enough for yoga classes and runs outside. I used to get hungry every couple of hours. These portion sizes usually left me bloated and uncomfortable — not to mention frustrated when I was hungry again shortly after. Since reintroducing animal protein into my diet, I transitioned to eating much smaller portions.

It was a huge change for me: