Pet Peve: We're Not Meant to Eat Meat (revamp)

Revamping my old rant, this time with links and such! This rant was inspired by a "conversation" with someone on Youtube. You know, the place of many "intelligent conversations".

First, let's look at our mouth. Here's a great image that sums up how our teeth are not like an herbivore nor carnivore: winging-it.me/wp-content/uploa… And for some labeling on human teeth to help with that image, here you go: halalmeetstheworldofcooking.fi…  Still not convinced our teeth are those of an omnivore? Here's an omniverous fish, I want you to pay close attention to its teeth: whyevolutionistrue.files.wordp… For those of you wondering, this is the pacu-pacu fish, maybe you've seen it around on Facebook or some other website, most likely with comments saying "FAKE!". No, not so fake. We have our grinders, but they're not quite the same as herbivore grinders. We have our little canine teeth that aren't nearly as impressive as animals that have to catch their meat with their face for a living. Our molars are a little pointy and have some of a scissor bite, but they're not as sharp as they could be.

Next, our cecum. According to eHow:
"The cecum functions differently in various animal species. Though most vertebrates' digestive systems include a cecum, carnivores such as tigers and wolves have either a very small cecum, or it is nonexistent. Since these animals do not consume plant matter, the cecum is unnecessary. The cecum of herbivores is much larger than the cecum of omnivores. These animals consume more cellulose and water, making a larger cecum necessary for effective digestion."  www.ehow.com/list_6809336_func…

So how does our cecum compare to a carnivore and herbivore? We have one, that's a start, we OBVIOUSLY break down plant matter. Here's a comparison of an herbivore digestive tract and a carnivore one (sorry the picture is small, Google wouldn't let me have the picture I WANTED from the search, lol): www.second-opinions.co.uk/imag… Carnivores don't have much going on for them, while herbivores have quite the cecum! Now let's look at our cecum: 3.bp.blogspot.com/_E0FJFOMZM3I… It's there, it's not a tiny bump, but it's also not as extravagant as a herbivore's cecum when all is said and done. Gee, looks like we're right in the middle AGAIN! Think about it, how many plants can we NOT eat? Last I checked I can't eat grass, I can't eat bark, I can't eat most leaves, and if I don't cook things that list only grows. We're pretty lame as far as an herbivore goes. And as a carnivore, we obviously lack in the teeth department to grab prey and chew more efficiently (well, actually most animals don't chew, they rip and swallow, but you get the picture).

Oh, let's point out the fact that we CAN eat meat. And YES, herbivores do occasionally eat meat if given the opportunity (darn, can't we have an actual plant-lover here who doesn't ruin this whole "don't eat meat" thing?), but they don't have it often enough to be considered part of their diet. I don't think their bodies could handle it being in their diet regularly any more than a carnivore eating lots of plant material. I know one person who was raised without meat and says he cannot have meat without getting sick (I'll take his word on this one!). I've met some people who can't eat red meat, and others who couldn't eat white meat. Then I'm sitting here, my favorite food being steak, just ate chicken last week, I love fish, and I even like the weird stuff such as chicken spines (yes, the actual bone...Cornish game hens as well, or any small bird whose spine isn't too tough to chew and swallow), fish eyes, chicken hearts, livers, and gizzards, and occasionally I like to nibble on raw beef if I buy the local grass-fed stuff (which is almost always, unless Kota grabs meat from his work, which I don't like him doing so that's very rare...which is also why we don't eat much red meat...stuff's expensive!). And naturally we can eat plants, too! AWESOME. WE ARE SO GOOD AT BEING OPPORTUNISTIC! Although sometimes I have to wonder, lol, I mean I can't eat most fruit without getting sick (lately mandarins are the only thing I can get away with without having to cook first, or berries), and same for vegetables. The doctor who did my allergy test specifically told me to stop eating fruit and uncooked veggies....well, that sure explained the awful stomach pains whenever I did, and the feelings of "I'm going to barf...I'm gonna barf...wait, I'm not gonna barf...but darnit it feels like I will!" and the suffering EVERY DAY of middle school of gagging and occasionally dry heaving when I'd eat the sandwiches my mother lovingly made me for lunch.

Which reminds me, EVERY BODY IS DIFFERENT FOLKS! So when a meat eater gets on your case, or a vegetarian pulls their routine, or a vegan tries to morally dominate you, tell them to back off because everyone has different needs.

Back to the point though, we can digest meat. Veggies are good for your poops because a lot of that moves right through your digestive tract (think about it, if you ever look in the toilet after you go number 2, do you see raw chunks of meat, or do you see corn kernels and nuts? I remember vomiting once and I saw almost-perfect looking seaweed in the bowl, but no evidence of the fish from that exact same sushi wrap, or even evidence of the chicken meat I also had with that meal...all you can eat buffets and shellfish...don't...just, just don't do it...).  We have managed to evolve to eat meat, just like many of us have gotten to retain our lactase in our bodies so we can digest milk (people who are lactose intolerant are missing their lactase, like most animals who lose this after they have been weaned...we decided we like our dairy so much we're going to keep having it, and lo-and-behold, we have evolved to keep our lactase). Just because we have the ability doesn't mean we have to indulge in it though, of course.

Now, the still rather popular "if we were meant to eat meat then we can go in nature and kill it with our bare hands and eat it raw" argument. Let's skip straight to plants: how many of us don't cook some plants? Hell, for some you HAVE to. You don't walk up to a rice patty and chomp away. Same for a lot of beans, some of which can make you TERRIBLY ill. I have yet to meet a person who enjoys uncooked corn or potatoes (I've tried both raw myself, and I'd prefer them cooked, lol...and I like to keep a raw diet when possible. But hey, that much starch isn't good for you anyhow!). Fruits I'd say are one exception, you can eat most of those raw (unless you're me XD ) and without messing with them. And of course there's the more commonly eaten raw plants like green beans or broccoli. However, if I was to gather around here, there are few plants I could eat as-is. I could eat mustard flowers, blackberries, wild grapes, miner's lettuce, and clover/sorrel...that's all I know of. In the mean time, I'd get really sick or could even die if I ate the acorns, cattail roots, toyon berries (those I have had raw, but they make your mouth DRY as the desert and contain traces of cyanide even when ripe -some people don't consider them edible in their raw state because of these two factors-, but when cooked are said to taste like cherry and you are safe to eat larger quantities of them)...then of course there's more that are improved with cooking. So, you don't eat all plants raw, either.

Now watch this kid, right here, watch her and look what she's doing. Healthy child, been doing this for years, just watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qps4OR…

OH WAIT, WHAT'S THIS? DID THAT LITTLE GIRL JUST EAT RAW BEEF?? Yes, yes she did! And she's not the only one! There ARE meat dishes that use raw meat, like steak tartare, but other than that there are people who just eat all of their meat raw. Not even rare (which is delicious ^_^ ), but flat out raw. I personally enjoy nibbles here and there when I buy local grass-fed beef, but it's true, if you buy from a good source you can eat meat raw. AND it won't kill you! DARN, GUESS THAT BLOWS THAT ARGUMENT OUT OF THE WATER! The PROBLEM with eating meat raw is that we don't raise animals the way they were meant to live anymore. Cows are NOT supposed to eat corn, they're NOT supposed to be surrounded closely by other cows at all times, they're NOT supposed to live their entire life wading in their own feces, they're NOT supposed to eat other cows (or the placenta of elk for that matter, which can transmit some diseases...and yet people blame the buffalo!), they're NOT supposed to be slaughtered in mass in filthy conditions....they're supposed to live out on green fields, eating grass, then be killed in a clean environment. There's a reason children were getting salmonella and even DYING from COOKED fast food burgers; our industrialized food processes (meat and plants alike!) are out of wack. This is NOT how things are supposed to be! You're NOT supposed to spray poison all over your food (pesticides), and likewise you're NOT supposed to treat animals like they're objects.

Also, who here has heard of sushi? Raw fish. That's pretty popular, and not many people are getting sick from it! FANCY THAT. My fiance's cousin had to catch and kill a raw rabbit for some reason in the army (some kind of test for some special thingy...forgot what it was called ). He didn't get sick, and actually thought it was pretty good. I watched a video on Youtube where a guy started eating the raw meat I think just to mess with the 'doctors' on the show (here's the video if ya want to see for yourself: www.youtube.com/watch?v=abg8l2… ). But just like anything, if you don't condition yourself to eat it, it'll probably make you sick. You need the bacteria in your gut to deal with it. I mean, I can't eat fast food because it wreaks havoc on my digestive system and makes me sick to my stomach, but my friend can without a problem. My dog couldn't eat raw meat because we never fed him it, but other dogs are raised on it and are very healthy. It's the same thing! Just how life is!

Now, of course there's parasites/worms/bacteria (mind you you NEED bacteria to break things down in your gut; bacteria usually aren't a bad thing!). Just because you get them doesn't mean we shouldn't eat meat though-many predators get parasites and worms and the like. How else would parasites/worms/bacteria survive?? And if they got into the meat in the first place, odds are that some of those got there from the animal being eaten picking them up. People love pointing fingers at meat for a cause of getting worms, but fact is you can get something like roundworm from water, which means you're going to pick that nasty worm up when you eat raw veggies, NOT meat. In fact, that's why you get it from meat in the first place: it didn't spawn in the cow/chicken/pig/whatever, THEY got it from the plants ( www.burtonwellnesscenter.com/i… ). So sorry, being a vegetarian doesn't protect you from these risks. There are some more serious types of sick you can get from raw meat I'm sure, but think about it, food recalls aren't always for beef. Parasites run a life cycle where they are eaten, them or their babies are pooped out onto grass or maybe water, then they're eaten again to repeat the chain indefinitely. Seeing how none of them are endangered, they've obviously mastered this life style.

So yeah, if you eat raw meat, you can very well pick up parasites since you're not cooking them to death. And same goes for raw plant material. WELCOME TO THE REAL ANIMAL WORLD! You know, where they leave ticks in their skin and don't even know what ringworm is. Haha, it's kinda like saying, "Yeah, you can have sex all you want. We are able to do that unless your personal morals tell you otherwise, or you just can't get someone to hop into the sack with you. Now, you could play it safe and use protection and know your partner and where they're coming from and both be tested, or you can just go and have sex willy-nilly with whoever you want. If you pick up an STI, then oh well!". Seriously, you see what I mean, right? XD It's totally a perfect analogy!

Bah, and of course there's the "catch it with your bare hands" crap. Plants you can do this with, because for the most part THEY DON'T MOVE. GOOD JOB. YOU CAUGHT A NON-MOVING OBJECT. (yes, plants move, but not like animals, so that's what I'm talking about here) But you see, animals a bit trickier. We didn't evolve for extraordinary speed, or endurance, or have sharp claws and teeth. We don't make webs using our butts, shoot jet streams of water or air, or have some fancy tricks other animals do (check some out here: www.burtonwellnesscenter.com/i… ). But we have one thing! OUR BRAINS!

Just like MANY animals out there, we use our brains to figure out how to get food. This is how we figured out that we can grow/raise our food instead of having to hunt and gather it, for one (and we're NOT the only ones who do this). It's also how we came up with things to help us like arrows, knives, bows, bullets, guns, nets, traps, etc. We're not the only animals who use tools, too. So unless you're going to call using our brains cheating (in which case you're also saying it's wrong for any animal that uses a strategy when it hunts, or tools, or whatever else), I'd say we've found our way to naturally catch and kill animals. Now I know people get all iffy about what is and is not natural when it comes to humans...because we have created this idea that we are somehow disconnected from nature. But the fact is that we belong here just like all the other animals; I am no less in my local ecosystem than the other mammals or fish or birds or insects or plants and whatever else we have here. As humans, we have found our own ways to exist, as other creatures have found theirs. The way we do things in many ways is pretty unique (though it's pretty interesting the mirrors of our actions and creations you can find in nature), but in the end it'd debatable on how our ways are natural or unnatural; it all depends on where you set the line. There is no solid dividing line when you bring into question something like hunting a gun. No, nature didn't make the gun, however we derived its materials from nature, used our brains that we evolved, and created it. And we are not alone in these efforts. If you're going to complain about a gun being unnatural to me while USING THE INTERNET anyhow, I think you need a reality check. Besides, how natural is planting  garden? Buying from industrial sized crop fields? Using pesticides? Fertilizer? Potting soil?Grocery stores, the plastic bags/packages, the way we take plants from the fields (machinery), the money you used to purchase those foods, the pots and pans you used to cook them, and the plates and utensils you use to eat those plants are all unnatural. In your house. With water coming out of your faucet, maybe even passing through some filter you have on your tap. Probably using a gas or electric stove or oven to cook them in some way shape or form (or kitchen tools to prepare them). And you can see how this whole "natural vs. unnatural" thing spirals out of control. Whether you hunt it yourself or farm it or buy it off of someone else, it's all one big confusing mess.

SO THERE YA GO, eating meat: it can be done raw, and the means by which you get it are entirely a subjective matter thus making a VERY poor argument.

And let's move on to control. I see so many vegetarians or vegans (though surprisingly it's usually vegetarians...FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN anyhow) talk about how huffy us omnivores ("meat eaters" in their terms, if they're being nice) get when we talk about the ethics of eating meat. I've seen the argument TIME and TIME again that us meat eaters must feel guilty about it deep down because we "know that what [we're] doing is wrong" since we defend ourselves. And yet when we turn the tables and bug them about choosing not to eat meat, and they defend themselves, it's a different story (and NO, I do NOT think that either of these are right. DO NOT BOTHER SOMEONE FOR THEIR FOOD CHOICES. That is THEIR choice, do not bother them about it, it doesn't affect YOU. Unless they're munching on your leg or something, then okay, you can tell them to stop).

Yeah, we will defend ourselves on both sides of the fence here. News flash: no one likes being told that their lifestyle is wrong or immoral! Humans just don't like that. When someone tells us that, our natural reaction is to tell them that they're wrong, and if we can explain why. But when this happens, way too many meat-haters spout about how that's just us showing our guilty conscience. It's defensive, yeah, just like explaining why you're a vegetarian/vegan is. But it's usually more-so done to educate and explain because you've now been put on the spot; the topic has turned on you, so it's your turn to turn it off of you. In the cases where meat eaters are going to places where it's pretty set for vegetarians/vegans, or videos on vegetarian/vegan topics, then if they're not just trolling then it's probably to educate and explain. Just like vegetarians/vegans do the exact same thing on a pro-meat video. Both usually get attacked for it. There's nothing wrong with seeing things from both sides. It's easier to justify eating plants because EVERYONE has to eat plants. Meat is still very important because of its source of proteins that as far as I know are unparalleled in any other foods (was it also amino acids?). Taking one or the other out of your diet has to be done with extreme care (ok, I don't know how you'd completely eliminate vegetation from your diet, or why you'd want to). Many people get sick because they do it wrong. Many people don't get told how to do it correctly (I personally wish I could slap people across the face who say that to become a vegetarian/vegan all you have to do is stop eating meat. You have to adjust to a new diet! You have to learn new ways to get the nutrients since before you relied on the meat for them!! And a lot of people actually get FATTER when they cut out meat from their diet because they stick to things like pasta and carbs instead!). Anyways, I'm getting off of my sub-topic. Meat eaters aren't being any more defensive than non meat eaters when they justify their reason for eating meat. If their reasoning has been brought into question (usually morally), then they have every right to respond and it should not be assumed to be a guilty conscience. I'm not typing this because I secretly feel bad that I'm eating meat. I don't feel guilty about eating meat one bit. I'm typing this because I'm tired of arguments that make no damn sense.

Then there's also the whole thing with how we treat plants vs. how we treat animals that we eat. Now, by this I mean specifically we don't baby our plants like we'd baby our pets. To some people, this shows that we were meant to eat the plants, not the animals. I even saw one video where a girl was comically playing with her cat, and then comically playing with a piece of broccoli, to show how you do one but not the other (it was really funny if you ask me, and personally I didn't find it offensive at all despite the message). Yeah, most of us don't play with plants. Personally I enjoy talking to my plants, and touching plants I come across, and looking at them closely and studying their features, but that's just me. Most people don't give plants a second glance a lot of the time. We are in an animal dominated world view where plants are just seen as the background scenery. Our pets, of COURSE we're going to love on them! But how many meat eaters do you know that would eat their own pets? That's where even some of the more extreme meat eaters draw the line. I have no problem going to the cows in the pastures around here and telling them that I'm going to eat them and their babies (lol, no, seriously, just ask my friends). Then with the next breath I'll exclaim how cute they are and how cows are totally under-appreciated. If I had a garden, and had a plant that I had to pull to get the food (like a carrot), I'd be the same way (well, maybe I'd be more sad since I can barely even handle pulling so much as a leaf off now or trimming back my plants...I hate doing that to them, even if it's good for them >.< ). Our relationship with our food can be complicated like that. When we eat plants, we usually don't hate the plants or not care for them, we just simply don't think about it because plants fit in with that "background" viewpoint. In the mean time, it's hard to ignore something that moves and makes noise and reminds us of ourselves. We connect. But connecting doesn't mean that that thing is now off limits, does it? If you feel it does, then that's good for you, but it's always important to remember that different people draw the line differently. It's a moral issue, and moral issues don't make one lick of a difference in whether or not we were meant to eat something.

So overall, as you can probably tell, I'm done with the "we're not meant to eat meat" argument. In fact, I even saw a video that hints that the reason we have these awesome brains is BECAUSE we started eating meat (go see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf_OWu… skip around to somewhere near 20 minutes in to see some tooth action, haha ). Whether it's true or not, who knows, but it's interesting to think about. Either way, it doesn't matter. What you eat is your decision, so no matter what it is, you have no need to bother other people about their choices. Worry about your own life!