A Theory About Human Diet

I have a theory, and i'd like to know what you guys think. Take a look in the mirror at your teeth. They are mostly flat, some grinders, some canines, some thin and tall. Your eyes are in the front of yor head. We know that this means humans are supposed to be hunters/predators in some way. We are designed to eat meat of some sort... but I don't think we are supposed to eat red meat. Now I am a vegetarian because animal flesh is gross to me and I have to take good care of myself. Your front four teeth on top and the ones directly below them are designed to tear open hard skins and shells of various plantlife. Your grinders (molars) are designed for the mashing and pulverizing of anything you eat (especially thick, fibrous vegetables.) Your canines or eye teeth are designed for meat. Now, open your cat's mouth and look at their teeth. All sharp, none flat, evenly spaced, carniverous teeth. Then a dogs teeth. Half are grinders, half are carniverous. So, my theory is this: cats are carnivores. NO vegetables or grains for them. Dogs are omnivores much like us, though they are designed to eat half meat, half vegetables. Humans are supposed to eat three quarters vegetables and fruits, and only one quarter (possibly less) meat. Now look at the ratio of the food your friends and family are eating. half meat, half fried vegetables, almost no fruit. That's obviously off balance. Also look at your hands and compare them to a cat's and your dog's. Cats have claws and hyper-reflective lenses in their eyes, making them superior (and super intelligent) hunters. Dogs have claws and hunt in packs on all four making them super fast and socially inclined. We are on two legs, we have soft hands, super intelligence and no claws. We are awkward, tall, top-heavy, lazy and can only see during the daytime unless there's a full moon. That means to me that we are supposed to only eat things that we could potentially kill with our bare hands, a rock, or what we can trap. Guns and spears are cheating. We should not eat anything that would kick our butts in the wild without tools.

 

Feel free to hunt and gather your food with your bare hands. I think that you will quickly learn what my great.....greatgrandmother learned. "Tools are good."

Chimps will fashion blades of grass to get to termites. They make tools!

About the proper ratio of veg to meat, indiginous people vary widly in the proportion of meat in their diet. It usualy has to do with what is avaliable. I beleive that the Sammi reindeer hearders eat only animal products. Other people, who live in more temperate climate, eat the plants, in addition to animal products.

There are a bunch of books about how our prehistoric ancestors lived. There also books about how different modern peoples live. It sounds like you would enjoy reading some popular anthropology. I liked "Lucy" and "Lucy's child." Steven Gould put out collections of his monthly columns about general biology. None of these directly address the questions you raise, but I liked reading them and they will get you to the right section of the library or bookstore.

 

Try tearing a live animal apart with those measly excuses for canines.

A dog or cat could easily kill and tear apart a small animal, while a human could not. Our digestive systems are extremely long, in comparison to carnivores and omnivores... The short digestive systems found in animals like dogs serve a purpose of digesting the possible toxins and such in meat before it begins to rot in their systems. You know that saying "Meat: It's what's rotting in your colon"? The reason for that phrase, is exactly this. Meat literally begins to rot in humans digestive systems because it takes far too long to break it down.

You mustn't forget about nails either. The reason that carnivores and omnivores have thicker, sharp, sometimes curved nails is for their diets as well.

If you are going to go on about eyes, and the senses, that makes me laugh a little considering humans have some of the poorest senses compared to other animals. Our sense of smell is far less than other omnivores and carnivores, our sense of hearing is weak compared to say, a dog or a cat's... Our eyes may see well, color and all and front set, however, because of the color aspect, along with poor night vision, this would actually be terrible for hunting prey. Things camoflague [sp?] easily to humans... Did you ever try looking for something on the floor which was the same color as the floor? It is very difficult because it is easy to blend in.

If without tools, we wouldn't be anywhere near the "top of the food chain" Especially this day and age where our senses have been diminished by conditioning and civilization.

Also take a look at those who actually hunt...for many it takes a long time and lots of practice before they become somewhat skilled at it. Most of the folks I know that choose to hunt, never get anything.

We have advanced brains in which we can learn to create new tools that are more effective for us, everyday, but when you actually take a look at our bodies and how we are designed, I'd say this is a hilarious argument.

I'm not going to argue about whether or not we are herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores...I agree with many who have said we are "oppurtunivores"--- I simply want to point out that these ARE just theories, and the design of humans is relatively INcomparable to those of other animals, anyhow.

 

Going along with what MikeE said, I have a theory that some humans may have different diets than others based on where they came from.

But, humans are extremely adaptable, warm blooded animals... so it is difficult to say anything.

I don't try to focus too much on these theories, because of this...humans can adapt to almost any lifestyle/diet. It's a survival tool.

 

I always say that if people actually hunted like our ancestors I might be a bit more understanding. But mass factory farming, now that is cheating. Not working for our food, not being grateful to the animal for what it gave us, killing much more than we need. There is something so decadent and unnatural about it. I would still find eating meat repulsive and sad but in this day and age there is no good excuse to still eat meat.

 

I TOTALLY agree maccabyrd--- Many animals are slaughtered and the meat is never used because too much is killed for what actually gets consumed. It's fucking unreal.

When hunting wild game, at least the animals got to live some of their lives happily. When factory farmed, they suffer from the time they are born until the time they are slaughtered, and it's just insanely cruel.

I believe in survival of the fittest to a good extent, and factory farming does NOT apply in this theory anywhere. The animals don't get a chance to fight back or have a life of their own. They are simply slaves to our world.

When a hunter goes, say, deer hunting, at least the animals have a chance to be a survivor. A cow on the other hand, never gets this option.

 

But, if we are to find the proper diet and lifestyle for humans, being adaptable and all that stuff, we must look at the way our bodies are designed. Its like comparing a man with a woman. I agree (and am defensive) that women are as capable as men in thinking and doing certain forms of physical labor, fighting, driving and other things. However, women are designed differently. Men can lift heavier things with their arms, while women do it with their legs. Same, but different. And women are designed to breast feed their babies, one or two babies at a time. We know that because (other than the obvious percentages) women have two breasts as opposed to a dog who has a few rows. I think nature speaks for itself. Yes, our big brains have created a horrible situtation with the slaughter of mass amounts of animals, and their bi-products and sewage wastes are polluting the environment. I agree its awful. My comparison is this, we are not herbivores by nature simply because of our design. We are omnivores. Though there are different types of omnivores. Dogs are designed to eat different amounts of meat than humans. The dogs and cats of the world are smaller than us. However, lions are similarly sized (by length of body) to humans and have similar lengths of bowels. I dont know about all of that. I have read a study that the meat that rots in your internals is red meat as opposed to the white meat in fish and chicken. The reason they gave for it was that humans do not produce a specific group of enzymes in the digestive system necessary for the breaking down of mammalia flesh. However we seem to have no trouble with fish, it gets broken down and processed with the rest. On the same token, cats cannot eat vegetables generally without getting really sick because they don't have the intestinal bacteria needed to break down insoluble fiber. Cat food has to be heavily processed to be digestible for kitties because of that. I think we are supposed to eat what we are designed to catch, or grow. Just like the animals. Again, I am a strict vegetarian, but I like to think scientifically about the passionate issues such as this. Apes and baboons have large fangs, too. Even little monkeys do. We just have these pitiful, short, triangular shaped lumps in our mouths.

 

well..i kinda like your theory..on eating a mostly plant based diet..
I am a dental professional..and to add my two cents...

ur k9's are actually used as anchor teeth and for k9 guidence..which when u slide into protursive and excursive movements..the help to disclude ur molars and premolars from interfiering..that's why they have a pointed or rounded edge...

it's kinda a myth that they are there for tearing apart flesh...

 

Thanks for the help, rar. I appreciate it. So they are support teeth. Interesting. So, if that's true then we really shouldn't be eating much meat at all. I found that my weight, hormones, skin and digestion function better now that I am a veg. It makes sense that the diet is simply much better for my body. If those canines aren't for tearing into flesh then I must be eating the proper human diet, eh?

 

absolutely......i find i feel better and all that jazz as well...funny huh...well..not so funny i guess..