Humans - Herbivore or Omnivore?

From childhood, we have been conditioned and programmed to believe that meat was an important component to eating a healthy diet. In fact, meat is often at the center of a meal. Potatoes and vegetables are just side dishes to accompany the main course. The meat and dairy industries have spent billions upon billions of dollars in advertising campaigns to reinforce this belief. Catchy slogans like "Where's the beef; Finger lickin good; and milk, it does a body good" Have been drilled into our brains. We see eating meat as natural and normal. It is without question "normal" since the vast majority of people in the world eat meat, but just entertain the idea for a minute that maybe eating meat is not natural at all.

At this moment you might be saying to yourself "But the cavemen hunted and they ate meat. Humans are omnivores." Yes, the cavemen did hunt as the evidence of cave drawings prove. I am sure that cave men lived very hard lives and they would sometimes have to resort to hunting and eating animal flesh as a means of survival. This would have especially been true of primitive man living in colder climates and during the ice age. Cavemen probably developed a taste for meat and continued to eat it long after it was necessary. With the beginnings of farming and agriculture, meat no longer needed to be a staple in the early man's diet. As far as the argument that human beings are omnivores, the scientific debate is still out. Omnivores are classified as animals that have a mixture of sharp cutting teeth as well as flat grinding teeth. Examples of true omnivores are bears, raccoons, opossums, pigs, and many birds. These animals are much closer to being carnivores, biologically speaking, than they are to being herbivores.

I have done a comparison study between a human being and an obligate carnivore, the domestic house cat. Lets see just how different we are. The best indicator of what an animal eats is, as stated above, to look at the teeth. When I looked into my cat's mouth, the first thing I noticed were long, sharp fangs. Upon closer inspection, I saw that even his molars were sharp and pointed. Clearly his teeth were designed for the puncturing, ripping and tearing of flesh. The omnivore mammal is also equipped with large, sharp fangs. If you don't believe me, just take a look into a bear's mouth the next time you get a chance. My teeth were very different to say the least. Even my so-called canines were not long, sharp or very pointed. My front teeth, or incisors, were thin and had straight edges. They were clearly designed for cutting and gnawing. This made them perfect for biting into an apple or carrot. My molars were more flat and designed for grinding. Also a carnivore's jaw can only move up and down. It is incapable of moving side to side. The herbivore has a jaw that can move up and down as well as side to side. This is because the herbivore must chew fibrous plant material extensively before swallowing. The carnivore and omnivore swallow their food whole- hence the expression "wolfing it down." Guess what your Jaw can do? It can move side to side! Another interesting thing to note about the jaw is its shape. Carnivores and omnivores have long narrow jaws and mouths that are large relative to head size. This is so the animal can rip the throat out of its prey. Humans have small mouths relative to head size. (I am speaking here of physical attributes only!) The saliva of a carnivore is very acidic. Our saliva is more alkaline. I noticed that my cat had claws for grabbing his prey (or my leg!). I have fingers for picking berries and hands for holding an apple. My cat could run very fast. I was slow and clumsy by comparison. One of the main arguments that you will hear about this fact is that humans were given a greater intelligence and could manufacture weapons with which to hunt and kill animals (and other humans!). While this is a valid argument, I contend that since humans were not fast enough to catch their prey naturally, that they were not biologically suited to eat meat. Perhaps human beings should have been using that superior intelligence for more constructive endeavors. Upon doing further research, I learned that the carnivore's digestive tract is much shorter than that of a human being. The cat has a digestive system approximately three times the length of its body. The human digestive tract is about twelve times the body length! That means that our bodies require lots of fiber to stimulate the movement of food through the system. Fiber is only found in plant foods. Where plant foods only take a day or two to pass out of the digestive system, meat can sit there for as long as five days or more before it is fully processed. Another thing that I realized is that the carnivore or omnivore does not have to cook meat in order to eat it safely. They have special enzymes in their stomachs designed to destroy harmful organisms and parasites. To me, this is the most convincing fact of them all. If we are supposed to be eating meat, why can't we eat it in it's natural form like all the other carnivore's and omnivore's. If a human eats raw meat, he risks diseases such as trichinellosis, E. coli, salmonella, parasites and more. With plant foods you have a choice. You can cook them or eat them raw. It is actually in the raw state that the food is most nutritious. Heat from cooking destroys many of the plant's enzymes, vitamins and other nutrients. With meat you have no choice but to cook it. In addition, cooking meats produce many carcinogens, which are cancer- forming chemicals. Keep in mind that a true carnivore or omnivore's mouth will water when it smells road kill. Can you say the same?!? Another good point to bring up here is that carnivores and omnivores never have problems with arteriosclerosis or heart attacks. Their bodies are specifically designed to handle high amounts of dietary cholesterol and saturated fats. With heart disease being the number #1 killer of the western world, it makes you stop and wonder.

Regardless of whether or not a human being is ultimately categorized as an omnivore or an herbivore is irrelevant in the long run. The important thing here is that we have a choice. According to Wikipedia, being classified as an omnivorous species does not mean that the animal is required to eat both plants and meats. It would simply mean that we could eat meat if we so desired. The bottom line here is that we can eat a healthy, well balanced diet without including any animal products in our food choices. Vegetarians and vegans generally live healthier, longer lives than their meat-eating peers. Please choose to live a meat free compassionate life style