Why Eat Animals?
In a world which is facing massive environmental decline, mistreatment of animals on a global scale, and human overpopulation, it makes complete sense that one would debate the merits of consuming animals. And I took that route too.
I was primarily vegetarian for almost 5 years – vegan for most of that time. But I became very sick and had to take on a larger perspective in order to heal and make sense of my experiences in life.
Now my own experience, combined with scientific evidence and historical relevance, has led me to advocate animal consumption.
Conscientiously.
I know my perspective is controversial and will elicit some opposition, yet here’s what I now believe to be true:
HEALTH: Most people cannot tolerate, heal, nor thrive on a vegetarian or a vegan diet. Here’s some reasons why:
genetic mutations
play a huge role in bio-individual needs and illnesses. Genetic mutations often inhibit specific nutrient absorption through plants, can often inhibit essential detox functions, and can impair a whole host of complex biochemical processes -such as cellular methylation- from taking place in our bodies as they naturally should . Consuming animals can truly help heal these often broken processes.
The rising epidemic of autoimmunity
and related disorders often makes plant-derived proteins a big trigger for severe immune reactions and systemic inflammation. Although there is still much to learn about autoimmunity – it’s been well proven that removing inflammatory foods, such as grains, legumes, and nightshades, can lead to a partial or full recovery from symptoms.
gut dysbiosis is proving
to be one of the MAIN underlying factors in just about every chronic disease. Healing the gut often requires removing many plant-derived irritants and adding in bio-available foods like bone broth, collagen protein, organ meats, and muscle meat from healthy animals to heal the lining of the gut and provide necessary nutrients to rebuild compromised organ systems.
Plants evolved containing
thousands of chemicals in order to protect themselves, many of which are toxic to humans in large amounts – especially humans with already compromised metabolisms. As mentioned above, anyone with gut problems, autoimmunity, or systemic inflammation will have a hard time absorbing the vital nutrients needed to heal if they are consuming these chemicals in every meal. Gluten, phytates, and lectins are proving to be huge sources of inflammation and are largely present in all grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds!
BLOOD SUGAR! It's estimated
that about 50% of our population is either diabetic or pre-diabetic! Potentially even more people are suffering from some sort of blood-glucose issue they’re unaware of and more and more are getting pushed into an insulin-resistant state. Veg diets (which, other than soy, are based primarily on carbohydrate consumption) often lead vulnerable individuals to burning out their insulin receptors. I, for instance, cannot handle much whole grains at all without serious blood-sugar spikes! And I’m not the exception – I’m the growing rule.
CULTURAL & HISTORICAL RELEVANCE: Humans evolved eating animals over millions of years. It was a big gamechanger in the growth of our brains and our cultures. The horribly unsustainable and unethical nature of our current CAFO methods are new and nowhere synonymous to omnivorous lifestyles — despite the scale of the problem.
Humans are biologically omnivorous animals
We can wax morality all day, but the truth of the matter is that there are biological reasons humans crave and eat other animals. We’ve evolved to hunt other animals. Evolutionary scientists estimate that our ancestors began eating animals by scavenging the leftovers from larger predator’s kills. We had the manual capacities to break open the skulls and bones of the animals and extract the marrow. We tamed fire and eventually built our own weapons to hunt.
we gained an evolutionary advantage
by eating other animals, which allowed us to grow larger brains and sustain ourselves through desolate winters and the last documented ice age – where little vegetation grew. Who knows whether we would be what we are today without having had this nutrient-dense food source for so long – especially during times of famine and after agriculture took over and left many of us living off of one or two crops limited in nutrients – such as wheat or rice.
If you want to abstain from animal consumption, you have my support!
If you want to abstain from animal consumption, go for it! Due to bio-individual differences and genetic variation, some people can handle lower protein intakes and varied carbohydrate intake. At least, FOR A TEMPORARY PERIOD OF TIME. And it is not my role to dictate what others choose to eat.
You have my blessing. Yet, many of us either don’t want to or simply cannot sustain such an extreme diet – therefore all that I ask is for respect and compassion towards omnivorous lifestyles.
If one examines traditional diets from across the globe
you’ll find that there is not a single culture which avoided animal consumption entirely. Whether it only made up 10% of their diet or whether they only consumed fish or insects or eggs, they all received some form of nutrients from the consumption of other animals. Vegan diets seem to be both a modern phenomenon and a largely urban one. And although modern urban environments may provide a seeming plethora of animal replacements, these replacements certainly don’t guarantee health or sustainability!
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFUSIONS: Environmentally, it’s not as simple as abstaining from animal consumption in order to protect nature and it’s vulnerable populations. Animals play a crucial role in ecological restoration, regenerative farming, and climate control.
There is a large majority of land across the globe
which is not farmable, yet is perfect for grazing animals. What much of the world doesn’t know, outside of scientists, agronomists, educated environmentalists, and farmers….. is that grazing animals have played a great role in soil regeneration, climate stability, and a sustainable resource for communities for thousands of years. Farming without these animals is damn near impossible. Vegan farming is so unrealistic it’s bordering on absurdity! And keeping these animals alive as pets is about as unrealistic as avoiding using them entirely.
Before industrial agriculture
took over – stripping vital ecosystems and treating animals as if they have no agency or contributing attributes – there were far more wild grazers roaming the US than all the livestock combined! They grazed in very specific ways which renewed the soil, sustained the vitality of local ecosystems, and provided the humans living here with ample resources for: food, fuel, clothing, medicine, etc… I believe we can (and MUST) move back to this, with better management and respect for the issues we now face as a globalized community.
If you are curious about the legitimacy of what I wrote above and data is what you are seeking, I highly recommend watching the lecture I have linked below.