Pete Zaria wrote:@joannaardway:
What's your source on this? Humans have been omnivorous for as long as we have written records (back to the Egyptian/Sumerian times, since roughly 6000BC), and to the extent of my knowledge, there's little evidence to suggest we ever did it any other way. Can you show me some articles to the contrary?
Humans don't exist amazingly well on either an all-meat or all-vegetative-matter diet. It's true that you can eat lots of nuts and other things with protein and fiber to help replace meat, balancing out the diet. On the other side of that, lots of vitamins and minerals and things could probably replace fruit/veggies, to balance out the diet.
As to the "daily servings/values" thing... blah, that system has been outdated and considered junk by most nutritionists for quite a few years.
Your arguments are valid and reasonable. If only more people discussed their views as you did, rather than forcing their opinions onto you and closing their minds to new ideas (cough George Bush cough).
I might have slightly the wrong date in terms of humans becoming omnivores - my memory for history isn't great. I thought it was about 12,000 years back when animal domestication happened, and about 20,000 before that... something to do with animals, but I forget.
As I said, in evolution terms, a few thousand years is nothing - in truth, even a few hundred thousand years isn't a lot, when for the last few million your ancestors have been living solely on vegetable matter.
Nonetheless, there is plenty of evidence that humans can benefit from a vegetarian diet.
A recent UK TV programme did research into a "evolution" diet - where the volunteers ate solely fruit, vegetables and nuts (about 5kg a day) for a little under two weeks - because this is what our evolutionary ancestors ate. The results were astounding - overall the cholesterol level of the group fell 23%, with sharp decreases in sodium levels and blood pressure. This is over only 12 days - many diets would expect that reduction over several months - not days.
Studies have also shown that vegetarians have higher stamina. These facts are thought to arise because our bodies are still finely honed to accept a vegetarian diet.
Humans can survive exceptionally well on a vegetarian diet. I know people say that vegetarians look thin, unhealthy and pale - however, that view is skewed against the non-vegetarian populace.
It's a question of what do you define as "normal"?
The thing about servings/guidlines - it might be outdated, but it's still a good thing to adhere to. They tend to be good advice - even if it's not the best advice.
MrCrowley wrote:Five servings of fruit and veges a day...is a load of crap.
I eat hardly any fruit but i like me veges and eat my fair share. Im as healtyh as anyone else you eats loads of fruit. And there is a thing to say how much red meat you should eat Joanna I just forgot what it is. If you don't like the red/blood colour of the meet why not it white meat? Chicken/Fish.
That limit on red meat is (I believe) a maximum, not a minimum like the recommended quantity of fruit and veg.
I didn't say I didn't like the colour of the meat - that is nowhere in amongst my reasons - neither is "I don't like the taste". I eat soya-based meat subsitutes on occasions - I quite like them. But regardless of whether I like the taste, I'm not going to eat meat.
