Humans did not always eat meat.
Do you ever think about how far we’ve diverted from the path of our pre-historic ancestors and their eating patterns? Consider how the earliest humans evolved, and what they ate. They were hunter-gatherers and did not evolve with the characteristics of carnivores. Humans aren’t made to tear animals apart and eat their flesh. When you look at carnivorous animals, such as wild cats, you can see their teeth are designed to rip and tear, not chew.
Humans evolved from vegetarian creatures. Even our digestive systems are not particularly suited to eating meat. Eating meat is a relatively recent development in human history, most likely born of opportunity and necessity. Perhaps earliest man observed carnivores eating meat, and if they couldn’t find any of the natural foods they were used to eating, such as vegetables, berries, nuts and grains, then they might have assumed that eating meat would at least sustain life.
But initially we emulated the creatures we evolved from, and it would seem our ancestors were omnivores. Even to a prehistoric mind, apes would have looked similar to man, walking primarily upright, with arms and hands. We naturally would have foraged for our food, eating roots and berries, fruits and nuts. We would have watched the apes peeling bananas, or crushing nuts on stones to get at the meat of the nut.
We would have been living more moment-to-moment, constantly foraging for food. Hunting, after all, requires thought and planning. Eating meat requires preparation and most importantly, fire. Until man discovered fire, he was primarily vegetarian, living in what was the natural order of things. Vegetarian eating is a more natural way of eating, in addition to being healthier.
Hi
i can not believe the amount of meat eaters i have tried to explain we were not designed to eat meat they just think im mad and have another big mac to rot away in there gut for a month.Good article
Richard
This simply is not true. The reason we have developed superior brains was for hunting other animals.
We do not have the digestive tract that a herbivore gorilla has. Our digestive tract is closer to that of a dog. Obesity is caused directly from the over consumption of foods we did not consume for 99% of our entire existence–carbohydrates. The only exception is the small amount of fruit we ate during seasons that permitted it and the very infrequent finding of honey. Eating fruit in summer months helped us put on fat for the upcoming winter.
Do you know what advanced glycation end-products are? Do you know what carnosine is and does, and do you know where it comes from?
We are natural meat eaters in every way. It may not seem ethical, but it is what it is.
By the way, you mentioned grains… Grains are completely indigestible in the wild. Don’t believe me? Try eating a whole grain on it’s own. It will come out the other end in exactly the same form. It was not until the Neolithic times that we were able to crush the grains and digest them.
I respect that you are a vegan in every way. I have many vegan friends. But the evidence shows that we are designed to eat meat and that we have not adapted to eat the amount of carbohydrates many vegans inadvertently end up eating. I’m all for treating animals well and admire people who give up meat for their benefit, but let’s be realistic with the facts.
Ah, so we see the grand paradox here. This article postulates that humans were vegetarians before they ate meat and that it was the eating of meat that prompted us to invent fire, and all the preperations, cunning and planning needed to hunt the animals. Thus it is apparently our meateating habits that we have at least partially to thank for all of technology and progress. So, why go back? To be ethical and moral? pah! If you refuse to eat meat because you believe that we are really essentially no better than animals, than you must understand that many animals too kill and eat meat. To undermine our rightful and well earned place at the top of the food chain is downright ludicrous.