There’s a growing concern today: is meat healthy? Should meat be part of your diet? Is eating meat healthy? Many people are very confused about whether meat should be part of their diet – there are so many opinions, it’s difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. Some say meat is essential for your protein source.
One of the best ways to cut through the opinions of others, is to go back to your evolutionary history. You can do this by looking at the relevant parts of your body. The design of your body evolved over time, to serve your needs perfectly.
One of the best ways to discover the sorts of foods you evolved on is by looking at your teeth. Human teeth are flat and/or square. The front teeth are flat and sharp to allow you to bite into hard but not tough food, such as parts of plants – – roots or fruit. The back teeth, the molars, are flat and square to allow you to grind this fibrous food into a more digestible form.
If you compare your teeth with those of a cat (a true carnivore, or meat eater), they are worlds apart. Cats teeth are spiky so they can pierce tough food such as meat. The front teeth, the canines, are to seize the prey. But the back molars are also sharp and spiky, although less so. Their job is not to grind, but to cut the tough meat into smaller pieces.
Even when you look at our closest cousins, the chimps, you can see a difference in their teeth compared with human teeth. Their canines are much longer.
The job of long canine teeth is to grasp and restrain prey. Chimpanzees do eat meat occasionally. They will go hunting as a pack. But this is limited to once a week or few weeks, depending on local food supplies.
Is meat healthy? A better question may be, can humans benefit from eating meat, or is it harmful? Judging by humanoid teeth, the evidence is stacked against the consumption of meat. They are not designed to cut meat up.
Another pointer is the shape of the head, in particular the profile. Going back to cats, they have a projected jaw which is better able to grasp prey. Chimps also have a projected jaw, so they can do the same thing. However, the human facial profile is flat or largely so.
A flat face does not provide the tools necessary to grasp and hold a struggling prey.
There are many more pointers within the structure of the body that point to the fact that humans did not evolve as meat eaters. That humans did, in fact, evolve on plant based food.
However, as humans are omnivores, rather than herbivores, the digestive system can digest meat. It is better able to digest raw meat than cooked though, as cooking alters protein and kills many of the nutrients essential for digestion. Cooked meat tends to fester in the bowel, leading to a variety of bowel problems, not least of all putrid flatulence.
The impact of a regular intake of animal protein on the human body is accumulative. It acidifies the body. The human pH should be alkaline. It is only when the body is acidic, that ill health can gain a footing.
Is eating meat healthy? Perhaps it can be if you limit your intake to once a week and it is raw. Is meat healthy overall? No, especially the way animals are farmed in the modern factory farming practices.
For more information on healthy choices, click on healthy eating.
