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Without even getting into the spiritual, ethical, and/or religious issues
related to not eating animals (vegetarianism) or animals and animal products
(veganism), there is perhaps no more hotly debated area of human nutrition than
whether or not we benefit from eating animals and animal products. Let's be
clear: there is no consensus here and the literature is very hard to sort out
and make intelligent decisions about. Nevertheless, this much we know:
- The human digestive tract cannot digest many of the plants that other
animals, and even other primates, can eat. It is too short to extract nutrients
from calorically sparse foods (leaves, stems, shoots, bark, etc.), making us
more dependent on calorically dense foods.
- In nature, carnivores have the shortest digestive tracts, omnivores have the
next shortest, and herbivores have the longest. The size ratio of the small to
large intestines in humans most closely resembles that of carnivores,
particularly wolves.
- For most of human evolution, human beings ate freshly caught animals and/or
freshly gathered plants. This included wild game, fish, seafood, and eggs as
well as edible fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
- Cooking, grinding, milling, and other food processing became prevalent only about
10,000 years ago, with the advent of the Agricultural Revolution, when animals
were domesticated and plants were cultivated for food. The human diet changed
dramatically with the Agricultural Revolution, even though the human body did
not (the human genome has changed less than 0.02 percent in 40,000 years).
Given these facts alone, it would seem the human body is well designed to eat
animals -- but not necessarily the domesticated versions of animals so common in
the world today. Meat that comes from sedentary, grain-fed, antibiotic-laced,
steroid-fattened, pesticide-contaminated, and mass-produced animals is not good
for us and not what our bodies were designed to consume.
One reason for the debate about eating meat is because we compare
vegetarian diets to conventional meat diets. Time and again, the
vegetarian diets win. Properly done, with attention to plant sources of
essential fatty acids, a vegetarian diet can be healthy and, if your only choice
for animal protein is conventional meat, a vegetarian lifestyle may be the way to go.
But that is not our only choice. There are many sources for active, grass-fed,
antibiotic-, steroid-, and pesticide-free, locally caught or raised animals. My
wife and I, for example, have developed a relationship with an area buffalo
rancher, providing us with lean, healthy meat throughout the year.
Consider this comparison: whereas a 100-gram (3.5-ounce) trimmed beef ribeye
steak has
274 calories, including 22.1 grams of fat (9 of which are saturated) and 68 mg
of cholesterol, the same buffalo steak has 116 calories, including 2.4 grams
of fat (0.9 of which are saturated) and 62 mg of cholesterol. The ratio of Omega
3 to Omega 6 fatty acids is also much better in the buffalo. No wonder our
Paleolithic ancestors did not suffer our modern, chronic diseases!
So eat the meat our bodies were designed to eat: eat wild game, fish, seafood,
and an occasional organic egg from cage-free chickens that scratch for their
food. Stay away from conventional meat, farm-raised fish, and dairy products.
Then be sure to eat plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. A
low-calorie diet that is more or less evenly balanced between healthy meat and
healthy plants will go far to optimize your weight, wellness, and well being.
Coaching Inquiries: Do you eat conventional meats or dairy products? How could
eliminate them? Would you want to become a vegetarian? Or would you want to find
sources for wild game, fish, shellfish, and eggs? How far would you be willing
to go to optimize your weight, wellness, and well being?
 To reply to this Pathway, use our
Feedback Form. To learn more about our
Wellness Coaching programs and to arrange for a complimentary wellness coaching
session, use our Contact Form or
Email Bob.
May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Bob Tschannen-Moran
LifeTrek Coaching International
121 Will Scarlet Lane
Williamsburg, VA 23185-5043
U.S.A.
Telephone: 757-345-3452
Fax: 772-382-3258
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