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Humans: Are We Carnivores or Vegetarians by Nature?

Carnivores or Vegetarians? (lion and elephant)

How humans are not physically created/evolved to eat meat

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Although some historians and anthropologists say that man is historically omnivorous, our anatomical equipment ­ teeth, jaws, and digestive system ­ favors a fleshless diet. The American Dietetic Association notes that “most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets.”

And much of the world still lives that way. Even on most industrialized countries, the love affair with meat is less than a hundred years old. It started with the refrigerator car and the twentieth-century consumer society. But even with the twentieth century, man’s body hasn’t adapted to eating meat. The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, “Man’s structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food.”

Comparison between carnivores, herbivores and humans

When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.

  • Meat-eaters: have claws
    Herbivores: no claws
    Humans: no claws
  • Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
    Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
    Humans: perspire through skin pores

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An Introduction to “Vegetarianism and Occultism” by C. W. Leadbeater

vegetarianism and occultism

Vegetarianism and Occultism by C. W. Leadbeater was published by the Theosophical Society in 1913. Although things are much better a little over a century later, still there is far to go to realize the ideals set forth in the full article. The author’s words may seem intense–but so is the subject. And they merit serious consideration.

Leadbeater begins the article with six reasons for the superiority of a vegetarian diet from a purely physical/health standpoint, which include the following:

  • More Nutriment
  • Less Disease
  • More Natural to Man
  • Greater Strength
  • Less Animal Passion
  • Economy

He then follows with ethical, mental, and spiritual reasons. As an introduction to the article, we list the first of his health reasons. You can read the full article here.

The nutritional value of a vegetarian diet

First: Because vegetables contain more nutriment than an equal amount of flesh.

This will sound a surprising and incredible statement to many people. It must be clearly understood that this is not a question of habit, or of sentiment, or of prejudice; it is simply a question of plain fact. There are four elements necessary in food, all of them essential to the repair and the upbuilding of the body:

  1. Proteids or nitrogenous foods;
  2. carbohydrates;
  3. hydro-carbons or fats;
  4. salts.

This is the classification usually accepted among physiologists, although some recent investigations are tending to modify it to a certain extent.

Now there is no question that all of these elements exist to a greater extent in vegetables than they do in flesh. For instance, milk, cream, cheese, nuts, peas and beans contain a large percentage of proteids or nitrogenous matter. Wheat, oats, rice and other grains, fruits and most of the vegetables (except perhaps peas, beans, and lentils) consist mainly of the carbohydrates–that is, of starches and sugars. The hydro-carbons, or fats, are found in nearly all the proteid foods, and can also be taken in the form of butter or of oils. The salts are found practically in all food to a greater or less extent. They are of the utmost importance in the maintenance of the body tissues, and what is called saline starvation is the cause of many diseases.

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