[zzze]

assalamu alaykum

I generally cook chicken everytime I cook, so when we eat I give the mr. all the chicken and we share the veg, though this does not apply to red meat

[wheelworks]

Originally Posted by zzze

assalamu alaykum

I generally cook chicken everytime I cook, so when we eat I give the mr. all the chicken and we share the veg, though this does not apply to red meat

I try to limit my meaty intake to about twice a week. I usually survive on Ice Cream and Chocolate chip cookies

[zzze]

aassalamu alaykum

that's not real food. STEAK is real food.

[wheelworks]

Originally Posted by zzze

aassalamu alaykum

that's not real food. STEAK is real food.

I know. Steak is real bad food. Ice Cream and Chocolate Chip cookies are teh real good food

[Zeinab]

Originally Posted by TrentReznor858

Actually you arent. The human digestive tract is not designed to process meat, only things like nuts and veggies and fruits. Unfortunately, meat is an addicting part of everyone's diet, mine included. I do not feel full or satisfied without eating some sort of meat product. The large amounts of intestinal, colon, and prostate cancer is attributed in part to consuming large amounts of meat products.

Actually, our bodies aren't desgined to digest just plant/vegetation; we don't digest a lot of plant material 'cos of the cellulose - we don't have any enzymes that digest cellulose. But, just because we don't digest all of it, doesn't mean it's not good for us - fibre is an essential part of the diet.

We DO have enzymes that digests protein (yes, i know, that doesn't mean just meat, but whatever), and if meat was 'unnatural', then red meat wouldn't contain the essential amino acids our bodies need. Our teeth structure, is just one example, as we contain teeth designed for both meat and plant material. We're omnivores, simple as.
Basic biology.

Too much of anything is bad for the body. Cancers, coronary heard disease etc. can be attributed to lots of different risk factors. Eating too much meat is one, but so is smoking, even a person's genetics.
Meat should be eaten as part of a balanced diet, of course eating too much will be bad for you, that's why moderation is encouraged by God; eating meat isn't unnatural - it's an argument that extreme vegetarians/vegans use.

[TrentReznor858]

Originally Posted by Zeinab

Actually, our bodies aren't desgined to digest just plant/vegetation; we don't digest a lot of plant material 'cos of the cellulose - we don't have any enzymes that digest cellulose. But, just because we don't digest all of it, doesn't mean it's not good for us - fibre is an essential part of the diet.

We DO have enzymes that digests protein (yes, i know, that doesn't mean just meat, but whatever), and if meat was 'unnatural', then red meat wouldn't contain the essential amino acids our bodies need. Our teeth structure, is just one example, as we contain teeth designed for both meat and plant material. We're omnivores, simple as.
Basic biology.

Too much of anything is bad for the body. Cancers, coronary heard disease etc. can be attributed to lots of different risk factors. Eating too much meat is one, but so is smoking, even a person's genetics.
Meat should be eaten as part of a balanced diet, of course eating too much will be bad for you, that's why moderation is encouraged by God; eating meat isn't unnatural - it's an argument that extreme vegetarians/vegans use.

A fair look at the evidence shows that humans are optimized for eating plant foods, and not meat. Consider:

* Human anatomy: We're most similar to other herbivores, and drastically different from carnivores.
* Longevity & health: The more meat we eat, the sicker we get. Meat is poison to us. It's the primary reason we get heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and every other major degenerative disease. If eating meat were natural, it wouldn't destroy our health.
* Physical performance: People have much better endurance when they don't eat meat -- whether they're professional athletes or not.

Clearly we're capable of eating meat. But that doesn't mean it's natural. You can dress a monkey up in a cute little suit and teach it to perform circus tricks, but just because it can doesn't mean that it's natural -- nor that it should. When I say that meat-eating is unnatural, I mean simply that our bodies aren't optimized to have it be a normal part of our diets -- and we suffer the consequences when we make it so.

[sixpakistan]

Originally Posted by TrentReznor858

* Human anatomy: We're most similar to other herbivores, and drastically different from carnivores.

There's a vast range of digestive system variance amongst both herbivores and carnivores. We are anatomically designed to eat meat and that was the case from the get-go; if that weren't the case, we wouldn't be born with an appendix. Our bodies perform best when we're getting the full range of amino acids (most easily done by eating meat/fish/eggs/dairy)

Originally Posted by TrentReznor858

* Longevity & health: The more meat we eat, the sicker we get. Meat is poison to us. It's the primary reason we get heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and every other major degenerative disease. If eating meat were natural, it wouldn't destroy our health.

Vegetable fats & sugar can cause all of that just as easily. For example, check out the high incidence of diabetes on the Indian subcontinent, which has hundreds of millions of vegetarians.

Originally Posted by TrentReznor858

* Physical performance: People have much better endurance when they don't eat meat -- whether they're professional athletes or not.

Untrue.. I can't think of a single type of sport where the top world class athletes don't consider protein, and animal protein specifically, to be an important aspect of their diet.

While we don't really need meat, it can be of definite benefit to us. The concerns you're raising aren't consequences of eating meat, they're a consequence of eating too much meat. Of course, most North Americans do eat way too much meat..

[Zeinab]

Originally Posted by TrentReznor858

A fair look at the evidence shows that humans are optimized for eating plant foods, and not meat. Consider:

* Human anatomy: We're most similar to other herbivores, and drastically different from carnivores.
* Longevity & health: The more meat we eat, the sicker we get. Meat is poison to us. It's the primary reason we get heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and every other major degenerative disease. If eating meat were natural, it wouldn't destroy our health.
* Physical performance: People have much better endurance when they don't eat meat -- whether they're professional athletes or not.

Clearly we're capable of eating meat. But that doesn't mean it's natural. You can dress a monkey up in a cute little suit and teach it to perform circus tricks, but just because it can doesn't mean that it's natural -- nor that it should. When I say that meat-eating is unnatural, I mean simply that our bodies aren't optimized to have it be a normal part of our diets -- and we suffer the consequences when we make it so.

Meat us poison? We're better at being herbivores?
We have various designs that allow us to ingest and digest meat. If we were herbivorous, then, like sixpak said, we would have an appendix, and have some sort of enzymes able to digest plant material as fully as possible to gain the maximum from it, but we don't.

And we're not at at our optimum without eating meat - we're at our optimum when we eat a balanced diet and receive the required yet balanced amount of nutrient intake. Meat is included in that.
This is basic biology.

And what about people who don't have access to the variety of veg/food that we do in the West? People keep cattle or some sort of animals as meat/dairy sources, because it's the easiest and a relatively inexpensive source of protein.