Thanks for the post @trevor.george - an interesting read.
I just wanted to question this point:
"We evolved to eat meat, and in doing so we got smarter, our brains got bigger, and all we have today is the result of that."
Humans are omnivores. This is a fact: if you look around, you can see that humans eat both plants and meat.
But this doesn't mean humans are adapted to eat meat. Meat eating is a result of a social change. Anatomically, we can't digest meat well. Our body doesn't know how to do that, and that results in common diseases.
Charles Darwin wrote:
The grading of forms, organic functions, customs and diets showed in an evident way that the normal food of man is vegetable like the anthropoids and apes and that our canine teeth are less developed than theirs and that we are not destined to compete with wild beasts or carnivorous animals.
Moreover, if you google on Intestinal tract length, Stomach acidity, Saliva, Shape of intestines, Fiber, Cholesterol, Claws and teeth and make a comparison, you can see that humans body is definitely a herbivorous one.
I'm not a biologist , so my argument may indeed be imperfect. But I think if we weren't supposed to eat meat, we would not do well at all on a diet that contains meat.
I think a lot of the modern diseases we are seeing today are not the result of humans eating meat as such.
We have been eating meat since the Stone Age. Even chimpanzees eat meat on occasion. Other herbivores have been filmed eating meat.
It is a useful store of calories, vitamins and minerals - a valuable food source.
The difference in humans, particularly in western societies, is the way in which their food (meat) is grown. Livestock no longer graze as they naturally would. They are housed in factories and fed all kinds of chemicals to make the grow bigger, faster etc.
It's this way of farming, I think, that makes meat bad for you.
I'm not suggesting we should all be having large steaks for dinner each night from free range cattle.
I think meat should be seen as a supplement to a meal, which is mostly veggies.
And you don't need meat with every meal.
I can't speak for all of mankind, but I do know how my body feels after eating a good meal with high quality meat that has been prepared and cooked well, and eaten in lively pleasant company.
I also know how my body reacts to poor quality meat, and how that makes me feel.
It would seem to me that I am not adapted to eat cheap and nasty food filled with poisons. :-)
Although we probably won't agree on eating meat - I 100% agree with avoiding processed foods (including processed vegetables lol).
Processed food, I think, is a major factor in a lot of the newer diseases and disorders we are seeing.
We get our fruit and veggies from the people who grow them,and we get raw milk straight from the farm.
Our drinking water used to come from an aquifer until it got infected with ecoli after the earthquake last year.
So new we are looking at water filters.
The 'adding value' to foods is something is great for marketing managers, not so great for consumer's health.