SC - Anti meat sympathies

[Stefan li Rous]

niccolo difrancesco quoted me in part:
>unless we have some
>kind of medical or genetic condition that requires it, and that is
>not the majority of people - or unless we live in some sort of
>extreme environment, such as around the Arctic circle at wintertime,
>where meat is basically the only available food.>>>>>>>>>

Then niccolo difrancesco wrote
>Would your opinions include those who are genetically decended from 
>people's of extreme environments?

I think the above part you quoted from me covers your question, if, 
in fact, they have a particular genetic need for mass quantities of 
animal protein.

>Those of Northern lineages may not need to live in the Artci 
>[Arctic] or even Northern European climes anymore, but our genetics 
>might just tell us we need to continue to eat that way for a few 
>more generations.  My view is that some folks can like [i think you 
>mean "live"] on high starch vegetarian diets, and some on high 
>protein content diets, and other somewhere along the line.

Yeah, and i think that's covered under medical or genetic conditions, 
as you quoted me saying.

>with the vast intermingling of Groups over the centuries, it's 
>awfully hard to state that any type of dietary mix is 'better' or 
>'healthier' or 'better for the world' than any other.  Ever had an 
>insulin hangover?  Once you have, you'll know what it means to 
>manage your diet correctly.

I didn't make a claim for a particular diet, just that probably most 
of us in the First World don't need to eat meat at every single meal 
- - i thought i made it clear that i realize that not everyone needs to 
eat the exact same diet (how dull - and also not possible for people 
with certain medical/genetic conditions, as i seem to keep saying).

If a person is concerned about complete protein, there are other ways 
to get that than purely from animals - unless one has some sort of 
medical or genetic condition, etc... And the protein needs for most 
people are met by far less than 6 oz of meat three times a day, 
according to my readings in nutrition, UNLESS, as i said, one has a 
medical or genetic condition that requires more protein and that 
strictly from animal sources.

Most of us in the US are urban and most of us are not doing great 
amounts of hard physical labor, so we don't need to eat the way we 
did back when more folks lived in rural areas and did hard physical 
labor most of the day. Sure, some people still live in rural areas 
and some people do large amounts of hard physical labor, but these 
people are the minority in the US.

>Do more people origninate from vegetarian cultures or meat-eating 
>cultures originally? . . . . and I don't mean A.D.

Well, since humans are set up to be omnivores, i would suppose, from 
what i know of anthropology and archaeology that we have always eaten 
both, as long as we have been homo sapiens. But from what i know of 
anthropology and archaeology i think that most earlier humans ate 
more foods from vegetable sources than animal, but that animals have 
always been part of the human diet, except in unusual circumstances.

Me, i've got no ax to grind, i eat my own way and am not interested 
in foisting it on others. I find i personally feel better with fewer 
carbs and a bit more protein, but i don't have to get all my protein 
from animals.

And considering what factory farming animals does to the environment, 
it might be better for all of us in the "west", if possibly a bit 
more expensive, for animal husbandry to go back to small family 
farms, as it used to be until VERY recently in the US and it still is 
in most of the world. I'm not romanticizing the family farm, just 
looking at it from cultural, environmental, economic, labor, and 
nutritional points of view.

Just my opinion. Everybody has one...

Anahita