Carnivores – why?

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Replies

  • grrrlface
    grrrlface Posts: 1,204 Member
    It's funny because humans could never survive on a carnivorous diet... :-)
  • lucylousmummy
    lucylousmummy Posts: 348 Member
    im a meat eater my husband is a vegetarian, he eats a lot of the linda mccartney and quorn products available, i have tried to eat them but with the exception of the mince i find it all horrid, he used to try and guilt trip me at first with the whole "somethings had to die so you can eat it" argument, but he never wins mainly due to the fact that he is constantly flatulent, has almost constant loose stools, and has very little stamina, only one of our 6 kids followed him into vegetarianism, and she lasted for probably 6 years before returning to the dark side lol

    on a separate note he cooks THE best steak in the world go figure
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    crackers anybody?

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnnPMJ6H0kflHiqAm88-FykZPjETMdxkQOaH69iyM6hnyVsGCi

    You Win the Internetz! :laugh:
  • I wonder if anyone reading this has truly considered that if everyone stopped eating meat the prey animals would out bred us and then would all be killed off by some illness or another. You see it happen every time an animal population gets too big for the area trying to support it. Take deer for example, every year after her first year a doe will throw at least twin fawns. Now combine that with the suburbs and this is why we have so many frickin deer running around getting hit by cars and dying on the side of the road, pooping on our yards, and being very malnourished. Certain counties are so over populated it is crazy and not good for the deer. there should only be a max 25 deer per square mile, in a lot of the counties by me it is upwards of 1000 deer per square mile. So really, I am helping by hunting them, preforming a valuable service to my community. :glasses: And getting cheap meat for my trouble too. (not free after you take into account the license fee, insurance fee for my hunt group, cost of crossbow bolts(arrows), and the time spent sitting in my stand.)

    Well, to be fair, this is mostly because we've wiped out all the natural predators. Nature brings itself back into balance, but a lot of the time it needs to is because us kwazy 'umans have done something to mess it up in the first place.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Not a carnivore, but a happy omnivore.

    Because I like the taste. Because I have a hard time feeling full inexpensively without it. Because it's cheap, even compared to vegetables -- the only things cheaper than chicken legs around here are beans/rice/flour/potatoes.
  • SmallMimi
    SmallMimi Posts: 541 Member
    I wonder if anyone reading this has truly considered that if everyone stopped eating meat the prey animals would out bred us and then would all be killed off by some illness or another. You see it happen every time an animal population gets too big for the area trying to support it. Take deer for example, every year after her first year a doe will throw at least twin fawns. Now combine that with the suburbs and this is why we have so many frickin deer running around getting hit by cars and dying on the side of the road, pooping on our yards, and being very malnourished. Certain counties are so over populated it is crazy and not good for the deer. there should only be a max 25 deer per square mile, in a lot of the counties by me it is upwards of 1000 deer per square mile. So really, I am helping by hunting them, preforming a valuable service to my community. :glasses: And getting cheap meat for my trouble too. (not free after you take into account the license fee, insurance fee for my hunt group, cost of crossbow bolts(arrows), and the time spent sitting in my stand.)

    Well, to be fair, this is mostly because we've wiped out all the natural predators. Nature brings itself back into balance, but a lot of the time it needs to is because us kwazy 'umans have done something to mess it up in the first place.

    you also have to consider, anything large enough to prey on an elk, deer, buffalo, cow, pig, etc. would also consider people as prey also.
  • WhiskeyCity
    WhiskeyCity Posts: 711 Member
    crackers anybody?

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnnPMJ6H0kflHiqAm88-FykZPjETMdxkQOaH69iyM6hnyVsGCi

    You Win the Internetz! :laugh:


    FTMFWMF!
  • moe0303
    moe0303 Posts: 934 Member
    Ok, I am probably going to offend some, but it’s not my intention.

    However, I just don't get it. There has never been a good argument presented to me why someone would want to eat a dead animal. I figure because whenever I ask “why”, the silly carnivores almost always get offended.

    So why?

    And please remove all of the “I like my meat rare” answers. That stuff is just nasty.
    I'm sure somebody's already said something about this, but I just have to point it out for myself. When you call people you have never met before "silly" after you just finished saying you don't intend to offend them, you are a liar.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    I haven't read the entire thread, but has anyone pointed out the caloric advantages of eating meat as being a central factor in our evolution as a species?

    Anyone who has ever looked at the matter objectively has stumbled over this little tidbit.
    It's always overlooked when you post it as a counter argument to vegetarianism. For someone to achieve near 3000 calories in plant matter would require such a massive quantity of food. They also ignore the fact that if everyone were to switch to vegetarianism MORE land would need to be cleared to plant the amount of crops necessary because they ignore the nutritional and calorific density of a cow vs. what you could plant under it's 4 hooves.

    The calorific arguement is flawed when you take dairy (which is vegetarian) into consideration.

    Also, it actually takes a lot more land to process meat, including all the land needed to grow the plants to feed the animals, than it does to sustain plant based diets.
    I would question the maths on that. You can store a lot more calories in a cow, as well as protein, than the space it occupies on the ground. Perhaps I'm wrong, but to me it seems like a vegetarian society would require great swathes of presently unaltered landscape to be cleared to produce the quantity of crops needed. With animals, they are fed food and more grows where the food was.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    I'll make a deal with animal rights activists. Since you're big into protecting animals. If you can convince my cat to stop eating birds, mice & rabbits...I'll stop eating cows, chicken, pork, anything else that crosses my plate. Until then, I'm firing up the grill.

    While I do enjoy my fair share of some grilled animal meat, cats really are obligate carnivores. We are not.

    Same could be said for veggitarians. They can not eat meat because our society has advanced enough that we have choices in what to eat. However, back in the day in the middle of winter when there is no nutritional vegiation and the tribal hunters just brought back a deer...you can bet they'll be eating part of it.
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
    crackers anybody?

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnnPMJ6H0kflHiqAm88-FykZPjETMdxkQOaH69iyM6hnyVsGCi

    I love eating human flesh.
  • doorki
    doorki Posts: 2,576 Member
    I haven't read the entire thread, but has anyone pointed out the caloric advantages of eating meat as being a central factor in our evolution as a species?

    Anyone who has ever looked at the matter objectively has stumbled over this little tidbit.
    It's always overlooked when you post it as a counter argument to vegetarianism. For someone to achieve near 3000 calories in plant matter would require such a massive quantity of food. They also ignore the fact that if everyone were to switch to vegetarianism MORE land would need to be cleared to plant the amount of crops necessary because they ignore the nutritional and calorific density of a cow vs. what you could plant under it's 4 hooves.

    The calorific arguement is flawed when you take dairy (which is vegetarian) into consideration.

    Also, it actually takes a lot more land to process meat, including all the land needed to grow the plants to feed the animals, than it does to sustain plant based diets.
    I would question the maths on that. You can store a lot more calories in a cow, as well as protein, than the space it occupies on the ground. Perhaps I'm wrong, but to me it seems like a vegetarian society would require great swathes of presently unaltered landscape to be cleared to produce the quantity of crops needed. With animals, they are fed food and more grows where the food was.

    Don't forget the petroleum needed to fertilize all the crops....including making up for the lost source of fertilizer that is cow dung.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I'll make a deal with animal rights activists. Since you're big into protecting animals. If you can convince my cat to stop eating birds, mice & rabbits...I'll stop eating cows, chicken, pork, anything else that crosses my plate. Until then, I'm firing up the grill.

    While I do enjoy my fair share of some grilled animal meat, cats really are obligate carnivores. We are not.

    Same could be said for veggitarians. They can not eat meat because our society has advanced enough that we have choices in what to eat. However, back in the day in the middle of winter when there is no nutritional vegiation and the tribal hunters just brought back a deer...you can bet they'll be eating part of it.

    Obligate carnivore =/= 'survival' omnivore.
  • _VoV
    _VoV Posts: 1,494 Member
    Not a carnivore, but a happy omnivore.

    Because I like the taste. Because I have a hard time feeling full inexpensively without it. Because it's cheap, even compared to vegetables -- the only things cheaper than chicken legs around here are beans/rice/flour/potatoes.

    Question: Would you be willing to pay more for chicken, if it meant more compassionate treatment of the birds while they are alive? Also, chicken is cheap in part because of farm subsidies for the grain they eat. Would you still buy it if tax-payer dollars didn't deflate its cost?
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I haven't read the entire thread, but has anyone pointed out the caloric advantages of eating meat as being a central factor in our evolution as a species?

    Anyone who has ever looked at the matter objectively has stumbled over this little tidbit.
    It's always overlooked when you post it as a counter argument to vegetarianism. For someone to achieve near 3000 calories in plant matter would require such a massive quantity of food. They also ignore the fact that if everyone were to switch to vegetarianism MORE land would need to be cleared to plant the amount of crops necessary because they ignore the nutritional and calorific density of a cow vs. what you could plant under it's 4 hooves.

    The calorific arguement is flawed when you take dairy (which is vegetarian) into consideration.

    Also, it actually takes a lot more land to process meat, including all the land needed to grow the plants to feed the animals, than it does to sustain plant based diets.
    I would question the maths on that. You can store a lot more calories in a cow, as well as protein, than the space it occupies on the ground. Perhaps I'm wrong, but to me it seems like a vegetarian society would require great swathes of presently unaltered landscape to be cleared to produce the quantity of crops needed. With animals, they are fed food and more grows where the food was.

    From a protein perspective - you could well be right (I have never seen a discussion/study looking at this). But from a calorific perspective, no - you actually need a lot more land to 'cultivate' meat than plant based foods.
  • _VoV
    _VoV Posts: 1,494 Member
    I'll make a deal with animal rights activists. Since you're big into protecting animals. If you can convince my cat to stop eating birds, mice & rabbits...I'll stop eating cows, chicken, pork, anything else that crosses my plate. Until then, I'm firing up the grill.

    While I do enjoy my fair share of some grilled animal meat, cats really are obligate carnivores. We are not.

    Same could be said for veggitarians. They can not eat meat because our society has advanced enough that we have choices in what to eat. However, back in the day in the middle of winter when there is no nutritional vegiation and the tribal hunters just brought back a deer...you can bet they'll be eating part of it.

    Why talk about conditions that don't exist? If anything, plentiful cheap food is killing us, but that is indeed where we are at.
  • gingerveg
    gingerveg Posts: 748 Member
    As a vegetarian I don't have a problem with omnis per se, what I find is a lot of people just don't know how to start. So if anyone is thinking of transitioning and just needs a little inspiration here are a few vegetarian/vegan body builders/athletes:

    This is an entire site dedicated to vegan body builders it is really inspirational:
    http://www.veganbodybuilding.com./

    A couple of bios (all vegan):

    Jane Black has been a vegan since 1990 and has set many Masters National and World records in weightlifting. She is a former weightlifter who has won her class and received the Best Lifter trophy for her age group at the Masters World Weightlifting Championships in Canada in 1996. Her personal record competitive lifts are a 65 kilo (143 lb) and an 82.5 kilo (181½ lb). Jane works for The Vegetarian Resource Group helping other people who are interested in becoming vegan athletes.

    Robert Hazeley is well known for being a slightly mature bodybuilder. He began bodybuilding in 1971. In 2005 he came second in Mr Wales, fourth in the British Championships, third in Mr England and sixth in World Power Lifting. He also came second in Mr Britain of that same year. Robbie went vegan in 1989 for health reasons after a bad tennis injury and was introduced to a plant based diet by his friend and mentor Dave Howe. He says it improved his stamina, freedom from injuries and ability to train more intensely.

    Keith Holmes is an American boxer and began his pro career in 1989 and captured the WBC Middleweight Title by scoring a TKO over Quincy Taylor in 1996. He defended the title twice before losing the belt to Hassine Cherifi in 1998, a decision loss in which he dropped Cherifi once. In 1999, Holmes landed a rematch with Cherifi and regained the belt via a 7th round TKO. Holmes again defended the title twice before losing the belt to middleweight legend Bernard Hopkins in a clear-cut decision loss. He continued to fight sparingly after the loss to Hopkins, and in 2005 lost an IBF Light Middleweight Title Eliminator bout against Roman Karmazin in a close majority decision.

    Kenneth Williams is a professional vegan bodybuilder, personal trainer, financial advisor, spokesman and Vegan campaign coordinator for In Defense of Animals (IDA). He made history at the 2004 Natural Olympia in Las Vegas which is the most prestigious natural bodybuilding competition in the world. He finished third out of more than 200 competitors from 37 nations and became America’s first vegan bodybuilding champion. He has also competed and placed well in a number of important bodybuilding events. In 2004 alone, he placed second in his class at the Silver & Black Muscle Classic, the Team USA contest, and the World Natural Bodybuilding Championships.

    These are only a few there are tons more inspirations like Jimi Sitko, Lisa Koehn, and my favorite Channa Serenity (http://channaserenity.com/Gallery/album/Published Photos/#pageTitle)
  • MaraDiaz
    MaraDiaz Posts: 4,604 Member
    I actually would rather not eat dead animals or anything that comes from an animal. In fact, if someone said I'd never have to eat again but also never be able to eat, I'd choose never having to eat again, as long as it didn't involve something icky like a feeding tube. I hate to eat, I hate feeling hungry, I hate the whole annoying boring process of buying, preparing, and eating food. And when you really look closely at it, all food is just nasty. It's a bunch of dead plants and animals, plus bacteria, dirt, pesticides, preservatives, dyes, chemicals, and chopped up insect bits.

    I was a vegetarian for years. Now when I try to go vegetarian, two things happen. First I get extremely weak and sick and sleep all day, second, I start bingeing on everything in sight. So I'll be continuing to eat meat, because I don't do well without it anymore.

    The day I can go back to vegetarian without being utterly sick is the day I will, although I wonder if the reason I was a skinny vegetarian had less to do with cutting out meat and more to do with an intolerance for a lot of the vegetables I ate. Trying to eat a couple pieces of broccoli and a bite of banana made me sick recently and now that I think of it, vegetables were always hard on my stomach.
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
    If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made of food? hmmm?

    and again technically that makes you food too doesn't it? Hmmmm? You can jump on that spit as well, I am sure you would be just delish with some BBQ sauce and Malt Vinegar, topped with some coleslaw on a healthy whole wheat bun.

    Umm, yes - technically...we are food too....

    Luckily we have a pretty large brain and opposable thumbs to help us get to the top of the food chain...otherwise, we'd be in the wild trying to run away from our predators too...
  • strongnotskinny121
    strongnotskinny121 Posts: 329 Member
    Meat tastes yummy. Enough said.
  • Jeankyy
    Jeankyy Posts: 32
    God created some animals so the man can eat. He also created some animals that we shouldn't eat. It's in the bible. Plus it's good for your health. And yummyyyyyyyyy
  • AnninStPaul
    AnninStPaul Posts: 1,372 Member
    Meat is a concentrated source of protein and other necessary nutrients, and is particularly good for many people who have bean/nut allergies, like me.

    Meat is also the food that is credited for helping us develop our large human brain. When our distant ancestors began eating meat, in combination with a lucky genetic change that enabled the skull to become larger, we developed a well-tuned brain that somehow also gave us the ability to have a conscience about what we eat.

    EVERY LIVING THING, except algae and some other one-celled critters, has to eat something else that either IS or WAS alive in order to survive. How dare anyone rip a perfectly healthy branch off of a living, breathing plant, after all!

    But if you don't want to eat meat, fine. Don't. Just try not to take it personally that most of the rest of us humans (and our ape relatives) do.

    WELL SAID!!
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Dear Vegetarians:

    Hate to break it to you... but plants are living things too!

    Oh good lord.....this is the best you can do?
  • Lift_This_
    Lift_This_ Posts: 2,756 Member
    I love meat....especially sausages...thick italian sausages!!!
  • papastu
    papastu Posts: 737 Member
    coz i love the taste
  • mkgrayson
    mkgrayson Posts: 17
    Nothing goes better with Beer, than a good Steak (med-rare please)!

    and then there is bacon!

    18011084.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • tmpayton
    tmpayton Posts: 148 Member
    Why would a meat-eating person need to present on "argument" regarding their preference? I wouldn't expect you to present an argument on why you DON'T prefer meat.

    To answer your question of 'why'--why NOT?
  • fuhrmeister
    fuhrmeister Posts: 1,796 Member
    They are probably offended b/c you call them silly carnivors.

    I eat meat b/c the body needs protein as much as it needs the vitamins and minerals in veggies...and carbs are pretty much crap. NO plant protein not beans, not lential, not nuts are as complete as animal proteins. Our distant ancestors at fruits and veggies and yes meat, that is what the human body was made to eat.

    So an awesome greek salad with some yummy homemade gyro meat made from lamb and beef is totally one of my favorite meals.
  • RavenhairedWoman
    RavenhairedWoman Posts: 661 Member
    I wonder if anyone reading this has truly considered that if everyone stopped eating meat the prey animals would out bred us and then would all be killed off by some illness or another. You see it happen every time an animal population gets too big for the area trying to support it. Take deer for example, every year after her first year a doe will throw at least twin fawns. Now combine that with the suburbs and this is why we have so many frickin deer running around getting hit by cars and dying on the side of the road, pooping on our yards, and being very malnourished. Certain counties are so over populated it is crazy and not good for the deer. there should only be a max 25 deer per square mile, in a lot of the counties by me it is upwards of 1000 deer per square mile. So really, I am helping by hunting them, preforming a valuable service to my community. :glasses: And getting cheap meat for my trouble too. (not free after you take into account the license fee, insurance fee for my hunt group, cost of crossbow bolts(arrows), and the time spent sitting in my stand.)

    Well, to be fair, this is mostly because we've wiped out all the natural predators. Nature brings itself back into balance, but a lot of the time it needs to is because us kwazy 'umans have done something to mess it up in the first place.

    you also have to consider, anything large enough to prey on an elk, deer, buffalo, cow, pig, etc. would also consider people as prey also.

    Ha! So true! And to be honest, half the time I hunt on family land in WV, and half the time I am a part of a county deer depopulation program. In WV you actually have to be concerned about black bears stealing your kill/wandering around your cabin. Recent reports are showing that coyotes and even mountain lions are being spotted all over the place in WV. It is only a matter of time before they spread into the wooded areas of VA. Heck, coyotes are already here in VA, I've seen the tracks of their family packs in the woods. I think that mountain lions are beautiful creatures but I really wouldn't want to run into one in the woods. Just think about how your household lap lion (ie domestic cat) ruthlessly hunts bugs, rodents, birds, and other things they can get their paws on. Now take that and make it big, a big damn cat looking at you or your dog walking through the woods and thinking "huh, that looks interesting... I wonder what would happen if I pounced on it.." All I can say is ouch.
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
    How about this? I will continue to eat meat, because I believe that it's tasty and wonderful and not wrong to do so.

    Those of you who are vegetarian or vegan can continue being so (no judgement from me) since we are all grown ups who make our own choices?

    Just a thought....