This is a topic that has being brewing for a long time, and for quite awhile I have let it slide, but today I read a “news” article that really was the straw that broke the camel’s back. So I am writing this article to give different perspective to this non-issue.

Lets have a quick look at the news article that got me all annoyed titled 'No sex with meat eaters' (1), which is about a New Zealand group who wont have sex with anyone who eats meat claiming that people who eat meat have, “bodies are made up of animal carcasses”.

Humans continue to stun me at the stupidity they can accomplish. Einstein was very right when he said the only thing he was sure about was the infinity of human stupidity. Firstly this little New Zealand group where able to invent a new form of bigotry. Now not only will you be judged on your skin colour or religion... the fact that you are surviving to live also counts against you! Go New Zealand vegans! that one is under your belt.

Now let’s have a closer look at their claim that our bodies are made up of human carcasses. Well, they do’ have a point there, but completely not in the way they perceive. Yes, your body is covered with dead body cells, and we call this the outer layer of the skin, and since we are animals, I suppose they almost do have a point. However, we can take that point further. On that dead layer of skin (as well as inside us).. are millions of other dead microbial life. So in essence, its a hard world down on that level, and imagine how many more casualties those darn vegans add to it every time they have a shower. We could take this point even further, within each cell are the mitochondria, and the mitochondria.. while a part of us now, used to be a separate life form, and today, still replicates independently of the cell. So in theory, every time a cell dies two life forms die. I am making these silly points because they will have more relevance later.

Since biologically humans are designed to eat, and our prehistoric “leaf and grass” stomach, the appendix, is useless to us now we have to assume that evolution in this case, knows what’s best for us.

When the ancestors of man were still early primates a group of them were living here in Africa. The area underwent some intense climate changes and the lush forests that our ancient ancestors enjoyed disappeared and the primates had to change or die. So our ancestors changed.. they learnt to walk up right to spot danger from far away as they had less places to scramble for safety. They also learnt to to survive on meat. Understand this is early hominid evolution so we are talking approximately two million years ago.

At the same time we started eating meat we invented tools (wow talk about a coincidence hey vegans!), the ability to process meat enabled our ancestors to have a much richer source of nutrition and to therefore evolve into smarter and more complex creatures. When we learnt how to fish the omega 3+6 that was introduced into our diet enabled our brains to develop better. Studies (2) have shown that primates that have meat in their diet (yes most other primates have a percentage of their diet that is meat) that the primates who ate meat, evolved faster and better than those who were restricted to just a herbivores diet.

The evolutionary advantages in eating meat and the importance it as played in our development are very clear and should not be underestimated. Nature has being pushing our phenotype in this direction for five billion years and it’s clearly working. I have often seen a lot of propaganda comparing us to other herbivorous primates as an argument not to eat meat. All primates eat meat.. even in the gorilla.. it makes up 1 % of their diet. In chimpanzee’s it makes up 13% of their diet. Both these primates require the trace element in their systems and branched away from us about seven million years ago. Another branch of primates called Cebuella such as the Pygmy Marmoset, require as much as 50% of their diet to be meat.

There is however a big difference between us and a gorilla and other herbivorous apes;

“Our stomachs have evolved to consume both meat and plant matter. In humans, more than half (56%) of the total gut volume is found in the small intestine whereas all apes have by far the greatest total gut volume (>45%) in the colon. In addition, the overall size of the human gut in relation to body size is small in comparison to that of apes.

Hindgut dominance in apes suggests adaptation to a diet lower in quality than that consumed by humans, a diet containing considerable bulky plant material, such as insoluble fiber and seeds. In contrast, the proportions of the human gut, dominated as it is by the small intestine, the principal site of nutrient digestion and absorption, suggests adaptation to a high quality diet, one that is nutritionally dense and highly digestible relative to that of any wild ape” (2)

Unfortunately I still have a little more of a biology lesson to teach the vegans so I am going to move onto “why meat is good for us nutritionally” before we can move onto the juicy morality issues.

I am sure at some point or another you have come across sites that have (miss) informed you that eating meat is bad for you and you don't need it nutritionally. Well that's bullsh!t. Meat is extremely good for you. The fact is, meat is the most naturally occurring, well balanced and easily obtained and digested package of proteins, essential acids and source of iron and Vitamin B 12 that you can find. Also, a protein rich meat diet is extremely good for you (3).

If fat concerns you, eat lean meat, and don’t forget to watch out for industrial grade vegetable fats such as hydrogenated and hydrogenated vegetable oils (trans-fatty acids (now banned in certain countries). When given the choice, I stick to the natural fat that’s found in meat.

While researching this topic I was speaking to a vegetarian friend in another city over MSN. I told her the topic I was writing and she let me know about her personal experience. She did not like the taste of meat and that was her reasoning for staying away from it for 9 years. However things changed when she fell pregnant. The baby growing up in her stomach required lots of iron (readily available in meat), and because she was a vegetarian, a large portion of her iron content in her body was given to the baby and the result effects was that her teeth turned grey and she started having serious health problems. Eating meat solved that problem and today she has a stunning healthy vibrant daughter.

Now that I have got the basic biology and nutritional lessons out the way lets move onto the morality of this one because It’s actually quiet ludicrous. In fact, the paragraph where I spoke about my friend and her experience is a good place to start from, because if you notice on the link I posted about our New Zealand bigoted vegans you will notice there is a related story together with a more grim reality;

The headline reads, 'Vegan couple starved baby'

"Atlanta - A vegan couple was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison in the death of their malnourished six-week-old, who was fed a diet largely consisting of soymilk and apple juice." (3)

Wow, quiet the moral high-ground you hypocrites take. You seem to completely lack perspective. Humans like all other animals on this planet are predators to one form of life or another. The only honest forms of life out there appear to be most plants. They absorb base nutrients, sunlight and water which they convert into the energy that they require to survive... and not even- all plant are honest to this form of existence. There are more than a few carnivorous plants as well. That said, all animals above them are predators. Herbivores are predators to plants. Plants try defending themselves against this onslaught in every way they can come up. From chemical warfare through to creating sharp weapons to protect themselves. Most plants clearly do not like being eaten.

Vegans are life hypocrites. They seem to think that a plants life is not as important as an animal’s life for its right to exists. They are able to draw this weird moral line at where it’s okay to take life and when its not okay to take life. Life is life no matter exist its form. Humans are also a natural part of that life. We have just as much right to live a chicken and if you have larger scope, were way more important than a chicken.

Let’s assume for a moment that the only life in the universe is found on this rock we call earth. Let’s also assume that we want life to continue to exist. It’s not going to do that forever without help. Assuming that asteroids don't hit us, our molten core does not stop and that some other freak accident does not wipe all life off the face of the earth.. life on this planet has a count down clock. In a couple of billion year’s time our sun is going to become useless to us. It’s going to kill all life on earth. So humans may be life's last chance to create a sentient life form with the capability to allow life to exist beyond the confines of this very vulnerable planet. I think evolution would be hard pressed to push out a decent enough life form in the time we have left assuming we all kill ourselves.

Meat is important to our development and evolution and will continue to be so. Our bodies and brains consume massive amounts of energy and all for good reason. Sure we could build more factories, hire more cheap labour in 3rd world countries to produce them and add more toxic chemicals and fumes into the environment to make those in vogue designer vitamins you considering taking as a substitute for meat, or you can use natures own resource and simply eat meat.

Vegans propose they take the moral high-ground, but I propose they don't. Not only are they not using economical natural sources of nutrition, they are also denying the evolutionary advancement the trillions of ancestors that came before them fought for. You want propaganda vegans? How about this!. Stop killing our oxygen supply! Eat more meat!

Oh yes, I am well aware the title is sensationalist. Just thought I would get some vegan attention.

1 - http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2156182,00.html
2 - http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/11/3886S
3 - http://www.powerofmeat.com/High_Protein_Diets.htm
4 - http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2110953,00.html

Special thanks to Suz who is helping me work through my grammar block.