• RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    134
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    5 months ago

    I am assuming this is some sort of vegan talking point that since some human teeth are mostly flat, ignoring canines and some particularly sharp front incisors, humans are supposed to eat only plants? Aren’t humans omnivores though?

    • 1stTime4MeInMCU@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      83
      arrow-down
      21
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      You are interpreting that backwards. I wouldnt say it’s a vegan talking point so much as a non vegan talking point in reverse. It’s commonly argued that because humans have canines were meant to eat meat. Whereas vegans fully acknowledge the capacity to digest meat and evolutionary history that evolved omnivorous diets (but argue the majority of (not all) people have a want rather than a need) . The vegans are just memeing back.

      • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        40
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        5 months ago

        meh I’ve heard mostly vegans make this dumbass argument.

        I definitely support vegans but I don’t support pseudoscientific bullshit no matter who says it.

          • Dabundis@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            27
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            5 months ago

            Multiple different things can be dumbass pseudoscience, actually. Any time someone starts talking about what humans “were meant to eat”, I’m done listening. Humans can and do survive and thrive on an extremely broad variety of diets. It’s part of why societies were able to develop in so many different places.

            • 1stTime4MeInMCU@mander.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              9
              arrow-down
              5
              ·
              5 months ago

              Right, exactly. This is what I said. Humans _can _ survive on vegan diets. So the question becomes, if it’s possible to live a totally healthy normal life not eating meat, should you? This is the moral line that vegans come down on differently than the typical meat eater.

              Nobody is arguing that humans can’t eat meat or that it wasn’t beneficial for our ancestors to be able to. The question is, if it’s not required, is it moral? Btw, veganism is about harm reduction. There are people to this day in impoverished countries who are actually required to eat meat to achieve sufficient nutrient intake. You will find 99% vegans having no problem with those people. But if you live in a country with basic infrastructure you probably have enough to at least significantly reduce meat intake

              • Dabundis@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                17
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                5 months ago

                Hi there! You appear to be interpreting some type of meat eating ideology from my comment. Let me encourage you to take it at face value - the only intent is to criticize the idea that humans are “meant” to eat particular foods, an idea present both in the meme that started this thread and in the above mentioned paleo diet

                • 1stTime4MeInMCU@mander.xyz
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  6
                  ·
                  5 months ago

                  We are agreeing lol. My point is that vegans do not actually make this argument. I have yet to ever hear it made unironically. Sometimes it is made in jest because it is made to us with sincerity from meat eater ideology.

                  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    9
                    ·
                    5 months ago

                    My point is that vegans do not actually make this argument.

                    The meme is literally making this argument.

                    I see nothing indicating the meme is intended to be ironic. Considering the number of people taking this at face value, at best this was communicated poorly.

              • intensely_human@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                5 months ago

                Another question is: if it’s moral, are you gonna do it for that reason?

                I have no arguments against veganism. Vegans are right. Yet I am not a vegan.

                • Rekorse@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  5 months ago

                  People vary in their adherence to their own morals. Some change their morals more often than they change their actions.

                  I choose to be someone who puts my morals above my wants, at least as often as I can, and I try to learn all the time if there are other ways I am inadvertently going against my own morals.

                  Edit to add: I also used to agree with veganism and not take part, mainly out of fear it would be too hard and I’d fail or hurt myself. And then one day I just did it. I dont regret it one bit.

                • 1stTime4MeInMCU@mander.xyz
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  5 months ago

                  This is the “fuck off, I like guns” of meat eating and pretty much the only argument I’m receptive to. I get frustrated when people argue they should be able to do things using bad arguments. But if you say, I don’t have a good argument for this but I’m gonna do it anyway, that’s at least being honest with yourself and I respect that a lot more.

                  • Linktank@lemmy.today
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    3
                    ·
                    3 months ago

                    What is not moral about eating meat? Is it about consuming life? If that is the case then I have bad news for vegans about plants.

            • MilitantVegan@lemmy.worldOP
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              arrow-down
              15
              ·
              5 months ago

              To be honest I do largely agree with you on this. What we did eat should not really determine what we should eat now.

          • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            11
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            5 months ago

            Nutritionfacts is a pseudoscience site.

            The paleo diet is definitely, absolutely bullshit, but ketogenic diets have real use and purpose, if you can adhere to a strict ketogenic diet, and can do so without becoming malnourished (both of which are damn near impossible for most people). If you can get your body into a state of ketosis–not ketoacidosis, which is a potentially fatal condition most often associated with diabetes–then you burn off body fat much, much more quickly when you’re on a calorie-deficient diet, because your body is already using fats as a primary source for energy rather than carbohydrates. The downside is that you’ll feel like absolute dogshit for a few days until you adjust, since glucose is the preferred fuel for cellular respiration.

            • Rekorse@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              5 months ago

              Your defense of keto boils down to: people need to lose weight fast or they will give up, so its useful? Its an incredibly damaging diet if you were to stay on it for life.

              And if you are only meant to use it to lose weight, what exactly do people transition to when done?

      • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        36
        arrow-down
        18
        ·
        5 months ago

        Humans have teeth suitable for both meat and plant foods. So I would say humans are omnivores.

        I may be wrong, but a 100% vegan only diet I think requires supplements to be taken for certain things like proteins that humans need in order to live. Of course, those certain proteins are found in meats.

        However, I think saying humans are carnovires would also be incorrect, and a 100% meat only diet would be I think equally as unhealthy as a 100% plant only diet.

        • 1stTime4MeInMCU@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          26
          arrow-down
          8
          ·
          5 months ago

          I don’t think you read my post carefully. I said humans have teeth for both meat and plants. I didn’t say that humans aren’t omnivores. I just said (implicitly) that they are not obligate omnivores.

          Proteins are not a concern, you can get all essential amino acids through only plant protein. Pretty much the only one that is hard to get enough of is B12. With real determination it can be done but it’s easier to just supplement. By the way, most omnis also do not get enough B12 and eat supplements either directly or through fortified foods. It’s just usually they are getting it through fortified milk which vegans don’t drink.

        • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          5 months ago

          a plant based diet is completely healthy as long as you eat varied foods and don’t try something stupid like subsisting on apples and dandelions.

          There are world renowned athletes who are plant based…

        • MilitantVegan@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          38
          arrow-down
          31
          ·
          5 months ago

          The idea that a pure plant-based diet can’t provide all the protein we need has been thoroughly debunked for a long time.

          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DMwf_9wqWY0&pp=ygUdc3RhbmZvcmQgc2NpZW50aXN0IG9uIHByb3RlaW4%3D

          The nutrient you’re thinking of is b12. Vegans need to supplement b12 (for now, discoveries are still being made on that front). But at the same time, in a sense, so does everyone else.

          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UUyiiNwDNLU&pp=ygUOZWQgd2ludGVycyBiMTI%3D

        • MilitantVegan@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          22
          ·
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          And going back to your main point, it’s really just dubious to draw conclusions about what we are “meant” to eat based on the shape of our teeth. If all we’re considering is health and history, it’s not entirely accurate to say we’re just omnivores. It’s more like we are predominantly herbivores with some capacity for opportunistic omnivory in emergencies, but our ability to live on animal foods is rudimentary at best and comes at a high health cost. Also consider that from a Paleolithic standpoint, early humans would have been eating much more bugs as their protein, as that would have been far more abundant and easily gathered. Hunting is unreliable, and in most circumstances would have been a luxury at best (the book “Edible” goes into this).

          Of course we also are becoming more intelligent, and have emerged the capacity for moral evolution. The paleo concept as a whole is ultimately just the argument from tradition fallacy. We can do better.

          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FNIoKmMq6cs&pp=ygUhcGFsZW9udG9sb2dpc3QgZGVidW5rcyBwYWxlbyBkaWV0

          • intensely_human@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            5 months ago

            The paleo argument is about matching the environment of evolutionary adaptedness in diet, not tradition.

            People seem to forget that human evolution started 3 billion years ago so our evolutionarily-adapted diet isn’t just “paleo”

    • RangerJosie@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      9 days ago

      People have a real hard time separating Omnivores from Carnivores and Carnivores from Herbivores.

      I suggest reading “The Nature of Predators”

      Great learning tool for such things imo. The backbone of the story is those distinctions and their societal impacts. Vegans will hate it tho. As the BBEGs of the story use corruption, exploitation, coercion, genetic engineering, social engineering, and war to force omnivores and obligate carnivores to be obligate herbivores.