Humans, Omnivorous or Vegetarians

Some people are ‘meat lovers’ while others fiercely reject the idea of humans eating meat. Perceptions and love/hate for meat vary according to each ideological frame and culture. However, this informative essay will not address the perceptions and preferences that people might have. It depends on a scientific debate with those who think that prehistoric man was vegetarian in nature and therefore humans should not eat meat and those who think that humans have always been omnivorous which means that we can eat seeds, grains, plants, fruits, but also animals.Through this essay I will defend that it is normal and natural that humans eat meat, in contrast with the vegetarian’s arguments, however it is healthier if we do not eat great amounts of meat per week. An argument defending human as vegetarian is centered on the characteristics of the human body compared to carnivorous animals. It argues that because humans don’t have claws or pointed teeth we shouldnâ⠂¬â„¢t eat meat. However, I found that the digestive and dental system of homo sapiens serves as an example on omnivorous adjustment because the incisor teeth and canine are good to tear cooked meat into pieces, whereas the molars are needed to grind vegetable matter. Furthermore, vegetarians argue that carnivorous animals have smaller intestines than humans because raw meat needs to be defecated faster, so it won’t turn bad before it can be digested. However one argument to counter this position is that humans can’t be totally vegetarian either because plant material containing fiber and cellulose cannot be efficiently broken down by the enzymes our stomachs secrete and because humans have simple-chamber stomach while herbivores have multiple-chamber stomach. This reinforces the argument that humans are omnivorous because our bodies are not totally prepared for such big amounts of meat, like carnivorous animals, nor for all kinds of plants. Rather we should have a balanced meal. Another argument sustained by vegetarians is that the man came before the fire and therefore humans only ate fruits and vegetables. Further that human disguise the meat with culinary preparations because â€Å"we cannot tolerate raw meat†. However, I found out that It all depends on a matter of evolution and adaptability. If we go back thousands of hundreds years ago when humans where similar to chimpanzees, maybe the vegetarian argument is true: humans were vegetarian. But with the same logic as we started walking on two feet because it became a necessity, our body adapted to eat meat when frost came over and eliminated all plants and fruits. Therefore, humans evolved. Homo sapiens started using pointed weapons so claws fell to disuse, homo sapiens discovered fire and found out that it made the meat softer so our canines got smaller. Our molars got flatter because of the cooked-meat diet, as well as the infusion of fruits, nuts and veggies. Furthermore, the vegetarian argument that â€Å"everything that the human body needs can be found in natural vegetation†, does not mean that we are, in fact, vegetarian. Rather it means that if one person decides to be a vegetarian, he/she can survive without the proteins provided by meat. Therefore, being vegetarian is a personal decision, not a fact applying for everyone. One should decide consciously what type of food you want to eat, but bearing in mind that eating meat is not a bad thing for our body per se because our body is prepared to it, along with fruits and vegetables. Most uninformed vegetarians argue that meat is causing health issues, but the truth is that the today’s growing population is demanding great amounts of food focusing on quantity over quality. Many animals are been feed with steroids while fruits are been cultivated with chemical substances.