Non-Veg Diet causes Dementia

Anthropological evidence shows we have evolved from frugivorous apes. Of course, like chimps, we can eat meat and insects, but such foods provide a mere two per cent of their calories. We have chosen, for reasons that are no longer necessary or essential, to consume 40 to 50 per cent of our calories from slaughtered animals or animal products. Yet in the wild, our bodies, were best equipped not to catch prey but to forage for fruits, roots and insects. Just because we can eat meat doesn’t mean that we are as capable as evolved carnivores in being healthy on a largely meat diet. Cats can be fed diets up to 60 per cent meat with no apparent threat to their cardiovascular health. Humans can’t.

Clearly, the anatomy of the human digestive system is engineered to digest plant-based foodstuffs high in fibre and complex carbohydrates and only small amounts of protein. Constipation and indigestion are less of a problem when people’s diets are free of meat. The balance of the key metallic elements, sodium and potassium that we need goes completely wild when we eat animal flesh. The sodium increase gives high blood pressure which is rare in vegetarians. The amounts and chemical kinds of fats in animals (cholesterol and triglycerides) are very different from those found in plants. No cholesterol is found in plant foods. The unnecessary amounts of protein consumption from meat makes for excess protein that causes kidney damage .

The best way to judge whether the human body is vegetarian or not is to check what happens to it after eating meat. Here is a report of the National Cancer Institute: ‘Observable Signs of Metabolic Stress after a Meal of Animal Flesh’. These include: a) white blood cell count increases causing esinophilia; b) red blood cells become more ‘sticky’ and ‘sludge’ in small blood vessels; and c) levels of hormones (cortisol), estrogen, prolactin increase. To summarize the argument: the flesh we consume does not appear to be anywhere near the kind of diet we have evolved to flourish on as shown by the immediate body reactions to meat.

So meat is actually an inferior ‘fuel’ for the human machine since it generates many acidic waste products when metabolized. A high carbohydrate, low fat diet enables athletes to be stronger and have more physical endurance.

Trust your own body’s reaction. People frequently report an increase in energy levels and waking activity after switching from a fatty meat diet to a vegetarian or vegan diet. Fatty foods, particularly a heavy meat diet, makes one sluggish and tired. After eating a meal of animal fats, there are distinct biological reactions that cause a kind of metabolic stress. These hormonal changes could, possibly, account for a change in our energy level as prolactin and estrogen are known to affect one’s overall activity rhythms. It is common to hear meat eaters complain of a constant mild tiredness, a tiredness that people may simply assume is ‘normal’ but which could be a general symptom of any number of nutrition-related problems (e.g. hypoglycemia, deficiency in magnesium, vitamin B-complex, folic acid, pyriodoxine, vitamin C or lactose intolerance etc.).

Yes, we can eat meat, but not without huge costs. The scientific evidence is pretty clear that the best diet for human beings in terms of health and longevity is vegetarian.