Page 22 - Living Aloha Magazine January February 2017 Issue

vegaN Aloha by Miri Chamdi & Daniel Adar

why animals should Food

no longer Be our

To eat animals or not to eat animals? That been considered a
is the question. In order to answer this simple true achievement
question, one can go online and get confused. Endless to pass the age of
contradicting information is available at our fingertips. puberty, where
From large, well funded and non-biased research, to reproduction could
smaller, more pseudo scientific articles. What most people take its course and
go to in order to answer this question is what early ensure survival. So
humans ate. Unfortunately, even there the information as far as survival was
is contradictive and it is easy to get lost. Did our brains concerned, meat was
develop into larger processing computers due to eating a huge player. Again,
meat or complex carbohydrates? Is our digestive system it allowed our ancestors to
designed to eat plants, animals or both? Are our teeth survive through those harsh conditions that ensured that
designed to rip flesh off bones, to grind fibrous materials their evolution into bigger and more intelligent brains
or both? Because I have a passion for this subject, I have could take its course. So was the actual protein in meat
researched this issue trying to find a definitive answer. the major player in that evolution or was it simply having
Here are some thoughts, ideas and conclusions that I have more food choices that kept them alive long enough in
come up with, simplified. order to evolve?
It is a known fact that early human ancestors were The key into the evolution of the early human brain was
gatherers before they were gatherer-hunter. Only when essential amino acids together with the glycogen present
they began making tools did they start to incorporate in carbohydrates. Essential amino acids are proteins, which
animal flesh into their life. Some research says that only the body does not produce and must be derived from
when they discovered fire (so they could cook the meat food. Meat does contain all essential amino acids. So do
and soften it up) meat was added to the menu. Does this certain plants and the combination of plants together
make humans natural carnivores or omnivores rather with other plants. So the question remains. Should meat
than the herbivores they were before making tools and still be in our diets?
discovering fire? The answer is that early humans were Let’s take a quick look at our instincts. If you put a two year
more opportunists than definitive carnivores or omnivores. old in a crib with or a rabbit and an apple, which one of
A large animal could feed a whole clan much faster than these will the toddler play with and which will he eat? Does
the plants that were wildly harvested. That animal could your mouth salivate when you pass by a pasture where
also provide the high calories and fat density they needed cows are grazing? Is your instinct to jump on a cow with
in order to survive in extreme weather conditions and your bare hands and nails, or with a spear or shoot it with
scarcity. The entire animal was used not just for food, but a gun when you pass by a factory farm? Do you salivate
also for tools, clothing and jewelry. when you see raw meat before it is cooked and spiced up?

If we look at the average lifespan of our early ancestors, it Answers may vary, but look unto your own response.
was not longer than 30 years. There is not one definitive Let’s fast forward a little in time. Through the agricultural
answer as to why that was. Was it because they were more revolution, humans were able to domesticate both
prone to infection, disease and famine or was it due to animals and plants. These practices allowed us to stay in
their diet? One thing we can be certain about is that early one place as opposed to needing to migrate in order to
humans were not concerned so much with health, as we find wild plants and animals. These practices also allowed
understand it today, but rather with survival. It may have us to enhance certain plants, to make them larger and

22 VEGAN ALOHA Living Aloha | JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2017