No. We are all human. We could list all the things that are exactly the same regardless of what we eat. I will start with body temperature and blood PH. They are kept within a very narrow range. Any deviation outside of this range will be immediately noticeable and will result in significant health degradation. But the fact that they are kept within a very narrow range even with a significantly different diet tells us that our varied diets are not a function of need but rather a function of our ability to adapt to significantly different diets.

None of us need to eat a variety of foods but all of us can and do just fine. However, the farther we stray from an optimal diet, the faster we grow fat, sick, weak and stupid. I happen to believe that an optimal diet contains no plant.

The vegetarian argument is made possible by agriculture. Thus, it can only have existed for the last 10,000 years, no more. This means, we are hardly adapted to a strict vegetarian diet. This further means, we must have animal protein or we die. Therefore, to claim that some thrive on a vegetarian diet is pure speculation and a lie.

Haven't millions of people, in many countries, take India for example, been strict vegetarians for many centuries, for dozens of generations, and certainly some of them are vibrantly healthy?

Maybe. Google "diabetes capital of the world".

Lemme guess... it's not Inuvik.

I never knew that!

Thanks.

Personally, I gained a huge amount of weight following all those current recommendations about having 9 servings of veggies and 5 servings of fruit per day - along with "high protein" beans & legumes, and plenty of oatmeal.


LOL

Yes! As you can see below, their vegetarian diet is far from the root of their problems as Martin would have you believe.

“In short the situation is grave,' said Anoop Misra, head of the department of diabetes, Fortis Healthcare.”

“He said growing popularity of junk food, intake of trans-fats, high calorie but low protein diet, sedentary lifestyle and racial predisposition were the main reasons for the spread of the disease.”

“Genetically Indians are predisposed to such ailments. And when they change their food habit then the chance of being affected by diabetes and heart problem is immense.”

Bo

Because the diseases of civilization are not the exclusive property of Indians but rather common to all humans regardless of nationality, it's more true to state that “Genetically humans are predisposed to such ailments. And when they change their food habit then the chance of being affected by diabetes and heart problem is immense.”

The counter argument to this is that some populations never develop the disease of civilization but then, they didn't "change their food habit" yet. We can say this because there is not one population that remained healthy after changing their food habit.

But now that we've established that India is the diabetes capital of the world, and that Indians are vegetarian, and that all humans are predisposed to the diseases of civilization, then it follows that what makes Indians more predisposed to diabetes than any other population is that they are vegetarian.

Martin,

While reading your response I found myself thinking that “wow”, this is great. For once I’m agreeing with Martin on something.

That is until the “Then it follows that what makes Indians more predisposed to diabetes than any other population is that they are vegetarian.” proclamation.

Sadly, all good things somehow come to an end.

Best wishes.

Bo

I call it as I see it.

This reminds me of the old Star Trek episode when "matter" gets stuck fighting "antimatter" forever and ever.

eliza, you're forgetting that there is a third category of organisms on the planet... omnivores. these are organisms that are capable of obtaining energy from both plant and animal sources, and include bears, pigs, raccoons, chimpanzees, and humans.

energy doesn't deteriorate the farther up the food chain you go. if you look at the energy composition of the three macronutrients in food, you'll see that fat has 9 calories per gram, protein and carbohydrates both have 4 calories per gram. easily-gathered plant sources of fat are not readily available all year long, while animal sources of fat are. not to mention that there are essential fatty acids that are only easily available from animal sources. this, plus the structure of the jaw (ours goes both up and down AND sideways), plus the fact that our front teeth are sharp while the back teeth are rounded indicates we evolved to consume nearly all available food sources. we aren't limited to one or the other.

i agree that paleolithic sources of grains were much different than modern sources, however you also have to look at the processing of those grains. prior to modern agriculture, most of the grains would have been rices or seeds, with much of the nutritional content in fiber and therefore not digestible. with the advent of agriculture and flour mills, our bodies can now digest the grains, but with the adverse side effects we see today such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

it's very easy to accept that the optimal human diet contains no plant sources. remember that in nature, plant sources of food are only available during a few short months, or even weeks. even modern herbivores eat as much carbohydrate as possible in order to store fat to help them survive the winter until plant life grows again. but carnivores aren't limited to one season of eating. finding prey may be harder during the winter, but you're far more likely to catch a rabbit or a bird than you are to harvest fruits or vegetables.

OK. That's a lot of fallacious arguments all in one post. It's all been refuted before. But if you believe it all, then who are we to disagree.

Of course he's cute... He's a CARNIVORE!