Comments on: Can One Be Both Vegetarian and Primal?

By: Amina

Amina — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:21:22 +0000

I do not think that “rape” and “murder” are natural. I think you can not quantify that, especially not in the same manner that meat consumption as a part of evolution is natural. I think we should all learn to have opinions and respect them, but be careful that our town does not attempt to mislead people into believing our faulty opinions are facts.

By: Bailey

Bailey — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:27:30 +0000

I am a vegetarian and have chosen this path for ethical reasons. My father and brother both hunt, and, although I wouldn’t participate in it, I do not look down on it. The way I see it is that that deer had as fair a chance to get away as my father or brother had to kill it. I do, however, look down upon an industry that tortures, abuses, and slaughters animals. I am horrified that our country’s ethics has come down to mere convenience. Most of the meat put out is also pumped full of chemicals and hormones, and many of the animals are fed pesticide laden food, if their food is even from plants, which is not the case. Most of animal feed comes from ground up bone meal and “leftovers” from the other animals…again, cheaper…, increasing the spread of disease. I have no problem with meat when it is done the RIGHT way, but in this American industry that values profit over health and ethics, I feel that I am better off being a vegetarian.

By: cara

cara — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:21:21 +0000

This is MY interpretation, so it may be different for other people…let me answer your question now and just say that an individual can define the classes for himself.

So anyway, I know that for myself, and I think the majority of vegetarians, I will not eat something that has a central nervous system. I don’t believe that plants suffer in the same way that a cat or a pig suffer, so I will eat plants.

By: cara

cara — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:13:41 +0000

Exactly. I respect my father’s meat-eating because he can look an animal in the eye and still kill it. He feeds my entire family (not just my nuclear family of five, but my grandparents and his brothers’ and sister’s families) for the year on the deer he will kill. He can skin them and cut them up in our house, and use almost the entire animal in the process, without flinching. (Needless to say, if I step into our kitchen during this, I want to vomit from the smell of it or seeing organs and face-parts in the sink.)
I know so many “meatatarians” who would NEVER be able to do this. When some friends or family members discuss our deer-killing, they say to me “I just like to pretend I don’t know where my steak comes from.” I have a good feeling that this is how most Americans feel. I know there is a group who don’t, but I believe that they’re in the minority. Maybe the primal movement is part of this group, but indeed I think they’re getting their meat from Whole Foods.

By: cara

cara — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:00:18 +0000

I realize I’m probably in the minority as a vegetarian here, so I’ll just say my part knowing that you probably won’t take it to heart.
I can’t believe you actually say that vegans kill more animals than omnivores. You really believe that? It’s a silly argument that is just picking at whatever it can come up with. The environmental argument of vegetarianism is a very strong one, sorry.

I’ve always believed in the idea that Anna talks about, above – maybe eating meat is ‘natural’, but so is rape and murder. The greatest thing about humans, in my opinion, is our capacity to adapt and rapidly innovate technology. It has come to the point where we have the CHOICE of how we want to live, in our society which has an overabundance of pretty much everything. Now, our human brains have naturally evolved the ability to feel empathy, are you going to go against that and blind yourself to factory farming and the unnecessary suffering of animals? That’s your choice, but I can’t do it.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:52:09 +0000

Interesting article. I’ve been a vegetarian for going on 19 years now (not that long in the grand scheme of things) and agree that veganism might be a bit much to be able to live on a “primal” diet. However, there were some comments left regarding vegetarians being incapable of a primal diet that i fond it hard to accept. Now, I don’t identify myself as a “primalist” (i feel that is a foolish statement for almost anyone in our society to make, but i’ll address that in a moment), I garden and forage all of my food during the warmer months (aside from rice and lentils and such), preserve almost everything i eat during the colder months, and farm my own eggs and dairy. I believe that meat eating is ok, but only ok if you are willing to, or do, kill the animal yourself. This concept seems to fit the idea of a primal diet quite well since our ancestors would have indeed had to kill whatever meat they would have been eating (the nearest ‘wholefoods’ wouldn’t have been an option). My question to those vocal few who were starting to mount their high dietary horse, what percentage of the food that you eat is truly “primal”, or do you think that for MOST people, it’s just a semi-pretentious label created by americans looking to show off?

By: Nazreel

Nazreel — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:58:24 +0000

Troy, dec 2008, I had to have a colonoscopy last summer and the nurses there said that they hardly ever had vegetarians in for this procedure, in fact they had to look up what I could have to eat in the proceeding few days as it was so unusual.

I have been told that my colon is in perfect health, and the specialist said that that is usually the case with vegetarians. The problem that I was having was due to an arterio-venous malformation which is something I will have had all my life.

I am not young and I have had plenty of time for vegetarianism to mess me up if indeed that would happen.

By: Eve

Eve — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:01:47 +0000

I got a bit cross-eyed reading all the posts, so skipped a few in the middle somewhere. But nobody seems to have mentioned that plants do not have a nervous system and that is what distinguishes them from animals. Also, quite often they ‘regrow’ – you cannot raise the ‘dead’ though.

Also, on articles I’ve read over the years, I’m of the belief that the so-called hunter gatherers were more likely to be mostly gatherers – ie the women brought in the food from gathering as most of the time the men didn’t bring back the bacon! Which is possibly why the body stores its B12 because it didn’t get any very often.

The point I’m trying to make is that why do meat eaters think they need to have their 6oz at every meal? The human race needs to cut back on its consumption of a lot of foods including meat – westerners eat way too much, and waste too much. It’s the same for grains etc, way too much is cooked and thrown away. And I do not think it’s clever for anyone to say things like ‘if it has a face, I have a recipe’ that is just stupid and ignorant. I do not eat meat, but each to their own. The world has gone mad when it comes to food, and it will only get worse if we keep breeding like rabbits and then hoping to live till we are 100.

Factory farming IS cruel, regardless of your dietary preferences. So is intense fishing. Field kill/road kill? Bit of a side issue really and an unwarranted distraction from some of the valid points made. Humans have lost their sense of belonging in nature. Something’s got to give! Maybe all countries should adopt a max limit on number of children a man or woman can have.

By: Prof. Positron

Prof. Positron — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:36:25 +0000

“Understanding ‘The Least Harm Principle’

“In fact, how many people can eat from one cow? And how many animals die to harvest enough plants to feed a single vegan?”

lol. Where did all the calories in the cow come from? The majority of grain grown in this country, especially corn, is to feed livestock.

It takes 7 lbs of grain to produce 1 lb of beef; the ratio 4-to-1 for pork and 2-to-1 for poultry.

“The reality is that a vegan diet kills far more animals than a meat-eating diet.”

I usually don’t comment here, but I couldn’t resist; this gave me a chuckle all day.

In all seriousness, though, thanks for at least approaching the topic. Always happy to hear some thoughts on how to eat primal as a veg-head like me.

By: skustes

skustes — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:52:33 +0000

McCrispy, I’ve known vegetarians who became meat eaters. Just as one can become a vegetarian, one can overcome their disgust at the thought of meat and acquire the taste for it. A friend went from 25 year hardcore vegetarian to “if it has a face, I have a recipe.”

Though, I have to wonder is it an actual fact that plants are a “lower class” than animals or is it just a fact in your mind because you want it to be? If it’s an actual fact that animals are a “higher class” than other lifeforms, does that also mean that humans are a “higher class” than other animals? I mean, we do have the most sentience. Who exactly is defining these classes?

Cheers
Scott