Day 76: Human Being: Carnivore, Herbivore, or Omnivore?
Investigating Comparative Anatomy; The Vegan Narrative; Evolutionary Development; Homo Omnivorous: An Integrated Dietetic
“No society has ever, to my knowledge, sustained itself for long exclusively on plant foods. There have been many traditional cultures whose only animal product consumption consisted of grasshoppers, beetles, grubs, or other insects, but all have partaken of at least a minimal amount of animal foods.”
– John Robbins, early proponent of the U.S. Vegan movement in Healthy at 100
Welcome to Day 76!
Today’s topic on Comparative Anatomy is very, very important, because there is mainly misinformation on all sides of the dietary discussion out there about who we are, and what we should eat as human beings.
If, as an aspiring or current Vegetarian, Vegan, or Raw/Live Vegan you found yesterday’s content on Vegetarianism in the World’s Religions to be heartening, you may find today’s content more challenging. For those of you who have been eating 100% Plant-Based for years, but feel like something is missing, this information may feel more welcome. And for those who don’t want to eat 100% Plant-Based, today’s content will be welcome information.
For EVERYONE: We EVOLVE as individuals by considering all sides, and filtering them through ourselves, and from there going forth more knowledgeable, compassionate, skillful, and wise. PLEASE consider today’s content no matter where your Center of Gravity is on The Spectrum of Diet:
Today’s information integrates anatomy, physiology, nutritional worldviews, and evolutionary development. It may surprise and challenge you, and some of you will be very relieved in the more dynamic, nuanced, and deep embrace of yourself and the Kosmos.
Carnivore OR Herbivore: Leaving Something Out in the Question…
If you read this page on any previous version of the Juice Feasting Program, you would have read a Vegan or Raw/Live Vegan perspective on Comparative Anatomy. I provided a chart like this, which in my mind as a plant-based eater for 17 years, appeared to be completely accurate:
And that view was bolstered by this important chart from Dr. Joel Fuhrman in his important book, Eat to Live:
There is a general flaw with these charts: They create a either/or scenario, a black-or-white (and therefore, partial) situation that does not consider a third, more evolutionary, flexible, inclusive possibility: humans have physiological and biochemical qualities – not to mention dietary requirements – that allow for – and in many cases necessitate – the eating of both plant and animal foods. Dr. Furhman’s chart above, as it turns out, is not so much an indictment against eating animal foods as it is against eating industrialized, factory-farmed animal products, and far, far too many animal products in one’s diet.
For example, if you read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price, or consider the work of Dr. Williams (who Kevin Gianni has interviewed and worked with at length), both of these experts have found among indigenous groups worldwide that it is not the eating of animal products that contributes to disease, but the consumption of industrialized, processed foods. Industrialized, processed foods are the main culprit, followed by inactive lifestyles largely removed from the natural ecology.
Now that is saying a lot coming from someone who:
1. Has an M.A. in Vegan/Live Food Nutrition from one of the world’s leading authorities on plant-based nutrition (Dr. Gabriel Cousens, MD)
2. Has researched/written books on a plant-based nutritional worldview (There is a Cure for Diabetes and Raw Food Works) and built the 92-Day Juice Feasting Program on the platform of plant-based nutrition
3. Ate a vegetarian, vegan, and then Raw/Live Vegan diet for 17 years
4. Teaches about the healing benefits of Raw/Live Vegan Nutrition
5. Credits Raw/Live Vegan Nutrition with healing years of acid reflux disease
6. Believes deeply in biodiversity and compassion for all beings.
So, let’s unpack this properly.
I know many of you reading this have found, or are finding, plant-based nutrition to be incredibly valuable in your life, and in the lives of many, many others. I am not about to take away that legitimate understanding and experience of plant-based nutrition and live foods nutrition. We are going to build on it and honor and incorporate more of who you are, of what it means to be a human being – in short, more of the living Kosmos as it is.
The Spectrum of Diet
You will learn about my work on the Spectrum of Diet on Day 81. The Spectrum of Diet is an evolutionary, developmental understanding of nutrition and diet in the modern, westernized world.
Basically, we move from lower levels of awareness about food and health to more developed levels of awareness in this important domain of our lives. The food becomes more nutrient dense, the cultural significance increases, and personal and societal health improves as we move up the Spectrum of Diet:
As I said, we will cover the significance of this chart on Day 81, but the takeaway right now is that each of these stages of nutritional development hold their own nutritional worldviews.
A person who eats most of their food from the Junk Food and Fast Food levels of the Spectrum simply sees the world as something to acquire and devour for personal pleasure or short-term maintenance. However, as Vegetarians we begin to see a less egocentric perspective; the Vegetarian is focused on kindness to animals. At Vegan, we extend kindness to compassion for all living beings – even fish, and those animals who provide milk.
At Raw/Live Vegan, we lighten the impact of our diet further and eat in communion with animals worldwide who eat raw, living foods.
The worldview at Vegetarian, Vegan, and Raw/Live Vegan is increasingly set against killing, or having anything to do with pain, suffering, and death. We do what we can to reduce the deaths of other beings for our own existence, and also try to remove the underlying causes of sickness and preventable death by eating a live, plant-based diet. As a result, our clothing changes, the way we purchase things changes somewhat to reflect this important developmental step of preventing sickness, killing, and death.
This is an incredibly important period in our evolutionary development. We move from being unconscious, egocentric eaters to conscious, worldcentric eaters (to the best of our ability), and this worldview space pervades our being.
We cannot stress just how important this stage our lives this was, and how deeply it has shaped and informed who Katrina and I are today.
But note, I said that this was a stage of our development.
For many years, I left Raw/Live Vegan as the highest level of nutritional development on The Spectrum of Diet. But even this high stage of growth is a partial truth, important as it is.
We have significantly upgraded my nutritional perspective to a personal evolutionary one as outlined in the Spectrum of Diet and an Integral Approach to Nutrition.
For an updated Omnivorous Dietetic perspective, consider: “Man’s Dietary History” in Beyond Broccoli, and “Homo Omnivorous,” An Excerpt from The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Both are presented to you today in Today’s Downloads below, along with the preservation of Juice Feasting’s earlier file, Comparative Anatomy: The Vegetarian, Vegan, and Raw/Live Vegan Perspective.
Enjoy reading and considering these perspectives, we hope you find them valuable. See you in The Green Room!
Do Generalizations Prove Humans Are Not Omnivores?
This video is not anti-vegan or anti-vegetarian. You do you!!! This video tackles a select a group of individuals within those communities, but not representative of those communities entirely, whom have little regard for semantics and use generalizations to defend their stance.
OUR GUT: Unlike other Great Apes, SPECIALIZED for Eating Meat and Plants
Take this information with a few cucumbers and a grain of Himalayan Pink Salt. But the information here is important to consider in thinking of the Spectrum of Diet as a whole.
Mark Bittman | Food Matters.
Mark Bittman is known for his no-nonsense style and no-frills approach to cooking. Drawing links between diet, health, and climate change, the popular food writer shows us how our bodies and our planet are paying the price for overproduction and overconsumption of food.
Today’s Downloads
Homo Omnivorous: An Integrated Perspective on the Human Anatomy and Diet
by Michael Pollan; Susan Schenck
An Excerpt from The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and “Man’s Dietary History” and “Meat: Correct Physiologically if Not Politically” from Beyond Broccoli by Susan Schenck are highlighted in this file. This is the kind of information I am incorporating into an Integral perspective and an Integrated Dietetic. For much more, you can look forward to Day 81: The Spectrum of Diet.
Comparative Anatomy: The Vegetarian, Vegan, and Raw/Live Vegan Perspective
by David Rainoshek, M.A.
I have left this file as I created it as a Raw/Live Vegan, so that you can appreciate the worldview space of this important stage of development along the Spectrum of Diet.
As a Raw/Live Vegan, I wrote: “Comparative anatomy works on the simple and demonstrable fact that the biological form usually defines function. Individual features, or species may break the rules, but a look at many factors will reveal a species true biological role. Science provides us with an indicator of human nutrition which was not established by culture, but is certainly that of a herbivore or frugivore and not a carnivore or omnivore.”
I have significantly upgraded my nutritional perspective to a personal evolutionary one as outlined in the Spectrum of Diet and an Integral Approach to Nutrition.
For an updated Omnivorous Dietetic perspective, consider: “Man’s Dietary History” in Beyond Broccoli, and “Homo Omnivorous,” An Excerpt from The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Now, for your Integrated pleasure, a Vegan perspective on Comparative Anatomy.
Great Books
by Michael Pollan
A national bestseller that has changed the way readers view the ecology of eating, this revolutionary book by award winner Michael Pollan asks the seemingly simple question: What should we have for dinner? Tracing from source to table each of the food chains that sustain us–whether industrial or organic, alternative or processed–he develops a portrait of the American way of eating.
The result is a sweeping, surprising exploration of the hungers that have shaped our evolution, and of the profound implications our food choices have for the health of our species and the future of our planet.
by Michael Pollan
What to eat, what not to eat, and how to think about health: a manifesto for our times
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” These simple words go to the heart of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, the well-considered answers he provides to the questions posed in the bestselling The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Humans used to know how to eat well, Pollan argues. But the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused, complicated, and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists-all of whom have much to gain from our dietary confusion. As a result, we face today a complex culinary landscape dense with bad advice and foods that are not “real.” These “edible foodlike substances” are often packaged with labels bearing health claims that are typically false or misleading. Indeed, real food is fast disappearing from the marketplace, to be replaced by “nutrients,” and plain old eating by an obsession with nutrition that is, paradoxically, ruining our health, not to mention our meals. Michael Pollan’s sensible and decidedly counterintuitive advice is: “Don’t eat anything that your great-great grandmother would not recognize as food.”
Writing In Defense of Food, and affirming the joy of eating, Pollan suggests that if we would pay more for better, well-grown food, but buy less of it, we’ll benefit ourselves, our communities, and the environment at large.
by Michael Pollan
A pocket compendium of food wisdom-from the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food.
Michael Pollan, our nation’s most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensible guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple, sensible, and easy to use, Food Rules is a set of memorable rules for eating wisely, many drawn from a variety of ethnic or cultural traditions. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat-buffet, this handy, pocket-size resource is the perfect guide for anyone who would like to become more mindful of the food we eat.
Media, Films, & Documentaries
What About Vegetarianism And The Basic Moral Intuition | Ken Wilber
From the excellent CD Interview Series, Kosmic Consciousness with Ken Wilber and Tami Simon
Food Inc. | Documentary | Michael Pollan
For most Americans, the ideal meal is fast, cheap, and tasty. Food, Inc. examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact. Director Robert Kenner explores the subject from all angles, talking to authors, advocates, farmers, and CEOs, like co-producer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma), Gary Hirschberg (Stonyfield Farms), and Barbara Kowalcyk, who’s been lobbying for more rigorous standards since E. coli claimed the life of her two-year-old son.
The filmmaker takes his camera into slaughterhouses and factory farms where chickens grow too fast to walk properly, cows eat feed pumped with toxic chemicals, and illegal immigrants risk life and limb to bring these products to market at an affordable cost. If eco-docs tends to preach to the converted, Kenner presents his findings in such an engaging fashion that Food, Inc. may well reach the very viewers who could benefit from it the most: harried workers who don’t have the time or income to read every book and eat non-genetically modified produce every day.
Though he covers some of the same ground as Super-Size Me and King Corn, Food Inc. presents a broader picture of the problem, and if Kenner takes an understandably tough stance on particular politicians and corporations, he’s just as quick to praise those who are trying to be responsible–even Wal-Mart, which now carries organic products. That development may have more to do with economics than empathy, but the consumer still benefits, and every little bit counts.