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126 sats \ 1 reply \ @sophostheliberator 29 Nov \ on: Why do you eat meat? food_and_drinks
Great questions, to which I have also pondered a bit as I was vegetarian in 2017-2023 for 5,5 years and have gone back to eating meat again.
So does humanity “need” to eat meat, the simple answer is no, to survive we don’t. But this then pegs another question, to live life to our fullest potential then the answer might be different. To get most of our bodies and minds, there are certain meats that are of high nutritional value for us.
Most modern societies today consume meat in one form of another. One of the biggest vegetarian oriented cultures is India. Where there are at least 20 % of the population vegetarians. [1]
So why do I eat meat? First I gravitated towards vegetarianism as a form of spiritual and mental cleansing. Two triggers for me were in 2017 the raising of environmental concerns and most importantly the spiritual book Bhagavad Gita. Overall as I reflect the experience I have to come to a few conclusions:
- Diet should be a health choice, and you should prioritize health in decision making, not to worry about the environment at this stage. Besides, hurrying and forcing does not lead to good decision making anyway.
- Evaluate “new research” slowly and critically. In terms of health and food, there is so much contradictory research, recommendations presented to you my all kinds of influencer groups that it is easy to find recommendations for each day. If you need to read research, seek neutral and time tested evidence, not from the headlines of news or latest government recommendations. 3.Do your own research. As you find new information to apply to your life and health seek ways to confirm if the claims are right and true. Also start the experiments in your own life small, without great commitment to it. If it is something worthwhile, you can always continue and if not, discontinue.
- Give weight to tradition and common sense that has proven itself healthy. By tradition I mean your roots and the roots of civilization. I understand that not everyone has touch with their roots, or they have grown up in an urban environment where the tradition is to eat some fast food. What I mean by tradition is that for example here in Finland my parents and many older people pick up blueberries, lingonberries and mushrooms from the forests for example and store them for the winter. Or there are simple dietary preferences such as butter and rye bread that they prefer even though modern research attacks butter, butter is an example where you can do your own research. Put a slice of butter and vegetable oil based margarine outside for few days and see what happens, living things prefer butter because it is necessary for the brain and life, while they neglect vegetable oil based margarine because it does not provide much nutritional value or may even be harmful.
And based on these conclusions I decided to start eating meat again as I started to exercise more like hitting three times a week gym and two times a week running exercise. I have found that now I am in the best shape of my life. So each one of us has to make choices for ourselves.
Sources
[1] Vegetarianism by country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country
Well said.
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