Why are SOME omnivores so rude?
I can identify with and interact successfully with vegetarians and vegans that are on this path for health reasons. I concur that a vegetarian diet is less calorie dense, so it is easier to lose weight by eating less calories by eating more veggies. Where it may be more challenging is when people are more religiously philosophical in their veganism, that great moral consequences are involved and those who eat meat are unforgivable sinners. What my Bible says about this: Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. 1 Corinthians 8:12-13 So for those I love who feel strongly about it, I may choose to eat as vegetarian when I am with them, but as I don't actually share the philosphy to this level, I suspect that could become an undue burden. In truth, I was a vegetarian before I got married, largely for health and budget reasons (10lb bag of potatoes can be cheaper than 1lb of meat), but now I cook and eat what my family will eat, and occasionally make vegetarian dishes that I might be the only one who will eat it, as part of my Weight Watchers diet plan (lots of veggies = zero points, eat as much as you like). I try to mostly maintain a balance where we use inexpensive meat in moderation, and lots of veggies to bulk it up and add texture and flavor, and mostly avoid bread, pasta and wheat products which is empty carbs and too much gluten, more suitable as cow food than people food.
Humans are the most versatile omnivores. We can eat just about anything.There are different kinds of omnivores. Bears are omnivores, because most eat lots of berries but also fish and other things. But they can't just eat berries. Bears were carnivores that adapted to eating lots of plant foods. Panda bears developed further into pure herbivores. Dogs likewise are carnivores that became omnivores, but like humans, they can eat a purely plant-based diet, which is why some vegans can have very healyhy vegan dogs.In contrast, humans are herbivores that became omnivores by adapting to eating some smaller animals. That's why we can easily eat just a plant-based diet. The only thing we need that's missing in plants is vitamin B12. However, this vitamin comes from bacteria, not animal flesh per se. Animals that humans eat get thier B12 from bacteria and it accumulates in their bodies.If we look at the other apes, we see something of our origins. Most apes like chimps, bonobos, and gorillas are omnivores but are mostly herbivores. For example, diet of chimps: approx. fruits/berries (50%), leaves (35%), and seeds (10%) - see http://www.raw-food-for-the-begi.... Only a remaining fraction is insects eaten intentionally or if they happen to be on fruit. Eating smaller animals is less common. Orangutangs eat over 90% fruit.
Can omnivores digest cellulose and if so how?
It depends on the species. Those which can digest cellulose use fermentation and have compartmentalised stomachs. A good example is the Brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula (because I like them). Their natural diet is mostly eucalyptus leaves, but they are highly adaptive so you'll find them thriving in parks and back yards of Australian cities and towns and there they'll eat just about anything. So brushies (as we aussies call them) have a stomach which is separated into two compartments. They use hindgut fermentation, whereby the bacteria which does the digesting is mainly active in the second part of the stomach. This is similar to ruminants which are more specialised and have the stomach in four compartments, using regurgitation to assist in digestion. However this is the cause for the large carbon footprint of using ruminants for meat as they expel methane in doing so. The marsupial system doesn't rely on regurgitation so no more methane is released in their digestive process than say ours. Foley and Hume, Digestion and metabolism of high-tanninEucalyptus foliage by the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) (Marsupialia: Phalangeridae). Journal of Comparative Physiology B: Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology Volume 157, Number 1, 67-76. http://www.springerlink.com/content/q3n3... PS try the biology or zoology categories for this type of question ;)
Stupid things omnivores say?
Before I was a vegetarian, a boyfriend said to me, "If you stop eating meat, I will break up with you." (And I became one anyway... and broke up with him.) I also had a different date adamantly tell me (before he knew my food preferences) that female vegetarians hate giving oral sex because it's like eating sausage. Needless to say, I did not hook up with him.
Why do some people still think dogs are omnivores?
Dogs will eat a variety of foods, but they just don't stop meat, when they are sick or are severely lacking in minerals or vitimins they will eat fish, vegetables and plants on their own, however feeding "fresh fruits and vegetables" in their dry dog food sounds so much better than 'we feed corn, filler,,peanut by product, wheat chef, pewpa middlings snd bean husks'. Who would buy a dog food that was made of garbage, but dogs do need roughage, they don't get the bones, cartilage and marrow from the animals that were processed for food except ehst they grind and powder, once its ground, dried and reconstituted it isn't really roughage but more on the filler. People get more and, more stupid because of the Internet and the tv. Why challenge and question what's in front of you? If they say it's good for,you then do it. I'd a little is good a lots better. Why is ther so much drug addiction, alcoholism and domestic violence out there since it's on tv about joe bed it is.... people don't care. After all it would never happen to then. Look at the great dog food.... I don't remember the name of it but I remember the last words of the commercial... "your dog will never eat anything else". It's a food that makes its own gravy, has little to no meat in it, it'd all by product and as little as $5.00 for a 50 pound bag. Basically starvation in a big but it's still on the market and just about every dollar and discount store carry it. Should have been banned years ago but people like to be cheep.... imagine a German shepherd eating 12 cups of this food a day and loosing weight? But it advertises a hindered percent pure meat..... look up the dictionary ehst meat can mean.....
Is there any intelligent omnivore?
You know, maybe I'm just incredibly selfish that way, but I think that taking pleasure in my life is an intelligent action. That also applies to taking pleasure in my food. Raw or just slightly seared meat can be QUITE tasty on it's own, thank you very much. I'm thinking a very rare steak here, or sushi. I am of the opinion that tuna is best when it is raw, and you can keep the rice. Nobody said that by eating meat we're claiming veggies aren't a part of our lives, most of us, you will find if you stop preaching long enough, are true OMNIVORES. Most of us even eat much more vegetable matter than meat. And, doctors have found that high blood cholesterol levels are not from ingesting large amounts of dietary cholesterol, but large amounts of saturated fat. That stuff is found in purely vegan foods like coconut oil and other oils, and in animal products that aren't meat (it's perfectly possible to have an omnivorous diet low in saturated fats). As for our teeth, no one said they were "just" for meat. But some of them are. It's stupid to compare our teeth to carnivores, because we're not carnivores, we're omnivores. We have teeth that are suited to eating animals AND plants. I think you'll find that you very well can bite through animal skin. Starving people have been known to eat leather, and the skin of some animals, like fish, is quite thin. Chicken and other poultry is often served skin-on, and the skin is consumed. Burned meat argument: I won't eat it either. Here in France if you order a steak well-done, when they bring it they will say, "Voila, here is your burnt shoe." Many humans have a strong, primal appreciation and attraction for raw or just slightly cooked meat. Salmonella poisoning, you'll be happy to know, most often occurs from eating vegetables that have been in contact with contaminated water.
No we are conscious as omnivores that we fuel ourselves with both plants and animals that once lived and their components will live again through us. Apparently this has been going on quite a while because even self professed “vegetarians” often don’t realize that they possess the dental structure and digestive tract of an organism that is MADE to eat both plants and animals. They might also not know even though the think they are strict vegetarians, they eat a lot of species of organisms in the animal kingdom that live within the plants they eat. If you don’t believe me, then just research how many nematodes can be found living within on piece of lettuce.