Vegan Food & Living - October 2017

92 VEGAN FOOD & LIVING SEPTEMBER

S

ome time ago I watched a programme about the

diff erent types of diets people follow. There was a

banker who saw himself as a modern day hunter-

gatherer in the city. He explained how he followed a Paleo

diet, while some fatty slices of bacon sizzled away in a

saucepan behind him.

But would he be willing or able to snatch up a rabbit and

tear at the raw fl esh with his nails and teeth? This is what true

carnivores do. The idea that we are ‘designed’ to eat meat is

fundamentally fl awed on many levels and the theory behind

the Paleo diet is wrong.

We’ve all heard the saying “we are designed to eat meat”.

Someone even said to me “that’s what my canines are for!” –

they were seriously comparing their little teeth with a lion’s

giant canines that can reach up to a deadly seven centimetres

in length!

Herbivore, carnivore or omnivore?

We are very diff erent to carnivores such as cats, dogs and

wolves. They have strong jaws that can only open and shut.

Their teeth and claws are sharp in order to tear off chunks of

raw meat and ‘wolf’ them down. Their acidic stomachs help

them to quickly digest fl esh and their short intestines allow

the rapid expulsion of rotting meat remains. On the other

hand, herbivores, such as rabbits, horses and sheep, chew

from side-to-side, their saliva contains digestive enzymes and

they have longer intestines to absorb nutrients.

When asked if humans are herbivores, carnivores, or

omnivores, Dr William C. Roberts, Editor-in-Chief, of The

American Journal of Cardiology said: “Although most of us

conduct our lives as omnivores, in that we eat fl esh as well as

vegetables and fruits, human beings have characteristics of

herbivores, not carnivores”.

Researchers from Harvard University say that during

human evolution, meat may have contributed to dietary

quality but meat-eating alone could not have supported

the evolution of human traits, because modern humans

fare poorly on diets that include raw meat. Some say it was

cooking food that substantially improved the quality of

Justine Butler,

Senior Health

Researcher at

Viva!, examines the claims

for the Paleo diet

diet

Justine Butler,

Beyond the

Paleolit hic

VFL17.PaleoEvolution.indd 92 07/09/2017 12:05