Do you think it's healthy to be a vegetarian? How natural do you think it is for humans to consume cow's milk and yogurt made from cow's milk? What about cheese, butter and eggs, how healthy do you think this is in the human diet? Do you think that nature intended mankind to drink cows milk? We are the only animals that consume milk after infancy.

Do you think a more natural diet for humans would be one that doesn't consist of any dairy produce at all, and is high on plant-based nutrition and has occasional pieces of meat and or fish in it?

I'm just interested in people's opinions. What -if any- are the health benefits of being a vegetarian? (By the way, my definition of a vegetarian is someone who doesn't eat any meat or fish but does eat dairy products.)

Humans were all meat eaters, only after thousands of years later they started agriculture. I would say one should have a balanced diet.

My wife is a vegetarian, but likes vegetarian satays (ughhh) , vegetarian turkey rashers (suppose to taste like beacon but is yyuckkkk,vegetarian sausages ----preposterous !!!!!!. So one likes the taste of meat but due to religious or other reasons have resorted to vegetarianism. The choice is yours.

Eating vegetarian/non-vegetarian/piscarian food is totally a personal choice, whatever your reason for it. As far as health is concerned, you can have a totally unhealthy vegetarian food and a very healthy non-vegetarian food.

Original hunter gatherers, our ancestors, were all meatarians, I have no doubt. Religiously speaking, Hindu religion forbids eating of animals. But if you look at the ancient epics like Ramayana there are several mentions of hunting by people, especially kings. Half the story of the great Ramayana is about Rama's wife Sita being abducted by the evil king Ravana of Lanka, while God Rama was out hunting for a deer. Now if they were vegetarians in those days, then why was Rama out hunting for a deer?

So, we can eat whatever we prefer, can eat healthily within whatever our choice is, and should accept other's reasons for their choice, whatever they are.

Cheers!

mamta

Having been one I think Vegetarianism is extremely health.

However what I think you refer to Veganism which I think is a very different kettle of fish (sorry not an appropriate analogy!) and you need to work hard at to get the right balance of nutrients in your diet.

Oh..sure in the ancient times when the civilization started man ate animals.. and what do u call them - savaged and uncivilised, so the same applies to whoever in this modern age kills and eats animals- savages and uncivilised in this educated world where man knows how to get and grow food, earn and what not...

so please stop eating animals...be kind to other animals as to not kill them to make your food.

Survival of the fittest, to eat or be eaten. That is how the human race survived or today this world would be ruled by apes, gorillas, lions etc.

If eating meat is savage and uncivilised then more than half of this earth is savage...not a pretty scenario is it?

I would define savage and uncivilised as those human who kill other human beings for their own benefit.

wasn't Hitler vegetarian?

I doubt that I will ever give up meat, but you need to eat it with the proper attitude and gratitude.

Correct, and moderation would be the key.

Good comments Jan & Rajneesh. Personally I would never dream of dictating to other people what they should or should not eat (except battery farmed eggs, chicken and non-sustainable fish.)

It means I need to pay over the odds for organic, free range meat so my carnivorism is just usually confined to the weekend. However it is a life style that suits me fine, with plenty of Mamta's veggie recipes to follow during the week. Following such a diet certainly means my blood pressure and cholesterol levels have proven to drop back to accepted levels.