The nutritional value of meat is scarce: about 70% of water, 10 to 12% of complex proteins (which are more difficult to digest and utilize than simpler vegetable proteins), 10% or more of saturated fats and cholesterol, no carbohydrates, no roughage, little minerals and vitamins but a lot of pesticides, insecticides, chemical residues, fertilizers, heavy metals and other pollutants which accumulate in the animals' body both from fodder and from environment, antibiotics and other drugs like tranquilizers, hormones and drugs used to whiten meat in veal and chicken -- thus causing anemia in animals, and also the natural toxins produced by any organism under stress conditions. The meat and blood of slaughtered animals also contain a certain percentage of endorphins produced by the animal's body at the time of death; endorphins are toxic substances comparable to drugs which are intended to stimulate the body's response to emergency situations and cause aggressiveness (adrenaline is the most famous), suffering, alienation, desperation and panic. These substances are absorbed by meat eaters and also condition his or her behaviour and feelings. Many will object that we need proteins anyway. So let's see how much proteins and what kind of proteins we can get from meat. Our body is not capable of utilizing complex proteins as they are, but needs to break them down in simple amino acids and then build again the proteins needed to form its tissues and other parts. During this process, toxins and other waste substances are released in the blood. All the essential amino acids contained in meat complex proteins are also available individually in milk products, soya beans, peanuts and even nettles, while a combination of other vegetal foods can easily provide the full range. Wheat, rice or other cereals cooked with all kinds of beans or nuts can perfectly supply all the essential amino acids required for human health, plus a variety of minerals and vitamins. Even on the percentage level, meat and other non vegetarian foods cannot measure up to vegetables: soya beans and other beans contain three times more proteins than meat, wheat contains as much as meat, and even potatoes and other vegetables contain a good amount. For a normal adult, 50 to 60 grams of proteins are sufficient in the daily diet: this amount can be easily provided by normal servings of nuts, beans, grains and leafy greens. Just 150 grams of soya beans are perfectly sufficient to cover the whole recommended daily need. But even if we liked non vegetarian proteins more than vegetarian ones, could we say that meat is a suitable food for human beings? Is meat a healthy food or not? We should compare the general health conditions and the life expectancy of traditionally vegetarian populations (like Hunzas in Kashmir) and the traditionally meat-eating populations (like Eskimos). A number of complete studies on the matter has been published, and the results are unmistakably favourable to the vegetarian diet. But why? Let's see how carnivorous animals are equipped, compared to human beings. 1) Human intestine is much longer (12 times the body length compared to 3 times the body length) than the carnivorous animals'. Grains, fruits and other plant parts do not decay as rapidly as meat and can pass more slowly through the body. A short intestine allows stool containing meat, fish or eggs residues to be quickly expelled before they putrefy and damage the intestine itself. This is why in meat-eating countries there are so many cases of intestine cancer, colitis, divert colitis and so on. Besides, meat (and other non vegetarian products) contain no roughage or food fibers, so they almost always cause constipation and connected problems. 2) The hydrochloric acid produced by human stomach is 20 times less than the amount produced by the stomach of carnivorous animals. This gastric acid is needed to dissolve meat fibers which are not broken down by chewing or saliva enzymes (carnivorous animals just tear the flesh of their pray and gulp it down without chewing). Human beings are not normally equipped to digest meat, since they need 20 times more acid than they would naturally produce; therefore meat-eaters tend to increase the acid contents of their stomach by drinking alcohol and consuming a lot of refined sugar. Gastric ulcers and bad digestion are also a consequence of these abnormal acid contents of the stomach. 3) There are also other anatomical characteristics which demonstrate that human beings are not carnivorous by nature: human beings sweat through millions of skin pores while carnivores sweat through their tongue (toxins do not enter the blood but are directly expelled through the digestive system), carnivores have very developed very sharp and pointed front teeth (some have very sharp and pointed teeth also in the back) and claws which are a natural weapon to kill their prey and tear its flesh, and no back flat molar teeth to grind seeds and grains (carnivores do not actually chew food: they just tear off bites and swallow them). Carnivores have also very small salivary glands and acid saliva while human beings have well-developed salivary glands, alkaline saliva and an important enzyme called ptyalin (absent in carnivores), necessary to predigest starches; carnivores do not need or can produce directly many vitamins which human beings need to assume through diet. Vitamin C assumed through food can kill a cat! Via : Parama Karuna Devi
