Humans Are Mostly Herbivorous

In developed countries, meat eating has become a regular part of the human diet because of factory farming and the ability to create meat more efficiently and profitably than before. This fad has lead to the assumption that humans are omnivores, capable of eating meat and plant food regularly. Consumption of meat products this often leads to poor health and increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, cancers and osteoporosis. This is simply because humans do not have a digestive system capable of consuming meat as often as most people in developed countries do. A human should eat at least close to 100% of their diet as plant, unless for survival.

Humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans are all part of the great ape family. The digestive system of these other primates are very similar to those of humans, so the diets of each should be similar. It is often believed that chimpanzees are omnivores because there is a video of a chimpanzee killing a monkey, but in fact, meat is only a small part of their diet. Gorillas are 100% herbivores and orangutans eat mostly fruit, with some insects. Since humans have the same digestive capabilities of these apes, and are in the same family as them, our diets should not change much. This is where the mostly herbivorous part comes in, while it is clear there is some meat eating going on, it is very small and not a necessary part of the diet.

If you measure the length of a humans body, from mouth to anus, then compare that to the length of the small intestines, the result should be that the intestines are 10x the length of the body. This is very similar to other apes, and our intestines are the right length to absorb the nutrients from plants particularly fruit. The intestine length of omnivores is shorter, about 4-6x the length of the body so that decomposing meat can exit the system quickly.

Some herbivores have much longer intestines than humans. These are herbivores that have digestive systems designed for consumption of grass or other plants that require a long time for the absorption of nutrients. The plants humans eat do not require extremely long intestines, but they are long enough to support a herbivorous diet.

The teeth of an omnivore are sharp, with some flat teeth for chewing. Humans lack the sharp teeth, and only have the flat teeth for chewing. Our incisors are well developed and capable of easily biting fruit but are not designed to be used to eat meat naturally. The cuspids are blunt and short compared to the longer and sharper cuspids of an omnivore. Our nails could not possibly help us catch an animal while omnivores tend to have claws to use as a weapon. Finger nails are much better at opening the skin of a fruit than the hide of an animal.

Omnivores and carnivores are much quicker than herbivores to allow them to catch their food. Most of their body temperature regulation relies on panting instead of sweating. Humans do not pant but instead rely on sweating to keep cool which means humans can run a long distance without overheating. Omnivores do not do this and cannot run so far without having to stop and rest until their body cools down. Herbivores must travel longer distances to find all the plants they need to eat which is done during the day, so sweating allows them to do this. They do not need to run quickly because the plants are not running away. Humans are slow, but can move long distances which supports a herbivorous diet.

It makes sense to eat what your digestive system is capable of. A healthy diet for a human should be largely fruit with other plants and very little or no meat. If humans were omnivores like people assume, a vegetarian or vegan diet would have no health benefits, and other great apes would eat more meat than they do. There is nothing found in meat that cannot be found in sufficient quantity in plant food.