Dogs are meat-eaters!

Humans are not – never have been!

On Monday when Jeannie and I went to our regular session at Club Northwest, Jean to her Rock Steady class, and me to spend 45 minutes with Austin Raymond, one of the fitness coaches, he and I were speaking of health in general and veganism in particular. Austin, Jean and I are vegans.

Austin mentioned had we watched the film The Game Changers on Netflix? I replied that we had not but we were subscribers to Netflix and would watch it in the evening.

Well what an incredible film! I mean really incredible!

P.S. If you are a Netflix subscriber then you may watch it without any fuss.

(So I taken time out from book writing to publish this post; I’m over 9,000 words already written in November!)

Here’s a YouTube trailer to the film:

Have you ever seen an ox eating meat!

But apart from the solid science that we never were meat-eaters were the facts about illness being so much prevalent in those eating meat compared to vegans. That was just one aspect of the film that grabbed our attention! There were many more.

Back to fundamentals!

Let’s examine one fact, the jaw shape.

Here’s the jaw of a dog.

Dog skull and jaw isolated on white

and here’s another:

That is a mouth that has evolved to tear meat from an animal.

And here’s the jaw of a human:

and the picture of the whole skull.

Notice that the teeth have always been adapted to eat fruit and vegetables.

And that’s before we think how much land has been converted from natural land and forest to grazing land for cattle and sheep!

Now I don’t know how long the full documentary will remain for free on YouTube but here it is:

It is an hour and twenty-five minutes long.

But PLEASE watch it! It’s very important.

And I would be very interested in your thoughts!

In my opinion this is as important as it gets.

Thank you, Austin!

41 thoughts on “Dogs are meat-eaters!”

  1. Agreed, but it is held that eating cooked meat (which makes available a colossal amount of protein without the need for a larger stomach) enabled the growth of the human frontal lobe, which made us “human.”

    Today, we don’t need it as the protein can be acquired through non-meat products.

    Like

    Reply

  2. I haven’t seen the game changers yet (and the full film link doesn’t work here in the UK) but I have been aware of the movie for some time as I follow plantbasednews.com and their YouTube channel for all latest news on plant based eating.

    I have to disagree with the notion that meat eating gave us bigger brains. The latest theory from archaeological evidence, is that it was actually the ‘cooking of food’ that opened up a more nutrient available diet with less expense of energy to digest and utilise the nutrient content. This goes hand in hand with man’s discovery of ‘fire’ and a famine period when man scavenged the kills of roaming carnivores to survive. This notion of meat giving us a superior brain is largely a myth that has come down through the ages. No one talks about cannablism any longer, but it is not so long past that tribal humans ate the corpses of their enemies in the belief that it made them stronger. In fact it made them sick and opened them up to a lot of diseases that are rarely found today.

    People don’t change their minds very quickly these days, so while the movement to Veganism is strong (I am five years, going into my sixth now), there will be a percentage of the population who will strongly resist and refuse to see the ‘new evidence’ that plant based eating is better for us in the long term.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hi Colette, you made me think there. I’ve always thought that it was the cooking of ‘meat,’ not ‘food’ in general, that enabled that last great evolutionary growth. I know it makes available many more proteins/calories in meats, but never really made the connection for plant-based foods, too. Going to adjust my thinking from this point on. Thanks for the nudge.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. There are lots of theories these days John. We have only recently discovered Neanderthal genes in our own unique Homosapiens genome. Another theory for naked bodies, long growth of hair on the head and bipedalism, is that somewhere in the missing links on the Great Ape ‘tree’ an ancient ancestor began fishing in the shallow ocean edges (again, probably due to a lack of food elsewhere). Body hair slowed them down, but long head hair was required for protection from strong sunlight, and standing on two legs in the water, gave them an advantage to see potential prey swimming below them.

        Homo Sapiens are extremely adaptable on diet with an ability to tolerate potentially harmful eating practices. Our digestive tract is not short like a carnivore, nor do we have many Chambers to digest rough grasses like cud chewing cattle, but we can tolerate very small amounts of both. In between that are the fruits, nuts vegetables and some grains, which we are more suited to digesting, probably in that order. 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Don’t have Netflix, but i’ll find the film somewhere. It’s interesting, I never had connected cooking plants bringing about the same effect as meat.

        Like

      4. Nor did we, John. Despite being vegan, and that came about because Jeannie was vegetarian long before we meet in 2007. I slipped in to become vegetarian when we started to live together in 2008 and then it was a small step to going vegan.

        Liked by 1 person

    3. I watched the documentary Paul. Fantastic! Mind you, there have been one or two documentaries showing great results for people going on a Paleo diet. So it’s understandable that many people are confused. I assume that the firefighters also reduced their consumption of sugar and processed food as well as eliminating all animal based food for the week they trialled it. It must have been very encouraging for them to see the beneficial changes after such a short time. It was also amazing to see those top performing vegan athletes and the world’s top weight lifter.
      It makes sense that eating high amounts of saturated fats would impact the circulatory system negatively. But for climate change and animal welfare reasons alone, humanity needs to drastically reduce its consumption of meat and other animal based products. One thing ALL the various diet groups advocate is the importance of eating a lot of vegetables.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. I would like to point to the work of several doctors who have (for years) pointed to the evidence that we do much better on a plant based diet. Many of these doctors have written books, but they also have treated many patients with plant based diet to bring them out of chronic disease states.

    Dr Colin T. Campbell – Author of the “China Study’

    Dr Caldwell Esselstyn – ‘Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease”

    Dr John A Mcdougall – ‘ The Starch Solution’

    Kim A Williams, Cardiologist. His famous quote is “There are two kinds of cardiologists: vegans, and those who haven’t read the data.”

    Dr Joel Furman, MD – has written several books including ‘The End of Diabetes”

    Dr Dean Ornish – Also has several books incl’ Eat More, Weigh Less ‘

    Dr Neil Barnard – Several books incl ‘Power Foods for the Brain.’

    Dr Brook Goldner – self cured autoimmune disease and author of the book ‘Goodbye Lupus’

    Dr Michael Klaper – ‘Vegan Nutrition’

    Dr Joel Kahn, Cardiologist – ‘The Heart Solution’

    Pamela A Popper PhD – ‘Food over Medicine’ and ‘Solving America’s Health Care Crisis”

    Dr Garth Davis -‘ Proteinaholic’

    Chiropractor Alan Goldhamer – ‘The Pleasure Trap’

    Dr Robert Ostfeld, Cardiologist

    Dr Ellesworth Wareham, retired Cardiologist.

    and my Personal Favourite (because he has a website with loads of free information on the latest nutritional studies)

    Dr Michael Greger – ‘How Not to Die’ and the soon to be released ‘How Not to Diet’

    All of these people have been drivers of good health, fighting the corporate stance and even the American Medical establishment in some cases. They defend their position with impeccable integrity against some of the most scurrilous detractors. I have to say from personal experience, if you want to get better from any condition that is taking your health down the rabbit hole of deterioration and constantly increasing drugs, find yourself a plant based MD and change your life for the better.

    Like

    Reply

      2. Well trust me that your knowledge is way ahead of most! I am going to go across to that plant based news website in the next few minutes.

        Like

    3. Hi Colette, thanks for this list. Yes, despite all the paleo ‘experts’ , I think that the bulk of evidence is in favour of the plant based diet. I know that it restored the health of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. It was also very interesting to see (in the documentary) that Arnold Shwarzneger (?) has now adopted a plant based diet. I have recently become familiar with (the rather delightful) Dr Michael Greger and his wonderful website that you mentioned. I must buy his book. Another long time vegan advocate that I’ve listened to for quite some time is Dr Gary Null of the Progressive Radio Network. He is a doctor (PHd) of natural therapies and nutrition. He has a daily program, and is also an expert grower of organic vegetables and fruit. He has saved the lives of many people suffering from very serious illnesses over the years. Isn’t it amazing how little the average GP knows about nutrition?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I shall look for Dr Gary Null. Thanks for that tip Marg. Yes, lots of celebs and athletes have turned to plant based diets. The list keeps growing.
        Medical doctors in general, have a lot of catching up to do on dietary forms of healing. Nutrition is barely covered in Medical school, so the newly qualified really have to have an interest in the subject to research it themselves. For those that do, I think it is a major re-education. My own MD (General practioner or GP in UK) is a nice guy, but he struggles to keep up with new medical news. There are many times that he has learned something new from me… Which is really a bit worrying. However, I do commiserate with his predicament… Learning your trade is a 24 hour job and doctors can be under a lot of time pressures, especially when they practice in more than one location.

        Like

      3. The first part of Gary Null’s show is usually about health and healing. And then he deals with news topics and social, political and environmental issues. He has archive programs going back many years. He is a strong believer in the body’s ability to fight all kinds of disease given a vegan diet with optimum nutrition. (He is not a fan of vaccination). An author of numerous books and documentaries, he is based in New York. You will also find that he has many appearances on YouTube. Over the years he has stirred the pot in many ways and gained enemies by criticising aspects of mainstream medicine, especially the failure of many doctors to stress the importance of a nutritional approach to healing. Re veganism, I guess you could say he was years ahead of his time, but as a PHD in nutrition and not an MD, my opinion is that he has been judged harshly by his medical ‘superiors’, as “too alternative”. Judge for yourself.
        http://prn.fm/category/archives/gary-null-show/
        http://prn.fm/who-is-gary-null/

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I haven’t seen this movie Paul, but I do agree, that we need to think much more, before we just eat.
    Another thing as I really don’t understand is, that some vegan’s feed their dogs and cats with vegan food. In my terms, this is very wrong, as the dogs and cats are pure carnivores and have troubles to live without for a whole lifetime for them.
    I do eat much vegetarian, but not completely, as my doctors ordered me not to do, because I have allergy to soy and then it becomes more difficult to get all needed. I would never demand my animals to eat vegan.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. The doctors told me so, when I was in hospital two years ago. I do know, that it should be possible, but difficult to secure to get all the important stuff.

        Like

    2. Irene, if Calcium intake is your issue, check this out…
      https://begoodorganics.com/top-75-sources-of-plant-based-calcium/

      And if you are looking for other protein sources…

      Cooked lentils contain 8.84 g of protein per ½ cup.

      Cooked chickpeas are high in protein, containing around 7.25 g per ½ cup.

      Peanuts are protein-rich, full of healthful fats, and may improve heart health. They contain around 20.5 g of protein per ½ cup.

      Almonds offer 16.5 g of protein per ½ cup.

      Spirulina is blue or green algae that contain around 8 g of protein per 2 tablespoons

      Cooked quinoa contains 8 g of protein per cup.

      Mycoprotein is a fungus-based protein.
      Mycoprotein products contain around 13 g of protein per ½ cup serving. (This is the stuff that is in Quorn products).

      And lots of vegetable sources (broccoli, Kale, Mushrooms,), beans and nuts have at least a couple of grams of protein per serving.

      If you are NOT gluten intolerant,
      seitan becomes a complete protein source offering 21 g per 1/3 cup.

      A large baked potato offers 8 g of protein

      You only need 0.8g protein per kilogram of body weight per day, so it is pretty easy to get enough just by eating lots of things… And most of these double up on a load of other nutrients too!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. Thank you very much for your answer.
        No, it isn’t calcium as a problem, as I don’t eat vegan. I do eat cheese and yogurt.
        They said something about the proteins and what else the meat contains.
        When I went into hospital about two years ago, just before I went to coma, they checked everything in my body and I was low in everything, much too low. My organs were close to stop function.
        I lived purely vegetarian then. When I woke up from coma, they gave me some yogurt, which I asked to; Is this soy? I’m allergic to soy. Then they ran to find a solution. No one read my papers about allergy before giving this to me.
        After that time I do eat some fish and white meat, just not much.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. You must do what is best for you Irene. We are all different. Vegans do have to eat different sources of plant protein to get a full complement of the amino acid building blocks. Animal sources, generally have already consumed those amino acids in some form or other and they are contained in their muscles, whether they be land or water based.

        For anyone going on a long term plant based diet, always inform your family doctor. Mine is no expert (rather poor on nutrition advice) but he monitors my iron, B12, Calcium, etc., for me.. through an annual blood test. It tells me how I am doing and gives me cues as to where I need to change my intake.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. It sounds like a good idea to use your family doctor in this way.
        When I went to hospital, I got an serious illness, as I’m still in treatment for, as that became chronic. I do have some respect for not listening, as they saved my life back then.
        The medications, as I get now are very strong and break down my immunity system. I will be off this medications in December and then I will build up the immunity system and start all over again.
        You are right, it was something with the amino acids, they talked about, was so important to get enough of.
        Thank you again.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Indeed. But I would also suggest it can be important for meat eaters too. My husband is omnivore but tends to eat cheap meat which likely comes from a factory farm source. These animals have Vit B12 injected, or put into their feed as they no longer graze on real soil full of microbes where B12 (a microorganism) live. My husband was told last year, on a health check, that his B12 and foliate was very, very low.
      These two nutrients are vital for brain function and peripheral nerve function. Everyone should think a bit about supplementation if their consumption is questionable.
      When we used to take root vegetables straight from organic soil and get a little of that residual soil in our food consumption, our B12 levels were fine (even if meat wasn’t on our plate). But today, soils are rather lifeless, tilled and beferft of a microbiome, food only grows with chemical fertilisers. We really do have to return to no till, organic farming if nutrition is to be optimal.

      Like

      Reply

  6. Hi Paul, A bit off the track from the featured topic. I followed your link above to the Club Northwest fitness facility that you and Jeannie attend. It looks wonderful with a great variety of classes. I read about Jeannie’s Rock Steady class for Parkinson’s Disease. Interesting. I’ve been on a very fast learning curve about PD as my husband Frank, aged 66, has just been diagnosed with it. He’s commenced taking the dopamine medication. Next week he will commence sessions with a specialist physiotherapist. His PD specialist also told us how red, infralight therapy seems to be helping a lot of patients and we will shortly be purchasing a device. Also, I have just downloaded Dr Norman Doidge’s second book, “The Brain’s Way of Healing”, for us both to read. I understand he has a couple of chapters relating to Parkinson’s disease and also to light therapy.
    Maybe I should also put my husband on a vegan diet as well because he really needs to lose some weight and feel less fatigued. 😁

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Oh, well done, Margaret. What a world we have now in terms of sharing stuff. Now, for sure, your husband, Frank, has to lose weight. Maybe seeing a doctor first of all to make that diabetes isn’t a risk. But exercise and diet are key and a vegan diet has a good chance of slowing things down in terms of his PD. Jean, who was roughly the same age as Frank when she was first diagnosed with PD, is very upbeat about things. Yes, she has her off days but they are few and far. Diet and exercise!!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. The ultimate trouble with this topic – there’s just so much conflicting information! A one-minute Google search yielded “Sorry Vegans: Here’s How Meat-Eating Made Us Human” (https://time.com/4252373/meat-eating-veganism-evolution/) and “Game Changers’ review: What’s the beef?” (https://mg.co.za/article/2019-10-31-00-game-changers-review-whats-the-beef), so I’m afraid I remain firmly in the “moderation in everything camp”. I remain uncomfortable about any diet that removes all animal products or all grains, for example. There’s no doubt that eating lots of plant-based foods is not only good for us, but essential for good health, but I’m happy to include eggs, milk, cheese, chicken, fish and small amounts of good quality red meat in my diet. If only we could direct more effort at getting alcohol and cigarettes (not to mention excess sugar and processed foods) out of peoples’ diets – imagine the saving in health care alone!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Welcome Amanda and very good to receive your thoughts. We hope to see you again soon. Haven’t we met before?

      Now I haven’t seen those other items but all I would say is that the article I published was backed up by solid science. Plus, in terms of our evolution our jaws are most definitely designed for eating vegetables, fruit and nuts. But, in the end, one makes one’s own mind up!

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.