Curious as to what others think. Is an all meat diet optimal for human health?

Yes, meat is all we need, the rarer the better

Yes, but it's too hard to do

No, vegetables are vital to good health

I don't know

Well, I meant for this to be a poll, that got screwed up.

I think this is a much discussed topic on this forum. However, I will add my opinion here. Humans are omnivores. This is evidenced by our teeth, gastrointestinal tract, and vitamin and mineral requirements for our body to function.

I believe people can "get by" with only meat, if and only if eaten raw, with a very large variance of types and all sorts of organ meats. I don't beleive its optimal by any means though and I personally certainly feel much better with vegetation.

I like it all! Meat, cheese, veggies.

i think no because personally id end up vomitting from an all meat diet and then probably be anorexic just because i couldnt eat anymore meat!

I would probably starve since my full mechanism kicks in after 5 ounces of meat. I don't think it is an optimal diet since we are omnivores and have the bounty of the earth to choose from. I couldn't imagine life not enjoying all the beautiful fruits and vegetables.

It's a question I've thought about a lot lately too, Daryl.

THE BEAR

Bo

I agree that we are omnivores but also that we take things too far with fruit and veggies. I don't eat fruit in winter at all, for example.

Well, many cultures in the Weston Price site, reflect the exquisite health on an extremely low carb diet. Their diets are better defined as ketogenic since they are mostlikely in ketosis all the time. Observe how the Native Americans thrived on a mostly meat diet.
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditi..._americans.html

Also read about Charles who does no carb. Charles is a moderator of Jimmy Moore's livin la vida low carb site.

http://www.livinlowcarbdiscussion.c...n=profile&uid=6

Oh, c'mon! Native Americans have been cultivating maize and beans for a couple of thousand years, making flour, baking bread. They are an odd example of a hunter/farmer. Even the article you linked to talked about it.

yes it is possible to survive on an all meat diet. I did it for awhile. I didn't lose any more weight though - in fact I put some on! I didn't notice any difference healthwise between say 20-30g of carb from vegetables and close to zero carbs from meat/vlc dairy, except at one point I did look a bit pale, but it passed.

Yes, the article does point to the use of vegetable products, that's not the point. My point wasn't about the vegetable or grain products that were mentioned which was very limited in their diet. The point was regarding the very high protein and fat in the diet. Pregnant women, notably were drawn to the fattier parts of meat namely the intestines. This article, in contrast, also mentions how the Natives who chewed on the sweet agave plant had bad teeth. IMHO, this points out the imporance of animal protein and fat in the primitive diet. Many diseases that were rare to the primitive diet became common when their diet became "modernized". Grains were consumed on special occasions not on a daily basis. Fruit, honey and syrup,were commonly used to season meat.

I also know that the early natives were able to go for several days without eating.I learned this in my college history class just before I began LC. I didn't think much of it at the time. The settlers viewed them as being lazy because they did not eat every day. Ketosis would have had to contributed to this ability which would be characteristic of this ability.

Here's more from the same site:

http://www.westonaprice.org/traditi..._of_africa.html

Optimal can encompass a lot of things outside of the purely physical.

Meat is all we need, and the medium rarer the better.
It is also too hard to do.
Veggies are not vital to good physical health.

I lose weight fastest eating only meat with seasonings. That's because I can't eat enough food if I eat only meat -- even choosing fatty meat the best I'm going to do is get in around 800 - 900 cals per day. If all I ever ate for the rest of my life is meat I'd be underweight, and I like meat.

I feel best eating a balance of meat, veggies, fruits and carbs. Oops, wasn't supposed to mention that last one. In maintenance over the first 7 years I ate around 60g carbs on average. In my last round of maintenance I ate 80 - 125g of carbs and was much happier and felt more energetic, with the majority coming from veggies and whole grains.

Actually, I think I am happiest and healthiest eating Zone, but not for weight loss.

I had mentioned Charles in an earlier post. He is a o carb marathon runner who just slammed the concept that runners need carbs to be competitive in a recent magazine article.

http://www.livinlowcarbdiscussion.c...thread-694.html

Make sure to read the link as well.

That's simply not true. The Southeastern Native Americans ate an 80% vegetable diet. Only in the far northern parts of North America do you find people subsisting on primarily protein.

The Five Civilized Tribes were firmly rooted in agriculture when we got here. Corn was a staple among the plains Indians and in the Southwest too. People like the Pueblo even grew cotton for clothes. Our native population were intelligent, resourceful and more sophisticated than most people imagine. They didn't waste animals. It was white settlers who drove the Buffalo to the verge of extinction. They also fished and ate a lot of freshwater shellfish. It was only in the learn months of early spring, when the corn and beans ran out, that they turned to mostly animals for subsistence.

A lot of the traditional Native cooking still persists in the South - grits and hominy are just two off the top of my head. Everyone eats popcorn (well, not us low-carbers).

It's hard to make a case for Native Americans being primarily carnivores. There is a plethora of documentation beginning with first contact that says otherwise.

I think ketogenic diets are great for weight loss, but not for life. You can eat low carb and still have fruits and vegetables - and even grains and legumes. That's the whole point of Atkins OWL. Dr. Atkins didn't expect - not did he wish - for people to remain on induction level carbs. I think he was a sensible man.