So OK, I'm new here, but old in real life! I couldn't see a thread to start posting to as they all seemed to be involved already, and my comments stand alone, rather than part of an ongoing argument.
I noticed somewhere here an inference that meat was all early hominids ate, not true, they were hunter-gatherers, the second bit gives a clue, they gathered. Most of our evolution we have been hunter-gatherers, and ample evidence exists that our ancestors ate a widely varied diet, just as our nearest relatives in the wild do still [chimps]. Our digestive system is capable of digesting this range, unlike true carnivores like felines, the only real meat eaters. Canines, on the other hand, are omnivores like primates [us] and will vary their diet to include fruit and vegetables.
When I heard about the Atkins Diet years ago, I thought Atkins was either a deluded idiot or hated people and wanted to get the more intellectually challenged to damage themselves. Of course you lose weight if you stop eating carbohydrates, that isn't because it's carbohydrates that make you fat [simplistic assumption from the challenged] but if the energy food is removed from the diet, the body starts to utilise its energy stores in order to function, yep, that's the fat! Surprise surprise. It therefore works for a short while, but will eventually make you ill. Didn't Atkins die of bowel cancer?
It is actually perfectly possible to live a healthy life without eating meat, vegans are generally very fit people, and surprisingly, you don't see a fat one.
Our digestive system is basically vegetarian as any biologist will tell you. Meat is a short cut to protein, but it is the most inefficient way of producing protein which is why rich countries like America eat so much of it. Which is why so many Americans are clinically obese. But eating meat isn't the whole story, it's quantity that matters, YOU ALL EAT TOO MUCH. That and an inactive lifestyle. The secret of losing weight is to eat less and exercise more, quite simple really.
But this site isn't really about facts, or science. It's clearly a religion. You have all the signs of a cult. Including the fact that anyone questioning your faith is placed in the 'war zone' where those who want clarity in their little minds don't have to be challenged to think. They can safely be reassured by fellow believers, all chanting from the same hymn sheet. All self satisfied in their conviction that they are right.
In the UK, Atkins has been largely abandoned since its momentary popularity with a few dieters, and is now discredited, even ridiculed, although there are almost certainly a few derabged souls still clinging to it. I was therefore astonished to find this community [of the rich and fat] still going strong. Still obsessed with themselves and their bodies, still unwilling to accept that their rich overconsumtion is what has caused their obesity, and what is needed is self discipline.
Carbohydrates are nature's energy food. Many human populations exist almost entirely on carbohydrate with a little of other foodstuffs. They are healthy, active, and rarely if ever fat. They don't have the luxury anyway of diet clubs and website support groups, they just get on with their natural lives. America is eating itself to oblivion, closely followed by the other rich nations such as Australia. Virtually all your health problems are diet and lifestyle related, and usually solved by major surgery or deluging with noxious chemicals.
I eat lots of carbohydrates, am fit and healthy, have never had a major disease nor been in hospital, and lead an active life with dogs. I look at lkeast ten years younger than others my age, especially those who eat a lot of meat.
I think you're all mad.