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It’s a touchy subject for some but also a subject, we’re all a little guilty of not really knowing the facts. Vegetarianism is based on the idea of not eating meat at all, although some vegetarians include dairy, eggs, fish or even poultry. Whereas an omnivore will include both plant materials and a…

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You can get many of the health benefits from becoming a vegetarian without going all the way. You can steer your diet in that direction with a few simple substitutions.…

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SEVERAL VIDEOS for Pro omnivore

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omnivores | Health Topics | NutritionFacts.org

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Omnivores eat both plant and animal foods. Omnivores may have higher rates of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease than vegans and vegetarians. An omnivorous diet also appears to increase the risk of abdominal fat, higher BMI, obesity, unhealthy stools, and accelerated aging.

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Vegan vs Meat-eaters

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If you've decided to go vegan because you think it's better for the planet, that might be true-but only to an extent.

A group of researchers has published a study in the journal Elementa in which they describe various biophysical simulation models that compare 10 eating patterns: the vegan diet, two vegetarian diets (one that includes dairy, the other dairy and eggs), four omnivorous diets (with varying degrees of vegetarian influence), one low in fats and sugars, and one similar to modern American dietary patterns.

What they found was that the carrying capacity-the size of the population that can be supported indefinitely by the resources of an ecosystem-of the vegan diet is actually less substantial than two of the vegetarian diets and two out of the four omnivorous diets they studied.

Here's Chase Purdy, putting it more simply for Quartz:

When applied to an entire global population, the vegan diet wastes available land that could otherwise feed more people. That's because we use different kinds of land to produce different types of food, and not all diets exploit these land types equally.

Grazing land is often unsuitable for growing crops, but great for feeding food animals such as cattle.

Perennial cropland supports crops that are alive year-round and are harvested multiple times before dying, including a lot of the grain and hay used to feed livestock.

Cultivated cropland is where you typically find vegetables, fruits and nuts.

The five diets that contained the most meat used all available crop and animal grazing land. The five diets using the least amount of meat-or none at all-varied in land use. But the vegan diet stood out because it was the only diet that used no perennial cropland at all, and, as a result, would waste the chance to produce a lot of food.

One downside of non-perennial crops is that when springtime rolls around, the frozen soil's stored nutrients usually drain into rivers and streams before farmers have a chance to plant the next season's crops. Here's Brooke Borel, reporting for NOVA Next in 2014:

Perennial crops, on the other hand, could survive for many seasons, axing the annual cycle and lessening farming's wear-and-tear on the environment. Some varieties could also have longer, lusher root systems that would sink deeper into the ground, helping maintain soil health and curbing erosion. They could even help the plants survive a drought.

Such a system would allow for longer growing seasons, too, taking advantage of the late autumn and early spring months when fields usually lay bare. Assuming that perennial crops produced the same amount as their annual counterparts-a big assumption-this would provide additional food each year from the same plot of land. A shift from annuals to perennials, or a mixture of both, could benefit both the environment and food security.

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If modern agriculture in the U.S. were adjusted to the vegan diet, according to the study in Elementa , we'd be able to feed 735 million people-and that's from a purely land-use perspective. Compare that to the dairy-friendly vegetarian diet, which could feed 807 million people. Even partially omnivorous diets rank above veganism in terms of sustainability; incorporating about 20 to 40% meat in your diet is actually better for the long-term course of humanity than being completely meat-free.

Of course, some environmental ethicists would argue that this is an overly utilitarian, anthropocentric view of how a person should live. What the study doesn't take into account is the moral question of whether or not we should be raising livestock for our benefit at all. So while the jury's out on whether veganism is a good way to sustain the future of humanity, it's certainly a viable life choice for people who are vegan for other reasons, including dietary or ethical concerns.

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Going Vegan Isn't the Most Sustainable Option for Humanity

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If you've decided to go vegan because you think it's better for the planet, that might be true-but only to an extent.

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If you are a foodie, then you might have been concerned about the debates on meat consumption. While no expert can say that a person should eat as much meat as he likes or that no one should eat meat, there certainly has been some commotion on this subject matter. To build an opinion ourselves, it is best to know its pros and cons first.

List of Pros of Eating Meat

1. It provides high-quality protein.
Eating meat will provide our bodies with long strings of amino acids, which we cannot produce naturally or get from other types of food. Not surprisingly, consumption of animal protein is linked to increased muscle mass. Aside from this, research shows that it is associated with increased bone density in older people, helping them lower risk of getting fractures. So, if you want to gain or maintain muscle mass and prevent bone fractures and osteoporosis, then eating meat is surely beneficial.

2. It does not necessarily raise the risk of having cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
While there are claims about meat contributing to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, for the reason that it has high contents of saturated fat, these claims have actually been debunked quite thoroughly in recent years, where studies have shown such saturated fat is not linked to heart disease. In a Harvard study of more than a million subjects, there has been found to be no association between unprocessed meat and these illnesses, though it found a significantly increased risk for processed meat.

3. It allows us to function at best.
Humans have been eating meat since the olden days, with a digestive system that is well-equipped to process fats, proteins and nutrients that are found in meat. Truth is, humans are omnivores that function best from eating both animals and plants, but meat has been one of the main reasons of our evolution to become the dominant species.

List of Cons of Eating Meat

1. It risks consuming harmful hormones.
According to research, hormones that are added to red meat have been found to increase the risk of developing breast cancer. Researchers found out that these hormones or hormone-like compounds have increased cancer risk by attaching themselves to certain hormone receptors on tumors.

2. It can cause weight gain.
Red meat is known to have high calorie contents, which means that you will gain some weight from eating meat, especially when you are sedentary because the stored energy that is unspent can make you fat. Now, this can mean that you will be at risk of getting cardiovascular disease.

3. It contributes to the decrease in life expectancy.
Considering the cons of eating meat, it can decrease your life expectancy. In fact, the leading cause of death of many people in the world has been found to be a diet that is rich in calories, saturated and trans fat, high bad cholesterol levels, which can be developed by eating meat.

With these pros and cons of eating meat, do you think that it would be good for you, or not?

About the Author
Brandon Miller has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a seasoned writer who has written over one hundred articles, which have been read by over 500,000 people. If you have any comments or concerns about this blog post, then please contact the Green Garage team here.

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If you are a foodie, then you might have been concerned about the debates on meat consumption. While no expert can say that a person should eat as much meat as he likes or that no one should eat meat, there certainly has been some commotion on this subject matter.

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Video

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VEGANS vs MEAT EATERS - Who Will Live Longer? Food / Diet Comparison