Are we carnivores or herbivores-by Nature

Although some historians and anthropologists say that man is historically omnivores, our anatomical equipment ­ teeth, jaws, and digestive system ­ favors a fleshless diet. The American Dietetic Association notes that “most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets.”

And much of the world still lives that way. Even on most industrialized countries, the love affair with meat is less than a hundred years old. It started with the refrigerator car and the twentieth-century consumer society. But even with the twentieth century, man’s body hasn’t adapted to eating meat. The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, “Man’s structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food.”

Comparison between carnivores, herbivores and humans

When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.

• Meat-eaters: have claws
  Herbivores: no claws
  Humans: no claws

• Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
  Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
  Humans: perspire through skin pores

• Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
  Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
  Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding

• Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
  Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
  Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.

• Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
  Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
  Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater

• Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
  Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
  Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits

• Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
  Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
  Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains

Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)

Clearly if humans were meant to eat meat we wouldn’t have so many crucial ingestive/digestive similarities with animals that are herbivores.

Why do people eat meat?

Many people ask me, “If we weren’t supposed to eat meat than why do we?”. It is because we are conditioned to eat meat. Also, the ADA (American Dietetic Association) tells us that “most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a vegetarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.

A popular statement that meat eaters say is; “In the wild, animals kill other animals for food. It’s nature.” First of all, we are not in the wild. Secondly, we can easily live without eating meat and killing, not to mention we’d be healthier. And finally, as I have already shown, we weren’t meant to eat meat. Meat and seafood putrefies within 4 hours after consumption and the remnants cling to the walls of the stomach and intestines for 3-4 days or longer than if a person is constipated. Furthermore, the reaction of saliva in humans is more alkaline, whereas in the case of flesh-eating or preying animals, it is clearly acidic. The alkaline saliva does not act properly on meat.

The final point I would like to make on how we as humans were not meant to eat meat is this. All omnivorous and carnivorous animals eat their meat raw. When a lion kills an herbivore for food, it tears right into the stomach area to eat the organs that are filled with blood (nutrients). While eating the stomach, liver, intestine, etc., the lion laps the blood in the process of eating the dead animals flesh. Even bears that are omnivores eat salmon raw. However, eating raw or bloody meat disgust us as humans. Therefore, we must cook it and season it to buffer the taste of flesh.

If a deer is burned in a forest fire, a carnivorous animal will NOT eat its flesh. Even circus lions have to be feed raw meat so that they will not starve to death. If humans were truly meant to eat meat, then we would eat all of our meat raw and bloody. The thought of eating such meat makes one’s stomach turn. This is my point on how we as humans are conditioned to believe that animal flesh is good for us and that we were meant to consume it for survival and health purposes. If we are true carnivores or omnivores, cooking our meat and seasoning it with salt, ketchup, or tabasco sauce would disguise and we as humans would refuse to eat our meat in this form

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It's a nice place-SITARAMPUR

Sitarampur is a small railway station in Bihar. There are thousands of railway stations big and small in India. Bihar is bound by Nepal in the north and by Jharkhand in the south. Very few people know about this place outside the district of Rohtas, where falls this small town of Sitarampur. However The British liked this place perhaps the surrounding of Sitarampur was picturesque. The climate was healthy. There was a deep forest near Sitarampur. The Englishmen camped here frequently for hunting. And there was beyond the jungle a mica mine. The mine was owned by the British. So –quite naturally the local people of Sitarampur were accustomed with the white sahibs and they liked them also. It was because of the British- railway line was laid through this place and the Sitarampur station came into existence.

The British have gone and also the old people with them, who knew many things about Sitarampur. They were fond of their past and tales. So we heard many stories that still hang around the air of Sitarampur.

It’s a calm place with greenery on every side. I love this place and especially the railway station and enjoy strolling on the not so crowded platform or sitting on the bench under a tree to think about impermanence of life as the station is not a permanent destination of a train.

There is one passenger train running through this station. This is 2115 UP and 2116 DN. But like people of Sitarampur –I’m also accustomed to know it as 2115 UP. I love trains still like a child who loves to watch the driver of the engine with awe and wonder.

So if you ever feel to visit Sitarampur, just start for the place Sitarampur by 2115 UP and leave your destiny along the rails. Wish you a happy journey.

Those in India love to compare India and China as the two emerging giants of Asia should see the the train and other photos of China by clicking :

TRAINS IN CHINA


BEIJING OPENS SUBWAY

SHANGHAI METRO NETWORK

SHANGHAI IN NIGHT

From the above sites Indian leadership should be ashamed of their non-performances.
One may argue that China could do many things with its dictatorial rule without facing any opposition party. There is no labour union and so China can compell its labour force to work at the way it wants-which is not possible in India.
But is it impossible to build world class airports and railway system in 60 years in a democracy? It's not for the labour class but for the corrupt and visionless politicians India has always been lagging behind China and can never be equal to China in twenty years if not more.
In 2030 India will surpass China in number of popilation. Then it will be more difficult to keep pace with China.




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Everybody is talking about the rising prices of food stuffs. The costs of cereals, vegetables, pulses and edible oils have sky rocketed –in so short a period-that experts from all over the world have been profusely offering their opinions as to the probable causes of this tremendously inflationary impulses. The causes –the majority of them believe lie behind mainly two factors. Firstly, it’s the US financial depression with their sub-prime mortgage crisis has created shock waves throughout the world. Secondly, some people think that the rise of oil prices has affected the cost of commodities. As of today the price of petrol is above $60 a barrel. According to some this will continue to go up and will reach approximately $100 by the end of this year. So there will not be any let up in inflationary pressure.

So this is a matter, I think, should better be left to the economists and governments or simply to the process in times with unthought-of situations.

But what one finds at least in India that the prices of consumer goods like electronic gadgets, apparels, jeans, alcohol and hundred other items are not going up. So why is the inflation biased for this area? If we try to discuss a little –we find some ominous signs for the future.

The economic reform started in India not long ago. There were many other countries in Africa and Asia which accepted the principles of economic reform much before India. If we compare China with India we will see that China was much advanced in this matter than India. Perhaps this reform in economic sector was necessary and almost a fait accompli considering the global economic and political conditions. Owing to this economic reform the total number of employments all over the world and especially in India has much increased. So the ability to spend more has helped many persons and consequently the flow of money in the market has increased considerably. In this matter we know that this extra flow of money comes from the same group of persons who did not have the ability to spend almost nothing five years ago. In respect of India’s self sufficiency in food Amartya Sen’s opinion was that a good majority of people in India do not manage square meals a day. Most people are half-fed as they don’t have the money to go to the market for buying food articles. If all of these people went to the market to buy their needed food there would be famine in India. It’s because of some half-fed and un-fed people India are not a famine stricken country and we are able to buy food in reasonable prices. What happens now is that people who were unemployed a few years ago are coming to buy food. Moreover the the overall population has exploded into a figure of 1.13 billion in India. So there has been much demand on food articles. The middle class –whose salary has increased two fold in the last ten years are consuming without caring any control. A regular visitor in the urban markets of India is witness to this fact.

India is seriously in need of increased production of food crops. India, long one of the most productive agricultural regions of the world, could not meet its basic need for food grains during the early years of the nation's independence. The Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s dramatically improved yields in India. With considerable national pride, India boasted that it had achieved not only self-sufficiency in food grains, but had become a grain-exporting nation. In 2006, however, for the first time since the Green Revolution, and in part because of changes in agricultural policy, India had to import wheat. India will again have to import food grains in 2007.Now India has banned food export.

The price of steel is also soaring. In the last ten years there has been boom in the housing sector –which ultimately caused a shortfall of steel supply in the market. The price of crude oil and the future scenario has pushed many countries to produce more bio-fuels. Many governments are giving subsidies to the farmers for cultivating plants for bio-fuel leaving the traditional food production. So there has been shortage of food production in many countries. But India is still not involved in producing bio-fuels.

But there is a danger of which the governments of all the countries must be alert. This is reduction of agriculture land producing food in order to creating SEZ and bio-fuels.

Is production of more cars necessary in India? The more cars mean more oil consumption. To procure oil for these increasing numbers of cars government must have to spend more foreign exchange. How many persons can be employed in a car industry? The car market is thrived in India by the banks. But this industry can wait at least for ten years for increasing the rate of production.

Actually in India the causes of inflation are complicated. Though it can not be seen separately from the international scenario Indian situation should not be compared even with China –the country which follows communist dictatorship. Indian authorities in every field should have a deep insight keeping in mind the phenomena of economic reform-while planning for future. India is still an agricultural country and the majority of her people follow a life style (including food habit) that is in no way similar to those of the developed countries even including countries like Egypt, Brazil etc.

The most unfortunate thing is that India is dangerously lacking an efficient, strong and determined political party and leadership to govern her affairs.

Will Advani be the next P.M.?

It is desirable that BJP wins the next general election in 2009. I am telling it because no single party or a same alliance should rule a country for more than two consecutive terms in a democracy. Otherwise the ruling party or coalition may be as callous as to be uncaring to the need for betterment and there grow vested interests. In our country no political party is immune to corruption and so the situation becomes worse when the same rulers continue for considerably long time as it has happened in West Bengal. The party or the coalition takes people for granted without any scruple. The UPA government has made a mess in all the major arenas of administration. So if they are given another term it will be disaster for India and democracy. It goes without saying that Rahul Gandhi and the so called babalog will rule the country-only to establish a conception that dynastic rule is better that democracy.

But BJP under L.K. Advani will not be able to snatch power from the present dispensation. Advani unlike Vajpayee does not have an acceptable personality. He is not confident of himself. His remarks on Zinnah are enough to prove that he is not credible. He has recently engage himself to make himself acceptable to people by writing that he was not a party to the decision to handover the terrorists in Kandahar although he was the home minister at that time. What would he want to gain by such statement? It’ll only belittle his party in the eyes of the people. Surely –he has yet to achieve such personality and charm to put Vajpayee in poor light. If his intention is to harm Brajesh Mishra or Jasvant Singh-then it is an exercise to fight with shadows. He should have realized that the main issue of the next election will be the price rise and non-governance.

One of the greatest recent blunders of BJP was not to back APJ Abdul Kalam as their presidential candidate. Mere arithmetical calculation showed that BJP’s nominee had no chance. When defeat was a fait accompli why not standing by a very popular scientist who was also from the minority community! The defeat of Kalam in that case would be a loss of face for Congress for various reasons especially when people were not aware of a name-Prativa Patil. The decision –not to support Kalam as a candidate-must have been backed by Advani.

The gradual eclipsing of Vajpayee from the throne of BJP has been showing its signs. Advani may rouse a religious emotion but he has not that vision and diplomacy to determine a path for the people of as complicated a country as India.

The name of Modi has been made a synonym for maud. The whole press of India and the Congress and its left allies was successful in their propaganda blitz against Modi. But the Congress killed far more Sikhs in Delhi and its surroundings in two days at the instigations of some prominent Congress leaders. It was not a riot. It was genocide. No single bullet was fired from the police against the killers. Advani has been a failure to make people remind of that ghastly act of the Congress after ModI’s victory this year. Advani should have made it a point in this spectacular victory of Modi that Gujratis are not rioters or supporters of riots. This is the failure of Advani. I’m not supporting Modi for his role in that ghastly riot in Gujrat. I am raising the issue only to make a comparison between the two uncivilized incidents and the point of political diplomacy.

Advani should also be more alert about the fact that Indian press in general is more in favour of Ms Sonia Gandhi and the dynasty than they are for Advani.