I'm not a vegetarian anymore

[Scrapheap]

Its because of meat eating that our brains got bigger in the first place.

A human needs a BALANCED diet. We're omnivores, and that means we eat everything.

 

[Frolic_Fun]

From what I seen it depends. Everyone's body is different, each requiring different needs. For example, some people get sick from eating meat, so they stick to vegetables.

[Scrapheap]

From what I seen it depends. Everyone's body is different, each requiring different needs. For example, some people get sick from eating meat, so they stick to vegetables.

Yes, and that's called a food allergy.

[SleepyDragon]

Some adverse reactions to foods are indeed allergic reactions, in the sense that they are an Immunoglobulin E-mediated autoimmune response. Severe life-threatening peanut allergy, the kind of thing where you need an Epipen handy at all times, is one of the more commonly-encountered ones.

However, other adverse reactions to foods may not fall into the category of true allergy, but rather chemical sensitivity. For various reasons not fully understood, cumulative high dietary intake of salicylates and/or amines can trigger headaches, upper-respiratory irritation and other problems in susceptible individuals. Foods which contain high amounts of tyramine (one of the amines) include chocolate, cheese, red wine, processed meats (the classic migraine triggers).

It is very frustrating to have to explain these adverse reactions to the lucky people who don't get them. Breaking out in a rash from exposure to poison ivy isn't hard to understand; breaking out in a rash from eating foods generally considered healthy causes disbelief. But it's just a fact that naturally-occurring substances in foods can and do cause harmful reactions in some. I have a bad time, for instance, with raw carrot: it makes the soft tissues in my nose and mouth swell up, and triggers a massive sneezing fit. Stone fruits like cherries, peaches and nectarines are all right if I eat them sparingly, but too much of them and my throat starts to close up.

It isn't hard for me to "get" that some kinds of animal muscle tissue, or other animal proteins, might not be well-tolerated by some individuals.

[Callaway]

Those are interesting links, SleepyDragon.

I know that for some people who are sensitive to casein and gluten, even a little bit causes severe problems for them, but it's not exactly an allergy.

I wonder what it is in the raw carrot that you are allergic to, because that sounds like a histamine type allergic reaction to me with the sneezing and the nose and throat tissues swelling up.

My daughter is allergic to corn and she gets eczema when she eats corn products which are hidden in some food.

[SleepyDragon]

One doctor I spoke to said that when you peel carrots, this throws a lot of terpenes into the air, which can cause an idiosyncratic reaction in a sensitive individual. The terpenes in carrots are similar to the chemicals that get thrown into the atmosphere when you cut your grass. Plants produce a lot of these compounds by way of self-defence against insects and microbial infections, and it's not much of a stretch to think that many of these are irritating to humans also.