My approach to teaching diet starts with being honest with you. My credentials are a lifetime of experience and nothing else. Throughout that life, I have met many living teachers and kept up friendships with them so I could stay close to their knowledge. If you are new to the journey of mindfulness, my approach follows a parallel path, with some neuroscience and a C+ understanding of how our chemistry works.
I am not arrogant enough to tell you what I think of doctors and the many people who are highly trained in nutrition. There are brilliant people out there who communicate beautifully. The best scientific minds, even those with the highest accolades, know when they have wandered into uncharted territory, and they will warn the listener that what they are saying is unproven.
With that out of the way, let me tell you about the great Fred Bisci, who has been a wonderful mentor to me since 2010. He said to simply look at the design of different creatures' bodies. A cow, for example, has a stomach divided into multiple chambers to handle the long process of breaking down rough plant fibers. A big cat, on the other hand, has a very short digestive system, likely because nutrients are extracted from flesh more easily than from plant matter.
Flesh foods are more nutrient dense, but mostly in the macronutrients, like fat and protein. Animal foods do contain some micronutrients, including certain minerals and vitamins, but the variety is not as broad. And a diverse range of animal protein brings a diverse range of consequences. Eating beef is different from eating fish. Each carries different compounds, different toxins, different nutrients, and perhaps even completely different strains of bacteria.
A person who doesn't eat much raw, fresh produce, washed thoroughly to remove insects and pathogens, has a problem in their diet. They are missing the fibrous material that helps keep the digestive system clean, especially when there is meat in the diet.
Animal protein can be included successfully in the human diet. Perhaps not optimally in certain ways, but it can be done. Any society that needs its citizens to be very muscular and very strong might naturally gravitate toward flesh foods. But a group of humans who banded together, and were intelligent enough, might also know exactly which seeds to grow.
I am vegan seventeen-years.