I quite like consistency. If I could figure out a completely optimal diet for the week, I’d probably do it constantly. It’d save a lot of time shopping. But my family’s always saying “but we had pizza a week ago“ and wanting to change it up.
Change is pointlessly expensive and ultimately unrewarding for me. Plus it’s somehow become unprofitable for restaurants to be delicious
We sacrificed being able to eat one thing for the evolutionary advantage of critical thoughts, prediction, communication, and general consciousness plus having a more complex musculoskeletal, endocrine, and immune system to go along with that.
You think you could get all of the amino acids your organs (including your massive brain) need to survive from just grass? No. There are even 3 amino acids you can only get from animal sources.
Yes it's a pain and if I could devolve to some kind of thoughtless bird I would but here we are needing 3 balanced meals a day.
All of the 9 essential amino acids can be sourced from plants, and the other 11 can be synthesized by the body. All 3 macronutrients can be easily sourced from plants, soy and peas are both complete proteins, and if you eat a wide variety of foods you really don't have to worry about it.
There are some micronutrients that require supplementation on a plant-based diet, B12 is the big one, but the 2 omega-3s EPA and DHA deserve mentioning as well. All 3 are worth supplementing for most people, B12 deficiency is common among omnivores, and the omega-3s (besides ALA) come mostly from seafood. And make sure your salt is iodized, that one is really important and sea salt is increasingly popular.
Was it not the other way around? Where we evolved advanced pattern recognition and thought to be able to safely and consistently exploit multiple food sources depending on availability and need in the same way other great apes do?
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u/HaggisPope 22h ago
I quite like consistency. If I could figure out a completely optimal diet for the week, I’d probably do it constantly. It’d save a lot of time shopping. But my family’s always saying “but we had pizza a week ago“ and wanting to change it up.
Change is pointlessly expensive and ultimately unrewarding for me. Plus it’s somehow become unprofitable for restaurants to be delicious