Chimps; Omega 3 & B12

[wyjoz]

After reading about the Chimpanzees being our 'cousins' and we are suppsed to eat like them; my question is how do chimps get Omega 3 and they don't eat fish or drink 'cod liver oil' ? and how do they get sufficient B12 without consuming 'cow' 'beef' products and we'r told that's where we need to get B 12 from? Joz

[Angelic Light]

They eat insects for B12...

[mongomango]

Chimps ocassionally eat meat. They have been filmed actually hunting and eating other animals.

edit: This seems to be more of a ritualistic thing than a nutrition thing, and B12 is probably gotten by them through insects as was mentioned, and also through soil based organisms. Because they don't wash their food they are consuming much more than we in our sterile environment. Omega 3's are quite abundant in plants. Cattle was once a source of omega 3's to rival fish when cattle was strictly grass fed. Once they were put on grains, they no longer had an abundance of omega 3s.

[sport]

I think that maybe our bodies were capable of making everything that they need using just the basic raw materials but we have allowed them to forget.

I was watching a show on Discovery a week ago about a 7M year old hominid skull that they found and they analysed a little bit of bone to determine what they ate and it was exactly the same as chimps. Mostly fruit and tubers with the addition of a little bit of grubs and insects.
We would get plenty of B12 if we were prepared to eat dirty food and grubs and insects.

[christiahall]

B12 might be something you need because of the other stuff you are eating. Don't forget that the only reason they know what vitamins we need is because they test people that have the same diets as everyone else but are missing one thing. Not people who are eating an entirely different system.

Also, once in awhile I log all the foods I eat into this website that breaks down all the nutritional information, and I was getting more than enough omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. They say that you want the ratio between the two to be 1:10 or less. Most people on SAD struggle with this, but on raw, your ration is probably 1:5 to 1:10 which is perfect.

On another note, I was trying to figure out how to get enough B12 and vitamin D, and realized that you would have to eat an entire plate-sized steak every day, 12 eggs, or 4 cups of yogurt. Tell me if that sounds resonable to a normal SAD diet? Its not. B12 comes from things that have been broken down into dirt. (poop, rotten things). So, it makes sense to me that you just have to eat enough stuff that came from the dirt. IT is only in the dairy and meat because other living things already have it in their systems and you are just taking in theirs. We obviously also have it.

[michigan roman]

good point christia on eating enough things that come from dirt for b12 , it sounds logical .

and your give me raw or give me death sig is boss.

[Tirza]

Okay, if by eating cows etc., we are "only getting their B12 or Omega 3 etc.", then isn't the same true of eating insects?

As a Jew I am forbidden to eat insects anyway, and must do my best to make sure that I don't, even inadvertently. So that leaves the soil residue...

If we eat unwashed produce so that we get it from the "soil based organisms", what do we do about the present threat of ecoli, etc.? I am very skeptical hearing people say that if we are eating "raw and organic", we won't have to worry about that. Why not? Organic stays away from chemicals and uses manure for fertilizer. I can't see them always able to make sure that it is cured enough to eliminate the possibility. With the volumes they use, I would not expect that they would always be able to be so sure of that.

I am really confused on this particular issue. Either we do need it, or...we don't need it because our body manufactures it or gets it from some innocent source.

If we do need it and the only way we can get it is by eating dirty produce with a residue of soil composed partly of the broken-down animal wastes/carcasses that may be present in the soil, or from insects, then we are not really expecting that the vegan lifestyle is sufficient for our dietary needs. (Of course we would still be continuing in our "raw" ways that way. Gulp.)

[christiahall]

Hahaha. No, you must realize that our bodies (according to modern scientific research that is always changing and based on the Standard American Diet, but without a few nutrients) only need 2 1 millionths of a gram of this nutriet a day, and that our bodies store that one intake for 3 years. I am not suggesting that you eat dirt or dirty produce. I am saying that you shouldn't worry about it because carrots and mushrooms probably have enough on them. Also, I read a study (not bias toward that raw foods diet or even veganism) that said that your body absorbs about 80 times more of this nutrient better than from animals sources. That means that if you need 2 mcg of B12 a day, that is the amount you need from animal sources, but from plant sources you need 80 times less than that even.

Also, I'm sure God wouldn't care if someone accidentally eating a bug. Just do what you can and don't worry about it.