If we're told we can eat animal flesh sparingly, doesn't that mean we can eat small amounts whenever, so long as it’s not a lot?

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Both Hyrum Smith and Hugh B. Nibley interpreted and used the word “sparingly” to mean, ‘sparing animal life whenever possible.’ The Lord has also specified that it is pleasing to Him to not use animal flesh at all if it is not necessary.

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Why can’t humans be physiologically classified as omnivores?

The most obvious difference is that natural omnivores (like bears) are able to eat meat in its natural state — meaning raw. Humans do not have stomach acid that is acidic enough to kill flesh-borne diseases and parasites, which is why if we eat raw or undercooked meat we are at risk of immediate illness and death.

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If I've never followed a plant diet in my life before, then wouldn't adopting one be too much of a change for my body?

Any change to a more natural diet for our bodies will produce a beneficial change in our bodies, regardless of how long you have been following otherwise.

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I tried following a plant diet before and it was hard. If we're natural frugivores then why would it be so hard to follow?

Changing decades-long habits is difficult regardless of the type of change. We know exercise to be necessary for good health, and yet we understand that it is difficult to begin and stick to a new exercise regime. But in the same way that exercise conditions our muscles, eating a plant diet becomes easier the more that we condition our tastes and habits to it.

 

If we're natural frugivores then why do animal products taste so good to me?

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Animal products like milk and meat have high levels of concentrated fats, casein, and lactose, which create a concentrated taste that is more stimulating to our taste buds and therefore more tempting to eat. But, just like sugar, this does not indicate them to be healthier to our bodies than whole plants.

If we're natural frugivores then why would we ever get meat cravings?

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The human body is well designed for survival. If our body is not receiving sufficient nutrients, for example iron, our body will not be prompting us to plant spinach and wait six weeks for it to grow, but will be telling us to get it from a more immediate source. The nature of cravings is that they are very impatient, as they are a sign that our body is desperate for certain additional nutrients. This helped the human species to continue to live during times of survival, but iron-based meat cravings (as well as other cravings) can be resolved just as easily through responsive plant-based nutrient intake as by animal consumption.

I tried following a plant diet and it made me feel terrible. Maybe it's just wrong for my body.

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The largest dietary organizations in the world state that anyone can follow a plant diet at any stage of life. However, they state this is the case only if it is a “well-planned” plant diet. A plant diet that is unbalanced in any significant way will not be sustainable long-term, and will lead to feelings of unwellness, dissatisfaction, and low energy — but this does not mean that a plant diet itself is somehow inexplicably wrong for your body.

Even if gorillas are frugivores, isn't eating meat the way that we evolved from apes like gorillas?

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Our best and latest research states that the evolutionary expansion of our brains likely was enabled most from consumption of starch, with the Harvard Gazette reporting it ‘likely helped pave the way for the expansion of the human brain because of the glucose in starch, which is the brain’s main fuel source’: 

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Both the Neanderthals and the ancient humans that scientists studied had these starch-adapted strains in their dental plaque while most of the primates, who feast almost exclusively on non-starchy plant parts, like fruits, stems, and leaves, had almost no streptococci that could break down starch.

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The findings also push back on the idea that Neanderthals were top carnivores, given that the “brain requires glucose as a nutrient source and meat alone is not a sufficient source,”... starch currently makes up about 60 percent of calories for humans worldwide. “Its availability is much more predictable across the annual season for tropical hunter-gatherers,” (1)

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Isn’t a plant diet more expensive than a conventional diet?

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When calculating nutrient-for-nutrient, a plant diet is always cheaper. A 2022 study from Oxford found that plant diets are 22-30% cheaper than getting the same needed nutrients from a conventional diet. Every micro- and macronutrient is cheaper in plant form. (2)

Wouldn’t adopting a plant diet take more time, effort, and energy?

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There is always a learning curve involved when undertaking a significant life change – whether it is moving to a new city, attending a new school, starting a new job, etc. However this learning curve does not last long term, and so once one has learned all the necessary basic information and adopted new plant diet habits, the ongoing effort becomes magnitudes easier.

Aren’t herd animals like cows good for the ecosystem?

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Having grazing animals, like the bison and caribou that are native to North America, is best for the healthiest preservation of our natural landscapes. Some see this as a point in favor of animal agriculture, but in fact the opposite is true: the farming of mass herds of cows that are slaughtered once they reach full size has led to severe land habitat destruction and extreme soil depletion. The best method to preserve lands is to have healthy-sized populations of roaming herds that live for most or all of their natural lives — not mass breeding and killing of cattle species.

Strict plant diets just aren't feasible for African tribes, Eskimos, or other indigenous peoples.

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While that may be so, plant diet advocates are not preaching to tribal humans but to those of us who have access to the benefits of modern technology, modern nutritional knowledge, and grocery stores. Tribal humans not feasibly being able to follow a strict plant diet does not make ourselves less able to do so.

Don't we need to eat fish for our omegas?

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Fish do not produce omegas within their own bodies, as they absorb it from the food they themselves eat. Omegas are only produced by plants. We can receive all the same omegas that fish receive by ‘cutting out the middleman’ and consuming sea greens. (Certain land plants have high amounts of omegas as well). Sea green farms also have a strong net positive effect on the oceans, as opposed to mass fish-catching, which is severely detrimental to it.

Isn't it wrong for you to be trying to make others go vegan?

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Educating others on plant diets is not coercing anyone to adopt a plant diet. We still retain agency to choose to follow old ways for ourselves, even after we've been educated to choose a better way.

Why are animal advocates against consuming dairy when cows don't need to be killed to get milk?

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Like all other mammals, cows only produce milk for their offspring. In order for a dairy cow to produce milk for humans to consume, they must first be impregnated and then have their calves taken from them after birth. (Same as humans, cows are pregnant with their calves for nine months.) The male calves are then slaughtered for veal meat. While dairy cows have natural lifespans spanning 20 years, on a dairy farm they will be sent to slaughter after only five to six years, once their health has begun to deteriorate from overproduction of milk.

Why are animal advocates against eating eggs when the chickens are laying them anyway?

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The only chickens to lay eggs are hens. This means that male chicks of egg-laying breeds are largely useless, and so they are either gassed, macerated, or suffocated immediately after hatching. The hens are also sent to slaughter as soon as they are unable to produce more eggs.

Why then wouldn't animal advocates just eat eggs of 'backyard chickens' that are being treated well?

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Natural breeds of fowls lay a significantly lower number of eggs than our modern breed of egg-laying hens, who have been bred to lay such a high number of eggs that they suffer from chronic health problems (like brittle and broken bones) and shortened life spans, due to lack of nutrient retention. In this sense they are more akin to a 'Dr. Frankenstein'-creation of animal breed (as opposed to a natural breed), as solely being alive causes them unnatural pain and suffering.

 

But milk and eggs aren’t mentioned by name in the Word of Wisdom.

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The Word of Wisdom makes reference to animal “flesh”, which is often used solely to mean animal meat. However, animal milk and eggs are also 100% animal DNA, just as much as animal meat is. They are not ‘half-way’ between meat and plants, as they are made solely of animal cells. Also, the Word of Wisdom states that beasts of the field, fowls of heaven, and all wild animals are only appointed "for the use of man" in famine and extreme hunger, suggesting that we're not meant to use any parts of animals – milk, eggs, or otherwise – if we can obtain the nutrients from elsewhere.

 

Where would we put all the farmed animals if we stopped eating them?

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A gradual population-level adoption of plant diets would mean a gradual decrease of the number of animals being bred in farms. The less meat, dairy, and eggs that are purchased in one season leads to a lesser number of animals that will be bred into existence for the next season. Like all other industries, animal farming operates by supply and demand.

 

Adopting a plant diet would mean I’d need to give up my traditional family recipes.

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Those who have given up their traditional family recipes have often found that they’ve avoided certain traditional family health problems as well. Switching to plant-based versions of generational dishes enables ourselves and our children to adopt traditions that are healthier than the ones we grew up with. Old animal-based family recipe cards can be kept for our descendants in photo albums and other memory books – they do not need to be used to be preserved.

Isn't it extreme for animal advocates to want to outlaw factory farming?

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Factory farms are referred to in the industry as CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). They are farms in which thousands of animals are kept together in conditions that lead to infectious disease outbreaks, foodborne illnesses, and also play a contributing role in antibiotic resistance and superbugs. This is also true for CAFOs that are labeled organic, grass-fed, and cage-free. The American Public Health Association supports banning new factory farm operations for the sake of public health, and one U.S. poll stated 49% of US adults support a ban on factory farming and 47% support a ban on slaughterhouses. (3)

Plant diets have always been a fringe way of living. What makes you think that would ever change?

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Plant-based diets are being adopted in ever-greater numbers on a worldwide level, most quickly with the younger generations – ​