My biology teacher is a full vegetarian and has never eaten meat in his life. If you want more evidence, here is a wikipedia article describing vegetarianism in different countries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country
My High School Lit teacher was also a vegetarian. Just because you witness a vegetarian doesn't mean that there are no negatives to it, nor does it disprove that they are either a. suffering from muscle deterioration, or b. consuming protein supplements to make up for the insufficient amino acids in their diet.
However, in today's world, humans can get their nutrition from all sorts of foods because of worldwide trade and better nutritional science, and that creates the possibility of abstaining from meat for ethical and cultural reasons.
True enough, but you still need to create the complete chain of amino acids in your diet, easy access doesn't mean anything.
I suggest presenting some well-accepted evidence on this, because from personal experience I strongly disagree.
Frank Zane was a 3 time Mr. Olympia and he earned several University degrees and was even a Uni professor for while:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zane
Arnold Schwarzenegger is another example, his Bodybuilding accomplishments don't need to be mentioned, but his cunning in Business does, he was a business owner well before being an actor and used his BBing money to propel himself economically through investments, the very definition of a self-made man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger
There are more examples, but those are the first two to come to mind, and I'm too lazy to look up more.
If that information is not convincing enough, take stroll to any BBing forum and just look at how controversial and complex physiology, bodybuilding theory and nutrition can be it's not just going to the gym and lifting weights for a long time, hell just look at the current Nutrition discussion we're having now, tons of contradicting evidence is being presented on both sides. Bodybuilding takes a lot of planning and work outside of the gym. Not to mention an incredibly strict diet and sleep schedule, then we also go into the mental will that it takes to actually make it through rough gym sessions.
http://www.t-nation.com/archives.do
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbmainnut.htm
http://4chanfit.wikia.com/wiki/Harsh's_Worksheet_(WIP)
These youtube fitvloggers are also good examples of helpful intelligent people:
http://www.youtube.com/user/vicsnatural?feature=g-user-c
http://www.youtube.com/user/CampbellFitnessTV?feature=chclk
http://www.youtube.com/user/InciteFitness/featured
The stereotype of the stupid meathead is easily one of the most inaccurate and misinformed ones, just because you can have some ****** amateur BBer stick the steroid needle in his arm, get big, and act like a douchebag, doesn't mean that all BBer are idiots.
Now, my reason for bring up my herbivore example was because you kept on saying that meat was necessary because it contained protein and humans needed protein. However, herbivores also need protein, and they clearly don't get their protein from meat. And many humans also don't get their protein for meat. If you can find a source that says that humans must get their protein from meat, please present it.
I've already posted my sources on that a couple posts back. I've already explained all of this:
There are 27 different Amino Acids found in protein, and most of them are found in meat. If you limit meat sources from your diet, that all you have left are Soy products, some wheats, and Dairy to fill your daily protein requirements. Dairy products are high in fats, wheats lack many amino acids, and Soy products are high in estrogen, which to put it simply is bad for males (whose dominant and necessary hormone is testosterone).
Let us not for get that Creatine is found only in red meat, and this is very useful when building muscle, now, sure... You could supplement Creatine and the other Amino Acids missing in your diet, but the fact that you have to supplement them proves my point that we're intended to eat meat.
but you are in fact wrong here. There have been many studies showing the detrimental effects of being a vegan, and it has been reported on several places.
http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/...egetarian.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/48...f-being-vegan/
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_t..._being_a_vegan
Protein is a building block of nutrition, it is a Macronutrient (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_macronutrients), (alongside Lipids and Carbohydrates), you MUST eat a daily quantity of Amino Acids in order to sustain your body. Furthermore, you cannot build nor sustain a muscular Physique like the ones picture above without a minimum daily consumption of protein of 1g per lb of bodyweight. Those men worked very hard to get in that shape, they didn't simply stop eating junk food and start doing martial arts. Both of those men ate vast amounts of diverse healthy foods (including red meat, chicken and fish) and lifted heavy weights (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_L..._and_nutrition). Not eating enough protein causes your body to go into a catatonic state and literally EAT the protein from your muscles to feed itself (
http://www.dailygarnish.com/2010/09/...t-athlete.html ;
http://www.livestrong.com/protein-deficiency). This is a survival mechanism built into our bodies to allow us to survive when in low times of food. Not eating a varied and diverse amount of protein causes this to happen as your body is malnourished and seeks to feed itself (if you supply other nutrients, but eat a less then sufficient amount of protein then it happens more slowly over time, but the fact remains that you're killing yourself).
Vegans and Vegetarians have a difficult time meeting their protein requirements when trying to stay fit, so much so, many give up on their silly diets after some time. If you must supplement your nutrients from another source, then it is clear that you need them and were made to consume them in the first place. You can refuse to accept this, but the fact remains that humans rely on meat and other high protein sources to stay alive, and cannot be herbivores as plants do not supply us with the necessary amount of nutrients to ensure our survival.
