Most animals have a fairly simple diet, carnivores eat only meat their whole life, cows eat exclusively grass etc. So why are human bodies so picky and need a balance of protein, fat, carbs etc from different sources to perform well?
In: Biology
The real reason is that animals evolve to get all their nutrients from the food that’s available to them. For example a cow’s four stomachs and long digestive track are perfect to take what they need mostly out of grass. Since we acquired a wide variety of available meals, we stopped making certain key nutrients because it was cheaper to get them through just eating, adapting our bodies to this lifestyle, making it needed for survival.
Carnivore and herbivore are very general. Cows, deer, etc. will eat meat and bone to get nutrients rare in a plant based diet. There are deer that will seek out and kill baby birds because their heads are rich in phosphorus. Only “obligate” carnivores eat/need only meat. Most can and will munch on some plants.
These animals SEEK OUT balanced diets because their main food sources don’t provide full nutrients. There are reasons captive animals live longer, and one is being well fed a balanced diet.
Humans are animals, always keep that in mind
In general animals are adapted to eat the “balanced” diet that they can find in the environment, humans can manipulate their environment to create whatever food they like so can easily get an unbalanced diet.
Every animal, including humans needs a balanced diet. It’s just that “balanced” for a human is different than “balanced” for, say, a dog.
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