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by porkloin 408 days ago
"Need" and "want" are different things.
1 comments

Right, the context being building muscle, therefore "need".
That's fine, but bodybuilding is recreational with the exception of a very small number of people who are professional bodybuilders. Human beings don't _need_ to have 200g of protein per day. Assuming you're not a professional or don't have a job where large muscle mass is an absolute requirement, the excess protein intake is something you _want_ so that you can enjoy your hobby.

To be clear, you should continue to eat as much meat as you want - it's your life! There are tons of advantages to strength training and bodybuilding, and I am not trying to diminish any of that.

But what I can't agree on is that it's ethical to consume that much daily protein unless you truly need it. That level of meat consumption has very real impacts - it is literally unsustainable for a significant number of people to consume excess protein entirely from meat.

You point out that this behavior is unethical and in the same breath you say they should keep doing it. I'm having trouble reconciling these two statements, or thinking of examples of when unethical behavior should be encouraged[0]. Perhaps it should be "you *can* continue to eat as much meat as you want" instead of "you should [...]"? That way it acknowledges their agency and our inability to prevent their actions, without condoning them.

[0] so far the closest I've come is "perhaps in retaliation against an earlier injustice"

I get about 80 grams from protein powder (whey), another 20 from eggs, another 20-50 from yoghurt, and another 50-60 from a chicken breast/fish (200-300g worth). I get all my eggs and meat locally as I live in the boonies. You are being deliberately obtuse assuming I get 200 grams from only meat. This would wreck my bowels.

Cheers for the lecture though, I think I'll up it to 300 grams just from your comment alone.

>it is literally unsustainable for a significant number of people to consume excess protein entirely from meat

When the billionaires give up their profits I'll trade in my single daily unsustainable chicken breast.