ELI5: Why do we have to have a very varied diet in order to live a healthy lifestyle when all other animals tend to eat the same thing all the time and get all the nutrients they need?

The key problem to why we aren't at our optimal health is due to our varied, processed, carcinogenic diet. We grow up being force fed a multitude of flavors and foods, thus expanding our taste and desires. Drinking milk even though it made me sick, eating bread even though it made me feel lethargic, eating meat though it made me heat up and have cystic acne, etc. This is a product of the food industries growth, and grows at an alarming rate, so we will continue to consume/buy more and more while they produce. Food is a social thing, and prioritized over health (amongst many other things). Just in the last decade has the idea of needing meat for protein been debunked. Dark leafy greens carry 30 to 40% of protein, while meat has about 20% plus fat) Yet, still people are so accustomed to meat, they stray from change even though it would benefit them immensely. That's the power food has over us, a true addiction. It's just legal, like alcohol, because there's a market for it.

Our bodies function, feel, are best on raw, organic fruits and vegetables. And if you want to counter that notion, try it for a week. So many people are either too defensive, ignorant, or scared to try. But it's so vital to at least try veganism. Not processed vegan shit, just raw foods.

We are so used to options and quantity, the stigma behind eating simple and clean is seen as boring and difficult when it ultimately helps save money, save the environment, reduce waste, helps our psyche, gives immense energy and vitality, and our bodies naturally lose weight till we are at our natural state.

It just feels like a catch 22 writing this. It's so simple to be healthy yet the majority of us aren't because of the ingrained mentality and social norm to be otherwise. It's crazy.

/r/explainlikeimfive Thread