What I Hear All the Time — And Why It Breaks My Heart by Roxana Soetebeer, MPHC, NNP, MHP, PFC
What I Hear All the Time — And Why It Breaks My Heart
Every so often, someone will confidently tell me:
"Carbs aren't the enemy. Our ancestors thrived on grains, rice, and potatoes. Just look at the Blue Zones!"
Or:
"You're not a real carnivore. Real carnivores have claws and fangs. You have to cook your food. That proves we're not meant to eat meat."
Or even:
"Processed meat causes cancer. Red meat is a carcinogen."
And then, with full conviction:
"If you think it's OK to kill animals, then you must also be OK killing humans with the same traits, like babies, the elderly, or the disabled."
These are talking points people throw out, sometimes in rapid succession, with absolute certainty.
It's hard to watch, not because I'm offended, but because many of these people are suffering, inflamed, exhausted, or metabolically broken… and don't know it yet. Worse, they've put their faith in YouTube doctors, social media influencers, or religious doctrine disguised as nutritional science.
Let's address these points.
Did they thrive? Or did they survive just long enough to reproduce?
When humans shifted from hunting and gathering to farming, our health declined. Skeletal records prove it: more cavities, more bone deformities, more signs of malnutrition, and smaller brains. Ancient agricultural societies ate more grains, and they paid the price.
And the Blue Zones?
Let's pretend Blue Zones are a thing. They're not plant-based. Not even close. These communities eat meat, fish, animal fat, and fermented dairy. What they don't eat is ultra-processed garbage. That's the part worth copying, not the myth of a carb-based utopia.
But the Blue Zones themselves are mostly fabricated. The boundaries were drawn after the fact to fit a narrative, and in some cases, reported ages were exaggerated or falsified to qualify for benefits. It's not science. It's mythology.
And yet, here I am. By definition an apex predator. Unlike herbivores/prey, I cannot survive on grass, grains, and corn.
We have to cook, soak, ferment, grind, and process most plant foods just to make them digestible and less toxic.
Humans evolved something better than claws: intelligence. Fire. Tools. Strategy. Our small intestines are long, our stomach acid is strong, and our bodies run on fat. None of this points to a species designed to thrive on grains.
We are biologically adapted for nutrient density, not forage. Call us what you want: scavengers, hyper-carnivores, opportunists. But cooking my steak doesn't make me a herbivore.
No, it doesn't.
That often-cited chart from IARC, the one that lumps bacon in with asbestos and diesel exhaust, doesn't say how much cancer it causes. It only ranks how confident they are in an association, not causation.
There are zero randomized controlled trials showing that red meat causes cancer in humans. None. The evidence comes from weak observational studies that rely on food frequency questionnaires, basically: "How many times did you eat beef last year?" followed by years of confounding lifestyle data. Their definition of meat is a meal with hamburger, french fries and soda, or lasagne.
Meanwhile, the longest-living population in the world today, Hong Kong, eats the most meat per capita.
That should at least raise a question.
Even a pro-vegan study by the advocacy group Faunalytics found that 84% of vegetarians and vegans eventually return to eating animal products (source). The number one reason cited was health. These weren't people giving up for taste or convenience, but because their bodies were not thriving. Their health was failing. When the diet no longer supports health, ideology can only carry it so far.
That's the claim. You'll hear it everywhere: "A vegan diet provides all essential nutrients." But if that were true, why does it require supplements?
You cannot get B12 from plants. You can't get enough DHA, K2, taurine, carnitine, or heme iron either. These nutrients are found in animal foods, in forms the body actually absorbs and uses. It almost seems we are perfectly adapted to eat meat, not plants.
Some people point to gorillas: "Look, they're vegan and they're huge!"
Yes, gorillas also have giant colons, that's the big belly, and specialized gut bacteria that ferment plant cellulose into short-chain fatty acids, particularly butyrate, a saturated fat. So, you see, gorillas thrive on saturated fat. They don't get fat from their diet directly, but from the bacterial fermentation happening inside their colon.
And for vitamin B12? They obtain it by eating their own feces, a normal behaviour in many herbivores, but one that humans don't replicate.
I've heard this too: "You're not reversing diabetes. You're just managing it differently."
No.
When someone goes off all diabetes medications, maintains a healthy A1c, loses visceral fat, and regains insulin sensitivity, that's not managing. That's reversing.
We've seen improvements in:
- Type 2 diabetes
- GERD
- PCOS
- NAFLD (fatty liver)
- NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, the inflamed form of fatty liver)
- Obesity
- Inflammatory markers
- Bipolar episodes
- Epileptic seizures
And many other metabolic diseases including cancer.
That's not a fluke. That's measurable change in real people who had run out of options.
Whole grains didn't do it. Beans didn't either. But giving the body a break from chronic insulin overload, and feeding it nutrient-dense animal foods, finally did.
Actually, I do. Deeply.
I care about the people suffering on starch-based diets while their doctors tell them to "try more fibre."
I care about the diabetic mother being told to eat fruit instead of fixing her insulin resistance.
I care about the exhausted, inflamed, foggy-brained population being sold fake health by influencers with no accountability.
And I care about the people who've actually healed, who now live without meds, without pain, and with clarity, because they dared to eat differently.
This isn't a debate about purity. It's a fight for truth in a world drowning in agenda.
Yes, you heard that right. Our most beloved herbivores, the gentle deer, the soft rabbit, the cow with their big brown eyes, and even sheep, will kill for meat given the chance.
Check out this video. It is not for the faint of heart:
This one's meant to be the intellectual trump card:
"What trait does an animal lack that justifies killing them, that wouldn't justify killing a human who lacks that same trait?"
On the surface, it sounds like airtight logic. But it's not.
We don't spare humans because of traits. We spare them because they are humans. Because of relationships, moral contracts, responsibility, care, and mutual protection that define human society.
Animals are not part of that contract. They never were. Not in nature, not in biology, and not in the history of human survival.
When we raise animals as companions, we don't use them for food.
When we raise animals for food, we are not declaring them worthless. We are acknowledging that human life, and health, requires nutrients they uniquely provide.
This isn't about traits. It's about context, biology, and necessity. And we don't herd the elderly into slaughterhouses because they are part of the moral framework we all share. Cows are not.
If I sound frustrated, it's because I am.
Not at people. At the lies they've been sold.
The vegan ideal sounds noble, until you realize it's built on supplementation, malnutrition, and cherry-picked anecdotes. It works for a few. It fails for many. And for some, it does real harm.
You don't have to eat meat. But if you're metabolically broken, inflamed, and exhausted, and being told to eat more beans, more grains, and more fruit, it's OK to say: "This isn't working."
Eat like it matters,
Coach Roxana
Written by Roxana Soetebeer, MPHC, NNP, MHP, PFC
Published May 10th, 2025
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