The Dinosaur Diet

The biggest and coolest dinosaurs were herbivores, who ate only plants — and thrived.

Gigantic dinosaurs, such as Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Argentinosaurus, and cool, iconic dinosaurs, like Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and Parasaurolophus, were all plant-eating herbivores.

Although some dinos like tiny-armed T. rex and vicious Velociraptor were raw meat-eating carnivores, most dinosaurs were peaceful vegans (most of the time), just like elephants, giraffes, gorillas horses, cows, rhinos, hippos, moose, buffalo, bison, deer, manatees, sheep, goats, camel, kangaroos, pandas, rabbits, and others.

Where did all these magnificent strong animals get their protein? Plants!

All plant foods contain protein for muscles, calcium for bones, healthy fiber, and other vital nutrients. For we mere humans, that means eating vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and mushrooms. And plant foods never have any artery-clogging cholesterol.

People who eat a Dinosaur Diet of plants tend to have a much lower incidence of various diseases and chronic conditions — including heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, and others — and need fewer medicines and surgeries, get fewer colds and flus, have better mental health, and live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

And a Dinosaur Diet is not only better for personal and public health, it’s also much better for our environment, including our air, water, soil, forests, rivers, oceans, and climate, not to mention the billions of farmed and wild animals.

We are now in the Anthropocene epoch, and the Mesozoic Era of the dinosaurs ended around 66 million years ago, yet dinosaurs are still awesome. In their honor, let’s try to be as healthy, compassionate, and sustainable as possible with a Dinosaur Diet.

Article by Dan Brook, PhD teacher of sociology at San Jose State University, is a Board member of San Francisco Veg Society, an Advisory Board member of Jewish Veg, edited the veg cookbook Justice in the Kitchen, and loves dinosaurs and other animals.