I wish I could be a vegetarian. I think it is a lot healthier way to go if you can keep your protein intake adequate. Unfortunately, there is no way I could give up meat. I enjoy it too much! I also think that a lot of the reported ill effects of meat on our health, at least here in the U.S., come from the way our meat is grown en mass and in unnatural conditions.
I read somewhere that a good way to look at it is: "If your great-grandparents didn't eat it, you probably shouldn't either." Of course, I don't take the advice literally. I'm not about to give up some of the imported fruits and veggies they wouldn't have had access to, nor am I all that interested in trying the backwoods delicacies my rural forbears probably dined on. (Grilled 'possum, anyone?) When money and local supermarket selection allow, however, I buy organic produce and try to stay away from factory farmed meats. I also keep a veggie garden (with mixed success), have in the past and will again eat both eggs from my chickens and butcher those I choose to cull. I see it as my attempt to keep my diet as wholesome and close to nature as possible considering that I'm not willing to give up occasional indulgences like gas station burritos and that nacho cheese stuff that's not really cheese but tastes so good.
