<p>for me, its environmental reasons. check out this link: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/40639%5B/url%5D">http://www.alternet.org/environment/40639</a>. but i think the most common reason people dont eat meat is because they care about animal rights. other people do it for health reasons, because red meat is unhealthy.</p>
<p>i was a vegetarian for pretty much every reason imaginable (environmental, health, meat=disgusting, my general dislike of anthropo-centrism). But one of the main reasons is that meat isn't necessary and is unnecessarily wasteful (in terms of land usage and byproducts of cattle). It's really just pointless to eat meat, omega-3s aside, and I feel that it's unnecessary waste to consume it just for the sake of appeasing an appetite</p>
<p>as you can see, assigning a label to the word "vegetarian" is difficult when I have to eat fish oils :p I'll still say I'm a vegetarian whenever I eat outside though</p>
<p>There are studies that show that vegetarians have similar mortality patterns to a control group of people who are health-conscious (they do live longer relative to the general population - but that's because vegetarians are more likely to be well-educated and health-conscious than the general population)</p>
<p>I guess those are all valid points, except that I find it a bit far-fetched to say that by eating meat I am contributing to global warming, but whatev.</p>
<p>unfortunately, its true. eating meat is worse for the environment than driving a car.</p>
<p>Well I guess I am the environment's enemy. I (intentionally) drive a car that gets 13 mpg and I eat meat like its no ones business.</p>
<p>lol, well, you have every right to do that. your grandchildren wont appreciate it, though. and why intentionally do that?</p>
<p>the typical response would be: "I won't be alive at the time."</p>
<p>To me if you are really trying to be as healthy as possible you would have a diet similar to what our distant ancestors did, considering that's what our bodies evolved to handle, which would be some nuts, berrys and fruits but mostly meat(though not beef like we eat now). Keep in mind this is coming from someone who is almost a carnivore, I would eat meat raw if I could, more flavor that way.</p>
<p>and what was the life expectancy of our "distant ancestors"....</p>
<p>MEAT IS SOOOOOOOO GoOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>
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and what was the life expectancy of our "distant ancestors"....
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Believe me, without meat it would have been a lot less. Like zero.</p>
<p>The most healthy diet really is an omnivoric diet where you eat everything in moderation, in my opinion. One of the problems with people these days is they consume way too much of things, be it meat or something else, like sugar.</p>
<p>I don't think I could ever eat meat...not just for ethical reasons, it's just out of fourteen years of habit...</p>
<p>Although I do think the eating of meat is unethical.</p>
<p>How in the world is it unethical? If we weren't supposed to eat meat then why in the world are they made of meat, why weren't they made of tree bark or something?</p>
<p>Three bark has lignin and cellulose. Humans cannot digest either, although we eat cellulose. It's unethical because animals have a fundamental right to live. Humans are in fact animals as well, of course. By the way, animals are made of "meat" (really just specialized tissues) because that was how they evolved. It gives a high probability of survivng to produce fertile offspring.</p>
<p>Why would animals have a fundamental right to live? They were put on earth for the benefit of humans/.</p>
<p>No, they evolved for "their own benefit", or essentially to get their genes passed on, developing their adaptations to help them survive to produce fertile offspring.</p>
<p>Prove that.</p>
<p>I think enough scientists have already. But I can't prove it in one post. Ask your biology teacher. One thing about evolution - part of it's theory, but part of it's law. The theory has vast amounts of evidence going for it, and if disproved, the new hypothesis must take these into account.</p>
<p>
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They were put on earth for the benefit of humans
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</p>
<p>Prove that.</p>