Evolution over a very long period of time has honed homo sapiens as omnivores, i.e. to eat meat and vegetables. We are optimized to be omnivores. Having free will we can choose to act otherwise but it does not change the facts. Similarly you can choose to have only four toes and fingers on each foot/hand (think amputation) BUT... it is not better, just different and artificial.

Many of us eat too much meat and some of us eat no meat. Strict vegetarians who avoid all animal products find it difficult over the long term to maintain proper health as some essential amino acids are hard to come by via readily obtainable vegetables.

There is no reason to feel guilty about eating animals as it is NORMAL human activity. Life feeds on life at virtually every level from the microscopic on up. It is the way it is and to think otherwise is delusional and aberrant. You can no more "CHOOSE" to divorce yourself from the realities of what your body is optimized for than you can choose which lows of physics you will obey.

I have lived through personal periods of time where I was "almost vegetarian" using meat more as a condiment than a featured element of a meal and have had my pendulum swing to excess in the other direction too but for quite a while now I have leveled out with a significant meat intake but also have a medium to large salad almost every night and frequently have vegetable side dishes too.

Since loosing 56 +/- a couple pounds in a relatively short period of time and keeping it off for nearly a year while eating significant portions of meat I don't obsess over meat intake. I did however virtually eliminate junk food and now snack almost exclusively on fruit and sometimes veggies or more recently the SPICY version of V-8 juice. I have a mid morning and mid afternoon snack virtually every day. Of course I have pie and or ice cream almost every night and maybe a bunch of graham crackers or huge serving of popcorn too. Alas, I have virtually eliminated peanut butter from my diet which was previously consumed in prodigious quantities.

If for whatever reason you decide to avoid all animal based food stuffs do carefully consider having a consultation with a professional (licensed) nutritionist to ensure you are getting everything you need. I don't mean chatting up one of the blokes down to the local ashram but a GENUINE nutritionist.

Pat