2-3 days ago, I watched part of a documentary. Many documentaries are entertaining, but this one wasn't. It made it's point in two minutes and spent the next ten throwing statistics at you and the boring stories of which scientist thought up the idea to collect that info, as well as when, where, why, and how. Boring stuff, but the point was this: Humans do not need meat in their diets.
It never occurred to me that I could or would even think to become a vegetarian, but when I heard that piece of information something clicked for me. The other reason why vegetarianism makes sense to me is because several of our serious diseases are linked to our poor American diets and can be prevented or even reversed if you eat a healthy diet. The problem is not just meat though, which in and of itself isn't unhealthy, it's just the amount we get. The problem is it's all our crappy processed foods which contribute to early deaths and poor overall health. Note however that much of our animal products become such crappy processed food.
So, just for curiosity sake, I haven't eaten any animal products since then, and I've discovered that it doesn't bother me (so far). In fact, it feels pretty good, like atheism. I don't crave meat, but I do have for sugary caffeinated drinks. I think I could very easily go without meat for a very long time, but the sugary drinks are going to be hard to get over unless I can discipline myself or replace one vice with a slightly less bad one. I have a blender, maybe I can make really tasty fruit drinks?
Let me comment on the reasons for vegetarianism. The moral ones sound pretty good; I don't agree with mistreating thinking and feeling creatures. It's an environmentally friendly thing to do, and I'm in favor of that. Although, in my case, neither of those two arguments sell vegetarianism. Instead, the one that shouldn't, did. Rather than just figuring out how to eat healthy, maybe hiring a nutrition, the extreme idea to cut out piece of my diet - a very readily available food staple in my culture, did. Is my brain chemistry messed up?
As I write this, I have various doubts, but I think I'm going to try being a veggie eater for as long as I can.
