Are You, Or Have You Ever Been, A Vegetarian?

Lee has written with conviction and reason about vegetarianism and animal welfare both at his former blog and at his current blog.  I'm something of a lapsed vegetarian.  I've also noticed that, next to being a Muslim, vegetarianism is the most problematic moral or ethical stance one can take in contemporary society.  For these reasons it seems good to write a series of short posts on various aspects of vegetarianism.

For this post, I'll address the health aspects of vegetarianism.  In short, protein is way, way overrated in our culture.  Adkins diet be damned!  Just take a look at the food pyramid (click to enlarge).  Complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables are the staples of a healthy diet.  Protein is next to sweets in terms of being a luxury, and it's rather easy to get all the protein you need from nuts and beans.

Kids do have greater protein needs than adults.  So do athletes.  But in my forays out into the general American public (i.e. shopping at Wal Mart) I don't see a whole lot of athletes.  I do see a whole lot people blown up beyond all proportion due to the double whammy of animal fat and simple carbohydrates in the typical bun and meat patty that is the staple of the modern American diet.

Now, it is a huge leap from "Meat isn't necessary to eat" to "Meat shouldn't be eaten," but since most people reject the latter proposition because they believe the opposite of the former, it's necessary to knock that fallacy down.  You don't need meat to live a healthy life.

Later, humans as meat-eating creatures, vegetarianism in the eschaton, factory farming and animal rights, stewardship of natural resources, and more!  (See, it really is for the best to break it up into a series of small posts).