I agree with Baba and Kim C, mostly and with some of what many others here have said...

I do not think meat is evil; humans are more or less built to eat it; though surely not built to eat meat that is pumped full of antibiotics and hormones from animals whose lives are miserable while they are alive...I believe we should all acknolwedge the sacrifice an animal makes when it gives its life for our nourishment--this is simply part of staying connected to the living world around us: something we have all but forgotten how to do in industrialized countries.

We are also built to MOVE! as in hunting for our food and planting and digging up our food. Not to sit in chairs. Lack of physical activity is the NUMBER ONE reason Americans are overweight and unhealthy. We must escape our fortresses and take to the hills and forests and meadows and sidewalks and get off our asses and enjoy the outdoors more...no need to join a gym or buy fancy exercise gear. Walking is pleasurable, health-giving and a wonderful way to get somewhere (or nowhere).

We are also built to eat fruits and grasses and roots and veggies; we are NOT built to eat grains and in fact added them to our diets rather late in our evolution. They are hard for humans to digest because they combine protein and carbohydrate in the same food. This is exacerbated when grains are refined and the fiber and nutrients removed. Some ethnic groups can eat grains more successfully than others, just as some are more prone to alcohol addiction, dairy allergies, etc.. (A fascinating book on this is Native Nutrition and it also details what has happened throughout history when refined foods, especially white sugar, is introduced to various indigenous populations: southwest Indians in the US are experiencing obesity and its concomitant diseases, especially diabetes, in staggering record numbers; their counterparts in South America, genetically identical but physically active people who eat plenty of beans and corn, are among the healthiest people on earth. As are the Masai in Africa, who literally live on meat, milk and marrow from their cattle, but who also run amny miles per day as part of their nomadic herding lifestyle).

I think eating real food is the answer to the emptiness many Americans feel regarding their diets; real, live food, that is grown or raised near in one's own local area and with a minimum of chemicals and cruelty. Cooking one's own food or having it cooked for you by a loving person is also believed to impart better nutrition. Eating produce which has to travel several days before it hits the shelves insures most of the nutrients are dissipated. We can and should vote with our dollar and create a demand for humane food products. Better still, we should grow and kill our own food whenever possible.

One individual cannot solve the world hunger crisis. But each of us can opt to treat ourselves and our loved ones as well as we can, and since not eating is not an option, I suggest we enjoy our food as much as we can while understanding that we must eat to live, not live to eat.

love and simple pleasures to all!
Peg

Single malt Scotch, Belgian chocolates, fresh bread with organic butter, locally-grown berries, free range leg of lamb roasted with rosemary and garlic, crumpets with apricot jam, farm-raised salmon baked with honey-lemon-garlic-olive oil-red pepper-cumin glaze---these are a few of my favorite things...