People have asked me why I choose to be vegetarian.  Let me say, first of all, it’s my choice.  What you choose is up to you and I won’t judge you for your choice.

I didn’t grow up vegetarian. I grew up on a farm, we grew animals for food, and we only killed them for food.  I never liked eating something I had seen walking around – I found myself avoiding meat. These animals were my friends, they were living, breathing creatures, and I didn’t like eating them.

Let me, also, clarify one of the jokes about vegetarians – that we’re just poor shots. … Well, I grew up on a farm out in the country and knowing how to use a gun was essential as a tool for survival. We had wild boar, rattlesnakes,  and sometimes people who came around reminding one of a cross between the two.  My Dad taught me how to shoot safely, and I took handgun and rifle as Physical Education courses in college – I made an A. So, I choose not to shoot living creatures.

My parents told the story of killing their pet chicken to eat on the train to New York when they were leaving for their honeymoon. Then they sat on the backporch steps and cried. I remember thinking they could have eaten peanut butter.  There are choices for protein intake.

If you read John Robbins book “Diet for a New America”, he talks about the times in history when meat was less abundant and statistics showed lower rates of certain diseases. Also, from my Holographic Health training, the importance of eating an alkalizing diet is paramount for health.  Thus, as Dr. Theodore Baroody suggests in “Alkalize or Die”, we should eat a diet that is 80% alkaline to 20% acidic. Fruits and vegetables, love and kindness are on the alkaline side of the scale; meat, sugar and stress are on the acidic side of the scale. Especially after my brush with cancer, I do everything I can to stay on the alkaline side of the scale.

Read these books, do your own research, and decide for yourself on the meat issue; however, whatever you do, eat a diet focused on fresh fruits and vegetables for your optimal health.