I've been a vegetarian since my early teens. During that time my reasoning was because I didn't like the taste, texture, or smell of meat. I never had a problem with other people eating it around me though and I still don't; however, now I have better reasons for not eating the meat.

Reason number one - It's bad for the environment.

This article by the UN news center, titled Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars, states that livestock use 30 percent of the earths entire land surface. Forests are being cleared to create new pastures and it is a major cause of deforestation, especially in Latin America where some 70 percent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing.

I understand that it's a major source of income for these people but if there's nothing left in the world for them to farm on how much money are they going to be making?

The article also states that according to Livestock's Long Shadow-Environmental Issues and Options, "The environmental costs per unit of livestock production must be cut by one half, just to avoid the level of damage worsening beyond its present level".

That is huge. The only way to do that would for there to be no need for livestock. As long as we need a piece of meat at every meal, they have a reason to keep going.

Reason number two - It's bad for our health.

I attended the holistic holiday at sea cruise earlier this year where there was a speaker named Dr. T. Colin Campbell. If you have never heard of him then you need to look this guy up because I could never write enough about him and his research to do him any sort of justice.

He used to be a big meat eater and now, after many years of study and growth, is a vegan himself. His book The China Study is a must read if you want to learn about the affects of food on your health.

He is not offering you information about what he thinks about food and health. He's offering you facts that he has researched and tested, and he lays it all out in his book and lets you decide for yourself.

Why it's not healthy to eat meat or animal products is kind of like the secret in the sense that once you start digging around you will find a lot of information that you've never seen or heard of before.

Reason number three - you're eating more living food.

Raw or Living Foods are foods that contain enzymes. The act of heating food over 116 degrees F destroys enzymes in food. (Enzymes start to degrade in as little as 106 degrees F).

Living and raw foods also have enormously higher nutrient values than food that has been cooked.

Eating the food while it is alive is the best option for obtaining all the nutrition that the particular piece of food has to offer you. Once you cook it or overcook it, it loses all those beneficial nutrients and enzymes that it once had.

And if you eat vegetarian food you do end up eating more fresh and living food which can increase your overall health and give you tons more energy.

Reason number four - you are what you eat.

I'm not going to go into their feed or antibiotics or anything like that because quite honestly I have too much to say about that, more like a novel than an article. But I do suggest that you research that stuff for yourself.

Let's instead talk about their sickness. It doesn't even have to be a disease sickness. I'm talking about stressed out animals that are going to be slaughtered eventually and whom are treated that way throughout their entire life.

That stress lives in their bodies and in their cells. When they are slaughtered all of that stress is still in their bodies. You essentially eat their stress from them and put it into your body.

Everyone knows how much stress can affect our own bodies and how it can bring about sickness. Animals are living beings and they can be stressed as well, especially when they are in cramped living conditions that animals should never be in anywase and are forced to live that way their entire life.

Then they get to follow other animals up the ramp to the slaughter house and you don't think they freak out hearing all those horrible sounds. That's what you are eating when it gets to you; the fear and the stress that's retained in their cells.

My end point of this article is that being a vegetarian is not about some drastic crazy diet that you can barely survive on. In the end it's about feeding your body what it needs to be healthy and not feeding it what it needs to help get it sick.