Why I became a vegetarian

Most of you will probably already know why.

So here it is...

Back when I was at university, I used to babysit a lot for a family that was vegetarian. They certainly never pressed their views on me... but we used to talk about it a lot. They were even so good about it, that when I babysat for them at seminars and such out of town (where they would put me up in the hotel with them, feed me, etc) they would be fine with me ordering meat, and paying for it. They were totally cool. We did have a lot of conversations about the violence involved in meat production though. I did realize that this went against everything that I believed in deep down gut style. I have always had troubles even watching very violent movies, so how could I continue my life knowing that a choice I was making was putting animal after animal through extreme cruelty and suffering? After a few months, there came a day when I realized I hadn't had any meat for about three weeks, and I decided to see if I could keep going. Sometime soon after I realized that not only had my horrible bowel issues seemed to lessen, but I didn't miss meat. And then the choice was made. I was going veg, and not turning back. It the only decision I've ever made that I didn't question or second guess. It felt completely right on a body and soul level.
The longer I continued on my path, the more I read about being a vegetarian, the more my choice resounded with me. I have learned that I have a less negative impact on animal lives, on my own body, on the environment at large. No, I have not gone vegan, but it is a choice I think about. I can see it being something I do someday.
Something I face in the future is how I will raise my children. My initial thought is to do it vegetarian. But there are things that make this choice more complex. For instance, the man that I hope will father my children is a meat eater. They will be his children as well, and he will of course have a say. This leads me to possibly allowing only hunted or organic meat on rare occasions. With no solid scientific evidence that children need meat to be healthy, I don't consider this aspect at all influential in my choice. In fact, for as much as I know... children who don't consume dairy products tend to be healthier, with fewer ear infections and colds in infancy and childhood. Also, on this same point, since there is no scientific evidence one way or the other... I don't see raising a child vegetarian as any different than raising them within a certain religion or other value. As parents, we make choices for our children until they are old enough to do so for themselves. We generally make these choices based on our own beliefs... and if we are good parents, we respect the choices that our children make once they do reach the age of personal decision making. Some would argue that if they have not developed a "taste" for meat during their formative years, that they will never want it. I argue this with the simple example of all the foods that I now eat that I never even heard of as a child. Tofu, many green vegetables, and loads of ethnic flavors fall into this category. If the taste is one you're meant to like, you'll like it whether you eat it from birth or not. So, we'll see.
What concerns me most about the choice to be vegetarian is the way we can make a difference in the environment. The way that animals are raised, kept and slaughtered right now has a major affect on the environment. Living in a time when environmental issues are becoming bigger and bigger, living a "greener" life seems only to make sense. There is also the matter of all the shit that is pumped into animals while they are being "grown". That shit ain't meant to be going into our bodies! Even if meat doesn't in and of itself have a negative affect on one's body, meat pumped up with all that crap surely does. Another reason why I would rather not offer it down my children's throats. This of course, does leave the option of organic or hunted meat as an option...which is why I am not completely shut down to it.
I know this is a majorly hot topic... JS himself says that for every article or book or body of research that I can find supporting my views, he can find just as many supporting his own. Who knows... maybe he can. But are they funded by the cattle industry, the dairy farmers...all the people who are making money off of these products? Either way... when there is so much information out there, when taking into account having a positive or negative affect on the world at large, I would rather err on the side of positive, and not make meat-eating a part of my life.
So...there it is... why I became a vegetarian. And to this day, some 6 years later, I have never regretted it.