why we don't eat much meat

Last fall I stopped buying meat. Well, at least for a while. I've returned to buying some here and there, but overall, meat is rarely the main attraction in our meals. We aren't going vegetarian, not by a long shot. But we've both agreed that eating meat only occasionally and in small quantities, instead of in large portions at every meal, would be a very good thing...in our own home.

I do not believe it is ethically wrong to eat animals, and I think it is wrong to impose my own decisions on others' cooking when we're out and about.  Just thought I'd get those out of the way.

But I do want to talk about why I...Justin and I...made this decision. (It was my idea originally, but we discussed it a lot, and we are in full agreement.) There are plenty of reasons people may choose to eat less, or no, meat.  For me, three main reasons surfaced as I began thinking and researching.  (Those two things, put together, never fail to result in some new life-changing decision!)

1) Plants and veggies are just plain healthier.  You don't have to look very far to discover some very compelling information: people who don't eat meat (especially red meat), or who eat small amounts of it, are happier, more fit, less likely to be obese, less likely to have cancer or heart disease or high blood pressure or diabetes.  Vegetarians live, on average, ten years longer than their omnivore counterparts. (This can also be chalked up to the fact that vegetarians are also very health-conscious in other areas of their lives.)  It's an established fact that a healthy plant-based diet is one of the best things you can do for your physical well-being.

Plus, the Bible attests to it!  Think about it: a perfect garden, the best conditions imaginable for man and beast, and...Adam and Eve ate the bounty of the earth, not other living creatures. It was God's original ideal. Animals weren't even harmed, much less eaten, until the world was perverted by sin. While we live in a fallen world, it is very obvious that the gifts from the earth--God's best plan!--is the original ideal diet.