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Wow. You came right out and said what I've been trying to say for a while.

I don't think that humans aren't meant to eat meat, but I do think that we eat far far too much meat these days...

Cheese and dairy (especially the way we eat them now) are what I think we're not meant to eat. : P

Stating that 'an ideal diet includes some animal products' is flippant and offensive when you're talking to vegetarians/vegans who obviously believe differently. However I will take in response that stating that vegetarianism and veganism being the best diet to meat eaters is also flippant and offensive.

If you were anemic on a vegetarian diet, you might have a genetic predisposition, in which eating meat might be best for you, but the much more likely answer is that you weren't doing it properly. And that's easy. Vegetarians are often not enabled by the people around them and especially their families to get proper nutrition. It takes a fair amount of work and you have to remember why you're doing it.

Please look up studies before you talk about increased risks of cancer.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070522081943.htm

This is a wonderfully sourced article on cancer and animal sourced diets. http://www.vegsource.com/harris/cancer_vegdiet.htm

What you do with your body is your own concern and always will be, but the best reason I can think of that hotdogs are popular and advertised is because there's SO MUCH unusable product from mass scale factory farms, there is too much product.

Too many vegetarians lean on soy too much, they ignore beans, lentils, and other sources of minerals and vitamins. Hell, too many vegetarians (and I was like this when I was vegetarian) too many simply forget about protein completely.

It's more than possible to eat a bad diet as a vegetarian, when I met my fiance he went through a pound of cheese a week, and ate ommlets, and pasta with canned tomato sauce on it. The whites of his eyes were practically yellow because he was severely iron deficient.

You can use any excuse you want, to keep eating meat. But that's all it is, because at the very root of the issue, you're holding the status quo so very nicely. Being vegetarian doesn't need to be defended, doesn't need to be excused, because the very act of making a change is active, it takes work and you do it for your own reasons and much as you'd like, you cannot, CANNOT force anyone else to change. Trying to recruit others to your cause is trying to help them see the bonds of culture that bind them. By eating meat, you're simply being passive.

Well, from an evolutionary point of view, without fire, we would not be capable of digesting meat. We are the only species that cook our food. We may have the teeth to chew meat, but our digestive tract would not handle it.

And dogs are capable of digesting plastic, but that's no proof that it belongs in their diet. They happen to have extremely short and harsh digestive tracks that allow them to digest just about anything. They are equipped to eat meat, as they're digestive track is so much shorter than ours, any bad bacteria in the meat would not have time to settle and cause any harm.

It is personal choice but I noticed a increase in energy since being a vegetarian.

i became vegetarian almost two years ago. & because i was one of those who substituted meat with fatty foods, i lost about 15 pounds & have been there pretty much ever since. since i've been changing my diet recently(eating less carbs & dairy foods, adding more beans & legumes) i've noticed a signifigant increase in my energy, as well as easier weight loss. i've also always loved dark leafy greens such as spinach, so i've never had a problem with iron.

so, it works for me, but only if i do it correctly. any diet high in fat & carbs is bound to make you gain, meat or not.

Oh ya and it has some kind of pepper spread, mushrooms and baby spinach. Might be one or two other things, I ask for it all dressed cause I'm not picky.

To add to what I was saying earlier, about having more energy after cutting down my meat intake. I was more tired today than I had been all summer. I realized I had a pork chop for supper last night, and a sausige McMuffin for breakfast. Not entirely by choice. That's what my parents made/brought home so I ate it.