For many years, I was looked upon as odd because I was a vegetarian. It has been over 24 years since I became a vegetarian, and a lot has changed in the minds of the average American.

For one thing, even doctors are realizing the hazards of eating red meat. Although, I realize that red meat isn't the only thing which can cause problems, at least they are headed in the right direction. Also, they know the dangers of eating too many eggs. It's a start.

I am pleased to see that more and more Americans have started wising up. Not only are more people cutting out red meat, there are many becoming vegetarians. Not only does one lose weight when giving up meat, but they are also lowering their cholesteral and improving their health.

There are the different types of vegetarians:

Vegan:	They consume no animal flesh and avoid all foods of animal origin.
Lacto:	They consume no animal flesh but include dairy products in their diets.
Ovo:	They consume no animal flesh but include eggs in their diets.
Lacto-ovo:	They consume no animal flesh but include dairy products & eggs in their diets.

Below are some quotes I would like to share with you. You can also find some vegetarian links on the link page.

"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of `real food for real people,' you'd better live real close to a real good hospital."
--Neal D. Barnard, M.D., President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, D.C.

"When we kill the animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings."
--William C. Roberts, M.D., editor of The American Journal of Cardiology

"All red meat contains saturated fat. There is no such thing as truly lean meat. Trimming away the edge ring of fat around a steak really does not lower the fat content significantly. People who have red meat (trimmed or untrimmed) as a regular feature of their diets suffer in far greater numbers from heart attacks and strokes."
--Michael Klaper, M.D., Medical Director, EarthSave Foundation, Santa Cruz, California

"I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol-lowering drugs for the rest of their lives."
--Dean Ornish, MD

"If you step back and look at the data, the optimum amount of red meat you eat should be zero."
--Walter Willett, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, director of a study that found a close correlation between red meat consumption and colon cancer.

"Usually, the first thing a country does in the course of economic development is to introduce a lot of livestock. Our data are showing that this is not a very smart move and the Chinese are listening. They are realizing that animal-based agriculture is not the way to go.... We are basically a vegetarian species and should be eating a wide variety of plant food and minimizing our intake of animal foods.... "Once people start introducing animal products into their diet, that's when the mischief starts."
--T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., of Cornell University, director of a study of 6,500 Chinese that found a close correlation between meat consumption and the incidence of heart disease and cancer.

"The thousands of people who have suffered food poisoning after eating beef will, no doubt, appreciate that their beef was aesthetically acceptable, even though it made them ill. `Lovely to look at, dangerous to eat' is not a standard that is likely to help beef sales."
--Carol Tucker Foreman, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture during the Carter administration, commenting on the inadequacy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Streamlined (Meat) Inspection System (SIS).

"In every respect, vegans appear to enjoy equal or better health in comparison to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians."
--T. Colin Campbell, PhD Professor of Nutrition, Cornell University (letter dated 3/29/98)

"The human body has no more need for cows’ milk than it does for dogs’ milk, horses’ milk, or giraffes’ milk."
--Michael Klaper, MD, author of Vegan Nutrition: Pure & Simple

"Those who, by their purchases, require animals to be killed have no right to be shielded from the slaughterhouse or any other aspect of the production of the meat they buy. If it is distasteful for humans to think about, what can it be like for the animals to experience it?"
--Peter Singer

"My dream is that people will come to view eating an animal as cannibalism."
--Henry Spira

"Awareness is bad for the meat business. Conscience is bad for the meat business. Sensitivity to life is bad for the meat business. DENIAL, however, the meat business finds indispensable."
--John Robbins, Diet for a New America

"There will come a time...when civilised people will look back in horror on our generation and the ones that preceded it: the idea that we should eat other living things running around on four legs, that we should raise them just for the purpose of killing them! The people of the future will say "meat-eaters!" in disgust and regard us in the same way we regard cannibals and cannibalism"
--Dennis Weaver

"People get offended by animal rights campaigns. It’s ludicrous. It’s not as bad as mass animal death in a factory."
--Richard Gere

"All creation has the same right to life."
--Sun Bear and Jaya Bear

"I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals."
--Henry David Thoreau

"I grew up in cattle country-that's why I became a vegetarian. Meat stinks, for the animals, the environment, and your health."
--K.D. Lang

"If you could see or feel the suffering you wouldn't think twice. Give back life. Don't eat meat."
--Kim Basinger