"You are what you eat", goes a famous saying. And if that is trulythe case, then a lot of Americans would appear to be unhealthy, chemicallytreated, commercially raisedslabs of animal flesh. And while that is not a particularly pleasantthought, it is nonetheless an description of the typical American omnivorewho survives on the consumption of Big Macs and steak fajitas. But there are individuals who do not follow this American norm andhave altered their diets so that they do not consume any meat. These peopleare vegetarians, and they are the new breed of healthy Americans who refuseto poison themselves with fats, cholesterol, and the other harmfuladditives that come from meat. And while once thought to be a movement thatwould never gain much momentum, it has nonetheless moved itself to theforefront of Americans' healthy diets. The word vegetarian, used to describe the diets of people who donot consume animal flesh, was not used until around the mid-1800s. Theconcept of vegetarianism,however, dates back much further. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras,considered by many to be the father of vegetarianism, encouraged a non-meatdiet among hisfollowers as a diet that was the most natural and healthful (Messina 3). A vegetarian diet excludes the consumption of meat, and can beexercised by people for a number of reasons. The largest majority ofindividuals chose vegetarianism for health related reasons. For example,someone with anulcer might be prescribed a strict diet of vegetables inorder to promote the healing process. Or someone with a dangerously highlevel of cholesterol might be advised to follow a vegetarian diet to lowerhis or her fat and cholesterol intake. The immorality of consuming animal flesh is another argument toutedby a smaller group of vegetarians. R.G. Frey describes this moral argumentfor vegetarianism and the effect that meat eating might have on thecharacter of humans: Some peopl...
