What's "in it" for me if I switch to a vegetarian diet?!

You will no different from what you feel now. The key to any diet is "well balanced" and as long as you have a well balanced omnivorous diet, you will be fine. The others like to use "scare tactics" because their real intention is to convert not provide factual nutritional information. In other words, they just want you to become a vegetarian and "join the club" as it were without really caring what you do afterwards. Kinda like going "now I have your money, you are on your own kid".

You said you feel fine so go with the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it..".

When I went vegetarian I felt like I slowly walked out of a fog and could see things in a new way. My thoughts were clearer. my energy was higher and I felt healthier. I used to have debilitating allergies and they were almost gone after being vegetarian. I lost 30 pounds somehow but I can't say I'm sure from where. Anyway, it won't hurt you to try it for a while and see how it goes. Just make sure you eat healthy. Don't just eat a lot of cheese for protein, it's not an adequate replacement for meat. Eat some beans and rice, whole grains and veggies. Tofu is pretty good if you fry it with some sauce and veggies, you can fry just about anything I think!

I'm vegan

vegetarians live longer. your body will thank you by blessing you with more life. your breath will not stink, your body odor will improve. you will have good digestion, everything that goes in comes out, unlike meat, when meat comes in it stays in and rots in your body.

i myself am vegan, i gave up dairy first because my kids and i were having a lot of tummy aches, allergies, sleep issues, body odor bad breath. i learned that milk/cheese produce a lot of histamines and mucus in our bodies. milk/milk products are really bad. if you don't go vegetarian/vegan, you should at least give up dairy. which is prob the hardest to give up but once again your body will thank you.

Well you may get a boost from knowing you're not contributing to the killing of livestock, but that would only be if you stopped wearing all kinds of animal products as well.

As for increased energy, I'm pretty sure that's a veggie-vegan myth to attract converts. Of course not all meat is good for you. Ideally you should eat white meat, or lean red meat, so converting to vegetarianism over eating lots of red meat would be a better diet for you and MAY increase energy levels.

You feel better overall. I know that's a very vague statement, but it's true.

Less stressed, more energetic, better clarity of thought & ability to focus, clearer & softer skin, brighter eyes, whiter teeth, stronger nails, healthier hair, not as much body odor, my asthma disappeared, I lost 85 pounds, and I just feel so good about myself as well as my life and others around me.

Good luck ^_^

Vegan/Raw Vegan.

your breath wil smell better.

You won't be so constipated.

If you can see why you'd go vegetarian, and you don't give a toss about this
http://www.subway.com/applications/Nutri…

then consider that meat gives you heart attacks and colon cancer.

You'll be less likely to get cancer and heart disease. Your diet will be lighter. You can even lose weight by not eating meat.

The feeling that your not killing tons of animals cruelly!

lower long term chance for heart disease.

There really aren't any particular benefit to become vegetarian. Some individuals claim they feel better, some don't. Some say their skin clears; some don't.

Most of the research on vegetarians in the US has been done on members of the 7th Day Adventist Church. While they don't require you be a vegetarian to join the church, they promote the diet very strongly. They also don't drink or smoke or hang around with people that do. They tend to have more stable marriages and jobs, have income a bit higher than average and are better educated, exercise regularly, strong community ties, and attend church. And, surprise, they tend to live longer healthier lives than the "average" American. The thing is, Mormons also have similar life styles, live long, healthy lives, and include meat in their diet.

There isn't a "magic" diet. When you cut an entire food group (meat) out of your diet, you need to pay a lot more attention to be sure you're getting nutrients that you would naturally get from meat.

Humans are omnivores. We evolved eating meat. Researchers tell us as we started eating more meat, our stomachs got smaller and our brains got bigger. Because of that, we absorb many nutrients from meat better than veggies.

Protein is made up of amino acids. Meat has all the amino acids for complete protein. Most veggies contain only some. You need to eat a wide variety of veggies every day so your body can combine the amino acids in each to make complete protein.

Iron in meat is heme iron. it's much easier for your body to use than the non-heme iron in veggies.

Vitamin B12 is only available in animal products. If you don't get enough eggs/dairy, you could be deficient in that.

Many of the veggies promoted by vegetarians for calcium also contain high levels of oxalate. Oxalate inhibits your body's ability to absorb iron and calcium.

The only way to see if a vegetarian diet is better for you is to try it. I'm of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" opinion. If you're healthy and happy, why let someone push you into a vegetarian diet?