Ancient observance Carmelites are vegetarians.  Many Saints were vegetarians - docuмented cases of men or women living only on plants and herbs.

A vegetarian in one who does not eat animal products.  It does not have to be construed as a philosophy or a religion. One can love animals and treat them with kindness and respect as God's creatures without being construed as giving them rights or being unCatholic.

. One can love animals and treat them with kindness and respect as God's creatures without being construed as giving them rights or being unCatholic.

        I perfectly agree with Mathieu here. Because T. G.20 said "inhumanely tortured" and" slaughterhouses" doesn't mean he's an animal liberationist. I've heard of many disgusting stories of the way people treat animals. It shows that they don't care twopence for God's wonderful creatures! :really-mad2:

Re:the original question of health and vitality eating meat versus a 'vegetarian' diet.

It depends on how one is a vegetarian.

That is, if it is merely abstaining from meat, and not cultivating a healthy variety of the right foods, one can certainly lack the energy and vitality the OP mentioned.

Some vegetarians merely do not eat meat, and their vegetarianism is circuмscribed by not eating meat. I knew 2 girls in college who were vegetarians and obese(!). They fairly regularly attacked entire cheese pizzas.

If you just eat a bunch of starches, you will probably feel better when going to a meat inclusive omnivorous diet, because you could seriously lack several important nutrients from a starchy diet lacking in rich and leafy greens and fruits.

Heavy meat and starch eaters who go to a vegetarian diet rich in leafy greens, cruciferous and other plants, and fruits, and avoid starches and over-reliance on 'fake meat' products identical to a non-vegatarian diet will probably feel better as well.

The data is clear however that the typical American diet of meat, fats, starches and 5% vegetable matter (10% if you include white potatoes) absolutely correlates to a significantly shorter lifespan. So (correct) vegetarianism doesn't seem a bad health choice.

Well I oppose abortion and contraception but I also have a soft spot for animals. I guess that makes me "anti-Christian" and "unmanly." Some people are vegetarians also because they notice an increased vitality and stamina as well when they don't eat meat.

Not to derail the thread (I can't really comment on that as I am neither a man nor have I ever been vegetarian), but I did want to comment on this.

I simply cannot stand how it is considered by some to be "unmanly" when a guy has a soft spot for animals and shows it.  Even at the university farm I work at, I know these guys care, but they refuse to admit it and will speak harshly about them, though they are given excellent care.  It's the masculine thing to do, you see.

If I am called to marriage, I will never marry someone who doesn't care about animals.  It is to me a tremendous sign of strength in a man or a woman to care about those weaker than they.  I understand that not everybody likes animals, but if one cannot treat a lamb or calf with gentleness, or a horse with respect, I cannot help but feel that they will not treat their fellow men that way either, much less be a good father.  

I am in animal science and I do not appreciate how animals are cared for on many of the larger operations.   I don't believe that they are intentionally doing so to cause misery, but just because it is the economic thing to do does not mean it should be done.  I don't believe that animals have rights, but we have an obligation to care for them well and that also means that we do not have a right to treat them poorly or cruelly.

I support eating meat but I feel that it is because of orginal sin that this happened.  We would not have sheep and cattle and many other animals if they weren't consumed.  If they are raised with care and slaughtered in a way to prevent suffering as much as possible, it is a good thing and we should not feel guilty about eating meat.

St. Francis would buy lambs destined for slaughter because he couldn't bear the thought.  If one doesn't want to eat meat because they don't want to be responsible for killing animals, that is fine and is not anti-Catholic in the least.  At the same time, it is perfectly fine to eat meat.

Isaias 40:11
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.

There is nothing wrong with making a choice not to eat meat, as long as one is not against it in principe. As has been clarified before, the permission to eat meat was given by God after the Flood, and this was because of the physical deterioration which had been gradually increasing. The first generations of men grew centuries old, and the age limit decreased until Moses, when it was stabilised at 120, and it has remained as such unto this day. It shows how people have become gradually weaker in the time after the Fall.

In the beginning, people did not eat animal flesh. But to claim as a principle that it is immoral to eat it today is to create a pseudo-morality which goes against an explicit and universal permission given by God to man, illicitly compromising Christian freedom. And some people become quite weakened if they completely stop consuming it, which is why Our Lord allowed it in the first place; to restore the decaying body.

Regarding love for animals; there are effeminate men who cannot stand them, which illustrates the fact that the claim that it is manly to be harsh towards them is nonsense. There have been hermits who became so holy that wild animals obeyed them, and they have never treated them badly. St. Jerome had a lion running around his monastery, St. Paul of Thebe was fed by ravens bringing him bread and had two lions dig his grave. When a freshly caught fish was given to St. Francis as a gift, he threw it back into the water, and he preached to birds who came to sing his eulogy at the moment when he had died. There are numerous other examples.

By the way, the best meat comes from hunting or raising the animals yourself. I have to be really hungry to eat typical supermarket meat. If you can find a good butcher, that's good too.