I wholeheartedly agree with Kachuma on two points: Animals cannot be hierarched (is that a word?) and HUMANE is the key word. I eat meat, and I enjoy eating meat. Man is an omnivore, and a vegan diet is unnatural and difficult for most people to maintain successfully.

However, as someone who lacks only a semester in completing a degree in dietetics, I must clarify I few things in Spencer's post. Most Americans are overweight because they do not get enough exercise and eat too much junk food, fried food and highly refined carbohydrates. If we would take a walk everyday and cut out the ice cream, potato chips, hamburger helper, and Kentucky Fried Chicken there would be a massive amount of weight lost amongst us. The same factors, as well as a hefty dose of pure genetics, cause most high cholesterol problems. And diabetes either a) has no known cause as of yet but is closely (but not absolutely) linked to excess weight and age (type 2) which, once again, have more to do with the lack of exercise and a refined, fatty diet, or b) is an autoimmune disease caused when the islet cells on the pancreas are destroyed by misguided antibodies, and has absolutely nothing to do with weight, age or diet (type 1).

Whether or not to be a vegetarian or a vegan is a very personal matter, with alot of reasons being determining factors. But eating meat, within moderation, is not unnatural nor unhealthy for man.

And, no, I do not work for the Cattle Ranchers Association of Texas.