Thanks to everyone for their input on my thought, I appreciate your
sharing.
I was very curious about this.

For me, I became a vegetarian primarily because I was SO sensitive to
the
idea of eating flesh...in my mind it was the same as cannibalism! (I
felt
this way at age 14 or so). I couldn't bear when my mother brought a
pot
roast to the table, I especially could not handle seeing raw red meat.
I
would imagine myself being slaughtered like cattle, hanging like a
deer by
my ankles from a tree...

I was anorexic/bulimic from age 14 to 16, obsessed with my weight. I
was 105
lbs, and trying to get to double digits. While I did recover from
this, I
think I did continue to suffer from a form of anorexia where one does
eat,
but is concerned with every morsel they ingest. I became obsessed with
fat
and calories. BTW: I have always had a terrible relationship with my
parents, who have always thought I was wierd and were always ashamed
of me.

Additionally, I was raped by a friend's much older boyfriend when I
was 14.
Later, at 16, I was raped again by a boy I went to school with and his
older
brother's friend. While I would have never thought that this would
have
anything to do with what I chose to eat, I think now that perhaps it
does.

After I was married and in control of my own life, one of the first
things I
did was wholeheartedly convert to vegetarianism. I think now that I
did it
because I was suffering, and would not let myself be aware of my own
suffering but instead became obsessed with the suffering of animals.
Dislpacement.

I too was glad to be able to say "Look at me, I belong somewhere, I
can be
wierd and celebrate it!" (It took me years to learn that I can just
celebrate my own wierdness without the permission and support of
others). I
too was a very weak, easily manipulated person whose buttons were
pushed
very easily I might add. I would snap at the slightest threat or
insult.
Isn't that what happens when you take a weakling out of an animal pack
and
put him in a different situation? He snaps, can't handle being in
charge of
anything. (?)

A close friend of mine, too, was abused- by her first husband. (She is
now
separated from her second husband.) The smell of steak reminds her of
him,
so she will not eat it. The animal foods she eats are dairy, fish,
eggs and
gelatin (actually Jell-o which is not a food). She thinks that she
does not
deserve expensive things, refuses to pay more for her food. (She buys
the
very least expensive food she can find, while trying to stick to foods
she
thinks are healthy, like sugarfree yogurt, oatmeal and couscous.) When
DH
and I paid $50 for three nice juicy tuna steaks for the 3 of us, she
thought
we were nuts. (But she savored her tuna steak). I was hoping to
convince her
by example that she might feel a lot better eating paleo. She has
chronic
fatigue, severe joint pain, digestive problems (I've seen her stools
once
when she forgot to flush, and they're classic celiac stools) and has
IMO a
schizoid personality. I am very concerned for her health. I wish I
could
help her realize that her food is making her sick, and it's okay for
her to
spend a little more on food. She insists she is vegetarian because of
the
money, but also complains about fat and calories. She saw Ray on 20/20
or
Dateline, and couldn't get it out of her head that the reporter said
"And he
eats a pound of bacon every day for breakfast!" (I don't know if
that's what
was actually said, but she thinks so.) When I told her we were going
paleo,
she asked me why we thought it was a good idea to eat a pound of bacon
for
breakfast every day!

If her reasons for being veg are really psychological and tied in to
her
schizo tendencies and her addiction to dairy and wheat, then I suppose
that
I cannot influence the way she feels about changing her diet. But I
think I
have convinced her to buy oil-packed tuna instead of water-packed!
Yay, me!
Still, her hair is brittle and falls out like mad, and she always
looks very
undernourished when she arrives for a visit (she lives in another
state)
When I have fed her for two weeks, she goes home a little lighter, a
lot
brighter, and much healthier looking. I wish I could feed her more!

By the way, it was she who told me she thought my "veggie victim"
theory was
a load of crap.
Stacie