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