Well I grew up with cows for pets so that kinda kills the whole desire to eat them(to make a long story short, my parents were going to slaughter our own cows for organic meat but they got names and the rest is history.). As for the rest of it... well I grew up with a family that was pretty whole food oriented. We didn't eat anything with sugar, food colorings, additives, processed, etc. They tried many different diets, but not in the sense that most families have I'm talking macrobiotic, vegan, all organics, etc. We did eat some meat, but it was more of a condiment than having a meal built around meat. We had a huge garden and grew pretty much everything we ate. My mom canned so we didn't even buy canned foods in the winter. We had fruit trees that we harvested our own fruit from, we only had homemade breads, yogurts, jellies, fresh squeezed orange juice etc.

I of course rebelled and lived off fruit loops cereal, white bread and soda as soon as I was old enough to get out on my own but in time, I missed the whole foods. By the time I was pregnant with my second son I very rarely ate meat at all but I tell you, my morning sickness was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad that I couldn't even go to a restraunt or home where meat was being cooked. So basically that was it, I just never had the desire to eat meat again. For me, I guess it just feels natural to eat vegetarian. There is just something about whole natural foods that makes you feel good about what you are putting into your body. (at least for me it works that way)

Jenn