Is becoming a vegetarian/vegan worth it?

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Johnw1104 said:

I'm not a vegetarian but I've found there's quite a lot of alternatives that make it a lot less difficult than I thought it would be, and when you go a long time without eating meat you begin to lose your taste and desire for it.

The truth is, it's a very, very healthy way to go so long as you make sure you're still getting sufficient protein (which can be found in plenty of non-animal sources) and vitamins (perhaps get a metabolic panel after a couple months of it to make sure you're not deficient in anyhting); I don't believe I've ever met a fat committed-vegetarian.

Personally, I've been gradually removing meat from my life but more so because I've been developing feelings of guilt about the animals I eat... I recall one turning point night was when I was at a bar watching basketball and ordered a large plate of wings with a friend who hardly ate any, and looking down at it I realized that something like a minimum of nearly a dozen animals had to die so that we could have something to snack on with our beer. That just felt inherently wrong, but certainly didn't stop me lol

There's certain animals, though, that I've really felt the need to stop eating, first and foremost being pigs. I've just seen far too much evidence on youtube and the like that pigs are essentially dogs, with similar levels of intelligence and emotions to the point that it just seems insanely cruel the way they are kept in pens and then killed. It was painful as hell to say goodbye to prosciutto, pepperoni, and bacon, but it turns out turkey bacon is actually quite good.

At this point the next animal I may have to abandon (but am extremely hesitant to) is the cow... I hope they're not as aware and intelligent as some evidence has begun showing them to be, as damn do I love steak lol

I wish I could say I started my veg-positive journey for reasons as noble as yours (not wanting to participate in animal cruelty).  I started going veg-positive because of the environmental devastation that animal agriculture wreaks on the planet.  The United Nations has assessed the evidence and concluded that animal agriculture is the #1 cause of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (in part because animal agriculture is also the #1 cause of global deforestation, which reduces carbon sequestration).  Activities related to animal agriculture are also the #1 cause of groundwater contamination, the #1 contributor to ocean "dead zones", a huge contributor to soil contamination, and much more.  Put it all together and animal agriculture is the #1 environmental threat on this planet.  Not a bad motivator to want to do something about that then I suppose, but it's more self-interested than animal rights (I have a vested interest in the environment supporting life on this planet, after all!).  I hate to admit it, but animal welfare wasn't enough to make me go more plant-based.

I switched to a plant-based diet for the environment, and now animal welfare issues help keep me there.  So too do all the health benefits of a veg-positive lifestyle, as I've seen significant personal health improvements and I obviously don't want to let those go either.  But I honestly wish I had done it for a more selfless reason, and much earlier.

A quick note about protein.  The only people not getting enough protein are people on severely calorie restricted diets (ballerinas, figure skaters, etc.).  On average, vegans eat twice as much protein as they need and they have blood levels of protein approximately similar to omnivores (slightly higher actually, likely due to vegans typically having better digestion than omnivores).  And most omnivores are already nutrient deficient (7 nutrient deficiencies on average, in one study), so switching to a diet of whole plant foods would actually likely reduce their nutrient deficiencies since whole plant foods have far more nutrients per calorie.