Sure, you can be healthier than most with a vegetarian diet. I wasn't disputing that. This is especially true when you consider the sheer tonnage of junk that the average American eats in a year. But we don't all eat that way and neither do most of our friends.

Why do so many vegetarians have such a hard time admitting that there are many, many of us omnivores that are ridiculously healthy? Is it a doctrinal thing? Is it threatening to some people to admit that we read labels, too?

I have no junk food in the house. We even make our own pita chips. The canned stuff we have is pretty basic - tomato paste, unflavored beans, etc. We don't do pre-prepared anything, because vegetarian or not, it's generally loaded with salt and fat.

I really, honest to goodness want to know what the issue is. Why is all this emotion wasted on something so silly? I don't care what anyone eats. There are things I loathe, both veggie and animal that you won't get me to try no matter what you do.