I chose not to eat meat a while back. From MY point of view, without imposing it on ANYONE else, not meating is:

1. Healthier for MY body.
2. Doesn't kill or harm creatures that are concious.
3. Helps me cultivate the relationship with the Universe and the reality which I want to manifest for myself -- Harmony and Peace with ALL living creatures.

I eat meat. Although, I am not actually that fond of most meat. Most of the food I eat is fruit, vegetables etc. I eat meat primarily because others around me do and I see no reason to put them into a situation, especially since I am not actually adverse to it.

I have nothing against vegetarians - though have found humor in it, such as the idea of you always killing off bacteria, and that eating vegetables is even worse since at least animals can attempt to put up a fight. I side more with those who do it from a health point of view, than an ethical.

In anything to do with health, I like to look to nature. Our 'mixed' incisors and flesh tearing canines (and I have particularly sharp canines...perhaps have that 'vampire gene' I heard about a bit back, lol) along with the structure and size of our gut indicate a moderate flesh eating diet i.e. omnivore (Though, we seem to lean towards vegetarianism more so) Of course, we can argue that is just looking at the past and repeating it - and for our slow adapting bodies I am quite happy to do that. [This of course, ignores the changes that have happened, such as the stuffing of a lot of meat with hormones, and abuse of animals which I consider real health and ethical issues for us as a 'global society']

I have a friend who has recently had some health problems. His doctor told him that his blood was like sludge (his cholesterol levels were through the roof). The doctor put him on a strict vegetarian diet, and within a few weeks he had lost several pounds, his cholesterol level was down, and he felt much better.

So I know that there can be physical benefits. But everyone is a little different; one of my former college teachers can't drink milk at all (he also has cholesterol problems), but other animal products are OK.

I don't know as much about the karma aspects.

Personally, right now, I do eat meat but, preferentially, mostly chicken and fish. However I have been reading a bit on it and the general consensus is that if we are going to eat meat, we should be conscious of where it comes from and how the animals were treated - try to opt for free run and grain fed, where the animals are treated well and put to sleep humanely - hence we are not ingesting the negative energy when they are not treated well.The only deterrent on this now would probably be cost, however the more people that begin to buy this way, the cheaper it will become.

I think this would at least be a beginning point and who knows we may evolve to a strictly vegetarian diet on this spiritual journey.

I came across a yogic explanation that may or may not be true. the idea is that when an animal is killed its suffering is imprinted in the "Consciousness" of the meat. this Consciousness or Life Force is not destroyed in the cooking process. It's only destroyed when bombarded with microwave radiatinon.

When we injest this meat we also injest the suffering. This is not a problem to most people, as most are not trying to raise their consciousness.