I was vegetarian for 30+ years, mostly because I spent summers on a family friend's dairy farm and couldn't face eating "the girls". I wasn't "vegan", ate dairy, would even have fish occasionally (or as one of my co-workers put it "no land chordates").

I was swimming 10+ miles a week, but had ongoing dyslipidemia (super-low HDL). I experimented with eating chicken for the month before my annual physical - and my HDL levels were normal. I still won't eat red meat.

BTW/FWIW, we have hens for eggs. A hawk killed one of them - and I discovered the other hens eating the remains.

If they can eat chicken, so can I...

Also, you are 100% right about the need to shift farming to no-till regenerative methods. We’re destroying our soil. We’ve disrupted the system that nourishes plants. It might as well be hydroponic.