I went harcore vegan for about 2 years to regain my health and undo a lot of damage I had done. Now, I don't really consider myself a full time vegetarian or vegan as far as "label" purposes go, but that's mostly the way I eat.
My "rules" would probably be as follows....I tend to put different types of foods into 3 categories rather than just think about it in terms of meat or no meat:
1. Foods that Promote Good Health:
- vegetables
- fruit
- beans
- nuts
- some whole grains
2. Neutral Foods:
- processed vegetarian/health foods (depends what the ingredients are)
- "clean" fish
- soy milk or similar products
3. Foods that are Harmful:
- dairy products
- processed grains (most breads, white rice)
- just about anything fried....including vegetarian stuff
- meats and most other fish
- processed sugary stuff
My main goal is to eat as much as I possibly can from the 1st category, followed by the 2nd, and only eat from the 3rd sparingly (like less than 5%).
Thad