I'm vegetarian and have never understood the "going vegetarian because it's healthier" concept. It's actually not healthier at all, especially if, as you said,

I'm vegetarian and have never understood the "going vegetarian because it's healthier" concept. It's actually not healthier at all, especially if, as you said, you get the bulk of your calories from starches (e.g. chips or pasta); which is easy to do because they're easy and obvious options until you have a larger stock of recipies in your head. It's also easy to not get enough protein that way. (In general getting enough protein as a vegetarian, especially an ovo-lacto one isn't difficult, but it can require being aware.) Anyway, it's perfectly healthy to eat meat; vegetarianism isn't healthier. What's healthier is being deliberate and thinking about the food you consume. (For reference, I became vegetarian because I ha concerns about factory farming's environmental impact and slowly just started to dislike the idea of having to sacrifice another animal for my benefit when it became clear to me that not doing so isn't actually that difficult.)