Why did you choose vegetarianism?

What made you guys become vegetarians? If you're not vegetarian, why aren't you? I, personally, am not a vegetarian because God said that all animals are clean and are here for our use. Discuss.

"Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." Genesis 9:3

 

I am a vegan because i believe every living thing in the kingdom animalia/metazoa is equal. i wouldn't harm or consume my fellow man, and i won't harm or consume any other animal.

also, as a vegan, i wont consume eggs or dairy, because i don't believe in the way cows, and chickens are treated.

Animals in todays livestock industry are treated very similarly to the Jews during the holocaust. who would support that? certainly not I!

 

I've seen some awesome Biblical references for why we SHOULDN'T eat meat too!

But anyway, I choose to be a vegetarian for health reasons. Every meat I LIKED to eat I've developed an allergy to. And NO meat (or eggs when I'm honest with myself) really ever worked well with my body - I was constantly getting sick from this, that or the other thing. Cutting dairy is next. I'm 90% dairy-free, and being lactose intolerant I NEED to ditch that too! It's just things like eating at my parents' house that becomes sticky without dairy. Long story, but it's just been easier not to fight with my mom.
love,
mom

 

I have high blood pressure, diabetes, and arthritus. I take three different medications, two of them twice a day. My doctor wanted to put me on a fourth medication because my trigylceride level was too high. I said no. I wanted to try to reduce it myself. In the 11 months that I've been veggie, I have lost 35 pounds, lowered my trigylceride levels to the point that my doctor is no longer yelling at me to take anothe med, my blood pressure is lower and I will soon be able to stop taking the med I take for it and my blood sugar is lower to the point that I often skip one of my nighttime meds. I still eat cheese and eggs and occasionally use milk in cooking. I think if I stopped using these things my arthritus would improve as well. My hope is to get off all the medications and continue to lose weight. I also gave up fast food at the same time. I think if I didn't backslide on the fast food issue so often, I probably would have lost even more weight and have lower trigylceride numbers. Eggs and cheese are the next things to go.

Kathi

 

I became a vegetarian because I realized I had no right whatsoever to kill fellow animals.
BTW, a priest once told me that some theologists think that Adam and Eve were vegetarians until the were kicked out of paradise.

 

I've always been very compassionate towards animals. I watched some ridiculous documentary on television, of which a woman (who states that lines for cows going back and forth outside, until in slaugherhouses were the best as they were not smart enough to realize what was happening) stated that animals were not able to feel pain and had no desires or dreams. This is of course absolutely ridiculous!

This made me curious about meeting my meat. I watched some slaughterhouse video and have not eaten meat (or fish) since. That was a little less than two years ago. I know I will never go back as I see the images in my mind when meat is around. A year after going vegetarian I stopped eating eggs and now am much healthier. I've lost weight, feel better, can breath better, exercise more, it's a plus in every way! After cutting out meat, fish and eggs, then eating real foods, not loaded with preservatives, chemicals, hormones, etc. I am starting to cut down on dairy (mainly milk) because it hurts my stomach. I am in the best shape, physically, mentally and emotionally that I've ever been.

 

I quit eating meat for health reasons, as well as animal and human rights reasons. (no one should have to kill for a living)
I feel that rather or not I make a dent in the meat industy I refuse to be part of the problem anymore.

 

I've been considering converting to vegetarianism (health reasons), but it's a difficult switch to make going from 12 inch sub filled with chicken teriyaki to 12 inch sub with only the veggies.

 

animal rights/religous reasons

 

Total epic here ...

I think I was always inclined toward veg*anism; having always had a strong sense of right and wrong, along with a like/respect for animals. And generally graviated toward foods which happened to be veg*an anyway.

I did try go vegetarian, when I was about nine. Think I read about it in a magazine. It didn't last long, because my grandmother tricked me. I wasn't going to eat the roast beef she made, so she cooked me some sausage rolls instead. Yeah meat sausage rolls. So I gave up because I wasn't educated anyway, and obviously lacked suppourt.

After that was sort of lost in the wilderness for a few years, then got to that awkward teenage time when I questioned everything, and vegetarianism got tangled up in that when I wandered on into this very forum. I finally understood what it was all about and how it was done.
Then finally I just saw all the meat in our fridge and just realised I had just had enough, and couldn't be a part of that any longer ... that was four years ago, and I've never looked back.

After a few false starts with veganism I'm now transitioning to it, and going to get it right this time. What really inspired me was an interview with Gary Francione; he speaks so eloquently and intelligently about all the things I'd suspected anyway. So my ideas are changing and my diet is following on.

Also health is an important aspect too; I've always been fairly healthy but should be eating more plant foods instead of animal products. We have soy milk anyway, as my brother & I are allergic to dairy milk. Then it's snowballed from there.

 

No it really is not difficult if you actually care

 

I used to eat meat all the time. I'm a big horror fanatic, as is my sister's boyfriend. He's really into gore and all that jazz. Well one day, he bought this foreign film with real killings, and there happened to be the slaughtering of animals in there, including dogs and such. Well as I was watching it, it really got to me and I just realiized, wow, this is abhorrent. I just couldn't believe what I was watching. I mean, I was pretty much promoting it, because as we were watching it, I was eating General Tso's Chicken, my favorite food at the time. I spit it out and almost threw up as I watched these people decapitate this dog that looked like my own. Ever since then, I didn't want to eat meat. I still live with my dad, because I'm still in school, and he'd make steak at least once a week. I remember that night, I came home and he had gone to the store and gotten several T-Bone steaks or some kind. He had it already mad and told me to eat it, so I went into the kitchen, put it in my mouth, and spit it out. I couldn't swallow it. I almost started crying. I felt like such crap, eating that. I waited about 10 minutes, so my dad would think I ate it and threw it out. The next night, he made the same thing, and I just told him I couldn't eat it. He asked me why, and I honestly didn't know. ever since then, I've been against any type of violence and the slaughter or eating of animals. There you go, tere's my story. Cheers.

 

I'm a vegetarian because:
1-HEALTH REASONS-The chemicals and hormones that are put into the meat is not healthy
2-ENVIRONMENTAL REASONS-Raising grazing animals requires mass amounts of trees and forest areas to be cut down . Animals produce a lot of waste that contains carbon, which goes into our atmosphere.
3-ANIMAL RIGHTS-Animals are being genetically engineered and are put into conditions that are horrible. Also, I believe that I shouldn't harm another living creature.
4-I believe that everyone should live simply so that ALL can live. Vegetarianism allows one to live a simple life in harmony with the natural environment and other living creatures.

oh, to the OP, my religion actually states to not harm any living being; therefore, your God statement is not valid!

 

the only reason im not vegan (selectivly) is that i dont buy my own food. i eat what my parents buy and make. i am, of course, constantly trying to influence their coices lol.
im sickened by the meat and dairy industries and want nothing to do with them. i keep a flock of chickens which provides me with meat and eggs, i havnt eaten chicken since i was 10 that hasnt come from my flock.
basically my goal (not so much a goal as the lifestyle i find myself gravitating toward) is to simplify my life and my diet. to get rid of junk in my body and in my life, to respect animals and to support sustainable agriculture.

 

For health reasons, I had to "detox" from meat and garbage food for nine days. It was hard at first, but at the end of the nine days, I felt great, and the pain in my knees began to lessen. I wish I'd considered this years ago. I'm going to study up on vegetarianism now.

 

I AM a vegetarian for the same reason as you--my religion says so. I practice hinduism and it's bad kharma to eat living things that have souls. As far as i'm concerned that cow could be my dead great grandmother! aaah!
also--I hate how animals are treated in factory farms. I don't agree with it. Eating meat is not natural for humans anymore, we have other food sources that provide sufficient protein, iron and calcium. Maybe pets and whatnot eat meat, but for one they are animals and don't know any better, and also, some animals have no choice.

 

i dont want to live my life knowing i am a human graveyard.

 

Why am I not a vegetarian?

a)I love the taste of meat.
b)I love hunting.
c)I quite honestly feel nothing towards the suffering of animals. On the other hand, I feel little for the suffering of other people, either.
d)Killing and eating an animal, similar to fighting, brings out the most primal feelings in a person.
e)The unending hypocrisy of moral vegetarians.

 

I became a vegetarian primarily for religious reasons, but also for several health reasons. I believe in showing compassion and love for all living beings and I feel that I'd be hypocritical if I ate meat. Though my faith does not outright forbid meat, many of my faith's teachers and teachings promote vegetarianism.

 

Mmm, primarily environmental reasons.The health benefits were just a bonus!