So...Why are you a vegetarian?

animal rights.
that would be good if I was raised as a vegetarian.......

 

Hello, I'm new here. My reasons for going vegan were purely for my health; I am concerned for animal welfare and the environment, but those strong feelings developed by caring for myself first. After learning about proper diet and what eating the wrong foods can do to me, I decided that I could no longer eat such things. Just like that, I started eating a vegan diet and never looked back. This was nearly six years ago.

Delphin,
Plant foods and starches contain more than enough protein and amino acids to meet the recommended dietary requirements. Human protein requirements are much lower than many believe them to be, and excess protein (animal protein) is harmful to the body and responsible for many illnesses.

 

"i saw the peta video meet your meat. i've been vegetarian for about 10 months" - josh 131
Did you watch the goldfinger free me video..argh i reckon that's a better one to show how messed up it really is.

I put other...I was raised/enviroment(everyone i knew back then was kosher, it was just easier not to eat meat) vegetarian, i became vegan at 6/7 for animal rights, i then became a fruititarian at 11 because I wanted to be closer to nature.

take it easyx

 

im vegetarian cuz of all the reasons, but mostly for spiritual reasons, i am vaisnava (devotee of krsna) and ive been veg almost my whole life.... the main reason is for the sanctity of all life, we cant manifest life, therefore we have no right to take life.... much love

 

I was halfway through a mcdonalds cheeseburger about 10 years ago, when suddenly every cell in my body rejected taking another bite. one moment a meat eater, and ten years later i still cannot stand the touch, smell, and sometimes even the look of meat.

~corvuspirit

 

It started out as an enviornmental choice - so that's what I put in the poll and that's basically what I tell people when they ask me but quite honestly I just don't like eating animal flesh. Simple as that. It's the best decision for myself personally and I couldn't see myself eating meat anymore.

I was raised a meat-eater, raised to farm and when I became a vegetarian my life changed drastically . . . for the better.

Oh my Buddha . . . I love being a hippie. Couldn't be much more proud of myself.

 

Apologies to vegetarians out there but I eat meat. I just think my position is relevant.

I only eat free range organic meats because I am opposed to Animal cruelty and the meat industry as it stands. I also try not to eat beef because of the environmental degradation of cattle farming.

 

Respect man ^^^

Yeah I'm veggie for animal rights.
It cant be good to ingest the matter of something that has lived a life of utter abuse: Spiritually, physically, psychologically, you name it. Taking that energy into your being by eating it propels the cycle.
I was full veg for a couple of years, had a burst of eating meat (my dispicable Prime Minister won another election and in despair I gave up for a few months back there)
But that's all over and I'm back to shuddering at the tought of meat. I live off my great veggie stir fries.
Wouldn't want anything else

 

Thanks echo, i was a little frightened I would get bashed for that post. By the way I forgot to tell you I loved the picture.

 

When I first became a veg it was for aniaml rights but since I've read the book Mad Cowboy it is also because of the health reasons.

 

I just love all animals to bits, they never let you down, never hurt you, and they are all so adorable.
I will always put animals first to a lot of rotten people i know[ or should that be morons?!] if it were a toss up between saving a drowning animal, or my neighbour, the animal would win every time.

Animals rely, and depend on us so much, i cannot stand it when i hear about culling Seals in Scotland because of the depletion of fish stocks in our seas, blow us, we have millions of things we can choose from to eat, the only real staple Seals have is fish.
Perhaps we should call for a culling of some of the rotten moron species, who "think" they are human, the murderers, rapists, paedophiles etc; they are the lowest of the low, Animals are far superior.

 

Same reason I don't eat people.

 

Well, I'm passionate about animal rights. That's the main reason that I'm a vegetarian. Even though I live in India, most poeple around me (friends, family etc) are not vegetarians. I'm SO glad that I'm not influenced.

 

i voted other. why are we only allowed to have one reason? there are so many reasons why.

there are health reasons. there are many diet-related health problems running like wildfire in my family, and a vegetarian diet is generally healthier. i have great cholesterol. well, as long as i lay off the cheese. and the deep-fried tofu dripping with hot sauce and blue cheese dressing. and the potato wedges with sour cream. ok, i guess the more accurate reason is i can rationalize about health.:&

there are political reasons. i try to get as much of my food as possible from CSA and co-ops, as much as possible grown locally. the political clout of the meat industry is pretty scary. incidentally, you're not saving the environment by buying a 5 calorie strawberry that cost 40 calories of energy to ship, just because it's organic. buy local.

there are environmental reasons - although i have to admit, i'm questioning the soundness of some of those based on new research. think you're saving the rainforest by refusing beef? think again. soybeans is second to beef in depleting the rainforest for farming. true, you can get more food from an acre of soy than an acre of grazing land, but it's still depleting the rainforests. make sure your soy - and better yet, all your food - is local, if you can.

there are spiritual reasons, which have really more to do with energy than taking the life of another being (because that crunchy romaine lettuce you chomped in your salad for luch was still alive when you ate it. life is life. it's consciousness most vegetarians are really concerned about.) energy is lost each time it is converted. the only way we could get a "purer" energy from our food than straight from the plant would be if we photosythesized ourselves.

there are animal rights reasons, but they have mostly to do with politics and farming methods than with "taking the life of an animal." again, it's consciousness and compassion and greater responsibility to the larger whole that is the real issue, not "life". life is life. that soybean's just gotta die so i can go on. i can live with that with a clear conscience, it's the way of the world.

there are economic reasons. beans and grains are the cheapest food in the world. back in the days when i got them, they issued paper food stamps instead of the cards that i guess they're using today. there used to be tips printed on the back of the booklets for cutting grocery costs. cutting down on the meat and replacing it with cheaper vegetable protien sources was one i remember. fall in love with your crock pot!

and of course there is another reason that i'm amazed no one has mentioned: the food! face it, veggie cuisine is just so gee-darned tasty, when it's prepared properly. i hated cooking and was completely apathetic about food before i became vegetarian. i had a roommate who was veggie, and she cooked the most amazing things for us. after she moved out, i just couldn't go back to eating meat!

 

Animal rights for me. I've always loved animals and the more I read about factory farming and so on, the less I could stomach it. My mum let me start eating veggie when I was 10, and I've never looked back. And I can honestly say, being vegetarian has not given me any health problems while I was growing up, so I think that's all just a load of rubbish

 

Hmm, mostly for my health. Partly to help stop cruel treatment of animals. And I think a small part of it is rebellion against my meat 'n potatoes mother
love,
mom

 

I dont have a reason


Anything I come up with now is more of a post factum rationale


I just stopped eating meat really, thats how it happened


And now I keep going mostly because Im used to not eating meat and for animal rights/ethical reasons

 

I was nine, and I randomly decided I should be vegetarian.
Haven't turned back to the dark side yet...

 

Animals have spirits too
Great responses btw..

 

I was on and off vego for awhile b/c my parents couldn't handle me being vegetarian and then I was like, screw it, this is my life and I don't want to eat dead things that used to have feelings.