Why are you a vegetarian or vegan?

Hello, I'm interested in hearing why any of you became a vegan or vegetarian,
sense some of you sound like you just became one for the health

My reason was my love for animals and I believe every life is valuable,
and I've been one for 3-4 years and I'm thinking of becoming a vegan soon

[psychoslice]

Yea my reason was also because i didn't like to think an animal had to dies for me to eat, when I can get by not eating animals. I am a vegetarian and feel no need to go to a vegan, I think a vegan life style for me would be too boring, but thats me.I have been a vegetarian for about 25 years.

Originally Posted by psychoslice

Yea my reason was also because i didn't like to think an animal had to dies for me to eat, when I can get by not eating animals. I am a vegetarian and feel no need to go to a vegan, I think a vegan life style for me would be too boring, but thats me.I have been a vegetarian for about 25 years.

This could've been written by me.

I work in a shelter. I quit eating meat due to my friendships with animals, too make a long graphic story short. Simply dealing with the daily amount of euthanasia and human apathy pushed me to stop. When people become aware of the amount of suffering many animals endure, they should stop eating things that create suffering.

I am not vegan but I try my best. Soon. For me it has been a process as well.

Originally Posted by dogninja

I work in a shelter. I quit eating meat due to my friendships with animals, too make a long graphic story short. Simply dealing with the daily amount of euthanasia and human apathy pushed me to stop. When people become aware of the amount of suffering many animals endure, they should stop eating things that create suffering.

I am not vegan but I try my best. Soon. For me it has been a process as well.

This was similar to my story. I used to work as a zookeeper. In the course of my career I worked with all sorts of animals, many of them very closely related to the ones we routinely use as meat. It just got harder and harder to protect and nurture them all day and then go home and eat them.

I eat vegan some days but it's hard for me to go completely that route, for various reasons. I do try to pay attention to the source of my dairy and eggs. Eggs are easy as my boss has the most spoiled flock of chickens on the planet - they are not suffering at all. Dairy is trickier and I tend to try to only buy from companies I've researched if those products are available and limit my consumption. And I know there are SO many ways that cruelty is present in the products we buy, even in vegetable harvesting, but I try my best to make a little difference at least.

I dislike the way animals are factory farmed, fed with growth hormones, and have little respect apart from to be used in the human food chain. I have never been a lover of meat before I became vege. I am healthy and fit, and see no reason to change.

I could not eat meat, as I feel that I do not need to kill animals to obtain a varied diet, and get the required nourishment, as seeds, nuts, pulses, and green veg provide all I need,when properly combined.

My love for animals is foremost, and I could not kill simply for food.

Originally Posted by elaine

I dislike the way animals are factory farmed.

I dislike the way humans are factory farmed, and mass-produced
it has made factory farming and mass-production of animals necessary
to keep humans fed.

Our models show that if all 8 billion ppl were vegan the eco-disaster would
be apocalyptic.

Those in Peru who eat rabbit and guinea pic, those on coasts who eat fish
aboriginies who eat inescts and grubs ...

I see the real problem as being overpopulation by humans
and became vegan without realizing it wont help.

Since then [1974] vegetables have become a real health threat GMO, Feces, Infected in mass-production, Chemicals, and agriculture related disters [drought etc] ...

It was a way for me to express pacifism as well, but I was uninformed, and hadnt done the math or run the models I have since then.

Being vegan can cause the subject damage as well, anemia, heart shrinkage, brain shrinkage, and other effects ppl should research before jumping.

Originally Posted by 7he4uthor

I dislike the way humans are factory farmed, and mass-produced
it has made factory farming and mass-production of animals necessary
to keep humans fed.

Our models show that if all 8 billion ppl were vegan the eco-disaster would
be apocalyptic.

Those in Peru who eat rabbit and guinea pic, those on coasts who eat fish
aboriginies who eat inescts and grubs ...

I see the real problem as being overpopulation by humans
and became vegan without realizing it wont help.

Since then [1974] vegetables have become a real health threat GMO, Feces, Infected in mass-production, Chemicals, and agriculture related disters [drought etc] ...

It was a way for me to express pacifism as well, but I was uninformed, and hadnt done the math or run the models I have since then.

Being vegan can cause the subject damage as well, anemia, heart shrinkage, brain shrinkage, and other effects ppl should research before jumping.

I'm sorry, have I missed something? Where are humans forcibly confined to restrictive 'farms'? Where are they forcibly impregnated? Who is deciding that masses of people should be bred whether they like it or not? And to what practical purpose?

Considering that a meat diet uses 10 times as much land your allegations about an environmental disaster if everyone switched to a veg diet is incorrect particularly in the face of the FAO's conclusion that '"the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." I would chalk up your statements to simple inflammatory hyperbole.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environ..._vegetarianism

Whats more, pointing to GMO and feces tainting, as being a major threat of a vegetarian diet is ignoring two things which are 1. GMO is not the fault of the diet. It goes directly to human interferance and manipulations. and 2. the feces tainting is also not the fault of the vegetarian diet but again points to human error and lax attitudes regarding the oceans of animal waste that are created by the meat inclusive diet. The rest of your reasons for decrying a veg. diet also point to human error and stupidity but not to the efficacy of a world wide veg. diet.

A meat inclusive diet can cause a myriad of health problems, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, anemia, etc, and there is a world of evidence to prove that point and to do that I would simply remind you that 95% of the world eats meat and there is an epidemic of those diseases that are directly attributable to poor food choices. In fact, studies have shown that while vegans will still have the same rates of cancer, their rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes are lower. Watch this presentation by Jack Norris who is a registered dietician and also a vegan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKa0kfN0LOY So pointing at the veg. diet as though it is the sole cause of your list of issues is false. Any diet can be healthy (veganism included) and any diet can be problematic.

[Chrysaetos]

Humans have been eating meat for thousands and thousands of years, it is natural and nutritious. Most of the health problems you mentioned are common in western countries, putting the blame on meat alone is thus simplistic and ignoring other variables (sugars anyone?).

''95%'' means little by itself when most people in third world countries only eat meat on occasions. I have been to various ''Islamic'' countries and meat is a holiday food for most people there, too expansive for Joe average. Also, I'm curious, what kind of ''meat diet causes 10 times as much land''? This is a vague statement.

Statements such as ''a meat diet causes'' and ''95% are meat eaters'' are by themselves vague statements that don't really tell us anything specific, nor are they helpful. They are useful for making generalizations though, something that is unfortunately seen all too often in the environmentalist movement.

Originally Posted by 7he4uthor

]Those in Peru who eat rabbit and guinea pic, those on coasts who eat fish
aboriginies who eat inescts and grubs ...

Imagine what would happen if Asian people gave up fish and were forced to get their protein from the land? It would mean even more Asian rainforests would be cut down for vegetarian products!

I agree with you that overpopulation is the real problem here. The problem is not that we eat meat, drive cars, take showers, or have a computer. The problem is that there are too many of us claiming resources, and one solution to tackle overpopulation is to provide education for all woman in third world countries. A change of diet on a global scale won't tackle the root of the problem.

[knightofalbion]

I would simply remind you that 95% of the world eats meat and there is an epidemic of those diseases that are directly attributable to poor food choices. In fact, studies have shown that while vegans will still have the same rates of cancer, their rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes are lower. Watch this presentation by Jack Norris who is a registered dietician and also a vegan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKa0kfN0LOY So pointing at the veg. diet as though it is the sole cause of your list of issues is false. Any diet can be healthy (veganism included) and any diet can be problematic.[/quote]

Debby, I have the greatest respect for you, but countless studies have shown an increased risk of cancer among meat-eaters and a reduced risk of cancer overall by following a vegetarian or vegan diet. (The recent Oxford study for example showed non-meat eaters had a 45% lower risk of leukaemia & stomach cancer; a 50% lower risk of bladder, lymph & blood cancer and a 75% lower risk of multiple myeloma.)
True, sometimes vegetarians make the error of replacing meat with an increased amount of dairy produce - high intakes of dairy produce are directly linked to hormonal cancers i.e. breast & prostate - but overall the risk is reduced.