Vegetarians and Vegans, just out of curiosity...?

Question

No harm intended in this question....What made you decide this type of lifestyle?...Why is it the right choice for you?

I am not a vegan or vegetarian.....I beleive our bodies were built for protein and fat (from meat) as well as the need for veggies and fruit....I have a hard time with the idea that man could survive (and be healthy) in the wild/bush without both to sustain the body.....

Honest answers appreciated,....offensive/rude remarks are unnecessary and will more than likely be frowned upon.....but this is an open question-all are welcome to answer.....

Answer 1

I am Indian and I have grown up in a veggie environment due to culture and religion. (Not all Hindus are vegetarians. Just look at the Eastern, Northern and Southern regions of India that eat meat and seafood).

Personally I would continue to be a vegetarian because it is the lifestyle I am used to and I know first hand the benefits of this diet.  As to your question of our bodies need for meat; I think we can live a healthy (maybe healthier) life if we are vegetarians and vegans. Most of my family members have lived to the ripe age of 90+ and their minds and bodies continued to function as if they were only 60ish.

As a side note: My dad did eat meat for almost 20+ yrs and 5 yrs ago gave it up entirely (at a friend's request). I would never tell my dad this but I believe his vegetarian diet has made him happier. He was suffering from depression and in the past few years I have noticed that he is more approachable and tends to get less angry. I don't know if the adage of 'You are what you eat' holds true but it has worked for my dad.

Indian vedas state that all foods cause a positive or negative effect on the mind/body. Some foods cool and soothe us while others make us angry/sad etc; so based on that I would say it is also good to avoid meat. But it is a personal choice and nobody should be forced to change their lifestyle.

Answer 2

I didn't like meat.  Plain and simple.  I didn't like it as a kid either.  It kind of grosses me out to think about what happens to it.  And veggie stuff is so much better for you and better tasting.

Answer 3

Well, I don't live in the wild/bush, so that wasn't a consideration, although there is a nomadic tribe in Iran that has been totally vegan for centuries and do just fine.

There's no reason to believe that veg*n diets are lacking in protein or fats.  Further, veg*n diets offer far more heart healthy mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, versus the exclusively heart damaging saturated fats found in meat.  Well-planned, balanced veg*n diets offer protection from heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, hypertension, elevated cholesterol, type II diabetes, kidney disease, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and gout.

But, as important as my personal health is, it's not the primary reason I adopted a vegetarian diet and later a vegan lifestyle.  Ethics play a much bigger role.  There is nothing about the way animals are bred, confined, fed and slaughtered for food that I find acceptable.  I believe that these animals suffer unnecessarily since there is no dietary requirement for their flesh or their by-products.  Intensive animal agriculture is also a waste of resources like fresh water and nutritious grains that could instead be feeding people.  It's been named a bigger contributor to global climate change than all forms of transportation combined (by the United Nations, not by some hippie save-the-earth organization.)  My values include minimizing my impact on the Earth, for the benefit of all the animals, humans included, who occupy this planet with me.  Human rights plays into it, as well, and that's also an ethical concern.  Eating meat is for the relatively rich when you look at it from a global perspective.  And raising meat for the relatively rich harms the poor.  Since Guatemala became a major exporter of beef to the US, child mortality in that country has increased sharply. Poor families who used to have access to rich soil to grow food for their families have been pushed onto marginal land to make way for the cattle ranchers.  They don't see any of that beef come their way to feed their kids and the land doesn't yield what it once did.  I can't, in good conscience, indulge in 99 cent fast food hamburgers at expense of others.

I'm not saying that veg*n diets solve the entire problem of animal cruelty, or reverse global warming or erase the need for fair trade practices.  But my choice, coupled with other choices I've made, is a commitment to doing less damage.

Answer 4

I recently started the vegan lifestyle change.  For me, I just got into a rut where i started feeling like poo all the time.  I ate cereal and milk every morning for breakfast.  Lunch and supper would be based around meat.  This past September I had a severe sinus infection.  I have been through about 4 rounds of antibiotics since then.  I had heard that diary can mess with you allergies really bad.  So I decided to stop since I had suffered so long from my infection.  I had cut diary out for about 6 weeks when I noticed my infection clearing up.  I had read Skinny B*tch and Total Body Makeover.  Now I am converting day by day to be a vegan.  It is a process to get used to, but I feel fabulous!

Answer 5

I don't understand why you "have a hard time with the idea that man could survive (and be healthy) in ........"

Do 60 million vegetarians not give you a clue that its perfectly healthy ?

I chose this diet for very simple reasons; (a) I see farming first hand and know all about it the way animals are treated and that they exhibit feelings/moods / pain / thoughts / abiltiy to plan / recognise thier species, bloodline and people etc.....and (b) I don't see any need to rear / kill animals for food, its completely unnecessary.

Why i put those 2 things together, there is no decision for me, none at all, why would i ever consider eating animals ?

Answer 6

I was veg for 1.5 or 2 years before I became vegan. I became vegan while studying the environmental impact of agri-business. I realized how ecologically unsustainable a large scale omnivorous diet is to sustain globally. Producing meat places massive stresses on the earth's resources and the environment. I study environmental engineering and I'm really interested in agricultural waste management. That along with the obvious ethical concerns about animal treatment are the main reasons I decided to become vegan. Some of my other reasons

1. Cruelty to Animals

2. Health

3. World Hunger

4. Worker Rights

5. Government Negligence

6. The environment

7. Spirituality

Reading some books by Peter Singer about ethics really changed my perspective too.

Raising animals for meat places huge environmental stresses on the earth's resources. Yes being vegan helps the environment in so many ways. Vegetarianism prevents thousands of hactares of land from being cleared to produce animal feed & graze animals. You save water. Producing 1 pound of meat requires 1000 litres of water.

Meat production and animal agriculture is one of the leading sources of CO2 emissions. From gas emissios, to land clearing, to transport and crop production. (all sources of CO2)

Massive amounts of agricultural waste goes largerly untreated into our environment. They fester in waste "lagoons" and often spill into our water ways or water tabels to pollute the environment. 1 cow produces approximately 14.6 tonnes of waste per year. They also produce hundreds of litres of methane which is 24 more times potent than CO2. Which all contribute to global warming.

Factory farming has lead to antibiotic resistant strains of diseases. Diseases which also affect human and human health. Some diseases have occured as a direct result of animal agriculture. One example is deadly microorganism called physteria, which is a disease caused by intensive pig farming. It is so deadly that it is considered more dangerous than ebola.

Animal agriculture uses thousands of litres of pesticides, herbicides and antibiotics. To raise their animals and produce thousands of tonnes of feed. These toxins are bio-accumulative and increase in concentration the higher up the food chain people consume. so 1kg of veg has less pesticides than 1kg of meat.

Each year 50 billion animals are slaughtered for food around the world - to feed just 6 billion people. http://www.voiceless.org.au/Get_Informed...

By switching to a vegetarian diet, you will save more than 100 animals a year. http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming.asp

It will make a difference. It's all about supply and demand. If you boycott meat consumption you will reduce the demand for meat, and in turn prevent animals being bred for meat. When people say vegetarians 'save' 100 animals per year, they aren't saved in the sense that some body rescues them and they live happily ever after. They are saved by preventing the need for the animals to be bred in the first place. So by being vegetarian you prevent the unnecessary birth and cruel slaughter of about 100 animals.

I also find my spirituality and diet to be ethically complementary. I believe that paganism teaches respect for all living creatures and reverence towards nature. In some way, my personal understanding paganism is that it is wrong to take any life, including the life of an animal. That's why I'm vegan, I do not wish to support any form of animal cruelty. My diet is simply another way of reflecting my moral and spiritual beliefs.

Answer 7

Well, I beleive that the human body is evolving to reject meat. Look at our teeth and the teeth of our ansestors.  Creatures naturally evolve to suit their surroundings and to better suit them for longer life.  Our bodies are not meant to eat meat anymore as much as before, that is why meat has to be cooked in order to not make us ill or give us parasites and other diseases.  Our ansestors presumedly ate a lot of meat, but also only lived into there teens and twenties.  Not only do vegetarians and vegans feel better physically, but morally too.  Many people dont want the guilt that comes with the meal.  I dont believe that taste is worth the torture and killing of social living creatures.  If our bodies were "built for protien and meat fat" than all vegetarians and vegans would be very sick and even dead. Think about it.  Inform yourself, cause obviously you are curious about our lifestyle, so why dont you try it for 30 days and form your own opinion on how you will start to feel, physically, ethically, and morally.

Answer 8

Several little things pushed me to become vegan, one of which was an experience on a road trip...

I was in my car waiting at a border-crossing into the US, and in the lane beside me was a truck hauling pigs to a slaghterhouse.  I saw their faces and in their eyes I swear I could see the pain and suffering, the fear and uncertainty, the absolute horror of their plight.  

And they screamed.  It was complete and utter terror, and I felt it in my bones.  As long as I live I will never forget those screams.

I did some research, learned what I could, and weighed the sides of both lifestyles (omnivorism vs. veganism), but there was absolutely no contest... I vehemently opposed the suffering of sentient beings, and with that, the only logical response was to become vegan.

Hope this offers some insight into the vegan mind. :-)

Answer 9

i chose this lifestyle because of religious and ethical reasons.  i enjoy theology (i'm a Christian), and after a lot of study and thought on the subject i don't feel that God's intention was for us to eat meat.  the Bible says that meat was not consumed in the Garden of Eden (they were vegan, actually) and that killing will cease again after the return of Jesus.  I also think that being a vegetarian is a great way to practice compassion and love, two of the central teachings of Christianity.  Obviously not everyone is going to have the same interpretation of the Bible as i do, and of course there are many, many people who don't care what the Bible says to begin with....but those are my personal reasons for becoming a vegetarian.

as far as ethical reasons go, i don't agree with killing animals for my consumption when i have the ability to get a well rounded, healthy diet without eating them.....farmed animals (usually) have pretty terrible lives, and slaughtering them is obviously inhumane.  i also don't see a difference between farmed animals and my pets.....i think it would be hypocritical of me to love my pets like family and be so nonchalant about the death of other creatures.  it's obvious to me that my dogs have feelings and personalities, just like every other animal i've ever been around.....farmed animals are no different in my mind.

anyway, thanks for asking....and thanks for asking in a non-condescending sort of way.  that's what we usually get around here =P

Answer 10

My step mom's cousin owns a dairy farm.  I was out in the barn to help with chores and I was close to the cow and looked and her big brown eyes and the thought of eating meat that came from that turned my stomach.

There are also the environmental benefits.

Answer 11

hi,when i used to do alot of backpacking i took alot of different grians &dried fruit but i needed protein so i took sardines it helped .the boys say hi.they walked me hard today.LOL   someone still being a butt?sorry about that maybe it'll get better.

Answer 12

I'm a vegan and I came to adopt this lifestyle for a variety of reasons. I am totally against animal cruelty. More often than not, the "main-stream" meat that is sold in grocery stores, fast food restaurants and chain restaurants comes from factory farms. The animals live in deplorable conditions and are then slaughtered mercilessly. To me, there is no need to inflict a lifetime of pain and misery on an innocent creature just to satisfy human tastebuds.

I also abstain from meat for health reasons. A lot of dabilitating diseases and conditions run in my family (high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, high cholesterol) and I believe that by eliminating meat, I will reduce my risk for contracting (if you will) those health issues. I also think that meat is unhealthy for humans as they are pumped with: hormones- so dairy cows can produce milk constantly and unnaturally; chickens, cows and pigs so they can grow faster and go to slaughter faster, thus increasing profit.

antibiotics - all factory farm animals are given antibiotics to heal sores and wounds. They are also given meds to stop the spread of disease and infection. Over half of all the antibiotics produced in the US are used on farm animals that are later slaughtered for consumption. When people eat that meat, they are also eating the hormones and medicine.

I also look at humans from a biological standpoint and I don't think our bodies are equipped [physiologically] to eat meat. Our stomach acid isn't potent enough to break it down (that is why we cannot eat it raw like a lion). Our intestines are really long like other herbivores in nature. This gives us ample time to absorb nutrients found in plant sources. Meat basically starts to rot in our intestines before it passes out whereas a lion's intestines are short and the waste is expelled as soon as they are finished absorbing nutrients. Our teeth are also not designed to rip/tear animal flesh. We have rounded teeth for grinding plant matter. And as far as the "we have canine teeth" argument, our canines PALE in comparison to those of a lion, who IS designed to eat meat.

I'm also a vegan for religious reasons. I don't think that God placed animals here on Earth for us to exploit and torture. He wants us to respect each living creature, as he gave us all a certain purpose in life.

Those are just my personal reasons. I have no reason to believe that man needs the flesh of another animal to survive. If that was the case, meat would not be a contributing cause to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and the like. Our bodies would know how to effectively synthesize meat and animal by-products and render the fat, cholesterol and protein as a positive addition to our diet. There are TONS of non-meat related sources of protein, vitamins and minerals found in plants and grains.

Cheers!

Answer 13

The realisation that I didn't want, nor in any way need to live through the killing of other beings.  I'm not sure what our bodies were built for but they run just fine on vegetarian/vegan food with the exception of vitamin b12, which is the only qualm I have with a vegan diet. In the bush you're right it would be a struggle, unless you cultivated food, in which case it would be relatively easy.  I've considered it before, legumes in the winter and summer for protein, leafy vegetables wild and cultivated all year round, seaweed from the sea, non perishable foods like beans grains and squash in the summer, berries nuts mushrooms etc. etc. it would basically be the same as the diet now but a bit more seasonal.

Answer 14

Factory farming is horrible to the environment and morally reprehensible. It's a system organized for convenience and for saving humans as much money as possible, but it puts feeling, thinking creatures to a horrible disadvantage. Look up what the leading cause of environmental pollution is - yes, that's right, animal agriculture.

Time did a whole cover magazine on it in 2007. The Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations research council into global warming all confirmed that the way we channel most of the world's grain and water supply in order to grow meat for a small privileged fraction of the world is disgusting, and that it's destroying our planet.

Because of factory farming, meat costs less now than it did in the 1950's, adjusting for inflation, and we eat well over six times as much meat as we did fifty years ago. Why? Because we've made the food industry a cold, unfeeling machine. There is a reason why it's so cheap now.

The animals are piled on top of each other, fed unnatural diets full of hormones and antibiotics to guarantee rapid growth, and they have no room to move to guarantee as little storage and housing costs as possible.

I refuse to support a system that ritually destroys millions of beautiful creatures montly, solely because my stomach might crave meat. Is it right to demand that animals be bred, killed and fed to us, just becuase we like how they taste? We sure don't need it, we've evolved so far along that we are intelligent enough to eat a balanced vegetarian diet. Unlike a dog or a cat, who only knows what primitive nature tells them, we can plot and plan our meals intelligently, we don't need to rely on a primitive need to kill and eat sentient creature's flesh.

We could take the moral high road, like human beings tend to do, and abstain from deliberately choosing pain and death. We already choose the moral high road regarding s*x, how we raise our young, how we use the bathroom, wearing clothes - all "unnatural", maybe, but what is it that makes us human? Morals, a conscience.

We biologically do not NEED meat, nor is it essential to us. Our bodies were shaped through millions of years of evolution, primarily through herbivorous ancestors - we have an appendix that is now defunct since we started eating meat quite recently on the time scale, but that was our second stomach to digest certain fibers in grass like cows do. Our intestines are many times longer than meat-eating animals, omnivorous or carnivorous. Meat has no fiber, it putrifies inside of you. Modern meat in particular is directly linked to GREATLY increasing risks of many types of cancer and heart disease.

In fact, modern meat, with the practices used behind raising it, is probably far more toxic to our systems than good. While meat that was hunted, lean, grew up on a world that wasn't soaked in poison and pollution, was probably alright for us ten thousand years ago, it's far from alright for us now. All the hormones, chemicals, preservatives, antibiotics, etc gather in unhealthy muscle masses, tumors, pus-filled atrophied muscle tissues, etc. All are still legally permitted to be ground up and fed back to people.

Answer 15

a vegan could not survive but a vegetarian could because they can eat berries but the vegan could not

Answer 16

Vegetarians get plenty of protein and fat.  We also do not live in the wild/bush and don't have to eat what we can just to survive..we have supermarkets and we have the freedom of choice.

Answer 17

The others have provided great answers.

I went veg initially for the animals at a young age. I can only speak for myself on this one but I feel healthier in myself. I was never the greatest meat lover and something made me feel uneasy about eating meat.There was no point eating something that I didn't like, so I gave it up. I am fine with others eating meat of course. I think it is very natural for humans to eat meat, but I discovered I am ok without it.

No matter whether you are a meat eater, veggie or vegan, if you are healthy then that is all that matters! Food nourishes and sustains your body. But food is also for the enjoyment factor too.

Thank you for asking in a respectful way. :-)

Answer 18

Check out Maggie and Hala's answers for the best reasons.

My personal reason... self preservation.  My cholesterol levels were high (about 300), and I needed a way to keep them in check.  I became a vegetarian and within a few months my levels were at the normal range.  That's quite a feat since my entire family (maternal) suffers from hyperlipidemia, and even on medication their numbers regularly go over 300.  I don't like the idea of having to be on meds for the rest of my life, so I choose vegetarianism to keep me healthy.

Bottom line, humans are omnivores.  We can survive on diets of no meat, all meat, or somewhere in between.  Our bodies are built for protein and fat (and carbs), but we can take those nutrients from almost any source.

Answer 19

people always ask this when they find out i don't eat meat.  & my answer is always that i like all the reasons.  i have read the pamphlets that tell you things like a field of grain can feed 3 cows that feed 20 people or it can feed 100 people directly.  & they tell you about the unethical treatment of animals on farms.  how bad livestock waste is.  red meat's not that good for you.  the oceans are overfished.

i'm down with all those reasons.

& it makes me feel good.

i'm 27 & have been veg for over 12 years.