Why did you decide to become a vegetarian?

Question

I've been considering for a few months now to become a vegetarian, for the health reasons. But just recently, I read something about the meat industry how they are so cruel to animals and basically, that article tipped me over the edge, and I've decided to officially become a vegetarian. I just wanted to know other peoples stores about why they decided to become a vegetarian or vegan and if you guys have any advice for me starting out with recipes and where to eat and what not...

I cant go totally vegan because I love ice cream too much. Sorry :)

Answer 1

The fact that meat is muscle and blood and flesh kind of grossed me out at age 11.

Answer 2

When I became Buddhist (religious)

I love and respect the environment and animal rights

Also people were never meant to eat meat it rots in our stomach (health)

Answer 3

I became a vegetarian because of this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqV...

It's so sad. I feel sick when I look at meat now.

Also I recommend the meatless corn dogs from Trader Joe's, they're the best! You also really have to make sure you're having enough protein everyday. Kashi cereals have a lot of protein, as well as the Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chewy bars.

Answer 4

i became a vegetarian almost 2 years ago because of reading this one book called chew on this. i felt really bad for the animals. then i read and saw videos about the dairy and egg industry too so i became a vegan six months later. if you go to mercyforanimals.org they can send you a vegetarian book thingy called a starter kit and it has info on vegie/veganism and the hurt to animals. and it has recipes and substitutes =] you can look up restaurants on google and stuff depending on where you live

good luck =]

Answer 5

I'm new to it too. I saw a video about slaughterhouses and how they actually treat the animals. That's why I decided to become a vegetarian.

Have you seen the Meet your Meat video?

It's on youtube, if you want to go watch it.

just type in " meet your meat"

it should be the first video. It's posted by somebody with the username " rkaufmann".

Answer 6

I became vegetarian because i researched the ways of the slaughterhouse..  also i'm one of those people that believe animals have feeling too.  Go to Peta.com and it shows you horrifying videos and articles that could turn anyone vegetarian.  i'm not a vegan, but i care about the animals.  the fake meat is even better because sometimes it has alot of protein.  and sometimes it has more flavor packed into it than any real meat would. my [impossible wish] is that slaughterhouses would just end.i'm the only 1 in my family that has gone vegetarian.  I f you havent already, you can try Morning Star brand.  also, Burger King has a veggie burger too with fake meat.  (same wth me. i love icecream)

Answer 7

*All the bad stuff in meat.

*Preparing meat can spread food poisoning.

*Cruelty to animals in slaughter-houses.

*Waste of land for cattle-farming etc.

*Never particularly liked meat anyway.

Eat a lot of nuts and fruit and vegetables. And cheese unless you're a vegan.

You will feel much better and it's cheaper too,

Answer 8

I became veggie when I was 12, I am a total softie when it comes to all animals and couldn't bear the thought that an animal had died so I could eat, especially when there is so much choice out there. The first time I stopped eating meat and fish, I failed after 2 weeks. A month later I decided, I was gonna stop for good. And I haven't looked back.

I understand that meat and protein are important for human development. But I do not think animals should be treated as produce, if an animal is brought up on a farm in a natural way, eats grass, grazes, sun bathes, and then the farmer has it slaughtered to eat, then as much as it upsets me I have more tolerance of that then if it is kept in a factory and never sees the light of day and killed to sell for cheap meat. That is just plain cruel and unnesessary.

Meat eaters always say, Oh its the natural circle of life, food chain etc. Fair enough. But its also natural to keep an animal in a field, so if it must be eaten at least it enjoys the life it has.

Try Quorn and Linda McArtney stuff. You can get substitutes for chicken, mince, sausages, chicken kievs, nuggets, Oh and u have to try the Quorn Sausage Rolls, absoloutly gorgeaus....every meaty meal can be recreated and tastes just as good.(In my opinion) U might need to put some more flavours in it but it tastes good and is better for u.

Vol au Vonts with Quorn chicken pieces, cheese sauce and mushrooms....mmm make chicken curry with Quorn pieces or have Spaghetti Bolognese with the mince.

If u like chicken sandwiches, quorn pieces in white bread with brown sauce.Get veggie hotdogs and make a hotdog.

I didnt miss it one bit (my mam was great she didnt just give me vegetables on a plate which sooooooo many people do if u tell them ur a veggie and they have to cook u a meal.)

Good luck!

:-)

(sorry for the long reply!)

Answer 9

I decided to go vegetarian for a healthier lifestyle and lose some weight, I never really lost the weight though haha! But I've been vege for 4 years or so now, and I'm certain I'll stay that way for as long as I live!

Answer 10

Hey, look at the economical situation. We're already going through a slump; you think going vegetarian and denying all those other companies your business is fair? If no one buys meat, what happens to the animals? Are they released into the wild or sold to respectable farms? No. They're probably sold to countries that don't care about animal treatment as long as they get food.

Don't buy from the industries that you know or suspect of cruelty to animals. BUT DON'T BECOME VEGETARIAN ALTOGETHER! What ever happened to a balanced diet? Because of modern advancements, you don't have to eat certain things anymore, you can just take a pill. Doesn't it disgust you, at least a little?

You can be healthy and eat meat (I can NOT stress this enough, so I'll repeat it:) YOU CAN BE HEALTHY AND EAT MEAT!!!

Comprende?

Answer 11

well I became a vegetarian because of animals cruelty. They go over the top with cruelty today.

Also wastestage people waste so much meat and it gets to be very redicous. Fast foods chains are only adding to the problem

Also meat today has so many hormones that cause so many symptoms and is one of the reasons why children are starting puberty and looking like adults at ridicous ages like age five.

Also I'm not buddist and I belive in all of the religions but I like buddist and he was a vegetarian and encoraged others to. God said many qoutes to about the land and he points to the trees and said this shall be your food

Also food poisening is right around the corner everything is going and turning to meat

Half of the meat on the market today isn't even fit to be there.

Answer 12

(I love ice cream too much I can't be vegan either, lol!)

I became a vegetarian because I am not a supporter of murder.  Basically.  But then people have said, "Oh that's not a good reason" so I researched it and figured out it was healthy enough for me to maintain, so, *shrugs* yup.

Answer 13

www.meat.org.  That's all I have to say.

Answer 14

healthier way of living and eating foods i guess.

Answer 15

Its easier to become a vegetarian than most people seem to think. People think there wont be anything to eat...but when you think about it, the only thing you're cutting out is chicken, beef, etc....which leaves alot of food left over! AND anyway, there are delicious quorn substitutes of those things available! Veganism is alot more complex though.

You can find alot of veggie recipies on the internet. And most restraunts have veggie options on the menu.

I became a veggie when I was 11. My family are devouted meat eaters, so it wasn't easy! Luckily for me though, they were supportive and my mum cooked my own seperate meals for me. I became vegan when I was 14, but I became anaemic from not researching it enough and had to stop. I will become vegan again once I am older!

Good luck with your wonderful new lifestyle! Save the animals!!!! xxxx

Answer 16

1. cruelty to animals

2. never liked meat

3. my mom was vegatarian

*4. it's healthy

*why i choose to stay vegatarian now

Answer 17

Better lifestyle, and I never loved the taste of meat when I ate it all I could think about was what if this was my pet.

Answer 18

When I was 4 I decided to become a vegetarian because I learned that meat was made from animals then. If you need more reasons to become a vegetarian go to www.meat.org

Answer 19

Do you know Matthew Lush? If you don't, he, alone with Peta2.com, has turned me vegetarian first, and now vegan.

The reason for me going vegetarian is because of the cruelty that the animals face. Also, I didn't find it necessary to kill an animal for a meal that night. Because from a week from now, you will forget that you even had meat for dinner that night. Meat is also FULL of fat and much more that is bad for your body. If you are really craving meat one night, you can just buy fake meat that is made out of soy, and in a while from not eating meat, you won't even notice a difference.

There is also soy icecream, which you can also get use to. It is actually very delicious.

I actually don't like the taste of meat anyway.

Answer 20

I became vegetarian because I decided I didn't want to contribute to killing animals. I'm toying with the idea of veganism, I cook vegan at home but when I go out to eat I might order something with cheese or eggs. I avoid most animal products, but I really like honey.

Trader Joes makes really really good soy icecream. It's called soy creamy. I don't know if there's a Trader Joes where you live, but if there is you should check it out.

Answer 21

My Friend Ruth and I have been a vegetarian and raw foodist's for several years now, herself more so than I. When I first gave up meat and processed foods, quite a few of my friends and relatives expressed concern because most people seem to have the idea that vegetarian food lacks adequate nutrients. And being vegetarian can be a more than minor inconvenience with the amounts of meat and fish that people now eat. Chinese have a traditional notion that foods that are "warming" in nature, like meat, are important for building up physical strength; so in the minds of some of the older generation, one could not possibly get all the nutrition one needed from the "cool" greens, cucumbers, bell peppers, radishes, Cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes and so forth that vegetarians favor. One of the most frequent questions I am asked is where do you get your protein if you don’t eat meat and my answer is "ask the cow or the pig or the chicken" where do they get theirs? You don’t see a Gorilla out grilling steaks on a Saturday afternoon but he can rip your arms and legs off without any real effort, so where does he get his protein “FROM PLANT LIFE Raw food,” berries, seeds. Etc, Etc.

Before taking those big steps years ago, I didn't give nutrition, convenience, or building up physical strength a second thought, since my reason for becoming vegetarian had nothing to do with any of these.

I discovered that "Mercy" was an important way of learning to be a better person. Having a merciful and compassionate heart will show up in all aspects of one's life; but the simplest and most direct way is to follow a vegetarian diet. Think of the intense pain of accidentally stepping on a nail is. So how can one have the heart to eat the flesh of creatures who have suffered the pain of being slaughtered, skinned, dismembered, and cooked? Being unable to bring ourselves to eat the flesh of these innocent creatures is an expression of mercy.

Answer 22

I decided to become a vegetarian because i love animals. I would be a complete and total hypocrite if i ate meat. I know about all the cruelty that goes on in the meat industry. There are just so many benefits to a vegetarian diet.

1. Help the Poor

While there is ample reason for indignation at the 100 million tons of grain used for biofuels, more than seven times as much grain (760 million tons) is fed to farmed animals so that people can eat meat.

2. Stop Cruelty to Animals

On today's factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy windowless sheds, wire cages, gestation crates and other confinement systems. These animals will never raise families, root in the soil, build nests or do anything that is natural and important to them.

3. Save the Environment

A recent United Nations report entitled Livestock's Long Shadow concludes that eating meat is "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global". The report finds that eating meat causes almost 40 per cent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world combined.

4. Avoid Bird Flu

The World Health Organisation says that if the avian flu virus mutates, it could be caught simply by eating undercooked chicken flesh or eggs, eating food prepared on the same cutting board as infected meat or eggs, or even touching eggshells contaminated with the virus.

5. Prolong Your Life

Vegetarians live six to 10 years longer on average than meat-eaters do. Healthy vegetarian diets support a lifetime of good health and provide protection against numerous diseases and the three biggest killers – heart disease, cancer and strokes.

6. Avoid the World's Number One Killer

The risk of developing heart disease among meat-eaters is 50 per cent higher than it is among vegetarians. Drs Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn have used a vegan diet to prevent and reverse heart disease. Dr Esselstyn's book documents their 100 per cent success with unclogging people's arteries and reversing heart disease.

7. Reduce Your Risk of Cancer

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, "Vegetarians are about 40 percent less likely to get cancer than non-vegetarians, regardless of other risks such as smoking, body size, and socioeconomic status".

8. Fit Into a Bikini

Vegetarianism is the ultimate weight-loss diet. About 31 per cent of urban Indians are either overweight or obese, but only 2 per cent of vegans are obese. A vegetarian diet is the only diet that has passed peer review and taken weight off and kept it off.

9. Create Global Peace

Leo Tolstoy claimed that "vegetarianism is the taproot of humanitarianism". His point? If we want to sow the seeds of peace, we need to eat a peaceful diet. Eating meat supports killing animals just to satisfy humans' acquired taste for flesh.

10. Discover the Joy of Veggies

Vegetarians report that when they adopt a vegetarian diet, their range of foods explodes from a limited selection of centre-of-the-plate meat items to a wide range of grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables that they didn't even know existed.

Sir Paul McCartney sums it all up, "If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That's the single most important thing you could do. It's staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty".