Why do people choose to become vegan (vegeterian)?

Question

Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this, but don't we need the nutrients in meat to be healthy? They didn't put it on the food pyramid for nothing.

(I don't really want to make an arguement but...) I could understand if somebody became one because they didn't like the taste, texture, etc. of meat but what I don't understand is somebody who likes/loves meat actually becomes one. "I want to save the poor, little, innocent animals!" okay... But aren't millions of animals still going to be killed to feed the millions of humans who still like meat?

So, I'm asking about the people who actually love meat, but chose to become one... why did they become a vegeterian?

Answer 1

I am a full-fledged carnivoir and my wife was a vegan when we met. now she eats meat and blames me. (every day)

She said she became a vegan initially because the meats did some funny things to her gastro-intestinal system.

Answer 2

There are no REAL vegetarians.  Vegetarians are people who LOVE carbohydrates, potatoes, rice, bread,  pasta etc. and they LOVE fruit.  They disquise their awful compulsive eating habits as healthy. One is only suppose to have 2 and one half cups  of carbs , vegs, fruits per day  24 hours...  One serving is 1/2 cup so 5 servings per day is equal to 2 and one half cups. Without meat, one is hungry  Protein is needed for muscle, and  B12 is needed for everything.   Humans need meat and anyone who eats different is hiding compulsive behavior. A balanced diet is the best..  A piece of  meat, one half veg and salad. Not a carb everyday.  Please...A piece of fruit 2 times per day and that is enough  Fruit raises your sugar level and makes you  prone to being diabetic...Vegetarians are pale and have weak bodies.  No muscle.  Frail and pale and too white if you are caucasian.  Being vegetarian makes caucasians look like  fluorescent light bulbs..

Answer 3

i became a vegetarian because of how slotter houses tret the animals. and, animals should be treated like animals, not meat-machines. plus, lots of animal's lives were atcually saved by people who are vegetarian/vegan.

Answer 4

I'm not a vegan but knows of a few friends/relatives who are.

Some of them became vegan because of their beliefs (religion). some because of their love for animals (yeah, i actually have a friend who doesnt take meat because she thinks killing animals are cruel). and some because of health reasons.

Answer 5

Being a vegetarian, I am running on cleaner more efficient fuel. That's how I think of it. I feel lighter and cleaner inside. The food I eat now doesn't make me gross out like when I was a meat eater and I'd bite into a piece of gristle or cut through a vein in a steak.

My kitchen smells nicer, too. I remember making bacon or steak and my house would smell for a few days - longer if I made fish. I did like burgers and hot dogs, but I like the vegetarian alternatives a lot, too. So I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

Answer 6

No, whoever told you that meat is essential in gaining optimal health is either a liar or they have no idea what they are talking about.

If there were say, 200 vegetarians in the US they would make no difference unless people actually picked out the animals they wanted killed for them to eat like they did in the beginning of last century.

There are millions of people in the US that never eat meat or hardly ever eat meat. In these numbers, we do make a difference because less they are breeding less animals than if those millions of people ate meat every day. Together, we have strength in numbers that prevents millions of animals from ever being born and suffering what food animals go through these days.

If you don't understand what's so bad about being born and living for these animals, please watch Earthlings if you have the stomach:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=ea...

For over 99% of the animals raised for food in the US, their lives are worse than their traumatic deaths.

Answer 7

Yes, we need the nutrients meat offers.  No, meat is not the only source of ANY of those nutrients.  "They" put it in the food pyramid, because "they" (the FDA) are charged with promoting animal agriculture in this country.  There are also vegetarian and vegan food pyramids, and the American Dietetic Association, the world's largest organization of nutrition professionals (who don't have the same conflict of interest as the FDA) endorses properly planned veg*n diets as being appropriate and healthful for all life stages.  In addition, there is evidence that vegetarian diets offer protection against heart disease, stroke, hypertension, elevated cholesterol, obesity, kidney disease, type II diabetes, colon and prostate cancer and gout, and that vegetarians on average live 6-10 years longer than the general population.

I personally chose to be veg*n for a number of reasons.  The way we breed, feed, confine, medicate and slaughter animals is cruel, inhumane, and unhealthy for the animals and the people involved.  It's also a leading cause of global climate change, per the United Nations IPCC report, responsible for a larger contribution to global warming than all forms of transportation combined.  Intensive animal agriculture is also an egregious waste of natural resources.  Children are dying daily on this planet for want of food and clean water, while we devote millions of acres of arable land and hundreds of millions of gallons of water to raising beef for the relatively rich.  It takes 16 pounds of grain protein and thousands of gallons of water to produce and single pound of beef protein and a significant proportion of the world's population has no access to that beef.

I liked meat when I was a meat eater.  But now I see it as unethical, inhumane, wasteful, unhealthy, and unnecessary.  Raising animals for food is bad for animals, bad for people and bad for the planet and I choose not to participate in it.

Answer 8

ok well i was a meat eater but now im a vegetarian, there are a million reasons for someone to become a vegetarian or vegan.

i did it for health reasons.

you can go to peta.com or peta2.com

to learn more. also you should check out kentucky fried cruelty.com

you can get nutrients from other things other than meat.

Answer 9

Yes it's true that animals are still slaughtered, but i sleep soundly knowing that none of it is at my expense.

I do love the taste of meat, and i went veg because every time i ACTUALLY thought about it, it sickened me. If i didn't think about what was going into my mouth it was good, but imagining the part going in my mouth on a live, moving thing disgusted me. Plus, i visited a chicken "farm" once. I have NEVER in my life witnessed something so disgusting, nor so offensive. I also saw the burn pile where they piled up the chickens too old to produce eggs and burned them. Right there in the field.... The smell.... I still get teary-eyed. It was like a concentration camp for chickens. They never saw the light of day until they were taken out to die...

OH, And you'll notice on the protein section of the food pyramid there are also beans which are not animal products.

Answer 10

Yes, there are nutrients in meat that the body needs, but all of those nutrients can be found elsewhere. There is NOTHING the body needs that is found in meat and meat alone.

Yes, animals will still die to feed the people who eat meat. But if less people are eating meat, less will be produced, IE... less animals will be killed.

As for your last question, you don't have to dislike the taste of meat to be morally opposed to it. You wouldn't kill people for food if you found out human flesh was tasty, so why is meat any different?

Answer 11

Meat is on the food pyramid because we need complete proteins. You can make a complete protein out of a legume and a grain (example: beans and rice), and you can also find vegan sources of complete protein in soy and quinoa. These allow vegetarians/vegans to eat a diet that can still fuel their bodies. There are also vegan sources of Omega-3, an essential fat that we don't produce, in things like flax seed and chia seed, for example.

I can't answer your "animal suffering" or "becoming vegan" question because I am not a vegan or vegetarian.