Why not Vegetarian?

redraidergirl2009

So I wanted to ask why you are not vegetarian? I know more people that are vegetarian than vegan and some people still don't know what vegan entails entirely. Also did you start out as vegetarian or just go vegan?

darkling_glory

I started out as a vegetarian, but realized that I was fooling myself about how dairy and eggs are ok. They are NOT. Chickens and dairy cows are treated horribly and I don't want to contribute to that.

Kymmy81

Pretty much the same as the above poster. When I did used to eat meat, I never ever ate veal because that was particularly abhorrent to me. Eating baby cows? C'mon! I can't believe I didn't fill in the blanks and realise that veal is a by-product of the dairy industry. Can anyone say "Embracing the disconnect"?!

daffodilsoup

For a long time, I was strictly vegetarian - I figured that as long as I wasn't eating animal flesh, and that no animals "had to die for my meal", I was in the clear.

I started doing more research, and like the above poster, I was horrified to learn that by supporting the dairy industry, I was also supporting the veal industry - something I was vehemently against even when I ate meat (something about the "baby animal" part made it more disturbing to me). It became evident to me that when I consumed animal products, I also supported the meat industry, as "spent" egg-laying hens and dairy cows are often sent to the slaughterhouse to become low-quality cuts of meat. Reading and watching movies about the lives of dairy cows and egg-laying hens broke my heart, and it soon became clear that they were not things I could support in good conscience.

I cut out dairy, eggs and honey overnight and honestly I have never looked back. I have never felt happier, healthier and more spiritually at peace.

simplyeater

Vegetarian for 25 years, now finally vegan:) I too didn't make the connection between dairy, eggs and animal abuse. I wasn't an active vegetarian, meaning I wasn't out reading veggie books/literature, attending conferences, etc. so somehow all of that information escaped me. I thought I was OK buying cage-free eggs and organic milk. Ha! Was I wrong! Once you know the truth, you can't unlearn it. I don't see myself ever eating eggs/dairy again.

runcrissierun

I started out vegetarian as well - for health reasons. Then after doing a lot of reading and research, learned the truth about factory farming in general, and was just horrified. Transitioning to vegan from vegetarian - after learning that - was not difficult at all.

sharkweek

Newbie to the group here. I was vegetarian for about 7 years. I'd known about the awful things that happen to dairy cows and chickens for a long time but pretty much tried to ignore them, because I thought it would be too hard to give up.

Then a year and a half ago, I decided to try veganism for a week. I loooved cheese, so I wasn't really expecting it to stick. But the week wasn't so bad, and I've been vegan ever since. I still miss certain things, but it's so much easier than I thought it would be, and I feel better knowing that my choices aren't supporting factory farming or any company that does animal testing.

quiescentaureateserpent

I was a vegetarian for a while. I was ignorant of many facts. My husband helped me to find out more and I found out quite a bit on my own.I watched earthlings and cried knowing what I was contributing to. I watched so many shows to learn more and read articles to be sure. These are the facts I have gleaned:

1. Cows normally live up to 20 - 25 years. A dairy cow lives usually 5 - 7 years. Dairy cows must be pregnant in order to produce milk for their calf. Their calf is left with them, if they are lucky, for up to five days. Then they are taken and shot or taken and put into the veal pens. Where they spend the rest of their life tied up so that their meat is tender. They never see daylight except when they are going off to be slaughtered. When a baby calf is taken from its mother it is traumatic for both of them. Anyone with any common sense could see this. If it is a female calf she is kept for milk production. The mother will then be impregnated again and again and again her whole life. Producing baby after baby that is taken from her without her having any say in the matter. Once she is spent and cannot produce any milk any more and has mastitis or is too weak to stand they kick and prod her calling her horrible names to get her to move towards the slaughter truck. Sometimes she is so weak they drag her body to the slaughter truck and then off to be killed to be turned into pet food. This is her life. This is what dairy is about. This is where cheese, milk, cream, butter, ice cream, sour cream, yogurt and so on come from. I could never touch that again.

2. The life span of a commercial layer hen belonging to an egg company is usually about two years as they are culled at about 2-3 years, once production peaks and begins to decline. They spend their life in a battery cage where they cannot move and have their beaks sliced off so they do not peck each other to death because after a few months of this they literally go mad. Standing on wire cages with nothing soft for their feet. They are kept continually in artificial light to make sure to fool them into laying continually. This is a horrible life. Their average lifespan is normally 7 - 14 years. So they are a commodity and they are used to death.

3. IF you think free range is a better choice it isn't http://www.peacefulprairie.org/eNews/Spring07/free-rangeFarm.html
They delude people into thinking that they are making kinder choices but they aren't. They try to fool people that do not want to know the truth. This is free range eggs for you.

4. I have a personal belief and it is considered harsh but if you think about it. It is true. When people eat meat the pig, chicken, cow, goat etc is usually processed in a day. Its pain is horrible. But when you eat eggs, milk, cheese, ice cream, sour cream, butter and so on you are feeding into an industry that does this to these poor animals for YEARS.

This is why I am vegan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce4DJh-L7Ys

FlaxMilk

I started out as a vegetarian, but I was only 11. My worldview wasn't sophisticated enough to wonder how animals that produce milk and eggs are treated, I just knew that animals died for meat. As I became more informed as I grew older, I went vegan. If I had my own chicken and cows, I'd be morally unopposed to eating their eggs and milk, but I'd probably be too grossed out to actually do that. Milk and eggs didn't used to gross me out, but as a vegan for so long, now it just sounds unappetizing.

_TastySnoBalls_

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jldunn713

As soon as I saw all the evidence linking casein to cancer (read The China Study) I gave up dairy and will never look back!

jakat

I started as vegetarian, and stayed that way for years. The more I realized how animals were treated for milk, eggs, etc., the closer to vegan I became until it became my goal to go as completely vegan as possible.

cersela

I fell into vegan eating after an attempt to stop eating high fructose corn syrup. For years I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian but I was still eating a lot of processed foods like breads and pastas. When I stopped buying store made bread I accidentally discovered I have a gluten sensitivity. So now to make sure foods do not contain corn syrup, gluten, meat or dairy I end up making nearly everything for scratch. I've felt so wonderful and energetic and I haven't had digestive issues for as long as I've been doing this (but did constantly for my whole life.) Sometimes I think it would be easier to give up and just eat like an average person again but it just doesn't feel worth giving up this feeling.

I also lived down the street from a chicken farm as a child, so I saw (and smelled) first hand how poorly animals are treated. There was a point in my life where I was able to have a disconnect between the food on my plate and what took place to get it there, but now I really try to understand where my food comes from. I've seen several documentaries, two good ones are 'Forks over Knives' and 'Food Inc.' You will be hard pressed to want to eat meat or buy non-organic (or at least non-GMO) vegetables if you want those.

momtokgo

I jumped staright into veganism overnight (though I have cheated a few times). My last meal was spicy chicken burger from Wendys...

Originally I cut out meat/dairy to try and combat some IBS issues, and it helped. I did try chicken again after a few weeks and was so sick the next morning that I will never do it again. Same with dairy, I had a peice of cheese...instant dizziness and stomach ache. Eggs have made me nauseous since my second pregnancy 5 years ago, so I cut them out too.