For those that don't eat meat, explain your reasoning

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  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    Read "The China Study". Then, we'll talk. BTW, love your photo :) 300 is my all time favorite movie!

    that's why i started smoking since the China study showed a lower incidence of cancer among smokers vs red meat eaters
  • TrishJimenez
    TrishJimenez Posts: 561 Member
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    I have been considering going some kind of vegan, not sure exactly cuz I know there are different kinds. But am nervous about finding enough protein in plant sources. Can you vegans give me some good tips on foods to make the main staples of my diet and still get enough protein? I dont want to be the vegetarian that lives on french fries rice and bread. I know some "kids" out there that say they are vegan and just eat crap as long as it doesnt have meat in it. For me that is trading the bad for the worse. I know edemame is high in protein and beans, I try to eat a lot of those
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    i personally am vegan. i dont eat, use, wear anything associated with a living creature. i also dont do honey or certain things like red dye 40 since thats actually ground up beetles, not to be gross. my reasoning is because i dont think anybody should suffer, including animals. i wouldnt do that to my cat or dog, so i wont do that to anything else. with all the alternatives, theres no reason not to. i dont care why people dont eat animals, im just glad they dont. whatever reason is a great reason to me. i am not here to judge, as i wish people wouldnt judge me as well, so to each his own, but i wish nothing/nobody had to suffer.

    So everything you wear is 100% cotton?
  • MrsCon40
    MrsCon40 Posts: 2,351 Member
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    I couldn't kill it myself and I don't make responsible food choices when I can default to eggs and dairy.
  • khskr1
    khskr1 Posts: 392
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    Yes, the china study. Diet for a new america.

    There are tons of good info in those books.
  • anjukins
    anjukins Posts: 103 Member
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    p.s. i was vegan through both of my pregnancies & nursing, felt AMAZING the whole time, and had two gorgeous fat babies. Just to brag a little :)
  • penelofur
    penelofur Posts: 81 Member
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    A lot of reasons- (health/environment/morals) but mainly because I love animals! :heart:

    I am not a vegan, but I do not eat eggs- even before becoming a vegetarian I would not eat them. I definitely limit my dairy intake and I try to purchase my dairy from places that treat their animals well.

    Are you wanting to become a vegetarian?
  • cheshirequeen
    cheshirequeen Posts: 1,324 Member
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    joe, yes it is. no leather, no silk, no down feathers, nothing that comes from any living creature.
  • modernfemme
    modernfemme Posts: 454 Member
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    This may be longer than you want, but I figured I'd chime in.

    I don't eat meat because of the animals and the way they are treated from animal to food. Been vegetarian for about 2 years now. Every now and then I will screw up and eat fish. (Hey! I'm not perfect) but I think a few more years at this and I won't have the craving at all. I'd like to think because although the industry can get bad, especially in Japan, the process isn't as gruesome.

    I have been joking lately by calling myself a Faketarian (vegetarians don't eat fish, period) but the cause does mean a ton to me and I try not to be so terrible on myself since I'm still getting used to it. So far I've screwed up by eating fish maybe 4 times, so I hope the vegetarian world still loves me.

    Unlike Vegans, I do think we're supposed to eat meat. I just choose not to support the industry. It's gross, cruel, and unhealthy, and terrifying.

    (And yes, I love eggs. I buy from local farms whenever I can, or organic, free range. Eggs aren't fertilized, so it's not like you are eating potential baby chics)
  • cheshirequeen
    cheshirequeen Posts: 1,324 Member
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    anj, same here. i have a very healthy overly active, haha, 2 year old. who is tall, strong, and outruns me everywhere.
  • honu18
    honu18 Posts: 294 Member
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    I don't eat red meat, pork, or fish. I do eat eggs, but usually opt out if necessary. I mainly do it for health and environmental reasons. Beef production is a huge consumer of fossil fuels, well suited agricultural land, as well as a huge contributor to the massive corn subsidies we have in this nation that contribute to eutrophication in the Gulf of Mexico as well as other smaller waterbodies. Plus, beef is fatty and unhealthy. If i eat meat, it's chicken or turkey--which I know has some of the same costs, but to a smaller scale. Recently just started eating veggie burgers and other veggie options, like tofu and soy proteins, and I actually really like them. I don't eat fish because I really can't stand the smell or taste, as well as the fact that over 75% of fisheries are overfished and on the verge of collapse.
  • rae347
    rae347 Posts: 10
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    Some great books on being vegetarian and vegan are:
    The China Study (Research on the health benefits)
    The Kind Diet (Alicia Silverstone)
    The Veganist (another book which goes through so many reasons why! Also has awesome personal stories to read too!)

    I am sure you can find all of these at the library like I have :)

    Personally, I like the health and environment reasons and the kind-to-animals reasons-- but mainly, I feel amazingly better when I eat vegetarian and even better when I eat vegan.
  • anjukins
    anjukins Posts: 103 Member
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    i was vegan but i never really thought that humans "shouldn't" eat meat- i think if civilization as we knew it collapsed, i'd probably eat fish and deer (native to the area of the world that i live in)... but if it isn't necessary, i'm certainly not going to force myself to do it. it just sounds... like a last-ditch survival measure. everyone feels different. I don't think you could say anything about "vegans" as a group and have it actually be universally applicable :)
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    Multiple reasons. Not the animals though.

    I found it to be a challenge to eat as a vegetarian, and I loved the challenge. But I started because a friend was using it as a fad, and I thought it was kind of fun (bc of the challenge). After I lost most of my weight being one, I'm liking it. One of my best friends is vegan, and so it's something that I connect with him on.
    I do eat eggs. Just not meat, or something like chicken broth, etc.

    ETA: We could also feed a ton of people with the grain and corn used to feed the animals... That one is meaningful to me.
  • princessthecat22
    princessthecat22 Posts: 57 Member
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    I am not a "vegan" put I do have trouble putting down alot of meats. I choked as a child on steak and had the hylac monuever ( wow, im sure thats not spelled right) done on me and it was a painful, tramatic experience. Plus I hate the smell of bloog and I feel like steak smells like blood. I do love chicken though mainly off the bone.
  • zorbaru
    zorbaru Posts: 1,077 Member
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    to the people that dont eat animals as they are against the killing, do you own any leather goods? shoes, couches etc?
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    I don't eat red meat, pork, or fish. I do eat eggs, but usually opt out if necessary. I mainly do it for health and environmental reasons. Beef production is a huge consumer of fossil fuels, well suited agricultural land, as well as a huge contributor to the massive corn subsidies we have in this nation that contribute to eutrophication in the Gulf of Mexico as well as other smaller waterbodies. Plus, beef is fatty and unhealthy. If i eat meat, it's chicken or turkey--which I know has some of the same costs, but to a smaller scale. Recently just started eating veggie burgers and other veggie options, like tofu and soy proteins, and I actually really like them. I don't eat fish because I really can't stand the smell or taste, as well as the fact that over 75% of fisheries are overfished and on the verge of collapse.

    Fair enough. Good answer.

    Although I will disagree with you that beef is unhealthy because it's "fatty". There isn't any research or study to support the fact that animal fat is bad for you or is the cause of CVD or CHD.
  • modernfemme
    modernfemme Posts: 454 Member
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    i was vegan but i never really thought that humans "shouldn't" eat meat- i think if civilization as we knew it collapsed, i'd probably eat fish and deer (native to the area of the world that i live in)... but if it isn't necessary, i'm certainly not going to force myself to do it. it just sounds... like a last-ditch survival measure. everyone feels different. I don't think you could say anything about "vegans" as a group and have it actually be universally applicable :)

    Interesting. i've talked to some who referenced medical studies about how meat isn't even good for you. (I disagree, but it was interesting nonetheless)
  • fromaquasar
    fromaquasar Posts: 811 Member
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    I, my whole life disagreed with vegetarianism. I had all the arguments about how humans are just animals, part of the food chain, animals eat each other, why shouldn't we eat them? I have teeth made to rip and tear flesh, I am designed to eat me, it is natural and normal.

    BUT I turned vegetarian at the start of the year. For a looooong time I had lived in denial about what I was eating. There was a major disconnect in my brain between the living breathing animals I saw and had had relationships with over my life and the hunk of chicken breast or leg of lamb on my plate.

    I also started to think about the effect of eating meat on the planet. The increased carbon footprint, the strain on land, the exploitation of natural resources etc. This is a nice illustration of that for the fishing industry http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jun/03/fish-stocks-information-beautiful

    And finally I started to think about cruelty in the industry - to produce more animal products, faster at a lower cost.

    And it came down to this for me. Being fully away of all these factors I realised I was in the privileged position (in terms of my means, my conciousness etc) to still live a very happy healthy life and minimise my contribution to these issues, as well as not having to have anything die. At that stage it wasn't why I would be come a vegetarian it was how could I not :)
  • koosdel
    koosdel Posts: 3,317 Member
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    As father would say,"Hook, line, and sinker.."

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