What is The Basis For Vegan and/or Vegetarian Eating?

Did vegetarian eating for 18months for health reasons. No longer need blood pressure or cholesterol medicine. I probably could have eaten better and had same results.

Although I'm all for animal rights, I became a vegetarian for health reasons. Meat made me feel tired after I ate it. Once I gave it up, I had more energy to do things, and even lost a few pounds.

I'm a vegetarian because i couldn't stand to eat meat anymore. It was for moral/ethical reasons. The health benefits are great though.

Animal rights, and videos like "Glass Walls" (meetyourmeat.org). Health benefits are just an added bonus.

I started eating vegan for animal reasons and was heavy. Then I decided to focus on health and my body changed completely. I eat some dairy now, so I consider myself vegetarian not vegan. Plus, I wear leather shoes!

I have to admit I go around fantasizing about eating hamburgers.

I'm not vegan/vegatarian and I STILL do the above.

Everyone's reason is going to be different. I stopped eating meat for about 5 years because I just didn't like the way it smells when you cook it (lamb and pork especially, they smell disgusting!) and because I lived on my own so could eat whatever I wanted. Now my husband cooks meat for me, and I'll happily eat it.

Being vegan or vegetarian is not a guarantee of health by any means - there is a hell of a lot of processed vegetarian food with scary ingredients and you can certainly be vegetarian and overweight - I was.

Some people genuinely care about animals and the environment and choose to make a statement by not eating or using animal products (although it's really hard to completely avoid them).
Others are less educated and are just following the crowd but don't really make much of an effort. I'm thinking of the girls who claim that they don't want to eat meat because it means you have to kill animals but don't see a problem with lugging around a giant leather handbag!

Like everything else it's a personal choice, but not a guarantee of health.

I'm an animal lover, and that was my biggest reason for making the switch when I was 15, but after a few years, I switched back to eating meat. Didn't last long. I'm back to being a vegetarian, but the main reason for the switch this time was developing a severe food anxiety and not trusting eating meat or eggs mixed with health reasons. I still love animals, but it's not my #1 excuse these days.

I am not buying that it is healthier. I looked at some of the ingredients in the all natural veggie burgers and that sort of stuff; not convincing. Health is probably much more related to organic, than vegetarian practices. That said, I eat lots of fresh fruit and veggies every day. I also eat small portions of lean meats that are free range raised and organically fed. However; I am not insensitive to the other positions.

Of course if you eat all the prepackaged frozen crap food that is out there for vegetarians it won't be healthy, it's the same with products that contain meat. If you eat healthy vegetarian meals comprised mostly of vegetables and whole grains, it can most certainly be very healthy. You can also eat organic crap. Labels like that don't matter, it's how processed a food is. How long since it came out of the ground, and how it was handled afterward.

I was a vegetarian for years, both for moral and health reasons. I now eat a moderate amount of meat, no more than one meal per day, and it's always local/small farm meat that was raised in a sustainable, organic or close to it way.

I grew up only eating meat, eggs and dairy that we raised/butchered ourselves. When I left home I started getting my meat at the shop like most people do, and it just wasn't right. It didn't taste right or smell right and it certainly didn't look right. Then I found out everything that goes into commercially-raised meat (hormones, etc.) and how the animals are housed/fed...it just wasn't doing it for me. So I stopped eating meat (and milk) for several years.

Then I moved to where I could get meat again that was, well, "organic," you could say (though that's not what it's called here). It's just meat. So I'm back on meat.

I love animals! That definitely plays a big role. I also follow a vegetarian lifestyle because of the ecological benefits (much less of an environmental impact). It being healthier (if you do it properly!) is an added bonus.

I think that everyone has their own personal reasons.

This is pretty much the exact same reason I have and I agree - everyone has different reasons. I know someone who simply hates the taste and texture of meat.