Vegetarians and vegans. Controversial Topic

no. it doesn't. it doesn't prove anything. it suggests that conservatives eat heavier food, both veg*n and non. it also suggests that liberals eat lighter or healthier foods, both veg*n and non.
for your earlier survey, i am a member of the green party and i am a vegetarian. i had a friend at work who was a republican and vegetarian. my uncle is more moderate and was a vegetarian for years. political party has nothing to do with whether or not you eat meat.

well thats ur opinion.. where i think that the more environmentally conscious people are they are more inclined to be vegetarian, liberal, or both.

i didn't say anything about environmentalism. i agree that those with more environmental consciousness do tend to be liberal, but as veg*nism is generally more about ethics than the environment, environmental consciousness doesn't always translate to veg*nism.
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u dont think ethics and the environment have any correlation? i bet veganism translates to environmental consciousness

my husband is a vegetarian and has been for 25 years, he doesn't eat any meat or fish but still eats dairy, he is well within his healthy weight range, but is really unfit. he genuinely doesn't like the texture or taste of meat and also doesn't want anything to die so he can eat, he has never tried to guilt trip or press his diet onto me or our kids, over the years i have altered many of our recipes so he can eat exactly the same as the rest of the family when it isn't a vegetarian meal.
he has no problem cooking meat for the rest of us and weirdly cooks THE best steak in the world

People like her is why I don't tell people I man a vegitarian. Don't ask don't tell

I'm a vegetarian and that lady was really rude, no matter what her diet was. My husband is omni and I hang out with people while they are eating meat and while I might tease them if I know them really well (like my husband), I don't talk about being veg unless asked. It's my choice. Health-wise, IMO meat is fine in moderation. I do it because I've never really liked anything but poultry -and once I started raising chickens they became like pets to me. Eating chicken would be like eating my cat :P. I have other reasons as well, but that's for another day. I am healthy and fit, but I'd never say an omnivore could not be the same!

I became a vegetarian recently because of the way that animals are treated to get the meat to your plate. It's truely disgusting that we have become a world where demands for meat = allowing animal cruelty. People get arrested, banned from keeping PETS ( dogs, cats, rabbits etc.) if they do not treat them right, what makes the 'farming' industry any different? Especially at food chains and supermarkets where this type of cruelty is more apparent. If I buy meat for my partner it's from a local farmer, where I can see for myself how the animals are treated.

I agree about the woman though, she was rude. People can make their own adult choices of what food to eat given they have the information, they can make what they want of it at the end of the day.

I am vegetarian. I don't bother people about what they eat. What happens to me is the other way around. Some people who do eat meat get on me about not eating it. What does it matter? I never really liked meat so I just don't include it now. I do it for my health, animals and the planet. My choice not yours. Consume what you want.
She was rude in my opinion.

i have seen some videos and i wasnt pleased by how their treated. so in ur opinion since you think we are animals do you think it is natural to eat eachother than that is was animals do. or is it the fact that you hold humans more accountable then animals to make a choice not to eat meat.just curious what you think

if you dont mind my input id like to say. that yes overall in America vegetarians may be healthier than most, but thats because a lot of Americans are over weight like me and made a choice not to combine the right meat and fruit?vegetables to make them healthy. you can be healthy and eat meat like yourself. i get that most vegetarians/vegans want to save animals. i was vegetarian for a few months, but i like meat. the real problem is the way they are killed. GOD put the animals on earth to eat. if we could just treat the animals better and not torture them to death then there would probably be less vegetarians. just saying!
P.Speople dont realize that you shouldnt it to much meat. skip out like twice a week on meat. Dr oz says you shouldnt eat animal with for legs more then 3-5 days a week.

Uh. Animals are humanely killed, they are not "tortured to death". I have been to slaughterhouses and have seen it firsthand.
I take exception, too, to your claim that animals were put here by God for us to eat.
We are animals. We love to imagine that we're special, but I think that's bull****. We are no different and have evolved in the same way as anything else.

If you really believe what happens to these animals before & during their death isn't considered torture I encouraged you to watch some of the undercover slaughterhouse videos, egg hatchery videos, dairy cow videos... That is cruel, inhumane disgusting torture, I couldn't care less if others eat meat but you cannot honestly think what happens to these poor creatures is 'okay'.

Quick Poll: any republican vegetarians/vegans out there?

I hope not. If so, I might have to rethink my diet.

So glad to have you as a friend

If I dropped friends because they didn't share my political views, I'd lose probably 75% of my friends. I don't share my political views with many of them, because I've had other friends like them drop me for the same reason. That's one of the differences between people on this side of the aisle and that side. They *think* they're more tolerant, but are actually less so.

Nope. Don't care what my friends are either. I love having something in common with friends, so that's why I stated that. I've got plenty of other friends who I have much in common just not veganism, religion, or politics and we still get along great.

I think you just took my comment wrong but with internet that's just a common problem.

I'm a conservative vegatarian. I registered republican because I didn't want Romney....and I haven't lost any friends over my political beliefs because I'm willing to have discussions over them as long as neither side resort to anger or name calling.

I admit I didn't read all seven pages of this thread, but I just wanted to chime in briefly. I have been vegan for 11 years for many reasons. Like the lady above, I at first fell in love with a pet and then extended that sympathy to all animals. But I now remain vegan for more reasons than that: environmental and health. The benefits just seem to keep on coming. I think it's unfortunate that that individual approached you in that way. I hate hearing things like that because I think that that person reflects badly on all veg/vegans and I'm sorry that one of your first encounters with a vegan diet had to be a negative one.

I'm a contended omnivore and it would never occur to me to stick my nose into what someone else chooses to eat at a restaurant, it sounds like you handled this far more politely than I would have.

I bet you go in to vegetarian restaurants and tell herbivoires how disgusting and unhealthy tofu is. :laugh:

I would have had a fistful of teeth. There are some things you just don't do unless you want a severe beating and that's one of them. Another one would be vandalizing someone's car or house.

i have seen some videos and i wasnt pleased by how their treated. so in ur opinion since you think we are animals do you think it is natural to eat eachother than that is was animals do. or is it the fact that you hold humans more accountable then animals to make a choice not to eat meat.just curious what you think

if you dont mind my input id like to say. that yes overall in America vegetarians may be healthier than most, but thats because a lot of Americans are over weight like me and made a choice not to combine the right meat and fruit?vegetables to make them healthy. you can be healthy and eat meat like yourself. i get that most vegetarians/vegans want to save animals. i was vegetarian for a few months, but i like meat. the real problem is the way they are killed. GOD put the animals on earth to eat. if we could just treat the animals better and not torture them to death then there would probably be less vegetarians. just saying!
P.Speople dont realize that you shouldnt it to much meat. skip out like twice a week on meat. Dr oz says you shouldnt eat animal with for legs more then 3-5 days a week.

Uh. Animals are humanely killed, they are not "tortured to death". I have been to slaughterhouses and have seen it firsthand.
I take exception, too, to your claim that animals were put here by God for us to eat.
We are animals. We love to imagine that we're special, but I think that's bull****. We are no different and have evolved in the same way as anything else.

If you really believe what happens to these animals before & during their death isn't considered torture I encouraged you to watch some of the undercover slaughterhouse videos, egg hatchery videos, dairy cow videos... That is cruel, inhumane disgusting torture, I couldn't care less if others eat meat but you cannot honestly think what happens to these poor creatures is 'okay'.

Violet, it is difficult to tell if this is a question to me based on how the post is quoted, but I will assume it is:

i have seen some videos and i wasnt pleased by how their treated. so in ur opinion since you think we are animals do you think it is natural to eat eachother than that is was animals do. or is it the fact that you hold humans more accountable then animals to make a choice not to eat meat.just curious what you think

like I said, I have been to slaughterhouses many times, and my undergrad degree is in animal agricultural science. I made it a point to become very well informed about how food animals are raised and slaughtered.
Let me start out by saying that I fully respect someone's decision to become vegan or vegetarian. There are a lot of reasons to do so, and all of them valid. Killing an animal for your own survival is a heady and emotional thing at least. That is an individual's decision. I have a lot of vegetarians in my own family and have spent years as one myself on and off.
As to your question, yes, I certainly think that's the way we evolved. Animals eat animals, and we are animals. There is a lot of debate surrounding whether humans need meat or if it is natural for us to do so. I am not a nutritionist, so am not qualified to get into that. My own opinion is that we are omnivores who probably eat a lot more meat than we need.
As humans who raise animals for food, I feel it is an EXTREMELY important responsibility to do right by these animals. Anyone who mistreats animals as in those videos should be prosecuted, and the fact that people can get away with it sickens me.
Those videos exist because those things happen. I appreciate those whistleblowers who distribute them. That kind of thing should absolutely never happen. What is construed as mistreatment by some is debatable IMO. It's considered cruel to keep cattle in feedlots my many, and I certainly do not agree with that, having raised cattle in that manner myself. The simple fact is that if stressed out and unhappy, they will not produce as efficiently, and that hurts the bottom line. Keeping cattle happy is absolutely in the best interest of the cattle AND the producer. Anyone who does not should not be in the business, and probably won't be for long.
The problem I have is that people tend to think that is the norm rather than the rare exception since that is what they seen in those videos and what PeTA reports. (kind of like how they only show the crashes in NASCAR races). This is not the case. As I mentioned more than once, I have been there physically and have witnessed how things are NORMALLY done firsthand. I have a pretty thorough understanding of the processes of raising, shipping and slaughtering animals for food.
And like I said before, a lot of people have a fundamental problem with that, and that I respect. It is a very personal choice.
I eat very little meat myself. It is not so much because of the way animals are processed, it is the fact that I just don't like it very much, don't feel I need very much, and the fact that over-consumption of meat has a serious environmental impact that I don't think is right.

Uh. Animals are humanely killed, they are not "tortured to death". I have been to slaughterhouses and have seen it firsthand.

Firstly I am a vegetarian of 25 years. I am not particularly fit and healthy, but I'm trying and I don't force my views on vegetarianism. It's my choice. My Husband and Children eat meat and they hunt. My first paid job was in a butchers. But I do have to raise an objection to the above comment. Not all animals are humanely killed. Certainly not in the UK. There are some slaughterhouses which slit the throats of scared animals (they are not stunned) and leave the animals to bleed to death. It is not painless and highly distressing. Unless you buy from a butcher who can trace his meat there is no way of knowing how the animal was killed and meats served in schools and hospitals more often than not come from the less humane slaughterhouses.

Man, I hate preachy vegetarians and vegans! I've been vegetarians for 8 years now and I've never judged someone for eating meat. Just because I personally don't agree with it doesn't mean its right to shove my views and opinions down someone elses throat.

My partner is a meat eater and I've never asked him to stop eating meat for me. I won't cook it for him though, mostly because I don't know how to cook meat properly, wouldn't want to poison him!!

As for vegetarians being more fit and healthy than meat eaters, she hasn't met me! I'm neither of those things.

I am a vegetarian but I eat 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight, recently ran a half marathon, lift weights and am certainly not puny. But I also don't have a problem with people who choose to get their protein from meat.