Vegetarians and vegans. Controversial Topic

So.....I'm sure you were not the only person in a Jimmy John's eating meat. Did she tell everyone eating meat they were gross? How did she single you out?

That was my thought too. I've been vegan for about a year, for many different reasons. Started as one reason, and morphed into a couple of others - and after a year of solid research, the only valid reason there is for eating meat - IN MY OPINION - is because it tastes good and we're at the top of the food chain. That isn't a good enough reason for me.

That being said, I would always be up for a rational conversation about veganism, but I would never approach a stranger about it, and I wouldn't even try to convince friends or family.

Did this actually happen, or were you trying to start a discussion? :laugh:

In an effort to lose weight, get my blood sugar under control and just fell better over all, I stopped eating meat. Amazingly, I realized that it wasn't my diabetic medicine that was upsetting my digestive system, it was the meat I was eating. I have also been able to lose weight and my sugar is well controlled. I still eat fish and occasionally some chicken or turkey, but my tummy does not like beef or pork. I am quite content to eat my protein in the form of veggie protein. There are many sources for us to get our protein. Legumes, tofu, seitan, tempeh, grains & nuts are all great sources of protein. Some vegetarians also eat eggs and dairy products. I don't use milk or eggs, but will use a little cheese on occasion. I eat a lot of vegetables and fruit and whole grains. I have gone from being a BIG couch potato to a "happy to go to the gym and work out" kind of person! Yesterday, I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike and 30 minutes on weight training! Three months ago, I would not have believed I could do that.
Everyone has the right to eat the way they choose. We all have to make educated decisions about what works best for out bodies. We can have an opinion about food choices, but we don't have the right to make someone feel bad about liking what they are eating!! sometimes old people are just grouchy and opinionated!

I can not understand people that say "I dont eat meat because the animal suffers". I am a avid hunter, spend hours shooting to make sure I can kill the animal with laser accuracy! This same animal without hunting is either going to die of starvation, hit by a car and may live for days with broken bones, bleeding and many other things that will cause a slow death. or it might get ripped apart by other wild animal and be eaten while still alive. I guess if I had to choose, I would rather be shot! I dont preach to these antis, because I dont care about them! I dont try to force them to hunt, but yet they try to force me not to hunt! It sure would be nice if they would live and let live! GREAT job sending this one packing with her tail between her legs. GREAT job!

maybe in the wild, the animals get licked to death by kittens! maybe we should let every single animal go right now. there is about 500 MILLION cattle alone right now in the U.S, wonder what would happen if we let them all go, not to mention, pigs, chickens and all the other animals. then we stopped hunting! hmmmmmmmmmmm

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.

Yes, but regardless of how crudely a butcher may kill his stock I am nearly certain that of all the predators on earth humans offer the most blissful death to their prey. I say blissful because compared to dying in the wild it is. In nature an animal such as a cow would be devoured alive by a pack of predators, or starved to death. Animals do not die of old age in the wild, surrounded by friends and family as they slowly pass. They die agonizing deaths. Any death a butcher has to offer them is bliss in comparison to what nature has to offer.

Don't want to eat meat? Fine with me. But don't do it thinking you are doing the animals any favors.

I don't think that in the slightest. As you can see from my post my family hunts their meat and my first job was in a butchers. I did not choose to give up meat for the poor fluffy animals, I chose to give it up as I'd much rather my food wasn't manhandled and used for pranks before it was sold on (I could tell you some stories) and I didn't like the taste.

I was vegetarian for about 12 years and have now been a mostly-vegetarian omnivore for about as long. In my time as a vegetarian I met many, many more preachy meat-eaters than I did preachy vegetarians. As a vegetarian I constantly heard comments like "you eat tofu, gross" and "being a vegetarian is so stupid, we were meant to eat animals," "why would you want to do that to yourself" etc. Since beginning to eat meat again, I have eaten meat in front of any number of vegetarians and vegans and heard not a word of criticism.

Of course, there are preachy people of all sorts, and that woman you met was incredibly rude. However, since meat-eating is the norm in this country, I think you'll find that it's vegetarians and vegans who are more often accosted for their food choices.

Edited to add: I love that you call vegetarianism "madness" in a post where you are claiming harassment from a vegetarian for your personal eating choices.

THIS says everything I was thinking.

Ditto all that. Exactly.

Some people are crazy. Some people also feel their opinion should be forced on everyone. Not all vegetarians are like that. I was a vegetarian for 3 years and a vegan for 6 months. I never pushed it or mentioned it to anyone.
I'm actually working the meat out of my diet again to go vegetarian as my digestive issues are back with meat eating.

I have been a non-meat eater for 5 years now. If this is a real story - its people like that lady that keep me from claiming vegetarianism. I don't eat meat for several reasons, but I do not talk about it often, i do not tell others they should not eat meat, in fact i don't even like the word vegetarian. People assume that there are rules to it, I choose what I want to at as should anyone else, and nobody has the right to tell me im right or wrong for my choices.

Why dont I eat meat? Economics, environmental, personal health benefits, prefer taste of properly prepared vegetarian diet. That being said I do cook meat for friends and family, and im not going to complain if a chunk of sausage gets on my half of the pizza.

People should just worry about themselves and stop focusing on what other people do. Sorry that the lady you encountered was that way, If i had been there I would have probably told her to mind her own business (probably in less kind words), and gone on with my day. I do not like vegetarians who preach, they give the rest of us a bad name.

You were nice, I would have told her to mind her business and then would have proceeded to tell her what she could kiss, how long she could kiss it, and exactly where she could go to wipe her lips off.

I don't do people being up in other people business.

I've been vegetarian my whole life. I really don't care who eats what lol.
I can't stand people who have to nag others like that. I believe certain animals were put here for people to consume.
Just not me.

So you had one bad experience with a vegetarian.

You realize that meat isn't the only place you can get protein, right? What about beans? Nuts? Eggs? (I'm vegetarian, not vegan, so I can eat eggs.) Do you know why animals have so much protein? Because those animals ate things like nuts, seeds, etc. that are high in protein.

I have a few reasons why I don't eat meat. The main reason is I don't believe in murder. I don't believe in torture. Therefore, I can't eat meat. My other reasons is that it's unhealthy, much higher risk of diseases, and when I think about the process in which its made, it disgusts me.
I don't really understand how people can know how meat is made and still eat it. It is disgusting how many people enjoy the fact that animals are tortured and killed every day just so that they can have something to eat.

I will admit - meat tastes good. I haven't been a vegetarian forever. Hamburgers and chicken ... I've always loved them. But I've had some vegetarian "fake" burgers and chicken. Absolutely no meat and they taste delicious, just as good as the real thing. But I'm just happy that animals didn't have to be killed just so I could enjoy something tasty.

There are so many things that people can eat without eating meat!!! You can also have unhealthy things that are without meat. I mean - chocolate, candies, etc. Vegetarians can eat those things. So vegetarians aren't always skinny.

I am an animal lover. Animals have feelings. Would YOU like to be killed just so that someone could eat you? Probably not. Would you like to be kept in a small cage for your whole life, fed hormones, not be able to see the "outside world", and then be slaughtered? What kind of life is that? How is fair that humans get to live fulfilling lives while some animals are tortured and killed?
I think about my pets. My parents had cats, I've had hamsters and fish. I can't imagine them being tortured and killed. I look after them, spend time with them, feed them, play with them, etc. Animals deserve lives just as humans do.

What makes meat eaters so much better than all the animals? Why do YOU deserve a life? Why do YOU deserve to be free? While the animals you eat never get a chance

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'.

They don't torture animals to death nor do they before and after. Sometimes even those videos are false. Also they might catch a person who has done something wrong and they try to highlight it as in 'all' but that doesn't mean all farms are like that. Just like any profession you'll always have someone who is cruel and that is what needs to be weeded out but farms in general do not torture the animals because 1) its cruel, 2) its counter productive to the product (if you actually knew anything about these animals, the individual species, you would understand why). If a man beats his wife does that make all men evil? When a teacher abuses a child are all teachers bad and we must put a stop to having schools and teachers? What about a pet owner who abused his/her dog? Does that mean all owners are bad?

What was she doing at Jimmy Johns in the first place? Sounds fishy to me. My gut tells me this is a bull**** story.

I'm with you. I call B.S. on the O.P.
Any veg*n can tell you that preachy omnivores will simply not let go harassing them about their food choices. As a vegetarian myself for the past two years, I have experienced my share of these episodes, mostly within my family. Frankly, I could not care less what someone else is eating.
The notion that anyone, including this mythical "lady in the Jimmy John's" to approach a stranger eating his lunch and berate him for eating meat in his submarine sandwich simply strains credulity. Why Jimmy John's? Why not a steak house or KFC? Why wasn't she carrying a protest sign outside the restaurant?
The original post was nothing more than a creative writing assignment. I give it a D-.

Uhmmm ya, I am on team BS story.

So you had one bad experience with a vegetarian.

You realize that meat isn't the only place you can get protein, right? What about beans? Nuts? Eggs? (I'm vegetarian, not vegan, so I can eat eggs.) Do you know why animals have so much protein? Because those animals ate things like nuts, seeds, etc. that are high in protein.

I have a few reasons why I don't eat meat. The main reason is I don't believe in murder. I don't believe in torture. Therefore, I can't eat meat. My other reasons is that it's unhealthy, much higher risk of diseases, and when I think about the process in which its made, it disgusts me.
I don't really understand how people can know how meat is made and still eat it. It is disgusting how many people enjoy the fact that animals are tortured and killed every day just so that they can have something to eat.

I will admit - meat tastes good. I haven't been a vegetarian forever. Hamburgers and chicken ... I've always loved them. But I've had some vegetarian "fake" burgers and chicken. Absolutely no meat and they taste delicious, just as good as the real thing. But I'm just happy that animals didn't have to be killed just so I could enjoy something tasty.

There are so many things that people can eat without eating meat!!! You can also have unhealthy things that are without meat. I mean - chocolate, candies, etc. Vegetarians can eat those things. So vegetarians aren't always skinny.

I am an animal lover. Animals have feelings. Would YOU like to be killed just so that someone could eat you? Probably not. Would you like to be kept in a small cage for your whole life, fed hormones, not be able to see the "outside world", and then be slaughtered? What kind of life is that? How is fair that humans get to live fulfilling lives while some animals are tortured and killed?
I think about my pets. My parents had cats, I've had hamsters and fish. I can't imagine them being tortured and killed. I look after them, spend time with them, feed them, play with them, etc. Animals deserve lives just as humans do.

What makes meat eaters so much better than all the animals? Why do YOU deserve a life? Why do YOU deserve to be free? While the animals you eat never get a chance

Because we evolved to have pretty awesome brains and learn to harvest our food/resource better which helped the survival of our species. That is why. You don't keep your hamster in a cage? He's allowed to roam freely? I always found it kind of mean having some pocket pets, like hamsters since they can care less to be someone's pet and can care less about humans but we keep them for our own amusement. I guess your fish is free in a river or a lake or whatever as well? or is he in an aquarium trapped? And here you feel sorry for say some beef cattle who might have an open range to be on while you are keeping pets as prisoners.

I've been a vegetarian my ENTIRE life, and doing so has kept me ALIVE for 27 years! Had I ever eaten meat, the toxins would have built up in my blood and it could have resulted in severe neurological damage, or even death.

I refuse to feel bad simply because the OP is on a personal crusade against vegetarians. I don't like threads that pick on others lifestyles, or their reasons behind them.