For Vegetarians: What makes you want to be a vegan or vegetarian, what do you do for nutrients?

Question

I'm not judging, but I'm not a vegetarian. I do love animals, but I think its natural to eat meat (animals do too, after all)

I just want to know other reasons, and the effects it has on your bodies, what kind of supplements do you use, and how do your decisions effect your life? (is it hard to go out to eat with friends or family, etc.)
what other stands do you take for animal rights and the enviornment, and why?
What drives your passion?

Answer 1

Several factors influenced my decision to stop eating meat. Environmentally it is better to eat plants than meats. The majority of grain grown in the US is grown for animal feed. It takes somewhere around 1000lbs of feed to make one pound of meat. That thousand pounds of feed could go towards feeding people. Also, grain would require less transportation if it went straight to market as opposed to feeding animals which are then shipped to the slaughterhouse then shipped to market. Large feed lots contaminate soil and water. It is no different than very crowded cities without proper sanitation and sewage systems.

Health reasons also influenced my decision. By eating a diet based on whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruits with no animal fats or proteins my body will be more resistant to cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease and type II diabetes. By not eating meat I'm less likely to contract e coli and other meat borne bacteria. I've suffered from far less colds and fevers since becoming veggie and rarely have GI issues.

The only supplements I take are vitamin C, B, and iron. These supplements are recommended for most women veggie or not.

It is not hard to eat out with family and friends, they respect my dietary choices just as I respect their choice to continue eating meat. Most restaurants have veggie choices of some type and you can often have various dishes made without meat upon request. I prefer to eat in ethnic restaurants where it is even easier to have veggie choices. I also enjoy cooking and make it a point to cook delicious food for my family so they realize I'm not missing out by not eating meat and to open their eyes to healthy meat free food.

What drives my passion? The thought that I can have less impact on the environment and lead a healthy long life through a simple dietary choice.

Answer 2

This is a great question!

Check out this website for information about reasons why to go veg, and they've also got nutritional info too.

http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/

Personally, I decided to respect animals and not contribute to their slaughter and suffering by eating them. It's the best decision I've ever made and I have no regrets. Been vegan for nearly half my life ..

Answer 3

Well I think as suppliments lot of things are available for lacto-vegetarians. My cousin is a body builder and a vegetarian. He eats a lot of soyabeen, soya-milk, and soya-paneer.

I once read about bio-magnification, how pesticides and other harmful chemicals like DDT etc. get cumulated over food-chain. So higher up the food chain the animal is, it is more likely to have higher concentration of those chemicals. As far as my stand is concerned, I think its OK for cheetah, etc. to eat meat et al. But humans have unnaturally grown in population. So eating meat will not help nature. It would create imbalance. Instead of controlling population we will decimate them. Had our population been controlled due to paucity of avalable animals, it would have been ok for us to eat food, but breeding animals to kill, looks cruel. they loose their freedom.
Well, I am young so am still thinking, I would like to see what other people think about it, maybe they may express this more clearly.

Answer 4

Im a veggie but eat dairy products. It's the taste and texture of the meat that makes me a vegetarian, as thats why i dont eat meat. To be honest, i dont feel any side affects this has to my body, apart from my dark circles under my eyes which ive had since being a vegetarian, which was about 5 years old, this may mean a lack of nutrients or iron. I dont use any suppliments but i eat fish and eat healthy.
I do find it a little hard to eat out as there isnt a lot of choice for vegetarians, but i usually manage to find something, some good restaurants alter the ingredients for you too, which helps.

Answer 5

What do vegetarians do for nutrients? Please tell me you don't think meat is the only source of nutrients. I eat whole grains (bread and pasta), veggies, fruit, soya products etc. and get everything I need thank you. I don't need supplements. No, it's not that hard to go out and eat with family or friends. There is always an option.

Answer 6

I am a vegitarian too and I do it because, I am one less person contributing to animal cruelty and I don't take any supplements Thanks to Mother Nature I guess I am lucky.

Answer 7

well, i'm not totally vegetarian. i only eat chicken. everything else is a NO!! sumtimes it is hard to go out to eat.. one time we went to a chinese restaraunt, and my dad was eating octopus!... he held it up to put it in his mouth, and i could see all the tenticles!! (it was SO gross...) yeah. i started to cry.... so we had to leave. (lol) so but when i cook sumthin w/ meat in it, i just substitute it for chicken...

Answer 8

my family members r vegetarian and they get fish for protein and nutrients which isn't meat and drink a lot of milk and water
animals r cool but they die for r satisfaction badd thing
best answer please