Vegans, what is your reason for not consuming any animal products?

Question

I'm a vegetarian for moral reasons. I don't think that I will ever become vegan because I cannot see any reason to abstain from all animal products (especially things like honey which I don't see as causing suffering). But I would like to hear your reasonings. Who knows? I may be converted. ;)

jj: no, honey is not an animal. it is an animal product though because it is produced by bees who are classified in the kingdom animalia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animalia and there are vegans who do not eat honey because it is an animal product.

Answer 1

Vegan. It doesn't have anything to do with being cruel to animals. I think for me, with keeping to a strick vegan diet, I feel healthier, cleaner, my brain functions more properly, I sleep sounder and so on.

I feel cleaner. Is the only way I can explain it.

Answer 2

I am just starting with the plant based diet, because I am concerned with my immune system, animal fat destroys the cells that might be able to keep you healthy. I, for one, am interested because there are many illnesses that can be cured if not delayed when you don't eat anything that has animal fat., animals carry many deceases and when you eat them you are getting that in your system. I am sure I did not explain this well enough, since I am new at this but maybe someone will answer you with more information.

Answer 3

Princess, great entry. http://www.factoryfarming.com/ this gives one a better picture of what our *farms* are like now. And to those who think honey is not meat, you are correct, but vegans and some vegetarians don't like it because some bees are harmed while harvesting it and also there are microscopic bits of bees in honey, so that could be a reason that they don't care to eat it. To each their own..

http://www.factoryfarming.com/gallery.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/factoryfarming/

Answer 4

I am a vegan because I hate vegetables.....
No one can be a vegan for moral reasons....because look around your house and see all of the items that are made from animals. Your belt, shoes, the upholstery in your car.
If you drink 'real' milk....that has meat in it. They feed cows that are laced in fatty products.
I have been a vegetarian for over 35 years. It is a personal choice. But, I am open to wearing leather shoes, I love the upholstery in my car.......I love milk and cheese. Go figure.

Answer 5

My 7 year old daughter was born that way. i remember as a baby she would spit any meat products out. She simply did not like the taste of meat. Now that shes older she says she wont eat them because its mean to eat animals.

We all eat meat products, shes the only one who refuses. We are ok with that, and provide her with all the healthy veggies and fruits, beans, ect that she wants.

She has her own grocery list and we buy what she will eat.

For her its simply the taste she doesnt like

Answer 6

HONEY IS NOT AN ANIMAL DUH !! PEOPLE DONT LIKE TOO EAT MEAT BECAUSE IT INTELS KILLING ANIMALS A LIVING CREATURE SO THEY ONLY EAT VEGETABLES HINT VEGATARIAN , HONEY IS MADE BY BEES FROM POLLEN PROUDICED BY FLOWERS AND SOME TREES AND ANY THING THEY CAN FIND SUCH AS DOG DOO DO AND HUMAN PEE WHICH BY THE WAY HONEY IS VERY HEALTHY FOR YOU SO EAT ALL YOU WANT YOU ARE NOT EATING AN ANIMAL

Answer 7

I'm avoiding meat and eating more soy products to loose weight.

Answer 8

I just don't eat meat. I do drink organic milk, eggs, cheese ect...just not animal flesh of any kind.

Answer 9

im not a vegan myself but my friend is he dosent eat them becuase he lived on a farm think of it like eating your pet doesent make that make you sound a little mean?

Answer 10

animal products have alot of nasty hormones and bad fats in them plus...

Health
Real food for real people. Good for every body. Incredible edible. The "basic four" food groups. And the question almost every vegetarian is most tired of answering: Where do you get your protein?

Let's face it folks, agribusiness is trying to brainwash us all. And they've succeeded! Most women I know are convinced that the best way to prevent osteoporosis is to consume dairy products, but the well-documented fact is quite the opposite. The excess protein contained in meat and dairy products actually prevents calcium absorption by the body and is a significant risk factor for osteoporosis.

That's right, I said excess protein. Most Americans eat too much protein. Most American vegetarians eat 50% more protein than they need. So protein really is not an issue at all. Even Frances Moore Lappe, who popularized the concept of protein complementarity in 1971, has long since admitted that "getting enough protein" is simply not an issue.

So what are the issues? How about heart disease and strokes, which are responsible for a whopping 50% of U.S. deaths. Data from the China Health Project suggests that about 95% of these deaths could be cut by vegetarian diets. Likewise, 80% of breast cancer deaths among women could be prevented. Wanna lower your cholesterol? It's easy; just stop eating animal fat.

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." -- Albert Einstein

"I think in the next ten or twenty years, we'll have evidence [showing that a vegetarian diet is superior] that is as strong as the evidence that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. In my view, it's plenty strong now." --T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., director of the China Health Project

To continue the smoking analogy a bit further, I would like to submit that meat-based diets affect everyone in much the same way that second-hand smoke can affect the health of a nonsmoker. This is because of the disastrous effects that the meat industry has on the environment.


Environment
Most people don't think of diet as an environmental issue, but it is! Meat production is incredibly inefficient. By growing grain which is fed to livestock which is fed to humans, you end up with much less food than you would have by feeding grain and other plant products directly to humans. Annually, an acre of land can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, or a paltry 250 pounds of beef.

If Americans would reduce meat consumption by just 10%, enough grain would be saved to feed the 60,000,000 people who die of hunger each year. It's a damn shame that people in third-world countries are going hungry while their land is being used to feed meat to rich people in other countries.

The grain used for livestock feed puts a heavy burden on the land and is responsible for most topsoil depletion. Topsoil depletion is a serious problem in today's world, and it's also historically responsible for the demise of many great civilizations. Will we be next?

Hey (I hear you cry), if meat production uses so many resources, why isn't it more expensive? The answer lies in tax subsidies (including water supply) to the agriculture industry. You don't really pay for meat at the grocery store -- we all pay for it when we pay our taxes. (And we pay for it again in the form of medical care for heart disease patients.) It has been estimated that hamburger meat would cost $35 per pound without subsidies.

I could get on a similar soapbox regarding gasoline products, but perhaps it's all the same thing:

"American feed [for livestock] takes so much energy to grow -- counting fuel for farm machinery and for making fertilizers and pesticides -- that it might as well be a petroleum byproduct." --Alan Durning, Worldwatch Institute