to all vegans and vegetarians: why?

Question

i am not a vegetarian/vegan myself, though i always wonder why you guys do it. is it health, environmental or pro-animal rights? do you also not own leather and fur? finally, do you try to "convert" others to be veggie/vegan as well?
please be as specific as you'd like.

Answer 1

I find it funny that you specifically address vegetarians and vegans in your question and yet we get meat eaters answering who claim that vegetarians "always try to convert them."
She didn't ask you, so stop preaching to us.

Yes, I am a vegetarian, and have been for 18 years. I used to eat meat and was a self confirmed meat-aholic. I was athletic - ran 10 miles in under an hour, hiked most of the AT, but a doctor told me I had to watch out, because my heart was unhealthy. He explained there was a history of heart disease in my family and that things were headed that way for me, no matter how healthy I felt. He gave me four years.

I gave up red meat that day. My diet than focused on poultry, which didn't help me much, so within the year I cut it out of my diet. Seafood became the focus, also a small lie I created to make meals easier. Within two years I had stopped eating seafood, and I went vegan soon after.

Four years after hearing that a heart attack was immenent I went back for tests. Things were looking better, but I still had some work to do. Four years after that, as a vegan, I was told I had a healthy heart. I was 32, with the heart of a 16 year old.

I had turned the tide, and I decided I would never eat meat again. As a vegan I became very concerned about everything "hidden" in my food. My friends stopped inviting me to dinners, and my family didn't understand it at all (even though everyone of my brothers has been hospitalized with heart problems).

At 35, I decided to ease up on the vegan diet a little, I had to relocate for school, and I didn't want to turn my close long-term friends away completely. Being a vegetarian would be easier for me in my stressful studies, time constrained lifestyle, and easier on my limited budget, I decided.

I do not actively try to convert others anymore. I admit I used to. When I first became a vegetarian, I believed it was the answer to all that was ailing me. I was healthier and I wanted to share this with everyone. I often liken it to discovering a new religion, you want to share with everyone.

But, if someone says they are curious, or interested in finding out more, I will certainly put down most things to assist them in finding information. I have much respect for those who choose a diet that is not supported by the mainstream culture. I have the utmost respect for diligent vegans, who need to understand so much to continue in their lifestyles.

Animal rights and environmental issues are bonuses to my main reason for becoming a veggie, health was definitely the most important one. At 24, i began this journey, at 42 I am healthier, and looking ahead. I hope all of my brothers are there with me to celebrate my retirement in 30 years or so.

Answer 2

Hello there!
I am a Vegan, and... I did it for a slight combination of reasons.
Mostly health, as well as animal rights.
I don't personally have anything of my own that's leather or fur.
I don't convert anyone into being a vegan, because of all the crude comments I receive trying to convert me back to eating meat and dairy.
It's anyones own personal choice, and I don't try and make someone change what they eat. Sometimes, when people ask sincerely, I will try and inform them of some things though.

Answer 3

I am a vegetarian and I am because I don't believe in killing animals to eat them, I love almost all animals (exept mosquitos, i could do without them) and i hate to see them die. I absolutely hate it when people wear fur, it isn't a fashion accessorie, it was just a poor little animal. I won't even talk to people to are wearing any bit of real fur on them. I do have some leather shoes, but that is because can't I can't really find any other types of shoes around...I do respect the Indians from a while ago before peopole moved here because they used every part of the animal and they thanked the animal for giving its life for them. But I don't think that people should do that every time they eat bacon or something. I do think more people sould become even just a litle bit more vegetarian because it is good for your health also, but I'm not going to hand out flyers or anything. I hope this explained some stuff to you!

Answer 4

By becoming vegan, one person saves about 100 animals per year instantly!!! Gary L. Francione, Esq.

This means saving animals saves the environment and especially our health...
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Hi anne, some of the answers you got are super!!! I'm a VERY vegan of 26 years, never deviated from it here or abroad. Who said (Roosevelt?) that "There's always a better way." So no matter what the circumstances of the moment, I always manage to find "a better way" of getting my beloved vegan eats! :o)

And also as a vegan, of course (and because I not only love ALL animals but respect them), I'm an animal rights acctivist and don't wear or use anything derived from them. I always find non-animal alternatives...because I look for them. Otherwise I couldn't call myself a vegan but a vegetarian.

Here's a question for the anti's: If there were NO ANIMALS whatsoever in the entire world...what would you do??? ;o)

Because I'm a concerned individual, I always go out of my way to give out information to people but do not try to convert them. They do it themselves when they get informed, I could tell you several hundreds of cases where I didn't even know they converted themselves which surprised me pleasantly.

Hope this and the several wonderful answers you got here, helped? Adela

Answer 5

People like to say that since other animals eat meat, humans should too. But more "other animals" eat nothing but leaves and grass. People can be vegetarian either for

1. humane reasons (I think that there would be a LOT more vegetarians if people knew what went on inside slaughterhouses)

2. environmental reasons (eating meat drains a lot of resources. Have you seen the triangle of energy pattern in biology textbooks? The meat-eating animals have to occupy the point of the triangle because whereas a large field of grass provides food for a few hundred cows, that same amount of cows provides food for maybe 10 lions or less. Energy is lost in each stage of the chain; when humans occupy that small end of the triangle and turning it big, the ecology tips over, resulting in a loss of topsoil from too many crops being planted for the cows and pigs that will be fed to humans. The Earth won't be able to provide the resources much longer.)

3. Health reasons (a vegetarian diet is healthier because it is the diet humans evolved or were designed for: we have no claws, and two moderately sharp eyeteeth cannot provide the basis for an omnivorous diet. The fact that meat has to be cooked for us to eat it is a statement that it is not natural to eat. No animal in the wild cooks food, and neither should we.)

I am vegetarian for all three reasons: I take a wholistic view.

Answer 6

I've just started being a vegetarian. Here's why:

1st, I don't have problems with going out and hunting, then killing an animal in the wilderness. People have gone hunting for animals since waayy back. But I do have problems with the poor conditions of farms and how unnatural it is.

2nd, I want to know where my food comes from. There's many diseases that can be spread in meat. Also, animals that are raised for meet are given chemicals that make them grow unnaturally fast. I don't think eating those chemicals is too good for me.

I don't try to convert others. While I do stick up for many other envirmental causes, like conserving energy, I think that the decision to be or not to be a vegetarian is up to that induvial.

Answer 7

The following link is to the article in Rolling Stone. Read it and you will never eat pork again.

People who go vegetarian are smart. Meat today is very, very bad for you. Almost all meat is produced on large corporate "farms" where the animals are kept in incredibly stressful conditions pumped with growth hormones, antibiotics, and steroids.

Why is that bad?

Because growth hormones aren't neutralized when the meat is cooked. What makes the animal sexually mature faster and gain weight quickly does the same thing to you. It IS the reason why Americans are the fattest people in the world.

Animals that are give antibiotics continually cause mutations in disease that make all currently known antibiotics ineffective. For years America has had what is called MERSA which is a staph infection that doesn't respond to any known antibiotic. Once you have it, it's yours for life. One of the effects of MERSA is boils and pneumonia.

Animals that are raised under the conditions these animals are raised under have high levels of the stress hormone adrenaline in their meat. This is another chemical that isn't inactivated by cooking and which causes the same affects in the human that it did in the animal.

Corporations get away with this because they pay huge amounts of money to politicians to prevent laws being enacted that would stop them.

Answer 8

I initially went vegetarian because my second pregnancy left me feeling disgusted at just looking at cooked meat (this included eggs). Only after some time I learned about the milk industry and was appalled as both a mother and a breastfeeding woman. Yes, I currently own leather, but do not buy anymore for myself. For my children though, I do my best to buy canvas shoes, but am not always so lucky. And I do not try to convert people, though I have been known to make comments after being attacked, such as " Why should I care if you want to poison your body, more veggies for me!!" I also love to question people's way of thinking. Like one person talking about milk and I ask him why he has issues with a breastfeeding woman, but has no qualms about drinking the milk of a totally different species!!

Answer 9

vegetarianism/veganism is better 4 u no matter wat an omnivore or carnivore says i feel it is also nicer to the animals Peta tells the truth even if it is a bit extreme its true i have been a vegetarian since 1/1/07 i do own leather but not from a cow its the same choice as a religious choice its a lot healthier than eating meat i have tried to convert 1 or 2 people but i stopped doing it myself n supported Peta from wat ur asking about the reasons its all 3 for me health environmental and pro-animal rights also for every pound meat eaters lose we vegetarians lose 2 i weighed 152 wen i stopped eating meat 2 months afterward i weighed 129 n i felt better than i ever had

Answer 10

I am vegetarian, and have been for about 2.5 years. I do it because I love animals. I just have this connection and love for every animal I see. The health and the environment are other supporting factors for me too, but not my first reason. I don't push my beliefs on anyone, but I will tell them my reasons for choosing to abstain from meat if they ask me. In fact, I am usually the one who is trying to be converted! :) I do not wear leather, fur, or down or anything like that. But let me tell you, shoe shopping is very difficult unless you go online!