I have a few questions I would like to ask to some vegetarians?

Question

I'm just interested in your opinions and philosophies. Please answer any or all of the questions...

1) Why did you convert to being a vegetarian? What was the drive behind it?

2) Did anyone significantly influence you to go veg.?

3) How do you feel about an animal eating another animal? (ex. a snake eating a mouse)

4) Is it proven that a vegetarian's diet is healthier than an omnivore's diet?

5) Do you think that everyone *should* be vegetarians?

~Thanks to all replies!~

Answer 1

I'm vegan, so I'm going to substitute vegetarian for that.

1) Why did you convert to being a vegan? What was the drive behind it?

It wasn't just one single thing, more like a bunch of little things that eventually just got too big to ignore. I've always loved animals, and I've never felt right about eating them.



2) Did anyone significantly influence you to go veg.?

No, but I do have a significant amount of vegetarian relatives including my grandmother, three cousins, two aunts and an uncle.


3) How do you feel about an animal eating another animal? (ex. a snake eating a mouse)

Animals don't have the same ability to reason as humans do. They were not given that ability by God, and some animals simply cannot survive on a vegetarian diet (ie: Cats need taurine, which can ONLY be found in meat. Without it they can go blind, deaf, or die). I don't enjoy watching other animals eat each other, obviously, but I accept it as part of life.


4) Is it proven that a vegan's diet is healthier than an omnivore's diet?

No. You can be vegan and eat a diet consisting only of potato chips, french fries, etc. However, if you compare a healthy, balanced vegan diet to a healthy, balanced omnivorous diet, I think the vegan would be healthier. I also think that, in most cases, vegans are healthier than omnivores.

-The oldest person on Earth is a vegetarian.
-It HAS been proven that cancer, heart disease, and many other conditions are less prevalent in vegans and vegetarians.


5) Do you think that everyone *should* be vegans?

Well, I certainly wish they would.

Answer 2

1) Why did you convert to being a vegetarian? What was the drive behind it? Originally I did it for health, I am also very concerned of the care of animals, so I am beginning to look toward the vegan lifestyle.

2) Did anyone significantly influence you to go veg.? Not really, I am in the medical field and have seen what meat consumption can do to you. It's not so much that I have been influenced by a single person as it is that I have been influenced by heart health statistics and research into what dangers are associated with meat.

3) How do you feel about an animal eating another animal? (ex. a snake eating a mouse)
I don't have a problem with animals eating one another... that's what they do. However, when I watch shows such as the migratory shows where wildebeasts are snatched by crocs, even though I know crocs have to eat, I never root for them.

4) Is it proven that a vegetarian's diet is healthier than an omnivore's diet? There is a hairsplitting that occurs here often when debated. There are people that eat meat that are way more healthy than a lot of vegetarians. Just because you are vegetarian doesn't mean you are healthy. But as a rule, yes, on a standard diet, one who eats meat is much more at risk for diseases, especially those associated with the cardiovascular system, later in life.

5) Do you think that everyone *should* be vegetarians? From a personal opinion, in a perfect world, yes. From a social standpoint, I'm not trying to convert anyone unless they ask me what I think. Humans would live longer and there would be a lot less hospital visits if people were more conscious, vegetarian or otherwise. But yes, in my opinion, I do think, or rather wish everyone would consider this type of diet.

~Thanks to all replies!~

Answer 3

1) I went veg in January of 2002 and vegan a few months later. I went veg because my body literally started rebelling when I ate meat, and I was no longer enjoying it. Finally one day, I decided to go veg. I did some reading, learned about the dairy-veal connection and the treatment of hens kept for eggs and went vegan.

2) The McDonald's Chicken Head inicident, reading "Fast Food Nation," and the fact that my boyfriend was (and still is) a vegetarian. See above for my impetus to go vegan.

3)Well, there's a big difference between a cat killing a mouse or a snake eating a rat and humans breeding animals; cramming them into small spaces; drugging them up with hormones and antibiotics; trucking them thousands of miles without any food, water, or sufficient space; and sending them through slaughter lines where they are butchered while still conscious. Some animals--snakes, cats, alligators--need meat to survive; humans don't.

4) It's proven that a well-planned vegetarian diet can be healthier than an omnivorous diet.

5) I hope that people will make the right choice to reduce or eliminate animal products.

Answer 4

1- I became a vegetarian for a couple reasons. I am totally against the way animals are treated in the meat industry...not only when they get to the slaughterhouse but also the way they are treated on the farms. It's just not right. I also became a veggie b/c there are quite a few health problems that run on both sides of my family such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack and diabetes. After research, I found that a vegetarian diet reduces my risk of such health problems to (practically) zero. I'd like to live past 65, thank you.

2 - It wasn't really anyone in particular. I read Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" and that was the catalyst for me.

3 - Animals are supposed to eat other animals. That's nature. Humans are not designed (IMHO) to consume animal flesh.

4 - Yes, it has been proven. Studies have shown that vegetarians tend to live longer, have fewer ocurrances of cancer, artheloschlorosis, and heart attack then their meat-eating counterparts. This is due by and large to the fact that vegetarians tend to eat well above and beyond the "recommended" servings of fruit and vegetables per day. Vegetarians also consume larger amounts of fibre than meat-eaters...a diet high in fibre combats a ploethra of helath issues.

5 - I think many, MANY Americans could benefit from a vegetarian lifestyle. I think that obesity would be at a lower rate than it is. My being a vegetarian is my personal preference and I wouldn't want to shove it on anyone...but if people do research and know and understand the benefits of the lifestyle, then I do think they should at least give it a try.

Answer 5

1) I never had the desire to eat meat even at a young age before I found out about slaughter houses but when I moved out on my own I did some research and made the decision to become a vegetarian.

2) No one influenced me. In fact I recieved a lot of scrutinization because of it. I never met another vegetarian until a year after I made the decision.

3) I think it's natural for other animals to eat each other. They are preditors for a reason. Humans are not and after the research I have done I discovered that our bodies are not meant to properly digest meat. I don't believe it is my place to control the population of prey but rather the responsibility of the preditors.

4) Yes, it is proven that vegetarian diets are healthier but the biggest contoversy is that they are not practical because they do not appeal to the average person. Vegetarians are at a lower risk for obesity, heart disease, colon cancer, and other health related questions.

5) I do think everyone should be a vegetarian but I do not think it is my place to force anyone. Becoming a vegetarian should be an accomplishment and not a demand.

Answer 6

1) Why did you convert to being a vegetarian? What was the drive behind it?
The main point for me become vegetarian, then later vegan, is that I abhor death, violence, and suffering - especially when it's unnecessary, and I especially do not want the kind of prolonged suffering that the meat industry inflicts on animals to exist. If I don't like something, I try to avoid supporting it as much as possible. This also extends to dairy, eggs, sweatshop products, etc., not just meat.

2) Did anyone significantly influence you to go veg.?
To go vegetarian, not really, but my current roommate was a great influence in my vegan transition. He never preached or tried to convince me, he was just a living example that one could easily and healthily live such a lifestyle, and he was the impetus for me to look into the arguments and seriously consider them.

3) How do you feel about an animal eating another animal? (ex. a snake eating a mouse)
I consider it a sad part of life that is unavoidable, especially for obligate carnivores like felines, not something that humans can (or should) work towards changing.

4) Is it proven that a vegetarian's diet is healthier than an omnivore's diet?
Not really...vegetarians do tend to eat somewhat healthier statistically, and it can be easier to avoid a lot of unhealthy food that way. But there are many extremely healthy people who eat fish, for example, while it's also quite easy to be a junk food veg*n, so I'd be wary of over-generalizing.

5) Do you think that everyone *should* be vegetarians?
I think in an ideal (but still somewhat realistic) world most people would be, and there would certainly be no slaughterhouses or large-scale meat industry, but there would be two problems with *everyone* being vegetarian. One is that many indigenous peoples' diets depend on meat for survival, and I don't find that wrong at all since they don't have a reasonable alternative (without being forcibly "modernized" and their culture robbed from them) and that they are usually respectful of the animal, let it live freely until killing it quickly, and then use all of its body that they can. The second is that since humans have replaced predators in many habitats, sometimes a prey population will explode out of control unless there is human intervention (example - deer in woody areas). The only realistic options I can think of are either letting them starve and get hit by cars (which causes human deaths as well)... reintroducing predators into those areas, which humans will have to continually kill off to protect ourselves anyway... or kill the excess prey (as humanely as possible) to keep the population under control. Since the latter option seems most compassionate to me (though I've heard some good opposing arguments!), as long as there are human civilizations replacing the predator role in the ecosystem, we will be killing a few animals. I don't think people eating the bodies afterward would be unethical, and it would be on a much, much smaller scale and more humane than our system today. I also think the "most natural" human diet is probably about 90-95% vegetable matter and 5-10% animal (based on all the nutritional information and anthropological studies I've read over the years), so I don't think there's anything inherently wrong or unnatural with humans eating meat - I can choose not to partake in that 5-10 percent because I have the ability in my society to skip it healthfully.

You're welcome, and I hope the answers to your survey interest and inform you. :)

Answer 7

1) Animals and the environment. And since it isnt necessary to eat meat, i don't see why i should.

2) No. It was my own decision.

3) That's normal. It's how nature works. (A snake wouldnt be healthy w/o meat, but I am.)

4)No, because not all vegetarians eat healthy diets. Some just eat junk food, leaving out the meat. In some cases, a health-nut omnivore could be healthier.

5) Obviously i think it's a good thing to do, but i don't harrass people who eat meat. It would never happen that everyone would become vegetarian, but sure, it would be nice.

Answer 8

1. I became vegetarian as soon as I learned that it would not only be possible, but fairly simple, to do this in a healthy way. My reason is concern for animals but I'm not complaining about all the "side effects" of being veg-- better health, less environmental impact, experiencing a delicious array of foods from various cultures that had never even *occurred* to me while I was eating meat.
2. No. When I became veg, I didn't even know any other vegetarians & had never heard of veganism.
3. For them, it's natural & necessary.
4. If the vegetarian is eating a reasonably healthy diet, yes.
5. It would be a good thing so far as personal health, global warming, animal welfare & world hunger are concerned.

Answer 9

1) I saw a really horrible documentary about animal transports and meat "production" on TV. I then decided that I didn't want animals to die for me anymore and simply stopped eating meat.

2) May sound funny - Mr Spock. I was a huge Star Trek fan (still am) and read a lot of books about Vulcans. They're vegetarians. Real life persons though? No. I was the first vegetarian in a family of seven. Came totally out of the blue for them. My parents and three of my four siblings never understood it, but accepted it in the end. Nice side-effect: my whole family started eating more veggies, because my mother couldn't just cook more veggies for me alone. One of my sisters decided to go vegetarian, too, two years after I did.

3) I wouldn't want to have a dog or a cat because that'd mean that I would have to feed them meat. But a cat eating a mouse or a tiger eating a zebra? That's OK. I wouldn't want to watch it though.

4) I didn't go vegetarian for health reasons, so I really don't care about the health aspects. I don't think that anything's proven though - ask meat eaters and they'll tell you that you'll die a horrible death if you don't eat meat because of all the "good" stuff in meat you're missing by not eating it. Ask vegetarians or vegans and they'll tell you that antibiotics etc. in meat will make you die a horrible death. And both groups will support their opinions with scientific facts. All I can tell you is that if I'm watching what I eat (= eat more than just French Fries and vegan burritos), I feel fine. And that's good enough for me.

5) I think that everyone should do whatever they want to do, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. I can't understand people who kill animals, but then again, most of them don't understand my decision to go first vegetarian (and then ten years later vegan) either. I wouldn't want to force my opinion on anyone, because that's what it is to me: a personal opinion. But because it's a personal thing, I'd very much appreciate meat eaters to leave me alone, which - sadly - they seldomly do. Most people all defensive and try to make me admit that I secretly crave meat or to admit that me being vegan is simply some weird kind of eating disorder and (like my grandmother) think that I should be under medical supervision. So, well, if people go vegetarian or even vegan for their own reasons: yay! But everybody has to decide this for themselves.

Answer 10

1- I became vegitarian for two reasons, because eventually the thought sickened me of eating meat (helped by going to governors school for agriculture and working with animals for a month) and two to help the enviornment which i would like to say i'm big on.

2- Nobody influenced me at all, in fact my family was against me eating meat because at first because they would refuse to let me firstly make myself an alternative meal and make me sit at the table untill everyone left.

3- I look at it this way. Not to sound all *above* the rest of the animal kingdom, but i think humans have a choice. The animals like a snake and mouse, that is their animal instinct, and they can't choose to not eat it, they would die. However i have the choice to not eat an animal, and still be alive. Ive heard all the arguments against this, but its what i believe.

4- It takes different levels of "proof" to prove its healthier to different people, this is where i can't help you that much. Yes if you go to peta.com and look in the news, there's sickness from meat that is better if its eliminated. There is sientific proof it can be healthier, but to some thats plenty of proof, to some that'll never be enough. To me knowing i didn't eat something that was living and breathing clears my concionce that i FEEL healthier at least emotionally. And its a good feeling.

5- It would be nice if everyone was vegetarian, i'd be stupid if i didn't say that. But realistically people will keep eating meat, if your considering becoming vegitarian do what feels right to you, because while its about the animals and the enviornment the final decision comes to whats good for you. =D