Why did you become a veg*n and what kind are you?

Question

So I'm just curious why you became a vegetarian/vegan and how strict is your diet? How long have you been a veg*n? Are you an animal rights activist? Do people like parents, friends, coworkers support your decision to go veg? I'm just curious, I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian myself and went veg cuz of the way animals are treated in slaughterhouses.

Katelyn: veg*n means vegetarian or vegan. The * could either be "etaria" or "a" so this question applies to both vegetarians and vegans. Does that make sense?

Answer 1

Well I am right now a Vegetarian, but I am going Vegan. I currently only drink soymilk- or organic sometimes. And only free-range vegetarian fed hens eggs. I made the decision because animals have emotions, senses, and thoughts just like us. Nothing deserves to suffer like food-destined animals do, except maybe the people that put them through it. I am an animal-rights activist. I will go as far as taking a mistreated animal off a chain or out of a fence when it is needed. I find it ludicrous that you can keep dogs, so innocent and trusting, outside on chains or in kennels and not be put in jail. And the way animals are treated in testing labs? Disgusting. The things slaughter animals go through? It is insane. Chickens? Pigs? Cows? Fish? Why doesn't everyone notice they can feel pain, deppression, dread, and that they are treated like they are nothing? And the people that are at all involved in the slaughterhouse trade must be the scum of Earth. Them and the ignorant and cruel people who dog-fight or Rooster-Fight. So yes....that's me. I have been this way since 4or 5.

Answer 2

Before I became a vegetarian I dated one, and I lived with a "meat reducer." I used to give them so much crap about their lifestyles.
I was young and athletic, I believed I was healthy; able to run 10 miles in an hour, hiked up to 400 miles on any given trip while carrying close to eighty pounds on my back.
But, I was ignorant about my diet.
After my dad had a major coronary; he had a minor one at the age of 28, I decided to get checked out. The doctor told me I was on target for a major within 4 years, I was 24.

I started toward vegetarianism that day. Within the year I was vegetarian. Within another two years I was vegan. I remained vegan for close to six years. At 32 the doctor told me I had the heart of a 16 year old. It was also at the point I returned to eating small amounts of dairy. I don't know why, I think it was for the ease of it.

It has been 18 years now, my five brothers have all had heart problems, they refuse to become veg. My dad is still alive, and also has problems with my choice. I used to get much more grief than I do today, but I still get some. They are starting to realize I am the only one without a problem to this point. Maybe one or two will wake up.

Since becoming a vegetarian, I have met so many animal rights activists, that I picked it up as part of the culture of veg'nism. I have successfully written to radio stations to get them to stop advertising greyhound racing, my personal interest. It wasn't the original reason, but it sure does help me keep honest about my diet.

I am glad to say that two of my nieces are now vegetarian, so my family has to start being a little more accomodating.

Thank you for your time.

Answer 3

After I turned 30, my body started reacting negatively when I ate meat. I also began dating an ovo-lacto veg, and meat became less and less pleasing to me. So one day, I'm eating some icky wings, and I said to myself, "This isn't working, I'm going vegetarian." This was in January 2002, and I was 33.

So I picked up a bunch of books and started reading on how to be an effective vegetarian. I read how the sons of dairy cows become veal calves and how hens were treated to get eggs and decided to go vegan a few months after going vegetarian. I mean, I stopped eating veal long before I went veg because of the treatment of veal calves; how could I continue feeding that industry by using dairy? It sort of morphed into an ethical thing for me.

I do my best to avoid animal products, but I mostly worry about the biggie ingredients and not the loony polysyllabic chemical names.

Answer 4

I went vegan mostly for health reasons, but the treatment of animals plays a crucial supporting role.

Type II diabetes plagues the people in my family, either for genetic or cultural reasons (or both). My grandmother had to have a gangrened foot amputated because of her poorly-managed diabetes. My mom went legally blind one day -- literally -- as a complication of diabetes. I had lots of symptoms that I might be going in the same direction, so that scared me. One day shortly thereafter I decided to get control of my own health before it was too late. I took up exercise -- walking, jogging, aerobics, weight training, yoga and pilates, etc. -- five days a week for at least an hour a day religiously to this day.

I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for several years when I was in high school. I ate poorly then and gave up for a few years, but my new "health kick" made me rethink that choice. I decided to give it another try, but do better at making it healthy and nutritious.

I did my homework this time, lots about nutrition and diet planning, but also information about the ethical considerations involved. This led me to see "Meet Your Meat". I was so disturbed that, at that very moment, I made the decision to go not only vegetarian, but vegan. And I did, just like that, and have never looked back.

Answer 5

Wow, you asked a lot of questions. :)

I'm a vegan because I am against unnecessary death and suffering, so I try to not contribute to it (or in this case, to industries that cause it). The torture that the big egg and dairy companies puts the animals through disgusts me. (I can't speak for every single small farm out there, so don't take offense if you have a pet cow or five and think I am talking about you.)

Strictness: I read labels, know my facts, and don't buy anything that isn't vegan, though possibly some things slip by me... for example, if someone baked me a cake without eggs and without dairy, I wouldn't question them on whether the sugar was bone-char filtered or not. I think something like that is so minor that I'd rather risk "personal purity" than alienating them and throwing their thoughtfulness back in their face.

Before age 19 it was on-and-off, but I was lacto-ovo vegetarian for 2 years and some months after that, then gradually went vegan. I've been vegan for about half a year now, I guess. (I'm bad with remembering dates on the fly.)

If you consider starting clubs, spreading information, working at vegan soup kitchens, food fundraisers, etc. as activism, then yes, but I'm generally passive in what I do rather than aggressive. I like giving people more options and info rather than directly convincing them, since I think it's up to their personal choice.

My mother supports me a lot, the vast majority of my friends do although a couple are snide about it, and I don't have co-workers at the moment.

Answer 6

I am a vegetarian
My mom 2
My best friend vegan so is his girl friend and brother
The girl I am in love with is a vegetarian
Eating meat is so barbaric. Just can’t do it any more, doesn’t worth taking a life for a meal. I think it’s been 4 years now.
I am not an animal rights activist but I have been in many demonstrations and know some of the local animal rights activists. Well that’s all. But the big battle is in wild life preservation. Soon we will destroy the entire natural world, and all that will be is man made world. Even now wide areas are being destroyed for more places for agriculture. So even the bread you eat causes the death of numerous animals.
And I didn’t talk about the pollution that already causes the extinction of many wide animals. There are solutions but they require change of life style. So being a vegetarian/vegan could make you feel better about your self, but this is less an important battle then the battle to save the natural world.

Answer 7

i went vegetarian to see if i could do it, i went vegan after i educated myself on the meat industry and all that goes with it (and just realizing how we don't need meat to live and how unnatural it is to drink another animals milk). i do it for the animals; the benefits that my body gets and the environment gets are just great bonuses :]
i am not an activist but i do help out at animal shelters. maybe one day i will be (but it wont be for peta.. i don't like them much)
my parents support me. my sister used to not but she does now after i told her that i don't give her crap about how she eats so she needs to respect my lifestyle choice. the rest of my family is sorta afraid im going to die from some deficiency but they basically support me. my friends all suck when it comes to my veganism.

Answer 8

I originally went vegan to be healthier, but now I'm all about animal rights. It's hard to imagine someone actually thinking animals are ours to control, though I know my thinking is in the minority. Sigh.
My family worries about my health. They also talk about me behind my back. I think it's hard for them to imagine that I would have no desire to eat animals or their secretions. I think, though, in a little while, they won't be able to deny that I'm healthier and happier as a vegan.
All of my friends are vegetarians or vegans (except my boyfriend, who avoids eating dairy, eggs, meat but won't turn down a cup of pea soup with pig in it). I don't know how it worked out that way, since I don't seek vegetarians out (okay, I do, but not these friends). I think it's just because all of my friends are smart.
I'm not currently doing anything for animal rights, though this weekend I'm going to sign up to protest my city's use of horse-drawn carriages. So I suppose- I'm not one yet, but I will be very soon.

Edit: bryydir, most vegans I know are at least familiar with grammar rules.

Answer 9

I became a vegetarian when I was 17 (I'm 24 now), and I'm pretty strict about it. I only eat chicken,turkey,fish,crab, and lobster ......but no meat!

Just kidding:P (I love my little fish friends). The reason I became vegetarian is because I have always been a huge lover of animals, but was surrounded by strict meat eaters and hadnt ever really even heard of being vegetarian (I knew it existed, and I knew what it was, but that's about it). One day I was having a conversation with a vegan. He told me all about his life style and then said one thing that synched it for me. "Death isnt pleasant, for anyone, or anything". It made instant sense and I couldnt believe I'd never thought of what animals go through when theyre killed for meat, up until that point. As far as my family goes...well it's been 8 years now, and to this day, at every family gathering, I get made fun of for being a vegetarian. It doesnt matter what we're together for, and I dont even open my mouth when someone else is eating meat (I figure I have my rights , they have theirs), but still something gets said about me being a vegetarian and then I get made fun of for the next 15 minutes. I figure in another 8 years or so they'll grow tired of it.

Answer 10

Lacto-ovo. For financial and health reasons.