Was there anything in particular that made you decide to become a Vegetarian? P.S Not a bashing question.?

Question

Even though I'm a meat eater i respect everyone's right to eat the way they want. Anyone that hates people just for their eating habits are pathetic. That being said I'm just curious in what made you become a vegetarian.

Answer 1

ok this is how it started. one day when i was 5 i was eating a burger then i told my mom how much i loved cows and would never kill them our any other animal. then my mom told me that i was eating a cow so i screamed and threw the burger on the floor and started to cry for no reason it was weird. then my mom told me about veatarians and so i became one.

Answer 2

I was a meateater, aged 14, and went on a tour of a local pig farm. It had won awards and was having an open day.

I left the building a vegetarian. I thought if that is the best the word has to offer for the animals then I'm done with eating meat. Poor aneamic animals penned up all thier life. Shame on mankind.

That was 27 years ago. Not a hint of regret, i could never support that industry.

I now own an arable farm in the middle of beef and dairy farms. I regularly visit these farms to talk to other farmers and conditions have got far worse because of the reduction in meat prices. Do you thing the CEO of a meat company is taking a drop in pay when meat prices drop ?? No, the only place to cut costs is in animal husbandry.

Answer 3

When I was 16 I read a series of essays covering various reasons for becoming vegetarian. It included health reasons, comparative anatomy, ecological reasons, animal cruelty reasons, economic reasons and so forth. I really think a lot of this must have been simmering under the surface for awhile, because when I read this book, it all just clicked and I never ate another bite of animal flesh again. After awhile, it just became habit and when people asked why I was a vegetarian, my answer ran along the lines of, "because I just AM." Then, after 20 years, I really starting thinking about eliminating dairy and eggs from my diet. After mulling it over a bit on my own, I started reading (I realized that I'd been veg 20 years without ever reading "Diet for a New America" which seemed almost impossible, so I started there.) Again, when you're unconciously ready for something, it all just falls into place. By the time I'd finished John Robbins's "The Food Revolution" I could no longer really come up with an ethically defensible argument for eating animal products at all. It's not ideal for human health, it's far from ideal for the health of our planet and it's literal murder on the animals (even the ones who don't obviously die for our palates, like dairy cows and laying hens.) Once I knew, I couldn't "un-know." And now I'm vegan.

Answer 4

I'm 30 now and I went lacto-ovo when I was 13... I honestly don't remember why precisely...

I went vegan when I was 22 because I became more aware of what was involved in an ethical and environmental sense with the eating of milk, eggs, etc. About 3 months into being vegan my health improved dramatically so even if i didn't care about the etho/moral issues involved, (which i do), i would stay vegan, (otherwise by now I'd be freegan).

I had asthma for my entire life... it's gone
I had IBS... it's gone
I had sever seasonal allergies... they're 50X better
I used to get sick every month/every other month... now maybe once a year

I'm also aging exceptionally well I just had a kid this past year and most people still think that I am a childfree woman in her early 20s.

Answer 5

It all started when i was about 10, I was eating a hamburger, and realized I was eating a poor innocent cow, so a few times later i was still thinking that, so i stopped eating cow completely, then it slowly went on to the rest of the meat products, pig, chicken.....etc. I started to miss my meat products around 14. But I was not going to give in. I saw a video on a website and I went further into it, Now I am here 2 years later, From meat eater.... to vegetarian........... to vegan. That video changed my whole life, I look at the labels to see what clothes are made of. I have not eaten meat for about 6 years total (cause i did not stop eating chicken till about 11). My mom does not totally like the fact but she accepts my opinion. I became vegan cause i saw how animals are still tortured, just to get milk, eggs.....etc.

Answer 6

Well I was at my cottage when I was 8, you know, I never really thought about it, and my neighbour caught a fish, but he hadn't killed it yet, and it was in a bucket of water. They were in the house, so I went over and just looked at it, I petted it, and told it that it was going to be alright. I swear I was about to throw the poor baby into the water but then the people came out, they were only gone for about 20 seconds, and an 7-8 year old girl is not strong enough to carry a big box of water all across the field and beach, and carrying the fish over would kill it. I couldn't understand how they could eat something that they actually SAW living and breathing. I could not imagine it either. Now meat just seems disgusting and cruel. people just say it is okay because they are at the top of the food chain. At least animals in the wild have a CHANCE. You know, the weak and old ones get caught, the ones who would have died soon anyways, and the fit ones have a good life until that. Now, animals are killed horribly with no chance at all. They are born to die. Some never see real light.

Answer 7

I decided as a teenager to change to a different Christian church. I am now a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. The church promotes healthful living. There are many Vegetarians in the Seventh-day Adventist church. I would say at least a few million Vegetarians in the worldwide denomination. There are many who still prefer having some meat in their diet. I have learned a lot and I have also accepted that being a Vegetarian is much better for overall health. Over 20 years.

Answer 8

Like the other answerer, I was about five when I found out hamburger was made of cows, too. I was upset, but I didn't know there was a choice and it bothered me, but I thought I had to accept it. When I was a teenager, my sister had become one to impress a guy, and she told me my skin would clear up if I became a vegetarian, so I did.

It didn't fix my complexion, but I liked the way it felt not to eat meat - I never liked the stuff anyway and was glad to find out there was a way around it. I became lacto-ovo, then years later I was a vegan for about six years, then lacto-ovo again and now I eat fish, too. I figure if I wouldn't be willing to kill it myself, I just won't eat it. I haven't eaten a mammal or bird in over 30 years.

PS: I'm re-thinking fish because the fishing industry is so huge we're destroying the oceans and farmed fish are full of hormones and other nasty chemicals. I only eat fish once in a while these days to cut my losses.

Answer 9

Actually i was only a vegetarian for a short while before i just stopped, but the reason i did was because i felt like a had to and i kind of wanted to experience what it would be like to be a vegetarian. Sometimes you just get tired from eating so much meat or so many vegetables so you might switch for a while.

Answer 10

Four months ago I donated blood and found out my cholesterol was 300 (200 is normal). My family has a history of heart disease, and most of the adults in my family are on meds for it. I'm 22, so I really didn't want to have to be on cholesterol meds the rest of my life. When I found out that plant based diets have 0 cholesterol, it was the obvious choice. I thought my diet change would be temporary, but while doing veg research I learned about how food animals are treated. I can't go back now. I've been a vegetarian for four months, and I'm slowly working on becoming a vegan.

I donated blood again last week. My cholesterol is now normal.

btw: Thanks for asking your question nicely. Too many posts on this forum start out "U R dumb... go eat bacon lolz".

Answer 11

I became vegan a little later than most--at 33. After I turned 30, my body started having trouble digesting meat. Then there was the chicken head incident at McDeathburger, and I read "Fast Food Nation." It's a whole bunch of things--I can't point to any one thing--but one day I decided I was done with meat. I read some things, learned about the dairy-veal connection and how egg-laying hens are treated, and I decided to go vegan a few months later.