Vegetarian .vs. Omnivore?

Question

I am writing an opposing opinion paper on pros and cons(and agreeing points) of vegetarian lifestyle and meat eater lifestyle. Any opinions, stats, anecdotes, etc.....?

Answer 1

Vegetarians are omnivores, we just happen to skip meat, fish, poultry and slaughter by-products. We will always be onmivores by species category, vegetarianism is a choice.

Your question is a bit "big", there are many sources of information and statistics.

try www.vegsoc.org , www.viva.org.uk and www.ivu.org as starting places but if you ask more specific answers i'm sure we can help.

pros:
Not involved in the cruelty to animals
Thats the only "pro" I need, some others cite the following as well:
health benefits
religion
environmental

cons:
none really, the only one I've ever found is having to put up with meaty myths ( normally on this fourm only though - i've never come across this is real life )

Food in resturants can be an issue for some, as can ingredients in processed foods but I've never found it to be a real problem - if someone doesn't want to offer veggie food thats up to them, i go next door.

Happy to help answers specifics but lets get one negative from above out of the way first eh ?

R_S is wrong, if you buy meat you DO support the cruelty of premature death of animals. There is no getting away from that. I'm not even saying its wrong, i'm just saying people need to take responsibility for what happens in order to get meat on thier plate. Premature death initiated by humans is cruel, you cannot dress it up or hide it.

The definition of "cruel" being the "willfully or knowingly causing pain or distress ". No doubt about it I'm afraid, killing causes pain and distress.

Like i say, no problem if thats your choice, but please admit what the industry has to do to support your choices. Once you do that, you will have my respect, but denial doesn't promote your arguements

Answer 2

I am a meat eater but I don't bash those who are vegetarians. In fact I completely give them two thumbs up for taking a stand in their beliefs and I respect their beliefs. However, it does irritate me when they judge us meat eaters and say because we eat meat, we support animal cruelty. Well, just because I support troops that goes to war to defend my country, don't mean that I support the violence behind it. Nobody knows how I feel towards animals. It sure is not a cruel feeling that's for sure. What's so sad about it all is that some meat eaters bash vegans and some vegans bash meat eaters, and it just shows me that how can there ever be world peace if we keep hating each other over something that should be personal. I think we just need to learn to respect others more. I hope that helps a bit.

Answer 3

I personally believe that vegetarians are as a whole more likely to be mindful of what it is that they are consuming. I am a flexitarian (new word, I like it). I do not think it is unethical to eat animal flesh or byproducts. However, I think that the vast majority of mass-produced meats and other animal products are wasteful and rather crude.

To produce meat takes a huge amount of grain and water, often irrigated. If those resources were distributed better, I believe there would be less of a problem with starvation and the land capable of growing food would be less taxed.

Animals produce a lot of waste (solid, liquid, and gas) which is not good for the environment. It gets into the water and air and so forth. Again, this is a problem with quantity. If we had fewer animals, we'd have less of a problem.

Not all animals live happy lives on the farm. I have no problem with raising and killing animals for food. However, I feel that the way most meat that we consume here in North America is not raised in a fair way. We have a huge disconnect from our sources. There are young children who don't know that hamburger is cow, bacon is pig, and chicken is actually a bird. People just don't think about what they put into their body and what it entails.

This obviously goes for non-animal foods as well. I just think it's easier to eat a lower-impact diet if you're avoiding animals and animal products. I believe that vegetarian or not, the best diet consists mostly of foods that come from independent farmers that are local and strive to use organic, naturally raised products. Whether someone is growing carrots or milk cows, I think the emphasis should be on quality, not quantity.

For the pitfalls: yes, there are a lot of vegetarians and vegans who can be really preachy. This makes them a lot less cool to hang out with, and makes meat eaters be defensive towards vegetarians at large. It can be hard to eat out. It can be harder to cook for yourself. It can be hard to read labels. If someone doesn't pay attention, it can be easy to eat badly. Replacing meat with cheese and eggs, for example, is not healthy. For the most part, though, if you know a few things about nutrition, you shouldn't have any problem eating healthfully on a vegetarian diet. You've cut out almost all sources of saturated fat (for which your body has no need) and will be getting your fat from healthy unsaturated plant sources. Your cholesterol probably won't be a problem. You'll have an easier time maintaining a healthy weight (more fiber). Again, all of the dietary benefits only apply if you are eating a balanced vegetarian diet. Junk food is junk food, whether it used to be part of an animal or not.

Answer 4

I am an omnivore. I eat from the entire food pyramid with as much variety as possible given the season and the area of the country I live in. I try to buy my food locally whenever possible to save on fossil fuels, and prevent pollution caused by shipping over long distances. I buy range feed meats not treated with hormones or anitbiotics. I drink organic milk and eat cage free eggs. I cook almost everything I eat from scratch.

For those who have made a well informed decision to be vegetarian, I wish you well. Believe it or not I do love animals. I share my home with five dogs and 3 cats as well as having fostered and placed over 30 animals in loving forever homes. However I also believe in the cirlce of life; every living thing on this planet eats another living thing whether it be animal, vegetable or mineral including, someday, us. I think that if you condemn me as a lesser being for eating meat then you must consider yourself a higher being than I and my animal friends. Perhaps that's something you should chew on.

Answer 5

nicely, i'm going to tell the reality, i'm a vegan, despite the fact that this is quite glaring that the Omnivores might win. maximum vegans are loopy, so as that they possibly does no longer final. The Vegetarians could final, yet because of the fact the Omnivores are your customary day people, they might win, they only might, this is undemanding experience.

Answer 6

If everything is so polluted why bother to eat any more,

Now take away the hear-say scientific stuff and you will find that a well balanced diet be it one that is veg*n or one that has a little meat in it is just as healthy as each other.

Now if your pigging out on every meal with hamburgers, veg*n icecream or deep fried chips then your going to have health problems.

Answer 7

Well, the most interesting and amusing anecdote (depending on your point of view) is about the first wife of Beatle Paul MacCartney, Linda, who was a fervent vegetarian. She wrote books about how healthy it is to be a vegetarian. Subsequently, she had cancer. She died.
Nevertheless, the latest scientific study recommends a diet high in fruits and vegetables with small amounts of meat. There is also the 'rainbow diet' of tomatoes, greens, yellow capsicum, purple potatoes, orange apricots...(you get the idea). There are some who believe that if they have to live like that, and forgo their foie gras with pear compote, Oscietra caviar, Le Cinq's lobster prepared by my friend, Chef Philippe Legendre, Hotel Sacher's superb Sachertorte and Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial champagne, among other delicious things, they would rather go to Heaven, or wherever we go to, when we leave this planet. The choice is yours to make. Enjoy! {:-)

Answer 8

Vegetarian:
Pros
1. You're living a natural lifestyle.
2. Your diet is the healthies tin the world.
3. You're not eating blood, pus, sh*t, and steroids.
4. You're not contributing money to horrifically cruel industries.

Cons:
None, except dealing with people's ignorance of nutrition and factory farm practices.

Eating Meat:
Pros-
?????

Answer 9

There are both good and bad points on both sides and I seriously doubt very much if you can find one definitive argument that will make one "win" over the other. Frankly, if this was my paper, I would forego the "who is better than who" angle and go with the "moderation vs extreme" issue prevalent on both sides of the argument.

Answer 10

I'll just copy what I wrote for another answer. Easier that way.

The oceans, rivers, and lakes are too polluted to eat the fish. The mass produced red meats and poultry are so pumped full of hormones and carcinogens I couldn't imagine putting any of it into my mouth. On any big farm the animals are so mistreated and the actual meat is so mishandled after slaughtered it is disgusting.

Besides that, my main reason is that I don't want an animal to die simply for me to eat it. I personally think it is a pretty selfish act. There are definite levels of conciousness in the living world and plants do not have the level of awareness of animals. I do not have to eat animals so I don't. Pretty simple.

I don't choose for others though. Everyone makes their own decisions.