Why are you a vegetarian?

Question

Hi,

I was just wondering why people are vegetarians. In school today we were doing about how we use animals for meat and were told how they are killed. A stun gun to the head, then they are unconcious etc and die. I dont really fancy going into great detail. Or there is the halal way where they slit its throat.

It was very off putting at first, and I thought ' Wow, I'm going to be a vegetarian.' But then I realised that we are designed to eat meat, and they way we kill animals is much more pleasant than how they are killed in the wild by other meat eaters.

So, really I just like to hear you views on it. I'm a great animal lover, and have dogs, cats, chickens, guinea pigs and a horse. I love my chickens very much but still eat Free Range chicken. The chickens have had a healthy life ( the free range ones I mean), so its ok, right? If we didn't eat them, a fox would, or cat, dog etc.

By the way, my chickens have a health life too !

And also, if you are an animal lover will you please sign the online petition to stop live animal skinning in China! Thankyou! http://animalsaviors.org/petition.html Here it is.

Answer 1

Hi! :)

Ah I never learnt about how the animals are killed in school but I always wanted to. I've been vegetarian since I was 11 and often felt that people thought I was weird because of it. I think if we'd had a class like you did, they would have been more understanding.

Personally (and this might sound stupid) I just can't bear the thought of eating an animal. No matter how humanely it was killed, I just can't let an animal die just so I can eat. I feel like we have enough alternatives available in the modern world for me to be able to survive healthily and happily without meat.

I don't deny that eating meat is natural and I know that we are designed to eat it but I just don't want to, and have taken the choice not to.

I hope I'm not coming across as a pushy veggie here. I understand that this is just my opinions, not fact, and I have no problem with other people eating meat. I respect people's right to eat whatever they want to. If you want to eat meat then go for it! :)



And awww you have chickens!! I'm so jealous, I really want one! And I want a micro-pig too, those little piggys are so cute!! You have to google them if you've never seen a micro-pig before :D



Hope this helps anyway :)

Answer 2

Linda, I personally have been a vegetarian for 40 years (since I was 16 and could buy my own food) and adopted vegetarianism as part of my beliefs. I am a Buddhist that has taken the Five Precepts, the first of which is "Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami" (I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.) I choose not to knowingly support my life by the death of other living creatures.



As to your comment of stunning animals first: cows are usually stunned by a pneumatic gun that slams a steel "bolt" against their head. It doesn't always cause unconsciousness, usually just knocks them silly and they are still awake as their throat is cut. Pigs & hogs have it worse. There is a huge pig slaughterhouse about 30 minutes from where I live and only about a 1/2 mile from the house of a good friend. My friend has told me about the huge turnover of help on the killing floor simply due to burnout. The place usually hires Mexican workers here on green cards (so they will take whatever they can find) but after a few months of tying the back legs of squealing pigs together, attaching a hook to the rope so they can be hoisted up, and then cutting their throats and slitting their bellies open while they are still awake and screaming just gets to be more than they can take.



I'm not saying you should change what you do or what you eat, that is your choice. I am only saying that the vast majority of people in the US that happily have their children eat this bacteria-laden, drug & hormone filled carrion always seem to get their panties in a bunch when anyone suggests that maybe those kids have a right to know how & where that meat comes from. The Native Americans hid nothing of the hunt from their children and in turn had far more respect for the animals that died at their hands. Kids today only know meat as something in a package from the store; even hint at letting them know the truth and the parents want to send the offending individual to the slaughterhouse. I've seen this happen to a couple of vegan friends and personally felt the irate parents were being highly hypocritical.



As to humans being designed to eat meat, that's not entirely true. Humans can live just fine without it; I have for 40 years now. Just because we can eat meat doesn't mean we are designed to do so; we can also eat cockroaches, human flesh, or even fresh dung to name a few things. That doesn't mean we are designed to do so.



I hope none of this comes across as getting down on you, that's not my intent. My answer is a response to your question but is more directed to others who will also read it. I wish you only the very best.

Answer 3

I am a vegetarian because of the amounts of meat products that go to waste, and because I love animals. I just do not see why you should kill an animal to get only a little out of it, because so much of it goes to waste by being thrown away, left to rot, etc. I just don't like how the cows and other animals are breed for meat, I just believe that it is cruel. Also, I try to be green, and being a vegetarian is a great way to do so. Being a vegetarian has taught me many things, including how to be considerate of your resources. Also, I wanted to see if I could continue to follow this, and I can proudly say that I have not ever cheated! I love being a vegetarian and do not plan on quitting soon! I hope I helped you to better understand my reasoning, because my parents and brother do not get why I am a vegetarian at all. :(

Answer 4

I'm not a vegetarian, but if I was it would be due to the treatment of animals and for health reasons. This is why I only eat meat from animals/fish that I or someone I personally know has hunted/caught. Improper wild game management and extreme reduction of natural predators leads to overpopulation, starvation and disease. I've tried to become a vegetarian, but it just isn't for me. If it's right for other people, that's great.

Answer 5

Hey there!

I am a vegetarian because I love fresh fruits and veggies - always have, always will. The taste and texture of meat tends to throw me off...it's just not appetizing to me.

I am a vegetarian because I have high cholesterol naturally from my dad's side of the family. The only dairy I eat is yogurt and without meat in my diet, my cholesterol has lowered.

I am a vegetarian because my grandpa died from a heart attack at age 50. I never knew him.

I am a vegetarian because I love cows and hate steak.

I am a vegetarian because I have the power to make my own choices.

I am rebelling against nothing, I am simply caring for my body and learning a lot about people who like to judge me along the way.



Edit: Oh, Linda, that wasn't directed towards you what-so-ever! I don't personally know you and I wouldn't say that. I was referring to people I know who say "ew, vegetarian food is gross" or something along those lines. I don't understand what the big deal is and why people assume things before they try something - it's just how I eat. :-) Smiles!

Answer 6

It's very very simple, I saw a dietician prior to becoming a vegetarian, and was informed that EVERY vitamin and nutrient worth having from meat can be found in other foods MINUS the fat. Therefore it is totally pointless to eat meat because you can find the nutrients else where and without the fat that goes along with meat. We don't NEED meat in our diets, so really the animals death is for no reason, and death for no reason is murder. x

Answer 7

Hi there.



I am a vegan for animal welfare reasons. (No meat, dairy, eggs, honey)



Regarding your statement we "were designed to eat meat." Why does it matter how we were designed? We were designed to do all sorts of things which we now don't have to do because of changes in the world. We were "designed" to die if we caught polio, but now we have a vaccine so we don't have to. In the same way, we now have access to loads of vegetarian food, so when we can live healthily without meat nowadays, surely that is what matters?



Secondly, free range chickens does not mean they are well treated, it just means they're let outside. And they are still killed for food. That, to me as an animal lover, is wrong.



It's your call though.

Answer 8

I don't know about others but i don't eat red meat cause it is really unhealthy, you have an 80% chance that you would die of a heart attack if u eat allot of it. Plus the concept of how they kill those animals is just heartless and disgusting and you might have a point when u said that they would die on the wild but we have other choices to live not like the animals. And one time when i was little i saw a cow getting slaughtered it was the most desturbing thing i have ever seen the sounds that it makes like some baby crying and fighting for his life, i guess it just scared me

(sry for my english)

Answer 9

I don't like the taste or texture of meat. I was Always sick and heavy when I ate that nasty stuff. It felt heavy, gristly and like a foreign substance inside me. It instinctively never felt right. One day I suddenly saw the light- eating an animals leg was eating my own leg, or my own hand, it was completely wrong and repulsive. I was so relieved. I stopped immediately. Eating flesh- its like eating my own flesh.



I don't see how if you love your chickens you can eat them. Actually, don't even love animals like a passionate love affair that some people have. But murdering them intentionally, just to roast their flesh and eat bits of them- why not eat yourself, or that cat next door? You love your chickens very much but you eat free range chickens? Really? How do you know they are free range and what does free range mean exactly, Like, have you been to the farm? ANd how does loving your own chickens relate to you eating other chickens? Your own chickens must be secretly worried that mummy is going to eat them.

Weird.



The health and spiritual aspect is first and foremost. Eating a substance my own body is made of, nature does not give humans meat to eat, it gives us plant food,s raw, fresh, copious and healthy. The plant foods never give us constipation, or heart disease or cholesterol or colon disease. They make us thrive.

Eating meat does none of those things.When we eat meat, we get sicker quicker.

Answer 10

We're fortunate to live in a modern world where don't have to do everything we are "designed" to do. People with lots of body hair are "designed" to survive naked in colder weather, but that doesn't mean they have to walk around naked!



Similarly, it's very possible these days to live long and healthy without eating meat. That may not have been the case in the past, and it may not be the case in certain poorer parts of the world today. But for you, a person living in the 21st century in a country with readily-available internet access, it's very, very possible.

Answer 11

I'm vegan because I saw a movie called "Forks Over Knives" that shows the health benefits of eating a plant based diet. I love animals too, but my main reason for avoiding meat and dairy is my health. You should watch that movie in your class, it's very informative!

Answer 12

I am vegetarian because if I eat meat my stomach gets very acid and it is painful and miserable. Vegetables, fruits, grains and such don't make my stomach hurt. Some people cannot digest meat. I can't. Never could.

Answer 13

I'm not a vegetarian. When I eat vegetarian meals (about half my meals), it's because they taste good, cost less and contain less fat while still providing essential nutrients.

Answer 14

I am schizophrenic. The animals are out to get me, THEY'RE COMING, THOSE DAMNED ANIMALS! They're going to take over the world- and then- and then- they'll enslave the human race!!! AAAAHHH



The vegetables too..... they.. they stare at me all day.... I eat as much of them as I can before they get me! That grass... I can't have grass in my backyard! The plants are plotting to destroy our neighborhood!