Vegetarian, going back to being an omnivore. I eat meat again. What do you think?

Question

I used to think eating animals was a bad idea, even wrong. But, I realize now that I was being silly. I still don't believe in the tormenting of animals when killing them for the purpose of eating (or any other reason. Nobody needs to be cruel).

On that note, I've actually found that we are much kinder to the animals we eat, than are the animals in the wild that eat each Other Have you ever seen a lion cut off blood and air by latching onto the throat of a gazelle? Not that it much matters. I guess I believe that animals are made to be eaten, or used as pets, for lots of things. Basically, I believe that humans are special, make no buts about it. This planet belongs to us (well, to God, but He made us), and we are supposed to rule over it. Part of that means eating meat, feeding ourselves, family, and friends, with meat.

It tastes so good, and is so good for us (when consumed right). Why would it be bad?

Anyways. Why would I be wrong to eat meat again?

Answer 1

You say this planet belongs to us and to God. Well, then we should care for it better, and also for our own health. Eating meat is every bit as bad for the planet as for your health. Al those animal fats make people obese and give them cancer and heart disease. What's more, dietitians recommend a vegetarian diet:



The American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada state in their Position Statement on Vegetarian Diets:

"It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. ... Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fibre, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals."



As for the panet, animal farming leads to as much as 51% of greenhouse gas emissions and uses up too much water. It's also not a sustainable way of producing food, which means that if more people in the first world eat meat, more poor people go hungry.

Answer 2

I was reading peoples comments and basically there are full of blantant ignorance. I have been a vegetarian since I was seven years old as well, I am 24 now and not once have I ever ate meat just bcuz I was somewhere they didn't serve vegetarian friendly foods. Which is a complete come out bcuz by law any food place has to have at least 1 thing a vegetarian can eat. I have been to a steakhouse with my husband and was able to things that do not have a face. In my opinion your mother was never a real vegetarian and was probably doing it to loose weight or for some other reason. A true vegetarian stops eatting the flesh of an animal bcuz they believe that the life and happiness of an animal is just as important as ours. Vegetarianism and veganism is a lifestyle choice not a crash diet fade. Vegetarians and vegans are more healthy than people who eat meat which is pumped with antibotics to make sick animals "better" pesticides steriods.. that's why there are so many obese children in the world which breaks my heart bcuz no child deserves to go through a life of ridicule or worse diabetes heart disease.. etc bcuz they were not taught how to have a proper healthy diet. I have a 4 year old son he does eat meat but I make sure it is never fried and I try to make it as healthy as I can.

Answer 3

I stopped eating meat in September and I recently slipped up and had some buffalo wings... They were delicious but I felt horrible afterwards.. No one can tell you if it is wrong or not and you have to make the decision based on if you want to or not. I have never labeled myself a vegetarian because I really hate that people right away want to say well if you're a vegetarian, why do you eat cheese, why do you just pick out the meat from your food etc. I made the decision because I wanted to not for other people or to follow anyone else guidelines! So if you want to be an omnivore again, do it and if you want to stick to being a vegetarian, do it.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, the mentally advanced are typically the cruelest. With all that power, one emotional insecurity can blow an entire planet up into a shroud of torment and misery. Getting straight to the point, the Gazelle the Lion is eating, yes, can still experience pain and sadness. No matter how much you back up the fact that Gazelle's are "slaughtered" every day, that still doesn't hide the fact that they're experiencing excruciating pain day to day. It sounds as if you went Vegetarian because you felt the need to make yourself comparable to others, as if you hadn't wanted to be the pinnacle of murder. But lets face it, the Dairy and Meat industry play a much crueler part in animal slaughter than the Lions. Time can equate pain, a much longer lasting pain than any animal could inflict upon another. Because these animals are forced to trudge the day away in a brume of lament, the torment they'd normally experience in the wild multiplies for each extra second they spend in those factories.



If the Lion had the intelligence we humans have, then they'd be, in a sense, morally humans. In the emotional sense, humans are the one's who are able to express incredible empathy towards others, but at the same time unbelievable apathy towards others. Intelligence perceives another to be a more complex obstacle rather than just a goal. If any animal had the intelligence we humans possess, and had any mental "error", then they'd certainly be in the same situation as us. But rather, if you use your intelligence to look closer at the picture, to try and conceive the pain those animals are experiencing, maybe you could feel a little empathy towards them, rather than the apathy you currently remark.

Answer 5

I think you make some interesting points, but the fact of the matter is, factory farming is crueler to animals than how the wild treats them. We submit out meat to a lifetime of pain and misery before literally skinning and boiling them alive. In the wild, at least lions are quick about it, and only kill what they need.

Factory farms are also notoriously bad for the environment, grossly underpay their workers (hardly any benefits, either), and are chock-full of harmful additives. I would eat meat if our way of life were different, but I do not because the way we procure our meat is harmful on so many levels.

I don't think I'm better than people who eat meat. I love my species - it's the most important species on the planet to me, because I feel a sense of loyalty to it. If I had to choose between saving a child and saving a calf, please don't doubt that I would DEFINITELY choose the child. We have so many wonderful qualities about us, capable of so much good. So, I try to use that goodness we're capable of to be more mindful in the way I eat, which is why I refrain from consuming flesh. If I didn't have any human goodness in me, which is what I believe all people have, I wouldn't make that decision.

Speaking as a scientist, all species on this planet have a special place. Animals are not just here for our benefit - they serve their own purposes, too. There are many species out there that have opposable thumbs like us (our close relatives, the chimps and gorillas, have them). Opposable thumbs aren't the only defining factor of importance - dolphins, elephants, and magpies, through extensive research, turn out to be self-aware, creative, highly-intelligent creatures capable of empathy and altruism, even for other species (elephants are notorious for this, actually). Doplhins and elephants are believed to have their own "language," complete with sound-specific "names" for one another.

Just GoogleScholar any of what I just wrote and you will find many peer-reviewed articles on these subjects.

Answer 6

Animals in the wild live as ANIMALS, animals that people eat are very different. Most of them are crammed into cages, have never felt grass on their feet, are sick and abused. They have never seen sunlight because they are in a smelly building all there lives. Wild animals get fresh air. What we eat doesn't get that. There is a BIG difference. Eating too much meat can be bad for you. There are different websites that aren't made by the media or other people like that. http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/too-much-red-meat-will-kill-you-study-90376

No, you wouldn't be wrong to eat meat again. Start out small. Your body isn't used to meat anymore, so only eat a little bit and gradually work your way up.

Answer 7

It's a matter of choice. Now, are you buying free range meat? If you are buying factory farming meat and meat products then you are being cruel to animals. It's important to make informed decisions about everything, which means reading information from reputable sources. Understand how your decision affects the environment, how its cruel to animals, how it may jeopardize your health. If in your heart you are comfortable with the decision, so be it.

Answer 8

All right, well let me just say this then.



1. 'God gave us this earth to rule over it'



Well, quite frankly that's a bad argument because we don't even know if there is a god. But let's pretend that there is a god, an all loving- all powerful one even. Let's say he created everything on this earth, then that would also mean that he had created animals with the ability to feel pain. So if there is a loving god, why would he want us to consume animals? If there is an all powerful god, why wouldn't he make them unable to feel pain and love? So either he intended us to not eat them or he doesn't exist. I see no reason to believe that he exists.



2. Yes, animals are killed in the wild. But no one kills quite like humans do. We're the only known species to use agriculture, to breed animals to slaughter them. How natural is that? Think about it like this: would you want to spend your entire life in a factory farm, then to later have all the people around you slaughtered and to see it all before your eyes then to be slaughtered yourself? How is that better? How is that more humane? Wouldn't you rather live out your life for your own purposes at the risk of being killed by another animal but still be able to produce offspring and raise them yourself, which you can't do in farms? To just be free, given that you may or may not have your head ripped off by a lion or some other predator.



3. It tastes good? So do a lot of other things that are vegan and yeah, it is good for people in some regards. That's not the argument. At least that's not a logical argument.





So that's what I think about your reasons for stopping your vegetarian diet. If you were vegan though, I would have been more alarmed.



EDIT:He's not a troll, he's just asking a question Perhaps looking for a reason to continue his vegetarian diet.



2nd EDIT:

"I feel sorry for you Ms. Skeptic."



Well I'm used to believers treating me with condescension so don’t waste your time feeling sorry for me. If you believe in the bible, then you probably would use that to justify eating animals. Nice how you couldn’t even address what I was stating and succumb to ad hominems, saying you’re sorry for me and that vegans are screwy in the head.

I’m just saying that there probably is not a god so it’s not a real reason to justify eating meat. And everything about the natural world indicate that there is not a loving god and that if there is, why would he make animals capable of feeling pain if it’s a loving god? It’s a paradox but there probably is not a god, so I’m not worried about it.



But that’s not what you were arguing; you were saying that it’s more humane (the way humans do it) because animals can get their heads ripped off in the wild. You’re most definitely wrong in this case for reasons I’ve already made clear.



But why do I not eat cake? Because I don’t want to be fat, of course. Whether it tastes good or not is irrelevant.



Calling vegans screwy is not deserved. What did I (or they) ever do to you?

Answer 9

Eat meat, or don't eat meat, that's your choice. Personally I feel that keeping animals in cages too small for them to move around, away from the sun, pumping them with chemicals and eventually herding them into an area where they watch others of their kind die before being hung upside down and having their throats slit is much worse then living a free life and dying a very quick death at the hands of a lion. Did you know that 70% of chickens are in chronic pain all their lives because of breeding and chemicals putting so much strain on their bones?



I believe we are stewards of the earth, not masters. That it's our job to take care of the land, water and animals, not drive them to extinction and pollute everything. A vegetarian diet takes 10% of the natural resources that an omnivore one does. And the rainforests are being cut down not for tofu, as mentioned above, but for animal feed. 90% of the soy in the world is grown for animals, not people. You can believe the earth belongs to you, given to you by god, but that doesn't make it fact.



Taste is subjective. As for "good for us" there are so many health risks with meat it's not funny.

Answer 10

I don't see anything wrong with how the animals treat each other in the wild because it is NATURAL. That's what their instincts tell them to do. However, humans make the DECISION to go out and kill a living animal. I won't try to convince you to change your mind, probably because it won't work, and since it's your body, and your decision. I don't want to eat meat, you do. That's not my place to tell you otherwise, so go ahead. :-)



Btw, not trying to kill your mood, but humans don't "rule" society. That would be nature. Nature controls us, and it's clear to most that nature will swipe us from the face of this Earth far before it does so to animals. Animals will always be inferior to humans, and nature will be inferior to all.

Answer 11

OMG Why do you want to put on or preach to a bunch of people that do not want to be preached at. Between your beliefs in God and that animals that are injected with hormones are not only treated well but are healthy are good.



Please go see a doctor, sorry but I think you have a mental problem.



And all animals have brains and I think most lions are smarter then you.

Answer 12

Well i'm a vegitarian, and i think meat is gross.

If you think it tastes good & dont think its gross then i would totally go back to eating meat!

I became a vegitarian because i didnt like meat, and because i thought it was gross.

But again, if you think that it tastes good and that its not gross then I say you go for it.

There's always the option to just go pollo-vegitarion which is like you just eat chicken & seafood. I was that for a while but then I thought it was gross too.

Hope it helped (:

Answer 13

I'm gathering that some of the people answering this question are upset?

Stop telling this person they are a "troll" or that you're "disappointed because of the cause".

What cause?

Just because you stop eating meat doesn't mean people will stop killing animals.

Its survival of the fittest and honey, we are omnivores.

We eat meat because its natural, you don't eat meat because of choice.



Anyway, I think if you're happier eating meat that is great. Don't let anyone tell you different.

Answer 14

People are nicer to the meat they eat than other animals are? Um....have you ever seen the way commercial "meats" are raised? How nice is it to cram thousands of animals into a small space, not allowing them to graze naturally or even breathe fresh air? How nice is it to cut off the beaks of chickens? And that doesn't even begin to touch on how "we" treat animals. I think you should do some research.



Eat what you want, but don't be delusional about it.

Answer 15

Reading your paragraph just made me annoyed, so I couldn't finish it.



Your comparing what "starving" animals do to get their food to your self who's not starving.

Animals only hunt and eat when necessary, and they kill the animal as quick as possible.

Unlike humans, humans (meat industry) put animals through the most pain possible before killing them.

(boiling, shoving a hook up as pigs anal while alive, breaking chickens legs so they can't run, etc)



So if you find that being "kinder" to animals than you were no better in the beginning.



"It tastes so good, and is so good for us (when consumed right). Why would it be bad?"



Yes, i does taste good, and no it's not good for us, there is no good way to consume meat. It all goes to one place.



And to your "why would it be bad"

Because it's the flesh of a living thing that breaths, it's intelligent.

If your eating something that gives you a disease that's how you know your not suppose to eat it.

Dis-ease as in (Heart disease, liver disease, high blood pressure (not a disease), etc)

Answer 16

It's not wrong to eat meat...But I want to Pre-warn you BE CAREFUL i was vegetarian for two years I went back to being omnivore and got really sick your body isn't used to that rich of food so it will react oddly so don't just go out and eat a steak or a Burger ease your body back into that habit

Answer 17

Aside from philosophical reasoning - you'll need to watch protein intake for a week or so or you will get major constipation.

Answer 18

Thank Heavens you came to your senses before it was too late! Let's grill some nice ribeyes to celebrate!



Run4it-"You don't need to do it, so if you do its called selfishness"



You don't "need" electricity,fancy houses,cars,computers,etc. All these harm the environment making them. So by your own reasoning, since you have these and don't need them, you are selfish too.

Answer 19

Disappointed.



I think you actually damage the cause by going back the way.



Other animals eat wild animals. The animals you eat were never free. They were slaves.



You don't need to do it, so if you do its called selfishness.

Answer 20

No because you feel that way its ok so it is but if you do start SLOW you will get sick if you start in high amounts!

Answer 21

Freedom of choice, man.

Answer 22

"Animals eat the vegetables so we don't have to".



Everything in moderation. Try to find a balance.

Too much of anything can be bad for you.

Answer 23

I think you should do whatever seems best to you.

Answer 24

meat is unhealthy can cause cancer and heart problems and you can get parasites from it on top of that it is still murder stay healthy stay veggie

Answer 25

There is nothing wrong about eating meat, its just normal behavour that goes back 1000 years ago.

Answer 26

Shut up, troll.

Answer 27

Also they cut down rain forests to grow tofu. Ever think of that. Also steak is amzing

Answer 28

You're not wrong at all...

Answer 29

TROLL

Answer 30

Welcome back! I'll start the grill

Answer 31

MEAT IS DELICIOUS!!!!! i dont know how you ever stopped.



anyway, welcome back to the winning team !!!!