For those of you who are vegetarian, was there any certain event in your life that helped you make the choice?!
Answers: What was it that finally made you decide to become vegetarian?Are you vegetarian for health purposes only?What changes in your health have you noticed?Thanks for your thoughtful comments and answers!
when i was 11 my mum took me to this cattle market to meet her friend who is a butcher.. well whilst i was there i wandered off and found a giant enclosure of sheep, where a few men were walking aroung, tagging their ears.. so i said to one of the guys ' hey, why are you doing that, doesn't it hurt the sheep?' and he replied 'why should you care, it's gonna be on your dinner plate next week' i was really shocked 'cause there were like 400 sheep and so i got really upset that they were all going to be killed. So on that day i swore i'd never eat meat again. ( i'm now 16 ) there are a lot of reasons to be a vegetarian, e.g. there is less chance of food poisoning as i think 95% of toxins found in the body are derived from eating meat, not eating meat cuts out a lot of fat. changes i noticed immediately was weight loss, i think i lost about 7lbs. nowadays the animal rights part doesn't have much of an effect on me anymore, but being a vegetarian is just part of my lifestyle now. i was soooo serious about it as a kid though that i gave up gummy sweets as most of them contain gelatine which is an animal derivative. lol try telling an 11 year old to give up sweets, wasn't easy !
the video at meat.org
not for health.. but that is a plus.. just watching the movie Fast food Nation.. the last seen where they bring the cows in for slaughter.. made me cry sooo hard. It was a major turning point in my life..
I didn't decide to go veggie. It happened gradually over a period of time...just the thought of a dead animal being in my mouth started to make me feel ill.
I don't miss meat at all.
Changes in health: I poo much better now, thanks. And, I feel kind of cleaner on the inside, if that makes sense.
It was a friend of my brother who had become vegetarian. I thought that if he could then I could.
I was raised in a vegetarian family. I am 31, and I never really thought about it much.
two months ago, I became a vegan.
I read about how millions of baby cows are taken away from their mommy, a few hours after giving birth, to make milk and the claves are then killed to make veal.
Well I am planning to have a child, and so I have been thinking a lot about the mommy and baby relationship. I am in a good marriage, we are secure and happy. I want to be the best mother I can. And I realized that many mother cows never even get to bond with their babies. After many births, the cows reject their babies becuase they know they will be taken away.
I wondered how I would feel if my baby was taken away from me. I stopped all dairy. - Its not worth that pain.
yea the video called meet your meat (((its sad.....)))
My husband and I were planning on going vegetarian slowly. We stopped buying meat and were using the last of it. We wanted to be vegetarian for animal rights reasons.
One night we were watching "Fear Factor" and they showed a commercial for an upcoming episode where people were supposed to eat sheep's eyes. They showed a picture of eyeballs on a plate and then cut to a shot of live sheep with patches over their eyes.
I thought it was disgusting that anybody would find that amusing and we decided then and there that we would never eat meat again, and we have not knowingly or purposely done so since. We have been vegetarian for 6 1/2 years.
As far as changes in health:
My husband has lost about 20 pounds (without changing anything else). I have lost 12. My husband takes a toxic medication that is supposed to increase cholesterol levels, however my husband's tests always come back low, which can only be attributed to his avoidance of meat.
I became a vegetarian at 16, after seeing a special about factory farms on PBS.
I went vegan after a Philosophy of Morality course, sophomore year in college. The professor had us read John Robbins' "Diet for a New America" and I learned the enviromental impact of modern "farming."
I turned to raw food for health reasons: allergies, sinus problems and digestive issues, which are now, thankfully, gone.
Meat: bad for animals, bad for people, bad for the planet!
I became a complete vegan after I beleived the teaching of buddha. I beleive in 6 cycles of samsara. We could reincarnate as animal next life if we don't stop eating animal meat.
Other reasons:
1.Health. I don't think eating dead body is a healthy lifestyle. If you put piece of meat outdoor, it'll rotten and full of worms. If you put a plant outdoor it grows! Plant contain energy of life where meat contains energy of death.
2. Environmental. Hey, look what's happening to our weathers? What's happening to China. People wake up! You're destroying our home planet.
I chose the spiritual path of the true vegan when travelling on assignment in India. I saw the interconnectedness of ALL manner of living things and nature. I immediately became an 8 year disciple of a wonderful spiritual guide and learned the ancient wisdoms of true vegans.
Good question...
I never like meat all that much...my family hunts so I always at wild game, and not that often. I became vegetarian while living along about 5 years ago. Cooking meat just took too much time, and I am a bit of an environmental activist, and factory farming is horribly bad for the environment, not only the cows and space, but the rainforest is being cut down to grow corn and soy for fast food cows....
I became vegan last year for humanitarian reasons (all the food that 1 cow eats could be saving starving people around the world)...I worry about what I support by buying eggs and dairy, what kind of suffering I am supporting. I am against factory farming completely, it's a nasty business, and they don't care about anyone...I want nothing to do with it.
I think that it just all came about by being aware and researching what exactly I am buying when I buy a hamburger because that I supporting rainforest depletion, starvation, massive amounts of oil uses, suffering animals...and not only suffering, but ultimately a horrible life.
I am happier and I feel great, body and mind. Many spiritual leaders are vegetarian and vegan, I think that has a lot to say about out lifestyle!
:)
I'd always felt weird eating meat, and thinking about the animals, then i started to meet more healthy vegeterians and thought it might not be that bad to become one myself. But the final thing that set it off was the "meet your meat" video.
In fact, I think I've always been a closet veggie. But finally health made it an imperitive and I jumped in...and it solved the early warning symptoms. Done deal, thank you carrots and potatos.
I have done the vegetarian thing off and on for about 30 years. While some may not like this comment - it is the truth. I could hide my eating disorder behind the 'title' - make an excuse why I 'couldn't eat'.
I now am a vegetarian because my epilepsy med's don't mix well with greasy food or meat - so I forgo the greasy food and meat.
I guess that you could call such a 'health purpose'.
The change? I quit dropping weight. I can eat full meals and not get ill.
My cholesterol is totally normal now.
My blood pressure is back to what it was 15 years ago when I was weight lifting (meaning GOOD).
I no longer have to see the heart doctor.
One weird side effect - my asthma seems to no longer bother me at all. From what I have been able to find from researching medical studies - it seems that such could possibly be from eating vegetarian - from a British study if I remember correctly.
My doctor has been very supportive of me during the change in diet and has been a great help.