I want to know if I'm going crazy or if this is how people end up being vegetarian/vegan......?!
Answers: Lately (in the last four to five months) I have been totally turned off meat-when I start eating it -I think about how the animal was slaughtered and that I am in essence -eating dead flesh and I don't want to finish my meal or eat much at all. It all started when I watched a video of a group of cows at a slaughterhouse, and got a link to info regarding calves and the bad treatment etc. they undergo. Can anyone who is vegetarian tell me if this is how it all starts or did you not eat meat from Childhood simply because your parents were vegetarian?
It's sort of how it started for me.
I used to think it was cruel that animals were killed since I was young but I came from a large family of ominvores so I didn't become vegetarian until many years later when I was independent and able to buy my own food. They probably didn't have as many of those videos around when I was young.
I know at my niece's high school there are now many vegetarians and there is a cruelty to animal club so it is a lot more common for people to stop eating meat for this reason. The hardest thing is finding out alternatives you can eat, but there are heaps of books out and many websites around for recipes and nutrition guidelines.
I don't think you are crazy, I think you are being real and starting to stop disassociating the meat you eat with the cruel fact of where it comes from. Good for you and good luck.
i'd say that's just how it is.
That is one of the main reasons I became vegan. But its not the only one. Environmental concerns, ethical concerns and health are some other reasons. Good luck I hope you make the right choice.
For some people this is how it starts. For others they may have never liked the taste of meat. It is all a personal journey because we are all individuals! Get yourself a good book on how to eat a proper vegetarian diet so you will not miss out on your protein! Good Luck!
I never liked to prepare meats too often. I was always scared to touch it and then eat it. I would often eat veggie meals but I wasn't vegetarian at the time.
I was interested in the meat processing business because I am a curious person and I wanted to know where my food came from. WELL, I came across some horrifying information in books from the library and website videos as well. I often would watch these videos in tears wondering how such things could go on.
After one night of research, I went vegan. I wasn't sure how to do it, but, I just knew I could no longer partake in such a crazy business. It's my own personal boycott on the wretched conditions and slaughter techniques that are often used in American meat and dairy factory farms.
There is a great quote from Leonardo Da Vinci which I made my vegan motto. It goes: "Men who consume the flesh of beasts consume also the fear of the slaughtered victims, the fill of which will be the virus of discontentment."
Another great quote from Da Vinci: " I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."
That's how it all started for me, and now it's been a full year that I have been vegan.
Do some research on both sides, and make a decision which you feel comfortable with.
Good Luck.
That's how it starts for some.
I stopped eating meat after a slaughterhouse video. I couldn't take being hypocritical in my own beliefs any longer, and that video just confirmed it - there was animal abuse going on.
It helped that a friend immediately converted after seeing the video. She kinda empowered me a bit, knowing that I wasn't doing this alone.
I stopped meat a little bit later, had my two favorite "last meals" (BLT sandwich and fried calamari), and went cold turkey on my 18th birthday.
It's really not a hard lifestyle, and it makes you feel so much better as a person (if you're the sort of person who hates animal abuse... which you sound like). Less internal conflict.
I chose to be vegan because I've always thought it was cruel and it grossed me out to eat it. Alot of people become vegetarians because they felt how you feel.
That is exactly why i no longer eat MOST meat. People turn their heads cause they don't want to think or know about where their meat really comes from. I dare anyone to watch these videos. Sadly, most people can't.
I am the opposite of what you ask, but am still puzzled by it. When I was a young child, before teen years, I hated meat. I wouldn't even drink a glass of milk without gagging. But once I reached puberty, I became and remain a carnivore. I love meat and have no reservations about eating it in it's many incarnations. go figure.
from personal experience i can say...It starts there (where you find yourself). Me and my family used to stay on a chicken farm and my mother use to work there, everyday i would see how the poor chickens were slaughtered. The first moment you would be playing around with the animals and the next moment it would be running around with a neckless body. It's heart braking to see something like that everyday. It was there and then at the age of 6 that i made the decision to be a vegetarian.
I have always loved animals, I used to pass a farm that had cows everyday going to and from work. I would see them playing around and it slowly got me not wanting to eat them anymore. And a friend had gone to work at a pig farm, this guy is not an animal lover and he came to my house the day he started at the farm and said that they picked up baby pigs, cut off their testicles and threw them across the room. He quit immediatly upon seeing that. And that was enough for me, I was done with pig meat. I continued to eat chicken and turkey, but then I found out about factory farms. I saw the videos of the chickens and turkeys, and I was done with them also:)
I was not raised vegetarian. When at my Uncles farm I saw the cows with their big eyes and cried and haven't eaten meat since then. It has been 21 years since I have had any 'flesh' food.
well i saw some videos one night, then i reseached a little more, then bam..instant vegetarian! i might of had one more meat meal after that night, but i felt sick afterwards. after more and more research i realised its also much healthier, for my body and the planet. all these things keep me going :) not one person in my family is a vegetarian. i dont even know any vegetarians as friends or family friends, so i definatley was raised on meat. when i told my mother my decision she wasnt shocked in the least.
i started almost exactly like you - i reckon it usually starts with seeing a dead animal cut up..... .. gruesome
i loovved meat. I used to be one of those people who thought vegetarians were freaks. But then I saw the way animals were killed, and i went through the same thing you did. It just disguists me. I start shaking when im beside meat.. so i became a vegetarian. Its healthy too. Thts how i became a vegetarian.
I got food poisoning from chicken and the thought of ever having it ever again makes me want to vomit. I've seen a few videos but I don't need to see them to know what's going on. I've only been a veg for 2 years but I've never felt better!
Okay I'm just pointing out the facts and what i believe here so don't think i am trying to convert you. I live on a farm and have worked in a slaughter house from my experience in a slaughter house it is done as humanely as possible first we stun the animal so it doesn't feel any pain and so it doesn't panic then we apply a 3 second jolt of electricity at 25 amp which kills it instantly. (note other slaughter houses operate differently) and also think about it if we lived wild like in Africa of something we would eat meat we would chase the poor thing down and eat it alive. God or evolution made us to eat meat we are designed to do that just like a lion or a tiger do you see a lion go eat carrots? anyway every animal that i eat i treat with the greatest respect it has given its life to continue mine. Oh yeah one more thing 700 vegans and vegetarians die each year from dying of lack of ion and in fish cases omega 3
First of all, I want to say that I am a vegan and I don't like the way some vegans try to force their beliefs on other people.
Secondly, I've noticed that most vegans do not want to hear if a favorite food, such as tofu, might be made during processing with shrimp juice or have larva in it. I was just reading a Y!A thread about this, and I decided to do my own research online and then in my Encyclopaedia Britannica. I found that the comments were accurate. What disturbs me even more is the way people reacted with "Oh no tofu is just soy beans and that is all" or "that is b*llcrap and I refuse to listen". Honestly, it reminded me of the little see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil monkeys.
I think everyone has to do what they think is right for themselves. Period.
I don't eat meat because I do not want a DEAD animal in my body for days and days to come. That is why I became a vegan. BUT I'm not so naive to think that everything I eat is immune from meat broth or insects.
That's pretty much how i became veggie. Saw a video and never ate it again. I never knew the animals were treated that badly.
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Thats how most people start with a video. I became one simple because I didn't want to eat animals.
Yes this feeling was one of the reasons (I didnt wanted any animal to die because of me and I finded a dead body eating disgusting) the other reasons was that I know that meat isnt healty (in the fact its the most toxicated food, because those animals on the farms gets a lot of pesticid treted food and growing hormons, besides they are under a stress all the time wich make them to produce some kind of toxic substances that cause cancer) and I wanted to be healtier. I am vegetarian for 5 years, and I dont miss a meat at all, my body is in fantastic shape and condition.
I chose to become Vegan as an adult. But never liked the tastes of animal flesh or eggs..always had to cover it up with stuff, catsup, BBQ Sauce etc. Found out a few years ago I am allergic to most of it also(interesting). As I have explored the health bennies of being Veggie or Vegan I of course also found out about the horrors of the big Meat, Dairy & Egg industry. These along with my wanting the best health I can have made me pretty resolute on my dietary direction.
Slainté (to your health)
Yep...that's how it started for me...19 years ago.
its just a choice. i am vegan... is a lot healthier. i just dont like the taste of meat, anyways.
I think it starts out because lots of people are horrified at the way animals are treated. And some have just never liked the taste of it. As mentioned, we are all individuals. There is no right or wrong way to start. Unless, someone is doing it to look 'cool'. Then I hope they take a long look at themselves and grow up.
Just watch this video. It should answer any questions you have. Serioulsy I urge you to watch it. It should be compulsory viewing at schools.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...
I didn't ever eat a lot of meat, but I went veg mostly for environmental reasons...rainforest depletion, water pollution, but also because for humanitarian reasons (if the US alone cut down on their meat consumption by 20% they could save 60,000,000 pounds of grain per year...that could put a dent into world hunger)
But it does start to pray on your mind.
I was still eating eggs and dairy, and like you, I would sit there and think about this egg...came up with "Angry chickens give us evil eggs" and stopped.
It's nothing anyone can force on you, it comes from within, and you start to become aware of what you are supporting, what you are ingesting, mainly suffering, and it is really really hard to shake, I couldn't, and most of the people here couldn't.
:) Being veggie isn't that hard, especially if you keep eggs and dairy in your diet. Try it out for a couple weeks or a few times a week eat only veggie.
You might find some really good things about it, when I went vegan, I was so happy, I felt soo good, I still do, but that first month I was glowing :)
good luck