An honest and impartial question for Vegetarians/Vegans?!


Question: An honest and impartial question for Vegetarians/Vegans!?
I would simply like to understand the reasoning behind your individual decisions to abstain from meat!. I mean I know that the two main reasons are:

1) Animals deserve to live!.

2) The process in which they are killed and turned into food is disturbing!.

But what was the breaking point for you to completely abandon meat!?

Would a person like me, who fully understands and has witnessed first-hand the slaughter of livestock yet feels no guilt in eating food, be viewed negatively by you!?

Is it simply a personal choice that you have taken to cut meat out from your diet, or do you advocate having others do the same!?

Do you consider animals and humans to be equals!? Would you have humans tone down their activities and live in harmony with animals!?

I don't want to sound condescending or patronizing, I am just asking these questions neutrally just to get insight into what your thoughts are on the topic!. I am by no means trying to offend anyone!.

But I mean I can empathize your beliefs and decision, but I find not eating animals to be absurd, and could never do it myself!. I try to have a balanced diet, but I don't consider it at all healthy to either eat all animals or all plants!.

Opinions!? Www@FoodAQ@Com


Answers:
1) That assumption is worded entirely wrong!.
That implies that the death of animals bothers me!. The death of animals is reality, I do not feel a sense of injustice by the mere death of an animal!.

2) The way that animals are processed in life and during death is what I find completely unacceptable!.

Once I saw video of what was possible in a profit-driven animal industry, my goal was to get as far from it as possible!.

"Would a person like me, who fully understands and has witnessed first-hand the slaughter of livestock yet feels no guilt in eating food, be viewed negatively by you!?"
You and I are just very different people that are products of different lives!. (Hypothetically) If I were a dictator, I would say that you'll have to settle with hunting and raising your own livestock if you want to eat meat because no animals would be used as a mode of financial gain!.

"Is it simply a personal choice that you have taken to cut meat out from your diet, or do you advocate having others do the same!?" Almost every person that I know and love eats meat!. If someone brings it up I will share whatever information they are comfortable with or I will defend against any misinformation a person may have latched onto!.

"Do you consider animals and humans to be equals!? Would you have humans tone down their activities and live in harmony with animals!?"
Humans are animals but are far more important than any other species!. We just need to respect the other species, plant and animal, that inhabit this planet!. Some people do not deserve to exist but no animal is important as a human being with any sense of decency!.

"I try to have a balanced diet, but I don't consider it at all healthy to either eat all animals or all plants!. "
There is nothing to consider!. People can be 100% healthy on an omnivorous diet or a vegan diet with bacteria-sourced B12!. I would never argue that a vegan diet is the "natural" diet of humans but it is healthy and it my choice for ethical reasons!.

If you need meat or dairy during any stage of your life or to live any certain lifestyle, why does the American Dietetic Association say otherwise!?
http://www!.eatright!.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada!.!.!.

If a person has an average IQ or higher, they shouldn't have any problem planning a balanced vegan diet!.
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"But humans and animals are not the same, so why is it that just because they feel pain and can realize danger they are equal to us!? I don't understand it!."
They can suffer just as much as we can, that doesn't mean that their lives are as valuable as human lives but why cause suffering when it is completely unnecessary!?

"Why should we plow down thousands of acres of forests to grow crops, killing ecosystems in the process!?" It's more like millions of acres but the fact is that we could have conserved millions of acres of wild lands if we did not adopt the practice of growing grain with the sole intent of feeding it to billions of chickens and turkeys and millions of cattle in feedlots every year!. That land could have been used to promote growth of bison herds or deer populations!.

"Are you against animal population control and hunting!?"
Dying by the bullet of a skilled hunter is a gift in comparison to dying by the teeth and claws of a predator of another species!.
I would not hunt but if more and more people started hunting as a source of meat instead of paying someone crappy wages to do it for them, it would make me very happy!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

Saying "animals aren't the same and aren't as important as us" is hardly a defence for abusing them!.

There's a huge grey area between "worthless" and "as important as humans"!. Surely you can respect a creature, and not wish to cause it any harm, without elevating it to equal status!.

I dont give any thought to this hierarchy of importance that so many people use to justify meat eating!. I wouldnt feel the need to weight this up unless it was a "me OR them" scenario!. But it's not- I can live just fine without meat, so it's not necessary to kill them!. It's not about whether your life is more important than theirs- thats not a choice you have to make- it's about whether your desire to eat something over the alternatives is more important to you than an animals life!.

That's your choice to make!. By all means keep eating meat if you are happy with everything- but I don't like the logic you are using to explain yourself!.

Another thing I would say- it's not "absurd" not to eat animals!. Plenty of people all over the world don't eat animals!. Or don't eat the same animals you do!. It's not a case of "Normal Western Diet = normal" and anything else is a deviation!. There are many different diets all through history and all over the world- and the diet we were all raised with is causing severe health problems for a lot of people, so I wouldn't consider it "absurb" to try something else!.

Ecosystems, population control, etc- the ecosystem needs all animals, yes!. But humans have it in their heads that the only reason for some animals to exist is because we need something from them, not because they are naturally occuring within our ecosystem!. It should not be a case of "if we all go vegan cows, pigs and chickens die out"!. Thats not how it's supposed to work!. We didn't invent the world- we evolved within it- I don't think it's wise for us to think we can or should have absolute control over it!. Www@FoodAQ@Com

Not only are animals bred just for meat, and given all kinds of hormones and treated inhumanely on factory farms, but the meat is often not high quality, the animals may be sick or old, and frankly, meat, for the most part, is dirty and unhealthy for your body!. Of course, there's ways to get all of your proper nutrition without having to eat animal flesh, and without cruelty!. If you've ever seen an animal die, you know that it values its life as much as you do yours and their pain is very real, and just because we have technology doesn't mean we should use it to torture and kill innocent animals!. Www@FoodAQ@Com

im 21 and have been vegetarian since i was about 5/6 years of age!.
as a lil kid i loved animals, loved animal tv shows and dreamed of becoming a vet!.
when i found out where my meals were coming from i decided i didnt want to eat dead animals!.
up until then id enjoyed smoked ham sliced immensley but as a family we didnt eat much beef due to BSE or whatever it was that was going round at the time!. i myself didnt particularly enjoy the texture of chicken either!.

anyways i stopped eating meat as i didnt want to put a dead animals corpse into my body!. others are free to eat meat, i have no problem with that!. but i have my reasons and beliefs and most people are dumb and ignorant and ask "what do you have for sunday lunch!?" like duh everything but the meat!. and a nut roast yumm!.

i dont eat meat but im not vegan!. i eat dairy products and eggs as those are not killing the animal to eat!.
i also eat fish as i do not class them the same as land animals!.

i am totally against fur! the animals are kept in horrible conditions often left with bad injuries without any attention and skinned or tortured instead of being put to sleep painlessly!.

where i work we have deer, and the park does have to control numbers by culling!. i understand the need to keep the numbers down even tho i dont like the thought!.

we also have animals like chickens and pigs and you get to know their personalities!. did you know pigs have the closest match to human organs!. and are very intelligent and you get to see each of their personalities!. so i could never dream of eating them :(

even tho i like animals, its more the fact of i dont see the NEED to slaughter animals when there is plenty of other food available!. i am healthy and get a balanced diet and im not going to die from eating too much fatty meat!.

hope this helps your understanding xWww@FoodAQ@Com

I did it for me!.
I'm sick, in simple terms, and I found that even though meat is good for protein, iron and all the other great things, it just wasn't cutting it for me!.
When I became vegetarian, it changed my entire diet!. I started to eat a lot better!. I ate more wholesome food, and a lot less junk!.

I am still sick, and will be until I die, but I have found that I'm not getting worse as fast as I was at all!.

also, after I stopped eating meat, I realized that I actually sleep a lot better now, and my stomach does not cramp up as much anymore from medicines!.

I do understand how you find that you personally could not live without meat!. I respect that!. I still go out to dinner with my boyfriend a lot!. He'll order a nice big juicy steak with bacon, and I'll have my pasta or perogies or something along the sort!. We respect eachothers decisions, as everybody else should!.

You do make very valid points in your question, and I would answer them, however I am doing this for personal choices, even though I do agree that animals are treated unfairly, so I feel like I'm not really the right person to give my statement on those!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

I stopped eating meat because of your first example, animals deserve to live and be free!.

I don't view you negatively, at the end of the day it is your desision, it's not a desision I respect, but never the less, it's yours!.

I do consider humans and animals to be equal, we are simply further up the evolution chain!. Why should a difference in intelligence mean that we kill the stupider!?
We don't ostrisise people below a certain IQ (although sometimes i think we should)!.

As for the hunting comment, yes i am against it, have you not noticed that any animal that is currently hunted is becoming extinct, when there wasn;t too many in the first place (except for the ones that are beeing force bred for meat), the only animal that is currently over breeding IS humans, Great Britain is very over populated!.

Finally, the other reason I became vegetarian, do your research on meats, after 3 minuets of an animal being dead it starts to rot, explain to be why I would want to eat the rotting insides of an animal that has spent half of it's life standing in it's own poo!
As far as i have found there is no good reason, the taste is the only answer meat eaters seem to be able to give me, and quiete frankly it's a pathetic one, there are much more tastie alternatives!.


[EDIT]
Digame:
Did you kill these animals, I would personally find that to be pretty abusive!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

why on earth would you belive animals to be less worthy of a life than your self!.

if you have seen animal slaughter and still eat meat you are apathetic but atleast your not a hypocrite!.

and fyi animals eat crops so using those crops to feed humans would not only be better for the enviroment but aid in reducing world hunger aswell!.

there is far more to balancing an ecosystem and it wouldnt be so screwed up in the first place if humans hadnt believed themselves to be better than everything and laid claim to all they sawWww@FoodAQ@Com

since so many of us love beef, they need to breed thousands of cows per year to keep up with demand!. cows fart and the huge amount of them contributes to global warming!. Vegetarians are on average healthier than most meat-eaters!. Depending on how balanced it is!. Some people don't know what they're doing and therefor only eat fruits or eat nothing but veggie burgers or cheesy noodles!.

A balanced vegetarian diet includes a wide variety of fruits,vegetables,whole grains,beans,nuts,and small amounts of organic milk and yogurt(if you choose to eat some animal product)Www@FoodAQ@Com

I'm a meatatarian myself!.!.!.!.I have a strict diet of eating only things with a face!.!.!.lolWww@FoodAQ@Com

1>> I became a vegan because it is a better nutritional diet!.

2>> Vegan are healthier because the average vegan is lighter than the average meat eater in Britain!.

3>> I became a Vegan because I was told about what happens to meat in the gut!. It stays there for ages and rots, getting infected with bacteria!.

4>> I became a Vegan because I care about what I put into my body!. I don’t want to put chemicals in there, nor anything dead!. Plants are natural, so they can’t be harmful!. The more you prune and pluck, more branches and fruits it yields!.

5>> I became a Vegan, because I want to live in a more natural way!.

6>> I became a Vegan, because stock farming is not economically viable!. We could feed the Third World if everyone became a Vegan!.

7>> I became a Vegan because I don’t want to finance death!. I don’t mind wearing a woollen jumper, because they don’t kill the sheep to get the wool!.

8>> I became a Vegan because I think that farming animals is cruel!. Politicians & Religious idols do not care for animals!. Current government subsidies do not cushion the animal welfare!. Most farmers do not care about the welfare of their animals; If do, it would become be too expensive for them to sell!.

9>> I became a Vegan because crop farming is more efficient than stock farming!. 100 units of food energy fed to an animal become only 10 units of meat, so meat production is inefficient!.

10>> I don't want to eat anything that I wouldn't be prepared to kill myself, though leisurely!.

11>> I don't want to eat anything that I wouldn't be prepared to kill by myself, though leisurely!.

12>> I became a Vegan because we don’t need meat to survive!.

13>> I became a Vegan because I don’t want to shorten the dairy cow’s natural lifespan from 25 years to 11 years!.

14>> I became a Vegan because that’s the way society is going!. Thousands of people every minute are becoming Vegetarian!. Killing and butchering will be regarded as taboo one day!.

15>> I became a Vegan because I’m a biologist; I know how the ecosystem & biodiversity works!.

16>> I became a Vegan because it is the future!. There is an annoying connection made by many people that the way things are going is necessarily good, and/or inevitable!. Perhaps the current trends are bad, and the future will not be as good as it could be!. Perhaps things are heading a certain way, but this does not mean that we are powerless to stop them, nor does it mean that we should not try!. This argument does not work either!. One has to supply actual reason for vegetarianism, and this is not a reason, it is just an excuse at best!.

17>> I became a Vegan simply because my craving supersedes my love towards animals!.

18>> I became a Vegan because many scientists, philosophers, environmentalists, humanitarians, spiritualists, thinkers and SICK PERSONS were/are abstained from meat!. Meat is absolutely not necessary to make smart and healthy!.

19>> AT LAST - THE REAL REASON PEOPLE BECOME VEGAN
Veg*sm is the new Puritanism!. This is my belief!. It is also one of my arguments towards veg*sm, and although it may at first seem a flippant argument, I believe that it is very powerful!. veg*sm is miserable!. It attacks one of life’s greatest and surest pleasures - enjoying good food and linger around the societal norm!. Anything which makes people less happy is bad!.

20>> CONCLUSION
======================================!.!.!.
I think that if my theory became widely understood and agreed with, then veg*m would look and feel increasingly silly, and would more obviously occupy the moral low ground!. I don’t think that there is any real danger that veg*m will ever become the norm, because meat is too nice, and membership of a club is no privilege if everyone becomes a member!. The club has to be exclusive in order to be appealing!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

I have worked in the farming industry!. I studied agriculture when I was young!. There is a lot of inaccuracies written on here by people who eat ethically, but I wouldn't say they were wrong, it is there choice of life style!.
In all my years working on a farm with many animals, not once did I abuse animals in my charge, yet there are many people out there who abuse their pets!. My dairy cows had a good life compared to many cats and dogs that are supposedly pets!.
These days my diet is mainly vegetarian simply because I have always loved vegetables!. I still eat meat and I eat a lot of fish and that's my lifestyle!.Www@FoodAQ@Com





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