hey you, yeah you. i see you reading this. do me a favor k? plZZZzzzz!!!!!?!

When people ask me why I'm vegan, I don't bother with health or environmental reasons. I inform myself about these issues, but I don't really care to argue with people over the credentials or funding sources of some scientists who disagree over this or that. I don't bother arguing that people aren't physiologically meant to eat meat, because it doesn't make any difference.

It's simple. Start with #11, Animals raised for food are treated poorly. This is absolutely provably true. You can focus on this, look up the information. Start with vegetarian sites, but then check it out for yourself. I heard some things so awful I couldn't believe they were true, but fortunately for me the livestock industry helpfully provides corroboration on their web sites; not the ones where they're talking to consumers, but where they're talking to each other. Trade magazines and web sites! For example, do a Google search on "Calf Branding" or "Calf Castration" and keep in mind that no anesthetic is ever, ever used on farm animals. Or Google "Dairy Cow Pregnancy" to verify that cows must be impregnated yearly in order to give milk. When I just did this most results seemed to be industry sites which are matter-of-factly or even proudly explaining the procedures - just check the URL to eliminate veggie-sounding sites.

Step 2: what are your values? Do these procedures sound OK to you? Do they match your values? No, that's why you're veg. That's all you need to say.

My Dad (non-veg but now supportive) tells me that I don't need to give any other answer than this: "I choose not to cause unnecessary suffering." Another answer I sometimes give is "I'm opposed to violence." Either of those can be considered inflammatory, because it implies that the person you're talking to is in favor of suffering and violence. So sometimes I say "It makes me happy to align my actions with my values."

**** Broccoli

the saving money one may be questionable.

Also, yes. puberty would be the reason for your weight gain, not the diet change. Puberty completely changes your body, including, in many cases, your metabolism.

A lot of the evidence supporting vegetarianism is -lets face it- biased and only shows correlations not causations.
If there was a study for people who eat meat in a healthy manner, they would outlive vegetarians. But there aren't studys to prove that.
You're right about 15 but you have to realize we are omnivores. half and half. And we are Mainly programed for a vege diet but meats are perfectly fine in moderation and in once in a while.

By not eating meats and dairies you'll lose a lot of vitamins and minerals and amino acids you'd miss out of. So you probably won't feel healthier going 0% animal products. But if you're eating fish, eggs, and dairy. THAT'S a healthy diet.

Experience, and talking to naturopaths and a dietitian

I'll disagree with most all of these "reasons".

1. I can gree with that. You MIGHT be heathier. But you can be a junk food vegan just as you can be a junk food meat eater.
2. No, you won't save animal lives. Domesticated livestock is born to be someone's dinner. If the meat is not consumed by humans, it will go to feed zoo animals, pets, etc.
3. Don't believe that for a minute. Price fake meat. It's not cheap. Plus you need to eat a lot more veggies to get the nutrients in meat. For example, the non-heme iron in veggies is poorly absorbed by your body compared to the heme iron in meat. So you need to eat a lot more of it.
4. LOL! A joke, right?
5. Diet certainly can play a role in healthy skin. But, again, junk food veg*ns are all over the place.
6, 7, 8, 9. No. Show me the research.
10. Americans are overweight because they consume too many calories and get too little expercise. You, yourself, say going veggie made you GAIN weight! How can you claim being a veggie will control weight? Jeez.
11. Animals raised for food are actually treated quite well. They're the farmer/rancher's source of income. Poorly treated animals produce lower quality meat. Why would any sensible person damage his future profits?
12. LOL! Again. Look at how many more people died this year from eating contaminated veggies/fruit than meat. It' was a lot more. Years ago, the USDA pressured the big meat packing companies into cleaning up their plants. The FDA takes care of veggies and they have been terribly underfunded, undermanned and just can't do the inspections needed to protect us from contaminated veggies. Only one example: http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/10/21/four…
13. World hunger is not an issue of a lack of food. It's a political issue. This is has been refuted so many times it's sad that you're still putting it out as a "reason" to give up meat.
14. Actually, cattle in the United States are raised on land that is too fragile to plow up and raise crops. But if we cut meat out of our diet, we'll be forced to plow it up because....again...our bodies don't use some nutrients from plants as well as meat (see iron above) so we'll need to grow a lot more of the veggies.
15. Humans need Vitamin B12. See VeganHealth link below. B12 is not available in any plant foods. Obviously, we were "meant" to eat animal products or we wouldn't require a vitamin only available in animal foods.

So I have refuted every one of your 15 reasons. You obviously didn't do well on a veggie diet. Are you letting peer pressure push you into trying it again?

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vita…

Puberty, hormones... I am a vegetarian and I too gain weight if I eat veg pizzas. My advice is to run in the park 30 minutes every day and you'll soon get back to normal, or do some sports that you like.

Experience

Eat a bit of everything - mainly organic, mostly local and get sleep, exercise and keep away from computers - they make you sit and that is the worst thing of all and they waste time.

Fat babe at the computer.

1, you could be heathier eating meat too.
2. we are on the top of the foodchain, so why would i start eating veggies?
3. yeah protein shakes and salads cost less then a turky sandwich.... ok.
4. 3-6 years being old and miserable. get exercise, works well too.
5. yeah, white and pasty my favorite.
6. um, get more sleep? drink a soda, stop complaining?
7. OH NO BLOOOD PRESSURE!
8. I dont even think thats true.
9. really, stop worrying, you wont get diabeties for a loooonnggg time.
10.then eat less protien, doesn't mean you can only eat fish and ***.
11. so were we back when we were at the bottom of the food chain.
12. clean it, cook it, get meat not grown in a graveyard.
13. yeah, but who wants to eat that much potatos, sounds ******* discusting.
14. move into alaska, there will still be lots of trees there.
15. i dont understand why that matters, were not ******* squirls, we don't run around eating nuts all day. at least i dont.
yep. :)

Common sense.