A
female
age
26-29,
*G96
writes:Hey, I'm not planning on becoming a vegetarian, but I do care about animals very much and when I'm older I'd like to cut down on my meat intake. I could never fully quit, I love meat too much. So, to all the vegetarian/vegans out there, why are you one? Do you wear silk, wool, leather etc? How do you get your necessary dose of B12, protein, and other animal based nutrients? In home ect we learned about different types of vegetarians: vegans, ovo vegetarians (eat eggs) lacto vegetarians (eat milk and other dairy products) lacto-ovo vegetarians (eat eggs and dairy) pesko vegetarians (eats fish) and pseudo vegetarians (dont eat red meat). What kind are you? Reply to this Question
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female
reader, Anonymous 123  +, writes (11 June 2011):
 Im a vegetarian because I love animals to death! I wasnt one before...but when I was old enough to realize that the animals feel the same emotions that we do, I quit for good. I thought it was extremely hypocritical of me to say that I love animals so much, and yet eat them.
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (11 June 2011): I am vegetarian for religious reasons: it is wrong to kill animals. There is also a lot of cruelty to animals in the way they are kept and the way they are killed.
But also there are health problems attached to eating meat. There is less incidence of cancer among vegetarians for instance.
You can get a lot of information on these things if you email the vegetarian society. They have a website and local branches too.
I hope that you will eventually decide to become a vegetarian and animals are suffering and dying every day when it is easy enough to have a healthy diet, when you know what you are doing, and not need to eat meat, fish or eggs.
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male
reader, anonymous, writes (11 June 2011): I am not a vegetarian, but I lived around a lot of them in a co-op and my girlfriend has been vegeterian on-and-off. I don't have a problem eating meat from an ethical perspective. Humans are omnivores. We are not herbivores. My pet cat is a carnivore and it needs to kill to survive. That's not an ethical issue. It's just survival. Should I judge it? As a human who is an omnivore I have more choices, of course. I have great respect for the animals which I eat and I do not like to kill if I can help it. However, I love the taste of certain animals and I think it provides for the healthiest diet. My own personal philosophy is that I have to be able to kill the animal myself. If I could not do that, then I won't eat it. When I was a kid I did a lot of fishing and so I have no problem killing and eating fish. Likewise, I can kill an insect or even a chicken if I have to. Killing a pig or a baby cow? Not so much. Therefore, I really try to limit the amount of meat I eat. I think that people eat far too much and take it far too lightly. That McDonald's can sell you a beef patty in a package for $0.69 disgusts me given all that was involved in producing that. In particular, I try to eat free-range, organic, "certified humane" products. This means the animals are treated fairly in life and in death. No factory farms. No feed lots. No trucks bring in thousands of animals to disgusting slaughterhouses. I very much value every life that is sacrificed for my well-being. I research the suppliers and even then I eat in moderation. Lots of fish. Some chicken. Beef very occasionally. Turkey when I can find it. (Turkey is very healthy, but there are not a lot of humane producers.) Pork and lamb even less often. Milk and eggs from specific pasture-raised animals. It helps me sleep at night and I feel like my dollars are contributing towards producers that make a difference, which is even better than eating vegetarian and abstaining completely.Truthfully, when my girlfriend goes into vegetarian phases she seems less healthy and loses weight. I think we have found a healthy compromise and one that our consciences are okay with.
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female
reader, GG96 +, writes (11 June 2011):
GG96 is verified as being by the original poster of the questionThanks everyone!!
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male
reader, Danielepew  +, writes (11 June 2011):
 I'm omnivorous.
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reader, anonymous, writes (11 June 2011): I was vegetarian for a couple of years when the whole mad cow disease thing happened because I didn't want to support an industry that was so stupid as to put my life at risk through unsafe practices.
It didn't go well at all. I ate properly and had it well balanced but it was more expensive to do so and I lost my drive. I don't know how to explain it but I lost my manliness. I wasn't effeminate or anything just lost a bit of my determination and the urge to compete, I became apathetic and lazy. I realized after that I needed meat in my diet. I'm human my body was designed to be omnivorous. I got my drive back when I did.
I don't know how to explain it really whether it's animal hormones or essential fats and proteins but I lost a lot when I went veggie. I've talked to lots of other veggies about it who tried to explain it away as 'not doing it right' but my diet was great and I was healthy. They just fed me the same crap about animal rights too, I can eat meat and support animal rights, in fact by eating meat I'm ensuring animals futures. One thing no veggie ever takes into consideration is what would happen all our livestock if we all went veggie. Simple answer is we'd slaughter pretty much all of them because they would no longer economically viable and we'd need their pastures to grow veg. So yeah, quitting meat doesn't change anything, in fact it promoting vegetarianism is the promotion of wiping out billions of animals because they no longer have a use to us. We'd literally only see livestock animals in zoos.
The real way to help animals is to eat organic meat, or raise and kill the food yourself. I hate the way animals are treated by big companies, battery hens, long distance live travel even down to poor standards in abattoirs. I hate it, so I source all my meat from a local butcher, I pay attention to where my food comes from and how it was raised and slaughtered. It's pretty easy to track online these days. I don't buy or eat processed meat I do all that myself. The only way to ensure animals are treated correctly is to only buy from reputable sources and demand proper treatment.
As part of my bucket list I want to eat the meat of every edible animal on the planet, preferably something I hunted and killed myself, although I'll never get them all because I won't eat endangered animals nor dogs, plus there are some that you just can't get where they haven't suffered. I have crossed quite few off that list already. Kangaroo, crocodile, snake, rabbit, deer, etc the last two I killed and gutted myself.
I have nothing against vegetarianism, it just didn't work for me plus I can better effect animal rights by remaining a meat eater because that makes me a consumer of meat, producers are more inclined to listen to their customers than people who aren't. Just the same as bra makers have no interest in what I think because I'll never wear one.
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female
reader, Xx-Scorpio-xX  +, writes (10 June 2011):
 I've not eaten meat since i was about 12 and i'm now 18. It started off by seeing and reading infomation online about how animals were treated and I just thought that was wrong~ why can humans get away with killing animals whereas if they killed a fellow human they'd be in jail- both humans and animals are living breathing creatures so whats the difference? Up until last year the only meat i ate was fish (which i loved but cared more about animal rights)and i still had stuff like geletin but this year for a new years resolution I've given up fish. I'm intending on giving up geletin soon though. I do have some items of leather but now I would choose fake over real and I've always been completely against wearing fur. I'm not sure if i could go full on vegan though I tried for lent once, which worked well and i now drink soya milk but for me i like eggs a lot and i don't see a problem with eggs as long as they're free range. :)To get nutrients i eat meat substitutes like "Quorn" and meat free burgers/hotdogs from the supermarkets which taste so good :)
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reader, alcraw +, writes (10 June 2011):
There is nothing wrong with eating meat but the way people treat animals is so discusting. I'd advise going on the PETA website forthe best info.
I have been veggie for about 12 years and I always get complimented on my 'healthy glow' and even if I didn't see it as benigiting me I literally could not eat meat. It's just wrong to say 'I am fine with that entire animals life of being treated horrendously was just for my one meal'
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (10 June 2011): I've been vegetarian for about 5 years and do so because i cant stand the idea of eating somethings flesh, i just feel horrible that a living thing has been born and then killed just so i could eat it.
I avoid fish, red and white meat but i do eat eggs are vegetarian cheese. I buy free range eggs. I would do more to extend this but as i currently live at home and have a limited income it would be unfair on my parents to have more expense buying even more seperate foods.
I eat tofu, nuts and beans to ensure protein levels but do also eat quite a few quorn products that claim to be high in protein. I also try to eat lentils and greens like spinach to make sure i get enough nutrients :)
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reader, anonymous, writes (10 June 2011): Hi there, I care about animals too and understand the feelings of dilemma if thinking to hard about what you are eating. I tried to progressively cut down on meat and especially red meat and got to the stage where I ate not read meat at all, I thought it was healthy. But after getting ill from something else, (un- related to not eatub red meat). I had to see a dietician and I did a lot of health research reading specialist books etc, it appears and I know understand from experience that we actually need healthy animal fats in our diet to be well.I eat stews and slowed cooked meats and animal fat stock - I would never of believed that I would ever do this a few years ago. But all the experts (not your average Doctor who just knows not much more than the average person) but all the specialists who acutally study medicine in these areas - agree they have never seen a healthy vegetarian!
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (10 June 2011): I am not sure how people who eat no animal products get their dose of B 12. Perhaps supplements? There might be B vitamins in legumes, not sure.
I consider myself a vegetarian. I eat certain animal products: eggs, fish, seafood, occasionally chicken, and yogurt. I ate no red meat for 10 years. I have recently started eating a little bit of meat (rarely though) and more chicken and seafood.
I am a vegetarian for weight reasons. Same reason why I don't eat bread or pastries or dessert. I feel like it is easier to stay slim when you limit what you can eat. So I have a very limited diet. And that is where my rationalization comes from for being vegetarian (or a pseudo one).
I am not much of a fan of leather simply for aesthetic reasons. I do love fur. I don't own any real fur however.
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male
reader, CaringGuy +, writes (10 June 2011):
I personally am not a vegetarian, but my mother is. The reason is that when she was 9, she saw a lamb being killed (her father worked at a butchers briefly), and it just put her off.
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