How long have you been a vegetarian? WHY?

Fellow vegetarians, this is where we can brag! Tell me and everyone else how long you've been vegetarian or vegan and why you chose to become one.

I've been vegetarian for 11 years of my life and I'm 15 years old. [: I'm proud of it. It was completely my choice but my parents supported me. Seeing as I was 4 at the time, I'm not sure what my reasoning was, but now I am anti-animal cruelty and feel that all meat should be produced without hormones and in a free-range environment.


What about YOU?

I have been mostly vegetarian for about two years now.  I have a lot of reasons for the way I eat.  I think it's healthier.  I think it's less wasteful to eat lower down the food chain.  I think it's better to not kill other living things to sustain myself if it isn't necessary.

New to the boards - back again to calorie-count - it has worked before and I need it again.

I've been a vegetarian for 17 years now.

My only problem is that all deserts are vegetarian!

vegetarian for two years with a minor break (i got mono and lost so much muscle the doctor basically made me eat meat again :| ) and have been vegan for about two months now!

Original Post by lysistrata:

I think it's less wasteful to eat lower down the food chain.

Why is that?

4.5 years now! I went from a slow transition. I gradually stopped eatting red meat, pork, then fish, and finally chicken. I took the final jump to vegetarian due to the fact that we got pet chickens (don't laugh!) and I could not imagine eating one of them. I've also always have been raised in a animal-loving household (I've always have had a crazy amount of pets... 10 cats, 5 dogs, but my families weak spot are for birds).

My sister recently went veggie as well! So I'm not the only one in my family now. My mom and dad could never go vegetarian but they both do try some meat-free meals now and then.

Original Post by lysistrata:

I have been mostly vegetarian for about two years now.  I have a lot of reasons for the way I eat.  I think it's healthier.  I think it's less wasteful to eat lower down the food chain.  I think it's better to not kill other living things to sustain myself if it isn't necessary.

I agree with your point that you think its better to  not kill other living things to sustain yourself.  That's the reason I went vegetarian (about 25 years ago now I think). 

I went vegan 2 years ago....don't know why it took me so long.  Its been the best thing I have ever done.

I was vegetarian for five years at one point, vegan for some of those, but I slipped and fell out of the habit.  (I was doing a lot of missions trips, very exhausting work, and the host families just didn't have anything I could eat).

Now I'm going back to vegan for a slightly different reason (though I agree with all the ethical and environmental aspects of veganism).  Hubby and I are going to start trying for a baby in about a year or so, and I want to be in the best shape possible before we start even trying to conceive.  So I'm going to kick all my addictions to nasty food (I'm even trying to cut out caffeine, God help me) so I can be ready to be a healthy, kick-ass mommy.

I've stopped eating meat and dairy about a year and a half ago.
I did it because I can.. o_O

2 generations  My parents & grandparents were vegetarian so I was raised as a vegetarian and I eat a mostly vegan diet by default since I have a lot of trouble digesting dairy or eggs. 

Although I've been vegetarian for a long long time, I think it's actually much harder and much for of an accomplishment for people to do the switch. During some rebellious teenage years I tried some meat and fast food, but it really didn't sit well with me so I was never tempted to be anything other than a vegetarian. I think it's much harder to give something up. So kudos to everyone who is working away at it. 

Why is that?

simwaves - it's simple economics.  It takes about 27 cups of corn to grow one pound of meat (3500 calories).  That pound of meat is only going to provide you with about 800 calories.  So there is an enormous net loss of energy in every pound of meat that is created for food.  Instead of feeding one person one pound of meat, by cutting out the cow middle-man you could feed three people 9 cups of corn and come out the same energy-wise.

Cows, like any kind of middle-man, just take a cut without really contributing anything to the final product.  ;-)

Please, point out to me where I said they weren't.

I've been transitioning to a vegetarian lifestyle for almost a year- I rarely ate meat, mostly just chicken and fish, then reduced to fish, then became a lacto-ovo vegetarian a few weeks ago. It's just part of my efforts to eat healthy, clean foods.
I decided to do it because it makes me think more about what I'm putting in my body, as well as my effect on the environment. I don't know enough about where my food comes from to know if it really reduces my carbon footprint, but at least my conscience is clear and I feel great!

It's evolution. People feel more empathetic/friendly with things that are similar to them because those things are most likely to carry our genes. Kin are the closest. Other humans are very close. Animals with eyes, ears, and nervous systems are usually next for most people. THEN come plants that we technically know are "living" but they certainly don't live in the way we live. Hence why most people think it is ethically correct to eat plants over animals.

..I won't comment on that because I don't know the answer myself. I know I would rather chop down a tree than kill an ape.

But yeah, that is where this set particular of morals comes from. In theory. Carry on.

Original Post by dpetey:

Every time you eat a plant, you've killed a living thing, just as much so as when you eat meat. I think this whole vegetarian ethos is badly misguided. Lots of vegetarians feel so virtuous for their not eating meat. That's fine, but what makes killing plants to eat any more virtuous than killing animals? I know it's natural to say they're lower on the food chain, their lives are worth less, etc etc. I find those arguments very specious. Life is life. Lower on the food chain or not, you have to kill to eat. That's the way the world is. Get used to it. Unless, of course, you want to subsist entirely on dairy products, fruit, eggs, and salt.

 

Oh fun, the trolling "plants are alive too, so if you kill plants for food you may as well kill animals" argument.

First, I think this is a "how long have you been a vegetarian and why" thread not "let's debate vegetarianism" thread. It's also in the vegetarian forum, so it's not like we're going out to the mainstream forms and imposing our views upon you.

Just like there are very few meat eaters who go around imposing their pro-meat culture on mainstream society, there are very few vegetarians that go around trying to change other people's eating habits. It is generally accepted that humanity has a wide range of food styles, cultures and choices. 

If you've been "preached to" by a vegetarian and you prefer a diet that includes meat then that was that person's problem, and you don't have to replicate their bad behviour by being argumentative over other people's choices. 

The "these are the cries of the carrots" argument is old.... very old. Simply put, yes sustaining ourselves does mean that we need to eat something that is alive. If you are a vegetarian for morale reasons this argument still holds water since you kill no animals and much less plant life by eating a diet that does not include meat. You need on average 10 times as much grain to produce 1 lb of beef as you would to feed 1 person for a week on a vegetarian diet. 

Of course morale reasons are not the only reasons people are vegetarian, there are environmental reasons, producing vegetables, grains and fruits has a much lower carbon footprint than raising animals for consumption. There are health reasons, a properly balanced vegetarian diet is a perfectly healthy choice and some find it easier to maintain than a diet that includes meat. There is general personal choice & taste, being raised a vegetarian, I simply think meat tastes bad and don't enjoy it. 

So, if you want to debate the merits of vegetarianism, find a moderator who will open a debate thread for you on a main board. This is the vegetarian forum and we are here to support each other in our choices. 

 

I get sick and tired of going to really interesting veg*n threads that are spoiled by someone trying to sabotage with stupid comments like those by dpetey.

Could the moderator look at this and take some action because their comments are not on topic.

dpetey - nice straw man.  Unfortunately for your point, I have never argued that plants aren't living or that eating them doesn't require killing them (although fruits, seeds, grains, nuts, and many leafy plants, of course, don't require killing).  I simply pointed out that it's better to minimize all suffering and loss of life, and that is done more efficiently when you live on plants rather than domesticated animals.  So nobody is impressed with your ability to refute an argument that you, yourself, made up.

makes killing plants to eat any more virtuous than killing animals?

Hindus call it "ahimsa."  Buddhists call it "compassion."  Economists call it "efficiency."  Acknowledging that suffering is a part of life, it is better to act in a way that minimizes unhappiness.  It's a basic moral principle that dates back many thousands of years ... but perhaps you need some more time to think about it.

Original Post by dpetey:

Original Post by lysistrata:

Please, point out to me where I said they weren't.

You said: "I think it's better to not kill other living things to sustain myself if it isn't necessary."

Every time you eat a plant, you've killed a living thing, just as much so as when you eat meat. I think this whole vegetarian ethos is badly misguided. Lots of vegetarians feel so virtuous for their not eating meat. That's fine, but what makes killing plants to eat any more virtuous than killing animals? I know it's natural to say they're lower on the food chain, their lives are worth less, etc etc. I find those arguments very specious. Life is life. Lower on the food chain or not, you have to kill to eat. That's the way the world is. Get used to it. Unless, of course, you want to subsist entirely on dairy products, fruit, eggs, and salt.

ahahha. that really made me laugh.

i would say something, but i don't think i could top supersized.

If you have something to say about the food chain and why vegetarianism is hypocrisy, please take it to a different thread.

Original Post by dpetey:

First, I think this is a "how long have you been a vegetarian and why" thread not "let's debate vegetarianism" thread. It's also in the vegetarian forum, so it's not like we're going out to the mainstream forms and imposing our views upon you.

Thank you!
Can we please get back to the original subject now..?

This thread was reported as being against posting guidelines. This thread probably no longer makes a whole lot of sense as some posts were deleted as being against posting guidelines.

Please adhere to posting guidelines when making your posts, folks, and please "play nice" here in the Vegetarian forum. If you want to discuss/argue the merits of vegetarianism start your own thread in another forum preferably, or please politely  discuss it in this forum (but not this thread as that would be OFF-TOPIC) while keeping yourselves open-minded to their lifestyle choices ....... This is the VEGETARIAN forum afterall. Please respect that.

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