Vegetarian

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?

Original Post by lysistrata:

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.  ;-)

Thanks for the response. After thinking about what you and supersized wrote, it makes much more sense now. Its a pretty simple concept with a clear and concise argument for vegetarianism, I like it.

Original Post by caroli:

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!

 Yea - so many toooo good vegan desserts as well

I'm not a vegetarian but I haven't eaten any meat for 3 weeks to win a bet. And it's been surprisingly easy. In fact, I might not take up eating meat ever again.

That 10 quid will be mine :D

I'm 24 years old, and I've been vegetarian for 12 years. Vegan for three. Why? Well, a lot of reasons. First is the whole animal rights/harm none thing (I'm Wiccan/Pagan). I dislike how the meat industry treats animals and the environment. Meat (and animal products) are unnecessary and, often times, unhealthy as well. Yes, I know they have vitamins (but so does cheesecake), but one can get them from other sources easily.

Although I've always eaten a lot of vegetarian dishes just because I liked them, up until a few months ago I thought people actually needed meat to be healthy.  However after the death of a friend due to cancer at a fairly young age (31) I got a little scared and started doing lots of research. I wanted to be as healthy as possible and do what I could to avoid diseases like cancer and other chronic diseases which run in my family.   What I found completely contradicted everything I thought I knew about food and nutrition.  It turns out that meat consumption is directly linked to many forms of cancer, as well as heart disease - 2 of the biggest killers in this country.  Also diabetes and osteoporosis, both of which are in my family.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look around and see how unhealthy the majority of the people in this country are - with over 30% obesity rate, sky rocketing health care costs, and yet we still have fast food restaurants on every corner!!

So I decided to become vegetarian about 6 months ago - mainly for health reasons.  I am mostly vegan but I hesitate to call myself that because of the possibilty of hidden animal products in many things that I eat.  Plus, I still have leather shoes, purses, etc. that seemed silly to just throw out.  But, when I buy new ones they will be animal friendly!

The more and more I have read and researched on the topic, I discovered the being veg is also much more animal friendly, ethical, and environmentally friendly.  These are both topics near and dear to my heart as well, so they just sealed the deal!!  My hubby and I are both veg and we love it.  I have become a much better cook and there is so much variety!  In the past 6 months we have hardly had the same meal twice (except for leftovers, LOL). 

I first became a vegetarian in 1970.  In the 1990s I developed severe health problems due to a congenital heart defect. Because of the heart treatment I couldn't take supplements any longer.  I also developed anemia and a vitamin B deficiency.    So my doctors advised me to eat meat again. They are still amazed at how clean my arteries are!  If I had coronary artery disease on top of that deformity of the heart, I'd be dead.  I credit my vegetarian lifestyle for that.

I now alternate, 3 days a week with a small serving of meat or eggs at one or more meal, and 4 days a week almost completly vegan.  I do eat organic dairy products in moderation.

I find that when I eat mostly fresh vegetables and fruit, whole grains and legumes, with a small amount of good fat, I feel so much better. 

My vegetarianism didn't have a lot to do with animal cruelty issues, but I was very consious of how much food it takes to feed a meat, dairy or egg animal.  That's food people can eat.  There is a world wide food shortage now that is so uneccessary.  Crops are being grown to feed animals and to make fuel instead of being used to feed people. 

Whatever the reason we all decided to change our lives, it's a good thing.

I'm 26 and have  been a vegetarian for over 16 years.  I grew up on a dairy farm and it did not make sense for me to eat the animals I loved so dearly, or any other animal for that matter.  My mother tells me she knew I was a veggie at a young age and never pushed meat on me.  The economics and environmental factors of vegetarianism have backed up my decision further over the years and have promoted taking my lifestyle to a spiritual level.

I have been eating vegan for 5 months and feel great. 

Original Post by fuzzys:

So I decided to become vegetarian about 6 months ago - mainly for health reasons.  I am mostly vegan but I hesitate to call myself that because of the possibilty of hidden animal products in many things that I eat.  Plus, I still have leather shoes, purses, etc. that seemed silly to just throw out.  But, when I buy new ones they will be animal friendly!

The more and more I have read and researched on the topic, I discovered the being veg is also much more animal friendly, ethical, and environmentally friendly.  These are both topics near and dear to my heart as well, so they just sealed the deal!!  

Wow thanks for replying! Your reasoning makes tons of sense to me [:

I'm 25 and I became a lacto-ovo at age 12, then in Dec 06 i found out about rennet (i don't know why it took me so long to find out about that and i am very, very sorry!). So when i found out about that, I became a full vegan. My dietary choices are for the animals. The thing that really made me stop eating animals at 12 years old was a documentary on HBO that showed the slaughtering of the animals, and I have always been a huge animal lover since before i could talk.

I've been a vegetarian for 17 years now.  I gave up meat when I became involved in environmental activism.  I had strong concerns about animal welfare, but the most compelling reasons for me had to do with how a vegetarian diet consumes significantly fewer resources than a meat-based diet. (Diet for a Small Planet had a lot of influence on my decision.)  Over time, I found more and more reasons why it made sense to go veg.  Meat kind of grosses me out now.  I can't really help but think about how weird it is to chew on someone else's muscle.  Anyway, it makes sense for me, and has since I was 12.  I don't really see myself ever going back.

I'm know I can't consider myself as being a vegetarian any more because my doctor has forced me to eat fish, but I was for about three years before that.  Once I'm back to optimal health I'll stop eating fish and stop feeling guilty.  My motto used 'I don't eat anything that had a mother or a face' after I saw a particularly nasty program about slaughterhouses...it was just cruel.  I'm completely against animal cruelty, and I loved being a vegetarian.  Hope to be one again soon

I have been vegetarian for about 2 1/2 months now - there are several reasons why I made the switch.  It is something I have been thinking about for a long time.  I have always been an animal lover and the thought of killing an animal for my meal always seemed strange to me.  Also, when I was eating meat, I couldn't think about it.  If I did, it would gross me out ... so making the change was pretty easy for me once I decided to do it.  One of the benefits of making the switch is I feel a lot better - I haven't had a migraine since and that is an awesome bonus!  I have beey kicking around the vegan idea - I grew up in the midwest surrounded by dairy farms.  So, I grew up under the impression that cows always produced milk.  It wasn't until I started researching going vegetarian/vegan when I found out the truth.  I have since cut out a lot of dairy and eggs, but not completely.  When cooking, I try to use alternatives as much as I can.  My husband has been a really good sport through all this - he is still a meat eater and I don't think he will ever change, which is fine.  I'm just glad he is open to try some veggie meals a couple times a week. 

I've been a vegetarian for about 7 months now. One night I just decided to stop eating meat and from then on I did! I always found raw meat disgusting and one day I just put 2 and 2 together. I convinced myself I needed to eat fish for a while "to be healthy" but I ended up not liking the taste at all. I'm now a vegetarian for health, animal welfare and environmental reasons and I looove iiiitt

I'm on my way to becoming vegan as well :D I've stopped eating straight out dairy (i.e milk in cereal, cheese on pizzas, eggs in quiche etc) but I live in a university hall and I don't have time for a job so I basically have to eat what's given to me, so if there's some egg in my spring roll I'm not exactly going starve to avoid it. From november onwards I'll be completely vegan though, hooray! :)

I've been vegetarian for about 19 years for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I view slaughtering for pleasure as unethical and violent (and eating meat is, in most cases, for pleasure, since most people don't actually need it, "most" being the operative word - I know there are cases where allergies/deficiencies/available food require some people to get some meat). I am not violent towards animals, and I try my best to be ethical, though being a simple vegetarian like myself (albeit a strict one) is still not as ethical as veganism. Perhaps I will transition to vegan someday. Other posters have already mentioned the efficiency and environmental reasons to reduce or eliminate meat from the diet, and I agree with those reasons as well.

I haven't eaten red meat in about 6 years, but I still ate chicken and fish until finally becoming a full vegetarian 2 years ago. I grew up on venison and fish - my dad was a hunter, and fished for a living - and the memory of when I was about 8 years old finding him grinding up the deer in the kitchen one morning, that had been sitting in the back of the truck from deer hunting the day before has horrified me ever since. Knowing that poor animal was going to be my dinner got the best of me. My family I think was fairly disappointed and confused and probably upset for a long time over the whole not eating meat thing - after all, I was still living under their roof, they were doing their best to provide meals for the family, and here I go, one day, just total rebel. Well, when I got into college I found it almost harder since dorm living food choices were limited (one of the main vegetarian courses was, I kid you not, "green beans with bacon"). I didn't really know how to eat well. Once I was out on my own it became a heck of a lot easier. Now I find it easy to be meat-free, and am proud of it! I do it for animal rights and health. I like to be aware of what is going into my body and how it will affect me in the long-run. I've flirted with the idea of being vegan, but instead, I've chosen to limit my egg consumption, and stay away from gelatin and some milk. Luckily, my boyfriend has made the conversion as well. We are both very concerned over what we eat and the nutrition of it. But we both still love cheese. :)

21 years of my life. A little less than half my lifetime so far (I'm 48). Once I've been vegetarian for a total of 26½ years, I will be 53, and it will be a whole half. ;)

My vegetarianism has been in two periods, with a long interruption in between. I first became vegetarian when I was 17. I had been reading about Mahatma Gandhi and listening to George Harrison's Hindu albums. Then I started yoga.

I stopped when I was 25 for no good reason. But I never cared for beef or pork again, I had chicken and fish, mostly, some goat meat too. Yeah, goat. The other red meat, ha.

When I was 36, I came to realize I'd been an idiot and went back to being vegetarian. I immediately felt so much better, my energy improved, I felt happier, lighter, and healthier. I quickly dropped an extra 20 pounds and kept it off. I'm never going back to eating meat now.

What happened when I was 36 was, I spent a night in the hospital. While there, I read an entire novel by Paul Theroux, Millroy the Magician, in one sitting. It's all about vegetarian health food, and it reawakened in me how much I had liked my life better when I'd been vegetarian the first time. So I immediately went right back to it and ever since then I've been so glad I did. I started yoga again. The two go so well together, don't you think?

Other people start yoga first, and it gets them to try becoming vegetarian. I went the other way around. Being vegetarian allowed me to feel finer levels of energy in my body and mind, and yoga felt like a good way to cultivate that even more.

I was vegan for 6 years, from when I was 40 until I was 46. But then I went back to lacto-ovo, because I was really overdoing the soy as a vegan. Soy for breakfast, soy for lunch, soy for dinner, soy for dessert. Too much of anything isn't such a good idea, and a balanced diet can't balance on just one food. I needed a hormone adjustment, and was concerned that too much soy would get in the way of my hormones.

I love being vegetarian because it just feels good, I get what I love, I don't get what I hate (I really do not care for meat at all), and my body thanks me for it. I feel clean and peaceful inside.

A little under a year. I've always loved animals and thought I wanted to be a vegetarian but this past summer my uncle had a pig roast at his 2nd wedding. The pig looked like it had a frown and it's eyes slumped downwards like it was crying. I was so hurt by it.

Therefore I'm veggie :)

ive not being eating animal products for two months now :)

like someone else here i prefer to avoid the label of 'vegan', sadly it conjures up a touch of predudice and there are a lot of hidden animal products in everything and im afraid ill go around saying im vegan then eat some 'powdered egg white' by mistake...  

to the person who mentioned rennet? isnt it a enzyme in the stomach that clots milk??? can someone explain whats so bad about it please :)?

That's interesting...I've never encountered any kind of prejudice when describing myself as vegan.  So that's exactly what I call myself.  Curiosity maybe..amazement frequently ("well, what do you eat???" as if I am deprived) LOL but I can't say prejudice.

Maybe I'm fortunate where I live but wouldn't have thought so...I'm in the heart of meat/dairy "heaven" here

As for making a mistake - if that is all it is then I'm still happy to call myself a vegan.  I'm pretty proud of it too!!

I was a vegetarian since i was a baby. Except i ate a scotch egg and a few sausages when my mum wasnt around! I stopped eating these when i was old enough to know what they were.

I started eating meat about 8 months ago.

2 weeks ago i had a terrifiying dream involving whole animals being minced and i havn't eaten meat since!

My worst meat experience was when my mums fiance cooked me steak, yuck! i ate a couple of mouthfulls to be polite and fed most to his cat when he left the room!

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