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?

Original Post by ch33ry:

I have family members tell me how "unhealthy" it is for me.  How I'm not getting enough protein.  How bland my food must be.  They are wrong!  Hearing comments like this feels like being sucker punched while having a veggie sandwich.  Part of me does not want to respond because I never ask others to explain why they like to clog their arteries while they eat a steak. 

I need pointers on how to defend my beliefs.  Any suggestions on how to deal with anti-vegetarians?  Without pissing anyone off or getting pissed? 

 I read the book The China Study. It's very informational and has over 20 years of science to back up the fact that animal protein is unhealthy for us. It actually promotes cancer growth. I became a vegan because of this. High cholesterol and cancer run in my family and I don't want to have to fight off those illnesses when I get older. I want to live as healthy and happy a life as possible.

Your family is just following the guidelines that have been drilled into them for years. Maybe if they knew the health benefits of a diet low in animal protein and if they learned that plants have protein too, they would be more understanding, and they may even want to follow in your footsteps.

 

 

I've been a vegetarian for three years! Since I was fourteen and I could really decide. I never really liked meat anyways.

I was born into a very foreign, meat-eating lifestyle, but I started an on and off relationship with meat when I was about 14. As of today, I haven't eaten red meat for a year and a couple months and I've been completely vegetarian 10 months now. My family constantly pressures me to eat meat though, and I wanted to take it seriously at 14 but they refused to allow me and took so much authority over my eating habits until one day I simply told them they would have to live with it. I feel better than ever now though.

Original Post by ryne_its_nine:

giving up meat was easy.  it's the dairy that i'm struggling to let go of.  i know there are dairy-free alternatives to cheese & ice cream & the like, but it's so costly.

i agree except for me it's not the cost so much as i'd just miss them

I turned veggie 10 years ago when I was 10. I think this is why I can't understand people who say "oh my god, i could never give up meat"... its just been so long, I don't even think about it, in restaurants, it just doesn't even register that there are meat options....

When people post on here about having problems with being a new veggie I just think, "huh? Whats the big deal?" Like...... almost all food is veggie safe. Its just so easy, it requires no thought whatsoever!

I turned vegan about 3 weeks ago because I realised how hypocritical it was being a veggie and being "against" animal cruelty, yet still supporting the whole industry by buying dairy products. Vegetarianism just wasn't gonna cut it anymore.

Its ok. The only thing I am finding hard is not being able to eat cakes, cheese sandwiches, chocolates, cookies, COTTAGE CHEESE!!!!! And pretty much all food. I work in a food shop and being a veggie is easy coz you can still eat 90% of the food in the shop. Being vegan means you can eat about... 15%. And 10% of that is fruit and veg. Not so easy, or fun.

But I'm gonna stick with it anyway. I'm hoping its gonna get easier.

OMG you were 4! I've only been a veggie for about 8mos. I've always loved animals and for the past couple of years have been thinking about switching to a veggie lifestyle. One day I woke up and felt like today was the day, that was 8mos. ago and I am so happy I made the change. My goal is to become a vegan, but I think baby steps work better for me. So for now I'm a vegetarian, and I love it.

5 years. Anti-animal cruelty, world hunger, pollution..? Selfish reasons too like weight loss or just choosing not to digest animal flesh.

My husband gets migraines that last for days, and we've switched to a vegan diet this week to hopefully combat the headaches.  :-)  So I have been vegan for 4 days. 

For the last year I've eaten a vegatarian plus fish diet (I know there's a special word for that, but I forget what it is  )

ive been vegetarian for a year now...saw a really horrible video about slaughter houses, I cried for hours about it. 

 

I am 31, and since I never ate meat,  I guess I have been a vegetarian for 31 years

Since I grew up not eating meat, I can't say it was my decision, but I would't change it, and never felt tempted to eat meat, I'm grossed out by the sole smell of it.

 

I eat eggs and lots of dairy products, so I guess technically I am a ovo-lacto vegetarian. I could give up eating eggs and most dairy, but  I am sure I could never stop eating cheese...

 

i believe pescatarian is what you're looking for :]

Original Post by juninha:

Since I grew up not eating meat, I can't say it was my decision, but I would't change it, and never felt tempted to eat meat, I'm grossed out by the sole smell of it.

oh yeah i definitely agree with you. i'm not totally clear on why i wanted to be one but i wouldn't change it for the world

I've been a vegetarian, pretty much all my life.  As a child I didn't like eating meat.  I would, however, eat some meat if it looked nothing like it started out as : hot dogs, burgers, chicken patty...etc.  I didn't realize I had much of  a choice.  My mother used to make sausage and sauerkraut, and try to hide pieces of sausage in my kraut!  LOL! 

 When I went to college, my food choices expanded (in the cafeteria, etc.) and I soon realized I wasn't eating any meat.  Only a few years ago, after correcting people, when they DID call me a vegetarian, did I realize, I WAS one!  (I did eat meat, when pregnant, if I craved it, although, while eating a Morningstar Chik'n patty, I started gagging, since it tasted so much like chicken!  I kept checking the box, to make sure it wasn't!)

So, now, I realize I truly AM a vegetarian.  I just don't like the taste or idea of meat.  My family is omnivorous, and I'm okay with that. (I have a feeling my elder son will be a vegetarian at some point, in his life.  He loves animals and is very sensitive.)

Now, I'm dealing with wanting to lose at least, 5 lbs.  I do eat dairy, but it's not the bulk of my meals.  I feel like I'm already eating so healthy, I don't know what else, to do! 

Did I just write a book?  Sorry.

Daisy -- maybe you THINK you're eating healthy, but in reality, you're not.  That's why this site is so helpful.  Use the calculators to determine how many calories you should be eating in order to acheive your goal weight.  Log what you eat (and don't half-ass it) and what you burn for a few weeks, and see if you notice a difference. :)

Thanks, I just started logging my food.  I'm pretty sure I'm eating well. I eat the healthiest of all of my friends, and family (except my father, he eats fish, and I don't).  I think I'm just stuck.  :P  I probably need to up my cardio, and not eat seconds, even if it's healthy, good-for-you food.