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My senior year of high school I had to dissect a fetal pig. I stopped eating red meat after that. When I went to college, my roommate was a vegetarian, which influenced me to stop eating chicken.
For years I still ate fish, but I am currently trying to lean towards a vegan diet. I will probably never become fully vegan, but try to limit my dairy and egg intake (looking to stop eating fish all together). I feel much better (physically and mentally).
I don't think humans are supposed to consume animal products at all, it doesn't make sense when you actually think about it. Besides, who decided that it's okay to eat a pig or cow, but not a dog or cat???
I have read that pigs are smarter than dogs. If we started slaughtering dogs, people would become outraged.
As far as the "survival of the fittest" argument, there are plenty of strong animals who only consume plants. I know animals eat other animals, but we are humans, are we not supposed to be more evolved?
I am NOT a vegetarian but I think I was probably always close to naturally being one. I remember being 12 years old and thinking how disgusting meat was, but we were a meat and potatoes family and meat was the main course of every meal. Still, I kind of picked at it and I never have been a huge meat eater. I remember eating beef stew one time and seeing a vein sticking out of a piece of meat. Blech!
If I had been born 20 years later, I think I definitely would have been vegetarian. I just grew up around people who ate meat and made it the focal point of every meal.
Another thing I have thought about - I know if it were up to ME to go out and hunt/kill meat to eat, I'd definitely be a vegetarian because I wouldn't be able to kill an animal so I could eat. I just couldn't do it. I hate to see shows where animals are being hunted. It seems so cruel. I know there is overpopulation of some animals and that hunting helps to keep it down, but isn't there a natural order of things where their natural predators (not human) would keep the populations in check?
My main problem is that, as much as meat disgusts me at times (other times tastes good), I don't really know what to eat if I don't eat meat. Eating vegetables is just boring to me and I guess I'm not all that fond of vegetables anyway. I do like pasta but then there's the whole carb thing (although I know whole grain pastas are better choices). And then if you eliminate animal products too (milk, cheese, butter, eggs) - what is left to eat?! And then I have a husband who is a meat lover.
Reading this thread has given me a lot to think about, though, and I am going to work on eliminating meat. I sort of pick the meat out of whatever I eat already; I'll just try not having it in there to begin with.
I am NOT a vegetarian but I think I was probably always close to naturally being one. I remember being 12 years old and thinking how disgusting meat was, but we were a meat and potatoes family and meat was the main course of every meal. Still, I kind of picked at it and I never have been a huge meat eater. I remember eating beef stew one time and seeing a vein sticking out of a piece of meat. Blech!
If I had been born 20 years later, I think I definitely would have been vegetarian. I just grew up around people who ate meat and made it the focal point of every meal.
Another thing I have thought about - I know if it were up to ME to go out and hunt/kill meat to eat, I'd definitely be a vegetarian because I wouldn't be able to kill an animal so I could eat. I just couldn't do it. I hate to see shows where animals are being hunted. It seems so cruel. I know there is overpopulation of some animals and that hunting helps to keep it down, but isn't there a natural order of things where their natural predators (not human) would keep the populations in check?
My main problem is that, as much as meat disgusts me at times (other times tastes good), I don't really know what to eat if I don't eat meat. Eating vegetables is just boring to me and I guess I'm not all that fond of vegetables anyway. I do like pasta but then there's the whole carb thing (although I know whole grain pastas are better choices). And then if you eliminate animal products too (milk, cheese, butter, eggs) - what is left to eat?! And then I have a husband who is a meat lover.
Reading this thread has given me a lot to think about, though, and I am going to work on eliminating meat. I sort of pick the meat out of whatever I eat already; I'll just try not having it in there to begin with.
I was in the same boat, and had been flirting with vegatarianism for at least ten years now.
Then, I roasted a turkey. I had to pull its neck out of its cavity. That to me, sealed the deal.
I haven't eaten meat for almost a month now, and not only do I not miss it I find the longer I go without meat the more disgusting it looks and smells to me.
I don't care for pasta, so I have been eating a lot of salads with extra 'crunchies' in it, gardenburgers, roasted veggies, and veggie pot pie. Love that!
It is kind of a drag that I am making two meals every night, but I really feel physically healthier and I had been horribly nightblind and now that has even improved dramatically.
Take my advice, go into this as a day by day thing and see how long the journey takes you. That is what I did I do not feel deprived at all.
I have a cousin that is 13 years older than me. She has been a vegetarian since she was a kid. She has always been one of the kindest gentlest souls I ever met. I guess she influenced me. That and the fact that we are all animal lovers. Even with all that I didn't become consistently vegetarian until my 30's. I did revert back to being an omnivore a few times but I honestly get sick when I eat omnivore for a period of time. My blood pressure and cholesterol is high when I am an omnivore. Very high. It went up to being consistently 140/100. The Dr. wanted to put me on medicine. I decided to go back on a vegetarian diet again. After 3 weeks my blood pressure went down to 120/85. And now it is even lower. No medicine needed. It is a hereditary thing as my sister and father had to go on blood pressure medicine at a relatively young age. I have transitioned to eating mostly vegan now. Many days I eat mostly raw foods. I find I have no real desire for animal products. I get cravings for mangos,pineapple,salsa,watermelon,and avocados.
I don't think humans are supposed to consume animal products at all, it doesn't make sense when you actually think about it. Besides, who decided that it's okay to eat a pig or cow, but not a dog or cat???
That part is cultural. In the far east, people eat dogs and cats and you can buy them at a market.
It is kind of funny that the United States culture has a dogs and "cats at a higher level than other animals menality" when it comes to a pig or a cow. I guess since most people are so used to having them pets than comparing to the number of people that have a cow or a pig as pets.
Then,I can see why and not to mention,that they are able to afford to be picky with our diet whether it is meat based,veggie based,or mixed.
When you can't be picky,then you eat what you need to be healthy,survival is a basic human need.
Yes. This is the main reason I gladly gave up meat. Those poor factory animals living in filth, being fed trash food they would not normally eat. Then slaughtered while in a terrified state.
Read John Robbins "Diet for a New America" and "Fast Food Nation."
I am NOT a vegetarian but I think I was probably always close to naturally being one. I remember being 12 years old and thinking how disgusting meat was, but we were a meat and potatoes family and meat was the main course of every meal. Still, I kind of picked at it and I never have been a huge meat eater. I remember eating beef stew one time and seeing a vein sticking out of a piece of meat. Blech!
If I had been born 20 years later, I think I definitely would have been vegetarian. I just grew up around people who ate meat and made it the focal point of every meal.
Another thing I have thought about - I know if it were up to ME to go out and hunt/kill meat to eat, I'd definitely be a vegetarian because I wouldn't be able to kill an animal so I could eat. I just couldn't do it. I hate to see shows where animals are being hunted. It seems so cruel. I know there is overpopulation of some animals and that hunting helps to keep it down, but isn't there a natural order of things where their natural predators (not human) would keep the populations in check?
My main problem is that, as much as meat disgusts me at times (other times tastes good), I don't really know what to eat if I don't eat meat. Eating vegetables is just boring to me and I guess I'm not all that fond of vegetables anyway. I do like pasta but then there's the whole carb thing (although I know whole grain pastas are better choices). And then if you eliminate animal products too (milk, cheese, butter, eggs) - what is left to eat?! And then I have a husband who is a meat lover.
Reading this thread has given me a lot to think about, though, and I am going to work on eliminating meat. I sort of pick the meat out of whatever I eat already; I'll just try not having it in there to begin with.
Being vegetarian is not just eating veggies. Tonight we are having Shepherd's Pie with garlic mashed potatoes, green salad with avacados and oranges, and crusty bread.
when i was 12 i went to a thanksgiving dinner where venison was served, and i didn't want to eat it. then i asked myself why i'd eat a cow but not a deer, and i became vegetarian. i had a brief period where i ate chicken and fish but then i decided that was silly.
i grew up in a family where meat was not served at every meal, so it was easier for me than it is for some people.
when i was 21 or 22 i became vegan.
when i first became vegetarian it was all about not killing animals, but now i'm more concerned with the environmental, animal cruelty, health, and human rights issues surrounding factory farms. i doubt i'd ever go back to eating meat, but i'd be happy with a world where animals are raised on small farms in a sustainable way, and food doesn't travel very far from producer to consumer.
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