Better health

By Sara

June 6, 2006 08:40 AM | Link to this

I initally became vegetarian, then vegan, in search of a healthier lifestyle that would lead to weight loss. I later returned to eating meat.

These days, however, I’m a vegetarian because meat actually grosses me out. I’ve come to loathe the thought of biting into flesh. It just feels…creepy. I like animals well enough, but I’m certainly not a gung-ho animal rights supporter. But eating meat feels somehow wrong for me personally.

By gavi1126

June 6, 2006 09:40 AM | Link to this

Good morning. Never commented on “this” perticular blog before. But since i’m a vegetarian, thought i put my input in!! I was a vegetarian because of religious beliefs. Then i did start eating chicken, and sea food here and there. I actually enjoyed them much, but i saw the results body, skin wise. And thus went back to being a vegetarian. Now my reason would be because of the health benefits and like Sara said, i just feel nasty, and creepy eating meat!! Its tempting though to see a nice piece of fried chicken and the smell but i think of the guilt and it being alive once, i go back to being glad that i’m a vegetarian!! Also if u compare, vegetarian ppl look much younger then their actual age then the ppl who eat meat.

By Marie

June 6, 2006 09:59 AM | Link to this

I became a vegetarian 10 years ago when I learned too much about the meat industry. I believe that people are carnivorous by nature, but the way meat is produced is unsanitary, unhealthy and inhumane. I am not opposed to hunting for food, but I am opposed to game hunting. I couldn’t eat meat in any form now, since, as the other posters said, it would just be creepy to eat the flesh of a dead animal. About 3 years after becoming vegetarian, I attempted to eat a piece of chicken out of desperation on a trip, and I just couldn’t. It was just too disgusting to me. All those veins and parts. Yuck. It annoys me when people seem grossed out by vegetables or veggie meat, when they eat ANIMALS! What could be nastier than eating a dead animal?

By LHK

June 6, 2006 10:27 AM | Link to this

I became a vegetarian almost 10 years ago after an economics professor of mine told my class a long and graphic story about how a chicken becomes a chicken sandwich. On my way home that day, I saw a dead cat on the road. I figured that if there was no way on Earth I’d cook and eat that dead cat, why did I make exceptions for chickens, cows, pigs, etc? That was it for me. I quit meat “cold turkey” (har) and haven’t gone back since.

What bothers me more than the idea of eating meat, though, are the conditions that persist in factory farming. Disease is rampant in factory farms, and the food that the animals get is, well, not ideal. Cows, in particular, are often fed a mess of food made from other animals, including cows. The animals are packed into tiny cages and can barely move. The humans who work in these places must put up with ridiculously lax “health” standards. And why are those chicken nuggets so cheap? Probably because much of the factory farm and meat processing industry is now staffed with illegal workers. I don’t know if they still do this, but at one point, Tyson Co. had recruitment centers set up across the border.

Whole Foods and farmers’ markets have organic, grass-fed beef and chicken. If you’re gonna eat meat, that’s the way to go. For me, I find it much easier and more palatable to be a vegetarian. Vegetarian food is delicious, easy and fun to make, and much cheaper than buying (humanely raised) meat. I believe that both plant-based diets and meat-based diets can be inherently healthy, but because of our sometimes limited options, we vegetarians have to be more mindful of our nutrition. Having to do so has made me eat a much more balanced diet as a vegetarian than I ever did as an omnivore. I’m a distance runner and I always have plenty of energy.

By Beezie

June 6, 2006 10:37 AM | Link to this

I started going veg as a kid, both because the texture of meat was gross and because like a lot of kids I really liked animals. I think I had my last hotdog at sixteen and have never looked back. Although the smell of a BBQ restaurant or grilling burgers is awesome, I’d sooner eat my keyboard than a piece of meat. I just don’t want it at all.

I have no problem with carnivores, but like other posters I think factory farming is cruel, unhealthy and wastes resources.

Now, I DO eat seafood, eggs and dairy, so all this might be hypocritical unless I choose the right organic products since eggs and dairy come from the same kind of farms as meat and poultry.

Being consistent is kind of difficult in these matters so I do review my choices—should I avoid shrimp because I just learned that shrimp fishing kills many other sea creatures the fishermen don’t want? Probably I should stop eating those yummy sea bugs.

I carry a list in my wallet of overfished species like Atlantic cod, sea bass, grouper and orange roughy so I can avoid ordering them in restaurants, but do I have to quiz the waitron about the source of the restaurant’s eggs? I don’t know, but I try to be mindful of these things.

By gavi1126

June 6, 2006 12:24 PM | Link to this

@ Beezie.. just curious.. quiz the restaurant on eggs?? could u be more specific? thanks..i’m an eggatarian ( i think, that’s whats its called ).. no meat, but i do eat eggs.

By MrLiberty

June 6, 2006 03:02 PM | Link to this

First of all lets be clear. Not everyone who calls themselves such actually is. If you eat chicken, seafood, beef, pork, lamb, or anything else that falls into the animal kingdom then you are not a vegetarian. It may make you feel better to say that you are, but you are not. If you don’t eat dairy, eggs, honey, or any other product produced by animals as well, then you are a vegan (sometimes the honey thing is debatable). Vegans typically go further to avoid leather, fur, animal-fat soap or any other by-product of the animal industry. An ovo-vegetarian eats eggs and a lacto-vegetarian consumes dairy products and obviously an ovo-lacto vegetarian eats both.

I have worked at McDonalds and other fast food restaurants, was raised on meat and potatos, and ultimately became a vegetarian as part of my exploration of eastern religions. Once I started to find out more about vegetarianism and went looking for recipes, etc. I found out the truth of the factory farms that supply the enormous quantities of meat that this nation alone consumes. Others have discussed this topic, but let me just add that these horrible conditions only exist because of the demand in volume that is placed on the industry. One may think that it is all like “Old McDonald had a farm,” but nothing could be farther from the truth. I also used to drive through the San Bernardino, California dairy preserve every day to and from work. Seeing these poor animals struggling to walk in shoulder-deep manure just to get around further convinced me that even dairy was a horrible industry for cows. For those who have seen the commercials, there are NO happy cows in California by the way (no green pastures either - 60,000 head per acre feedlots).

Our intestinal structure and tooth structure both support the fact that humans were born to be vegetarians. The statistics on cancer and virtually every other disease are further proof of the benefits of this lifestyle.

Most importantly human beings have a choice. We can use tools, our hands, and our minds to obtain other forms of nurishment.

The next step that everyone needs to take after becoming vegan is to switch to a completely raw diet. Preserving all of the vitamins and enzymes in the food is essential to being truly healthy. I don’t need any convincing, my body tells me everything I need to know, and I have never felt better.

By HB

June 6, 2006 05:08 PM | Link to this

I am not vegetarian, but I eat a mostly vegetarian diet. I eat meat maybe once a week, often less, and I don’t weed “hidden” meat (beef broth in “veggie” soup, for example) out of my diet. I do it for health reasons. When I don’t eat meat, I automatically find myself replacing it with healthier foods. When I’m not getting protein from meat, I have to make a point to eat beans, skim milk, low-fat cheese, which are healthier. Also, I can only eat so much at any given meal, and if I don’t eat meat, I find myself eating far more veggies to fill my tummy. Works well for me.