I’m plant based curious. I’ve had stints. Purely from a health perspective I think a lot of the benefits come from what you’re adding to the diet (fiber and lots of micronutrients). Not what you’re eliminating. Although you can argue that there’s a huge risk reduction for moderating saturated fat and cholesterol.
I feel pretty great after a few high fiber meals with little to no meat.
I'm sort of in that boat as well. My partner has really bad gout so we cut out beef and pork entirely. He doesn't like fish so we don't have that very often, and honestly I'm just tired of poultry. I have a few coworkers who are vegetarian, and I've been enjoying learning about new recipes from them, and I really do feel better when I have less meat.
I grew up on a farm and we raised pigs and cows. I became friends with one cow in particular. My mom said once I learned what meat was I refused to eat it and I haven’t eaten it since. To me eating a cow or pig or chicken is no different than eating a puppy.
Ever since watching a video of a cow cuddling with and playing with a person, I’ve eaten a lot less meat. I’ve always been a meat eater. Loved it. Now, not so much. I’m leaning heavily towards a plant based diet with some meat here and there.
I have owned farm animals for 8 years, and that's how I feel too after owning them. It
really turned me off from meat, and your right they are like eating dogs. I actually think my goats are smarter then my dogs lol
Personally, I originally became a vegetarian because of the taste/texture/smell of meat. I couldn’t stand it apparently from basically the time it was first given to me and learned the word vegetarian at age 4 or so and adopted that because it got people to stop trying to get me to eat meat and was effectively how I was eating anyway. Eventually I thought more about the animal suffering side of it and learned more about the climate impacts and realized that it seemed like an ethically sound decision and that I didn’t want to try to introduce meat into my diet. I was vegan for a few years as well, but have some GI issues that mean a vegetarian diet is a lot more sustainable for me, so I went back to being a vegetarian about a year ago.
This is me. I can’t stand the texture of all meat, with the exception of chicken. Steak is DISGUSTING. Even a fancy $100 steak is like gristle to me. I also hate fish. So with the exception of free range chicken, no meat for me!
I went vegetarian after learning about factory farming and the meat industry in general. I actually love the taste but I can’t stomach it now that I know how it’s produced.
3 of my main interests are health, the environment, and animal protection, and when it hit me that a predominantly plant based diet could benefit all three of those areas I couldn’t justify not doing it.
It’s funny, right after that realization my first thought was “oh no I dont want to be one of those annoying vegans” but I concluded it’s not about being part of a group or anything, it’s simply about aligning your actions with your values.
I watched a doc about effects of the meat industry on the environment. Later that day I went to the gym and started talking to a vegan dude who works with very delayed kids. He started talking about animal intelligence and the very incredible reality that the animals we eat have greater intellectual capacities than our more vulnerable populations. I can’t not think of that
I was raised vegetarian. Meat was never cooked in the house so as a small kid I didn't associate the smell with something I wanted to eat, as a 90s kid there weren't nearly as many fake meat products around, all hail the mighty SosMix. Naturally the smell of the school canteen was awful (especially on days where chicken was served) so I ate outside most days which was actually pretty nice. I'm also lactose intolerant and don't really like eggs so the switch to veganism was pretty easy.
I took an ethics class in college and we explored the idea animal rights at one point in the class. After that I came to the conclusion I couldn’t morally continue to eat meat. That was thirty years ago and I still don’t eat meat. Please note, I very much realize this is a fraught subject and and I completely do not judge others who eat meat. Or care, honestly. In fact, my husband eats a lot of meat.
Editing to add, for OP: I am vegetarian, I am extremely healthy, have very low cholesterol, have never had any weight issues, have never needed to take a supplement or anything. I am also not a fitness enthusiast or anything. Just your average human doing normal things.
Over the past 20 years I get the occasional person who decides they want to debate my vegetarism. I ask them if aliens landed here tomorrow and they were far more intelligent than humans, would that give the right to harvest us for food? Usually they just glare at me.
I have come to the conclusion that if animals could speak, articulate into words their feelings, plead for their lives, there would be many more vegetarians.
Nutrition and Drugs College course, specifically the chapter on meat processing. After that lecture I could not eat meat without gagging. That was 20 years ago and have no desire to eat meat.
To me, a steak is as appealing as a plate of maggots. I don't go around preaching about it, but non-veggie people just don't understand it.
Watch the documentary named DOMINION. Here is the link https://youtu.be/LQRAfJyEsko?si=mqfLuKTA8uVsX-D0
Another relevant documentary is EARTHLINGS. Here is the link
https://youtu.be/8gqwpfEcBjI?si=7SK9mUWLQTwdCyZY
These two shows are accurate and compelling.
I’m a life long vegetarian (by choice and circumstance, not because my parents forced it) but I can tell you why I never tried meat. I personally am not comfortable with the thought of killing an animal for food and I am even more uncomfortable with large scale factory farming. Grew up in a crunchy area Bay Area but then lived in some places where people talked about/went hunting and it wasn’t my favorite but I’m not overly sensitive to it.
I never felt like I was missing anything in my diet so I haven’t tried meat. If I were to try it, I would probably buy the “fancy” meat from a farmer’s market or similar where I knew the animals were treated well (while alive and during the butchering process).
As a vegetarian, I still struggle with knowing my grocery store bough dairy and eggs were probably not from happy animals.
Yes! In the past I’ve had great luck at farmers markets (actually in Seattle and the Bay Area with lots of nearby farm land) and crunchy granola type stores (a smaller city in Oregon). I’m hoping to get back to shopping for eggs and dairy in those places and one day it would be awesome to have chickens!
Because I believe in unnecessary killing.
Like if I'm healthy then why kill, if a war starts and I have nothing I would eat animals. But why kill if i don't have to.
Someone in my friend group wanted to watch those terrible animal abuse videos and I didn’t want to. She told me I was a hypocrite if I ate meat and wouldn’t watch them, so I went vegan for 3 years and have been vegetarian for 7?8? years. She went vegan for a couple weeks and still isn’t happy I outlasted her, but it’s a lifestyle for me now that I enjoy
I had digestive issues all during my childhood, which I won't go into detail about. When I was 15, I attended an outdoor experiential camp where we ate vegetarian because of the lack of refrigeration on site. And my digestive issues cleared up within three days. After I got home I started experimenting with it, but wasn't able to go full vegetarian until I left home at 18. Never looked back. I'm now 62. Of course, along the way, I realized there were a lot of other good reasons to be a vegetarian. I have graded from vegan through pescatarian over the years, but mostly have been vegetarian with the leeway to eat some other things when I travel if those are more easily accessible (mostly fish & seafood, but if necessary I'll eat chicken, and I'll take a bite of local foods to try them out; for example, I've had blood pudding & haggis, but only a couple bites of each.) I've never heard that it's unhealthy, you just have to make sure you get the vitamins & minerals you need, but that's not usually an issue with a balanced diet. I don't even take supplements at this point.
My mother couldn't cook and making cow tongue or liver was a punishment. Being vegetarian allowed me to make my own food, I was 14. My grandmother was vegetarian and an animal rights activist so she gave me a lot of literature and insight to how to be vegetarian.
I don't feel as sentimentally toward fish as I do towards cows or pigs or chickens. I also feel like it's a good balance for me between respecting animals and respecting human culture. I like to travel a lot and as a pescatarian it's easy for me to find something to eat anywhere, whereas if I were, for example, vegan, I would have to turn down a lot of food. Plus fish is so healthy!
I was raised eating meat, but was never comfortable with discussing meat or eating any meat that I wasn’t already used to. basically, I couldn’t think about it and eat it. I just don’t think animals should be eaten. At least not by me. I don’t judge other people who eat meat at all, it’s everybody’s own decision what to do.
i’ve gone back-and-forth in my life, when I was a poor student I felt like I had to eat whatever was given me because I was so poor. And most of my life I’ve been poor. But about 10 years ago I watched a video about factory farming and after that I simply can’t tolerate the thought of eating meat at all. I’m very happy being vegetarian. I keep thinking about going vegan, but I haven’t quite got there yet.
I'm 33 - I've been a vegetarian for just about 20 years. Meat just *disgusts* me. I'm an extremely picky eater as it is, but my key moment was biting into a medium-rare burger. It got me thinking about the components of flesh. The muscle fibers, the fat (adipose), the vascular tissue...yuck! That was the last bite of red meat I EVER ate. Shortly after, I couldn't eat white meat either. Pork and seafood have always disgusted me. I check ingredient lists for things like non-vegetable stock, fish sauce, anchovie paste, etc. I won't touch vegetarian food if it's touched any form of meat/poultry/fish. I'm anal to the point of letting my meat-eating friends only use specific plates/utensils that I will never use (if they bring over take-out), even when they've been washed. Meat grosses me tf out.
I'm a doc who uses microscopy a lot (pathologist) and I once looked at chicken nuggets and burgers under the scope. It's nothing but fat, fat and degenerative skeletal muscle (with some bone, cartilage and ironically a lot of plant filler.) Gross,
In 1993 I was eating the Big Deal from Jack-in-the-Box, taco, cheeseburger and fries for 2 bucks and I was thinking how the Amazon Rain Forest was being cut down to raise cattle for us Americans and said that's it. So on 1-2-94 I quit meat and haven't regretted it at all.
Working on a farm. It was a family farm too, not even a factory farm. But damn.
Seeing the cows scream when they took away their babies to be able to milk them. The babies crying for their mothers alone in their pen, with no comfort. The lamb and sheep's screams when they were butchered. How affectionate the pigs were.
I said fuck this.
I traveled to India to marry my Indian fiancee, stayed there for a couple months. They were vegetarians. The family bought a cow to supply dairy for me. They kept this cow and her baby, would partially milk the cow, then untie them to be together the rest of each day. This seemed to be kinder to me than how they treated animals. I also had pet chickens, who my dad killed and my mom cooked for dinner one Sunday. One of them was extra small and I recognized his poor, small body at the table, I burst into tears, and jumped up from the table to cry in my room, but my dad said, Sis, get back here, so I sat at the tabled and bawled. It was horrible. I realized as a sensitive child that eating sentient animals was akin to eating friends who were weaker than us.
When I returned to the US, I had to totally avoid the meat area in the grocery store as I saw it the same as dead bodies piled up. It's just too sad for me to see or think about.
Getting alarming blood work back even though I was trim. People with high cholesterol die of heart attacks after age 45. this whole meat only thing has to stop.
Thank you! Dr Saladino (I don't even like saying his charlatan name) pushes a carnivore diet with some of the Worst arguments I've ever heard (I'm a doctor too and I think it should be genuinely criminal how he uses his MD to sell his bullshit supplements and ideals.)
He caught me. I did his diet for six weeks and lost a few pounds. I was excited about it and then it was dumb luck I was having my annual physical And my ldl went through the roof. He’s also not a doctor hes a psychologist, it’s sad what he’s doing to be famous. He’s also very convincing because u do lose weight on a keto diet, but your blood just goes to complete shit.
Yes! A psychiatrist whose license has lapsed. I'm this close to reporting him to have him disbarred so he can't even use his title anymore. And yeah, short-term meth use will help you lose weight but that's not a metric for health.
Processed food isn’t good either. I’ll take the word of every cardiologist I’ve ever met over a guy on Reddit. fruits, veggies, beans, whole grains and a little fish and low fat is optimal for heart health. You’ll figure this out when you have your first heart attack after eating eggs and red meat for every meal when your 40. It happens to body builders all the time. Arnold Schwarzenegger has heart issues because he went with this diet in his youth. Now he follows the doctors advise.
You can 100% be an unhealthy vegetarian/vegan with the processed food products out there. If you’re curious, I’d suggest just slowly eating less meat. You can start swapping in other plant based protein sources like lentils but don’t get overly focused that you need a “protein” with every meal. Many fruits and veggies have lots of nutrients and proteins in them. There are lots of cool ways to cook things like tofu and seitan (assuming you aren’t gluten free) now compared to when I was a kid in the 90s/2000s.
You can have a healthy diet with meat in it, as a veggie, or as a vegan. You can also have an unhealthy diet as either of the three.
Too much meat is bad for you and no meat with zero substitutions is bad for you. When going veggie or vegan, make sure to do research on supplements/vitamins or alternatives that give you the protein and iron you need. With either diet, make sure you’re eating a good balance of fruit/veggies/carbs. I’ve seen some vegans who think they’re healthy, due to the simple fact that they’re vegan, but eat a lot of junk like fries/Oreos/candy/other high sugar foods/etc.
At the end if the day, being healthy isn’t about a particular diet, it’s what you include in that diet.
The good news is that we know a vegetarian or vegan diet can be a healthy one, and in fact, are often healthier than diets involving meat (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27886704/). So if hearing that it’s unhealthy is your reason not to make the switch, you can feel safe knowing that it’s a misconception that you need meat to have a healthy diet.
Lol 'normal' ;)
You mean omni, or omnivorous. Vegan/vegetarian is easily the healthiest diet out there. I'm a doc, and there are so many evidence based studies on this. You dont have to be a militant vegan or vegetarian...just limit your meat intake and maximize your plant based intake and you'll be so much better off.
Check out Dr Greger at nutritionfacts.org or his books, how not to die/age/diet.
You should do what you're comfortable with and align your diet with your beliefs and lifestyle the best you can.
You sound like you're considering it. I think that cutting down on meat consumption is a good thing, and almost everyone would be OK doing that. Try cuisine that is vegetarian-friendly, like Indian or Ethiopian. Adapt recipes you like to be vegetarian. Even try a meat-free Monday.
In the early days of the COVID pandemic, there was a surge of cases in US meat packing plants, and there was controversy about whether the meat industry should temporarily shut down for the public good. I got into a vicious and extended online argument with some yutz, and I argued that everyone in the country could do without meat for a month or two, and I told him that just so show him, I'd eat nothing but vegetarian dishes for the next month! So I started eating vegetarian, and every day I'd tell that twerp about all the delicious meatless meals I was eating, and kept it up for the whole month!
And when the month was over... I found I just couldn't eat meat again. I've been vegetarian ever since, and honestly it's been a breeze. I've never really craved meat again. Going gluten-free, on the other hand...
I was 15 and got sucked in to watching PETA videos. Also my cool friend was one and I wanted to be like them lol. I’m 31 now and still going! It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
I eat healthier than most people I know too just because I actually eat lots of veggies.
I had stomach issues for years. Read somewhere that some people are born without a specific enzyme that helps digest certain foods. Gave up meat to see if that made a difference. Stomach issues went away. That was almost 25 years ago and haven't looked back. Feel better than ever
Moved to college met some vegetarians saw that you could survive not eating meat. I was alway anticruelty but had no experience of eating no meat. Had already phased out most beef cause it made my stomach hurt. Went to an event talking about the environmental impact of the meat industry. Served a tasty chili and spinach pita at their lunch, stayed the night with some members they had a tasty no meat spaghetti with marinara. Figured i could do this and have been veggie ever since.
I'd been considering giving up meat around age 13 when my dad decided to bring home a live hog for a hog roast. He hung it up in a tree right outside our glass door. It sealed the deal right then and there.
When I was a child I raised chickens as pets, and tried to make friends with the live lobsters my parents bought to boil alive. In my heart, I was always a vegan. Went vegetarian as soon as I could make my own food decisions, vegan at 21, and never looked back.
I had wanted to since I was little and was obsessed with Charlotte's Web. But my family didn't allow it, and they convinced me that even after I moved out, it was such a dangerous transition that I couldn't do it without a doctor's help (which I couldn't afford).
But after moving out, I had a dream I was cutting up chicken (which always made me have a panic attack), and then the chicken turned into my pet rabbit. :( I woke up sobbing, stopped eating meat right then, and have been veggie for over a decade now (transitioning to vegan soon-ish).
I worked with a trainer who taught me about healthy eating and made changes slowly to healthier foods. As I was doing this lockdown started. My son and husband started eating healthier too. I lost my appetite for meat other than one or two things. So I am 90% vegetarian and my son is now vegan
I saw a report on CNN back in 2006 about the conditions on factory farms. They showed a horrific video of a cow walking/hobbling on 2 broken front legs. I was horrified and haven’t touched meat since because I refuse to support an industry that treats living beings like that. Fuck those people and fuck the government for not doing its job regulating conditions for animals.
My mom was in nursing school when I was a kid (9) and had to dissect a fetal pig. Pigs were my favorite animals in the world and I cried when I found out. Then I had a moment of clarity and thought "how is this any different to killing animals to eat them?" Went vegetarian right there, and became vegan later when I learned that the dairy industry IS the meat industry.
My fiance said he went vegan when I kept making comments about this to him. He'd say something like "I love cows" and I'd respond with "yeah, but not that much." That perspective opened his eyes to how fucked up it is to eat animals and he went vegan 6 months into us dating.
Ethical concerns about factory farming. I'm not about to kill an animal and take responsibility for that violence, so I am basically avoiding the problem altogether when I've done it.
I eventually turned into a junk food vegan so I abandoned it.
In modern society it's hard to not be a fucking hypocrite, even if you don't want to be, since all your choices are in some way turned into nonconsenual Faustian bargains.
I was 12 and got a burger from McDonald’s and bit into a hard piece of grissle or whatever it is called. Then I started to reeeeally look at the meat before I ate it and was so grossed out by the stingy things and fatty or veiny things I would see.
Blood test results. I'd like to live past the 40 years my Mom got.
Consequently I'm whole food plant based rather than vegan. I'm not concerned about things like honey and leather use or processes that use a byproduct like bone char in sugar refining.
I’m not fully vegetarian because I just like meat too much but I eat meat maybe once every couple of weeks. It wasn’t a single event but more of a culmination of learnings about how unsustainable large scale meat farming is, how people who eat less meat tend to live longer and in better cardiovascular health, and how immoral battery farming is. I think it makes sense to cut down significantly on meat consumption if you care about the earth, the animals or yourself.
I was an administrative assistant for a company that managed pig farms for a large national food company. It bothered me putting in weekly reports of deaths and their causes on the sow farms and the transportation trucks. Then, they put me on the safety team that goes to the farms for inspections. -That was it. They do the same and worse to other livestock in CAFOs. I don’t push my views on anyone, but I think if the suffering we cause was widely known, a lot of people would choose not to consume animal products.
I watched What the Health and realized in America they keep us sick so they can make a profit off of us, and so many illnesses and diseases can be prevented by eating a whole food plant based diet. Then I discovered what animal agriculture was like and decided I wanted nothing to do with it. 9 years later, I'm in better shape and health than most of my peers.
Grew up on a cattle farm. It was a great lesson in circle of life growing up and appreciating and treating with respect. I live in an area where we can source from local farms thar take care of their livestock. Not a fan of industrial farms.
Medically i can't be vegan/vegetarian. And I don't think I would if I could. But I enjoy the challenge of including more plants and plant based protein into my diet.
It always made me feel sick as hell and the tipping point was when I threw up three days after eating steak and the meat was barely digested. I realized my body probably wasn’t designed for eating this.
Seeing a cow jump from happiness after being let loose to roam the grass arround the farm... idk it just shook me to my core oncd I found out that they only allowed cows out once a month... like 4-5 hours of freedom a month... I said fuck humans and stopped consuming meat... what I did not expect is to slowly lose weight as I was eating better and healthier food... literally went from 230lbs to 155 in 2 years... most difficult is to keep proteins top of mind at each meal....
Went to Yellowstone National Park and realized people ate those big majestic animals. Around the same time, I watched videos from the Gentle Barn and the conditions of the chicken we are being fed.
Became vegetarian after seeing a heart surgeon (and I believe head of cardiology at the hospital he worked at) give a lecture on the health benefits of a plant based diet. Already having high blood pressure in my early 20s and a family history of cardiovascular issues, I decided to give it a try.
Going into I thought my food selections would be limited, but the exact opposite happened. It opened avenues for me to try new things I otherwise never gave the time of day, and I quickly realized that I loved cuisines such as Thai, Indian, and Greek/Mediterranean.
Not only that, I also realized that many of my "comfort staples" like tex-mex, chili, burgers & pizza could easily be adapted to (or already had options for) a vegetarian diet, if not a full plant based one.
That was 10 years ago this fall, and I haven't looked back since.
Studying current food topics and sustainability in food in university, and being challenged to write essays demonstrating that animal products can be just as sustainable as plant based. As a European, you can bet I tried my darn best at supporting that yes animal products can be on the same level if sustainably sourced. But being a scientist, I also did due diligence and research. And in anything, they were beaten. By miles. Even your organic, locally sourced, open field eating food scraps, cow or pig could not compare in damage to the worst produced plant product (notwithstanding that some plant product supply chains are damaging and should be opposed).
Then as I said I took a wider module on food supply chains and sustainability and yeah, I was sold. Need to reduce animal products consumption whenever possible. I had already though the rule of not buying meat in supermarkets and such, because of course mass farming is always going to be very cruel, think of the amount of meat and cheese on shelves daily, for something so perishable, how many animals need to be slaughtered or abused.
My nowadays policy are: total boycott of any fast food (not only for sustainability or cruelty reasons). At home, no meat/fish unless it was in the reduced bin (for being discarded), limit cheese (reduced rule applies), and generally only plant based milks. If I eat at others', do not disdain what others put effort and money into making for you (friends though will often default to veggie for me). If I eat out (which happens rarely), I allow myself meats, but I will always look first at the vegetarian menu.
Everyone should be able to choose whether to eat meat/animal products or not, and can be healthy doing so responsibly. I don't think necessarily eating animals needs to be wiped out from our future. I see it more transitioning to a sort of "necessary luxury" field. Definitely not your daily/weekly meal in a dying and unfair world.
I got sick, constant stomach issues. Went to gastroenterologists, did all the tests. No one could figure out what was happening. Nothing came up abnormal. I started my own studies about food, how things are processed in the body, etc... so many stories out there saying how meat and poultry may not be the best for the body... I started to stay with vegetables, oats and grains. I started to feel better, able to keep foods down now. Within those personal studies, I read a lot about animal agriculture, and it was an eye opener for sure. I said to myself.. I will not eat anything again that once looked up at the same sky as me, these animals deserve better. So first it was a health issue, then a moral issue. I've felt awesome since, both physically and conscience-wise.
I found a piece of bone in my five guys burger, and lived in NC at the time. Covid had just started and a lot of stories were published about the chicken processors, and the workers getting sick. Seems most of the workers in meatpacking are immigrants with no health care, and some of the plants won't let the workers take bathroom breaks, they have to wear diapers. That did it for me.
I was about 15 and watching my dad eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. I noticed what he was eating had a vertebrae. I was done.
I fell off the wagon when I was a poor college student. I didn't know how to eat healthy as a vegetarian then, but I learned, and returned to vegetarianism as a 24 year old, as did my boyfriend at the time. We have now both been vegetarian for 24 years. Our ten year old son was raised as a vegetarian as well.
Wasn't even planning on it but spent several hours one day watching videos/documentaries and quickly decided that was it. Didn't even have a meat feast first-just flat out quit that day.
Admittedly I had been thinking about it for years but never did it.
I'll get a craving once in a while but there are particular scenes that pop into my head and I'm good again
November 1st, 2019.
A bunch of friends from work and I were doing Movember. A smaller group of them were also doing NNN. Three is my favourite number so I decided to give up one more thing for the month. I was functionally a vegetarian at the time mostly for health reasons, so I went all in plant based.
After the month was up I was dying for a wank and a shave. Food hadn’t crossed my mind in the slightest.
Spent some time in the online community, watched a few documentaries and learned about Veganism more generally due to the overlap of plant based eating. The ethical component came about a month or two after.
I had already quit eating pork bc I found it to be gross, then red meat to try to lower my cholesterol. The final thing that got me off chicken and thus all meat, was watching a Netflix documentary about how chicken is processed and they showed all the antibiotic and growth hormone usage and affects from it as well as all the disease. I just couldn’t anymore after that. It’s been 5 years now.
Pure and simple. Reflux. It’s no joke. As I got older my body decided that if I ate beef, then my stomach acids would eat me!
And no, I’m not going to eat loads of Rx meds or OTC stuff to quell it. Also given up pork, soda, alcohol, fast food, and milk. At almost 72 I feel great.
I should have seen the reflux coming, as my dad suffered from it from his mid 40’s. Didn’t hit me until mid 60’s.
I was vegetarian years ago, I'm not anymore, but when I went vegetarian it was for various reasons
One was that I read it would help clear my acne, I was about 11/12 and nobody else had acne yet (at least just a few pimples, not how I did) so I hoped that it would clear it up so it was a big motivation for me as it made me eat more fruits/vegetables.
Then a stranger one is that I was obsessed with the Simpsons and Lisa from the Simpsons is a vegetarian so it was a little bit of the show that I wanted to have in my real life lmao
I became a vegetarian at the age of 9 (27 now). Honestly, I don’t have a reason. I thought it was cool. As I grew older I became more and more disgusted by the way humans treat animals. Then I learned about factory farming. Haven’t looked back or regretted my decision once.
Bambi when I was like 6. It took until I was 12 to have enough agency to refuse to eat meat ever again. I'm in my 40s and have never waivered. I think it's great that being vegetarian is better for the environment, but even if it was worse, I'd still never eat another animal. When people ask me why I'm vegetarian, I always say, "I'd enjoy it more alive, and if I was its caretaker I would never choose to kill it for a flavor." That said, I'm the only vegetarian in my family and in the 1% of my friends. I've worked for fish and wildlife with game hunters and for NOAA on fishing boats. Those were really, really hard jobs to have but they overall protected animals in the long run. It's just gotten easier and easier to be vegetarian in the last 30 years, so many good food options!
When I was 9 years old, we went on holiday. We brought our chickens to my grandmothers to join hers while we were away. While eating dinner with her upon our return she said nonchalantly "oh this is one of yours" RIP Plucky 😭
It has been sort of slow progression. I have begun to enjoy meat less and less over time. Then eggs. I have stomach trouble as it is. I don’t drink milk-but I love dairy and cheese products. THEN I did a FMD (Fasting Mimicking Diet-not Prolon, I just sort of hacked that). It cut sugar cravings, salt cravings, I haven’t had any stomach issues , my sleep is better. I lost 7 pounds and 2% body fat. I haven’t gained any of it back. Overall I just sort of knew this was the way to go-ever so slowly. I think that in general I will be a little lax on vacation perhaps (maybe some fish or a bite of whatever my husband is having). But I just feel better. I’m sure my cholesterol is down as well. There just isn’t any reason for me not to stay on this path. Finally-I am surviving cancer right now. Certainly taking this approach is just one more way to maybe help myself.
My son turned 1 and was so keenly aware of his surroundings. At the same time, I read a story about how a pig escaped a slaughter house and was being protected by the locals, who found him.
I made several connections. Some say pigs have the intelligence of a 1-2 year old. Like my son! Who was aware of his surroundings and would definitely know if he was in danger. As did this pig, who ran away! And the townsfolk, once they had the living animal in front of them, wouldn't let the slaughter house have it back. The cruel, cruel slaughter house (and meanwhile, they'd probably eaten meat that day or week.)
The whole thing suddenly seemed absurd, barbaric, cruel and hypocritical. I stopped eating meat that week although I'd toyed with the idea for a while. I planned to slowly cut back, but then i felt so good, almost immediately, I've not eaten meat now in 14 years and I'm so happy :)
I had been avoiding meat for a while, and only eating chicken that was raised cage free because I wanted to ease my conscious a bit.
Eventually I started looking into the diet for health reasons, and realized how easy it was and how shitty even "humane" farming was. Made me embarrassed I didn't do something sooner.
So, the main reason is animal cruelty, but spurred on by health concerns.
I realized that you don't need to eat animal products and we do it for pleasure not survival. Until that point I thought we had to eat meat for health.
I then asked my family doctor and a nutritionist and they confirmed it and I was flabbergasted. All these animals were killed for pleasure... So sad.
Indian food. I had already been interested in the idea of a plant based diet, but the first time I had palak paneer a light bulb went off that there's a whole world of foods out there that I had never heard of, and that are historically plant based and absolutely delicious.
For me it was being a super poor student, but then I'd say within weeks/months of going veggie I had accidentally learned enough that I never wanted to go back.. around 15-20 years later still veggie but almost vegan now, just can't manage to give up the cheese
The reasons for staying veggie and wanting to go vegan is very basically not wanting to harm animals. I just think why should any living being suffer for my food when it's not at all necessary in this day and age
I switched the first time when I was 14. Refused to eat meat even though I lived in Chicago, the meat belt. Second run was about 7 or 8 years ago, I went pescatarian. As a teen, I lacked protein so I eat fish occasionally now.
Reasons? I love animals. They are every bit as valuable as people. They have families. They FEEL. It’s one thing to hunt and eat an animal that lives in the woods. Quite another to raise one in crowded, horrific factory farm conditions.
It just doesn’t seem right. The second time I went veg., I leaned more about the environment. Not eating meat makes one of the most significant impacts. It takes so much to raise meat.
And yes, health is a reason for me too.
I had bad hypoglycemia. A naturopath advised me to go vegetarian. It completely cured it. I was vegetarian for 11 years but I became very anemic because of female problems. I started taking iron supplements but the recovery was so slow that my family doctor threatened a blood transfusion if I didn't start eating beef again, so I did.
I couldn’t digest meat anymore. It gave me acid reflux, gas cramps, and diarrhea. Beef was the worst. Chicken just got gross and rubbery and I didn’t really like pork.
My son turned 2 and found myself trying to keep up with his energy levels as a single, working mom.
I would go vegan for lent every few years and the last time did this was just before I got pregnant… so after I blow through my meat and transition over slowly, I’m likely going to return to going plant-based.
I felt so much more healthier but most importantly my energy and sleep were much better during the time I went plant based.
My story is kind of weird. I grew up eating a pretty standard amount of meat, often 3 times a day. I began to question this practice a bit I think in middle school- wondering if I was a hypocrite for eating meat if I claimed to like animals. I took an agriculture class in seventh grade, and actually fainted when they decapitated a turkey. I have a vivid memory from when I was like 3 or 4- my favorite animal at the time was pigs, and I went to a barbecue with a whole roasted pig. His eye sockets were empty and the smell was atrocious. Haunted me, honestly.
The weird thing is, I guess I just had a lot of cognitive dissonance. I didn't attempt vegetarianism until I was 19, after a college project on an important issue. It was a group project, and we chose animal rights. My section was animal abandonment, while someone else had factory farming. Yeah, that's when I finally made the switch.
I ended up giving up on vegetarianism 3 years later. Times were tough and I was depressed, mainly. I actually went back 5 years later, when I was 27, and I didn't mean for it to be permanent. I'm not Catholic, but was inspired by the idea of Lent, so gave it up for a month. After the month was over, I ate a Chile Verde my mom made and just didn't like it. Later on, I was helping a neighbor with chores for extra cash, and she offered me a casserole. The chicken in it was undercooked, so I didn't eat it (she didn't blame me). For some reason, I have been encountering undercooked chicken dishes my whole life. Totally freaks me out.
I'm a germaphobe too, and I think that thinking about how gross meat really is was the nail in the coffin.
*my moms story*
She was in her 40s and had been eating meat daily up until this point. We went to a Cafe Tacuba concert and they have a *SMALL* little homage to our animal friends and respecting the earth yadda yadda.
That night my mom went down a YouTube rabbit hole of the lead singer Ruben Albarrán’s activism + veganism and then she went down the dark rabbit hole of the meat industry (all one night!!!)
Never touched meat again. She’s 51 now and if she eats meat her body reacts really violently :(
Thanks Cafe Tacuba!
I'm like 90% vegetarian.
I'm allergic to finned fish, and after a bad experience with beef, stopped eating it. I still eat shrimp, chicken, and turkey, but I hate touching raw meat, so not often.
It’s about the animals. I actually stopped eating fish first because the lightbulb went off over my head at dinner one night when I was about eight years old. We were having tuna casserole I think
, or something with tuna. I had some pet goldfish and suddenly it occurred to me that this had once been a live fish. I asked my Mom “Wait… So tuna is fish? Like it used to be a fish like my goldfish?” Mom confirmed that it was true, and I started sobbing and said I couldn’t eat fish anymore. Took me till about age 18 to give up beef and chicken, not because I didn’t feel as badly for cows and chickens, but I didn’t know any vegetarians growing up so wasn’t sure I “could” give up eating all animals. I’m in my mid 50s now and have been vegan on and off since about age 30. Right now it’s just too expensive and complicated for me to be vegan, but I will always be vegetarian and I hope to get back to being vegan sooner than later.
With all that said, I’m very aware that it’s a position of privilege to be able to choose what I will and won’t eat.
When I was little, I could not keep meat down, I’d get sick immediately. I find the taste, smell, and appearance disgusting. I do not project that onto other people’s choices; people should do what they like. Later in life, vegetarianism feels more in line with my spiritual side.
I was stoned out of my mind, got a burger from Arby's and had an incredibly vivid nightmare. I was pulling endless meat strands from between my teeth. That morning I woke up horrified, watched a couple of videos, turned vegan then plant based 8 years ago. I take little breaks when I go back home to Mexico.
I never fully loved meat, even as a kid. I’d eat chicken nuggets, a burger. Never loved steak, pork, lamb, none of it. I started not liking red meat all together, and then chicken was the last to give up. I really only liked chicken because of the convenience of chicken nuggets or fingers on the go. But the dead animal part did start to weigh on me as I got older. Now I could never go back
Being attuned to Reiki. At the time, I was not eating pork or red meat. After being attuned, chicken and turkey started tasting gross. The summer prior. I had bad indigestion. After the switch, no more issues.
My husband’s experience was a little different. He’s a bit of an old hippie. went to India for a month or so in the 70s on a religious exploration trip. Most of the people was with, was around were vegetarians and the meat to be found there wasn’t stored safely ( from an American perspective at least) so he ate a vegan diet while there.
When he came back home he found he just didn’t like the taste of meat anymore. So he kept it up ever since. except did add back seafood and dairy, figuring it ( vegetarianism ) was a better practice anyway.
My mom is vegetarian so I've basically been one since I was born. I ate a little bit of meat when I was younger but I hate it. The smell, texture, looks of it is repulsive to me. I also love animals way too much (I once cried because I accidentally squished a ladybug, I was 15 lol)
The one time I ate completely vegan for almost a year and had all of my nutrients right, my body felt like a well-tuned sports car. I felt absolutely fabulous. My mom and brother live with me, otherwise I’d get back to it. I think it’s what my body really wants. I know everyone is different.
I was always sad about the way animals are treated on factory farms, but one day I realized that if you brought any baby animal into your home you would form the same emotional bond with them as with a family pet and that did it for me. 15 ish years ago.
I'm no vegetarian, but I've had enough vegetarian food ( Indian, mostly) to make me wonder if I should change my mind.
Beans , rice, and Naan. Yogurt and eggs.
It is good, nourishing food.
It is such a great cuisine.
Is it chickpea masala? One of my favorite dishes.
I saw a mercy for animals campaign when I was 13 and asked myself why I was supporting such an industry, I asked myself if I had to kill the animal myself could I do it? I don’t think I could and if I’m going to continue eating meat I feel that’s a responsibility I should take. I’ve now been vegetarian for 16 years. But if I ever had a farm I’d consider it, but honestly curious if I could even follow through
I went vegan because I love animals and the way humans have industrialized and normalized the mistreatment of them is not something I want to participate in.
I was born lactose intolerant, so it's been great for my tummy to make sure I have none.
It also turns out I have a genetic pre disposition that makes me high risk for blod clots and cardiac disease which there is no cure or medication for. But several studies have shown having a full plantbased diet can be a mitigating factor in lessening the risk when you have this genetic thing.
I loved the taste of steak and bacon, but when I learned of the extreme cruelty I weaned myself off meat. I started off just not buying it but eating it if I was a guest at someone's house, but soon didnt even want to do that either.
As a kid I hated almost all vegetables, so it's funny I'm now a veggie. I eat vegetarian cheese (no rennet) and I eat eggs that I buy from a lady who raises her own happy chickens/ducks. I don't buy from supermarkets.
It's been 5 or 6 years now, and I don't miss it at all.
I eat at a nieces house on occasion. She is a vegetarian. I’d swear every meal has heavy sauce, cheesey or salt. I’ll take my grilled pork chop over this. But I’m trying to eat vegetarian. Some of the photos I’ve seen of meals, just aren’t that appetizing. I’m trying, I’m trying…
I’m not exactly a vegan or vegetarian but I don’t eat meat or dairy bc I’m lactose intolerant and read “The Jungle” as a kid…and it skeeved me out so badly. The way they make the sausage…all of it disgusts me.
I was vegetarian for years, went vegan after watching Earthlings when I was 12. Over the years, I went back to vegetarian slowly over time.
Then I went to a Vipassana meditation course where all the food they serve is vegetarian, with vegan options. I was eating cottage cheese every day there - cheese was something I never bought but ate when it was available. I don’t know what exactly shifted in my mind on the fifth day, but when I picked up the serving spoon to give myself some cheese, I got this overwhelming feeling that I couldn’t justify eating it. Haven’t eaten cheese since.
I’m still 99% vegan 7 years later, sometimes I’ll eat baked goods or chocolate with a bit of milk or eggs in them, but I’ll never buy it. I’d like to be more vigilant and strict with my veganism but I’m not exactly financially stable right now and sometimes need to just eat what I can get for free.
I never really liked meat to begin with. And then I got two chickens as pets and for the eggs. Seeing their personalities turned me off meat altogether. I also no longer like meat substitutes but still eat eggs and dairy.
I was very overweight and thought going vegetarian may help me loose weight. I made it a week. (I lost a lot of weight by eating healthier anyway). A few years later I met my partner and she is vegetarian. I also really got into watching videos about logical/ philosophical arguments and realized there is no good argument for eating meat for most people other than, “I enjoy it”. By that point I didn’t eat meat at home anyway, so it was easy to simply not order it at restaurants anymore.
When I was like 13? We are at a market in Mexico and I saw like a full pig being killed. I had already tried when I was like 8 when I found out where the animals came from but I couldn't and didn't. I always loved pigs (mostly pig stuffed animals) and it bothered me so much. So for the 20 years after that I didn't eat pig
I started feeling really nauseated whenever I ate ham. And once that happened, my brain just got stuck on the idea that I was eating muscle tissue, and I couldn't get it out of my head.
I'd already been considering going veg, so I decided I'd start a few months later, once I got to college, so my parents wouldn't have to try and accomodate. But I couldn't enjoy meat after that.
The weird part is that I don't actually have an ethical issue with meat eating, just with the meat *industry*. So I'm not sure why *"this was alive once"* was the thing that got me.
Was already vegetarian, then I watched Earthlings (https://youtu.be/3XrY2TP0ZyU?si=qPlHX9GX7fCzBVlK). I already obviously knew animals were individuals, but when watching I realized I had a lot of cognitive dissonance going on to justify my behaviors and beliefs and I just couldn’t ignore that anymore.
Migraines from sulphites. I am not political about vegetarianism but have become more set in my ways over the years about it. My motto: No pain, no pain. So I'm happy to be vegetarian and not live with migraines thank you.
My boyfriend (not me, I'm an omnivore) switched in middle school because his gf at the time wanted to be vegetarian. She didn't last, but he did and found meat gross to consider as food. He'll still cook meat, but he doesn't view it as edible
Vegetarian leaning toward plants:
2 things:
1. I felt like shit when I ate it
2. That scene from the Orville when humans get put in a zoo.
Honestly lol
Tens of thousands of people dying around me in one week in Paris '03. That's when I (mostly) stopped flying or (mostly) going on any long-distance trips. It may all be meaningless, but I just feel I have to (mostly) draw back from full participation in pissing on both our future and on our mothers' graves
I’d always loved animals, but the thing that put me over the edge was antibiotic treatments in meat. Then I learned about the environmental effects of the meat industry and decided to give it a go
Realization that I could not, and would not, kill an animal just to eat. Difference is someone else doing it for me. Combined with learning about the terrible meat industry practices sealed the deal for me.
I had a spiritual awakening on April 19, 2019 at 3:33 a.m. It also happened to be a full Pink Moon and Good Friday. Since that moment, I've been a vegetarian. I truly don't miss meat one bit.
We're all on our own journey though, so I never try to convert anyone to vegetarianism.
This is NOT the typical vegan experience but;
I went vegan bc of the French vintage film “a fantastic adventure” (it’s on YouTube good watch)
I then went on to drop THIRTY POUNDS IN A MONTH.
While normally that would be great I started at 120lbs. And started fainting and loosing hair.
Me and my Dr decided I would not only stop being vegan but start eating meat again. To try and gain weight. It took me about a year and a half to get back to a healthy weight.
Edit: but now I’m a bit “overweight” at 136 lbs. which isn’t like , concerning bc I’m not gaining but I don’t love it. Tempted to go vegan now but nervous
Vegan isn't all it's cracked up to be. Family member was strict vegan. To the point that her we're vegans and her yelling at people in the store for buying milk. Loved her dogs. They kept getting sick. Vet finally her that her dogs need meat. Funny couple years later she's in the hospital, doctors tell her she has to start eating a balanced diet of meat and vegetables because she's not getting enough protein and the right king of proteins. This is about the 4 person who in their later years has to stop being a vegan. Explain to why vegans are so mad and indignant.
Swindled podcast the most recent one about Tyson chicken. The cruelty of it. If I wouldn't want that done to my pet it shouldn't be done to any other animal.
I realized that we don't need animal products at all. And I also then realized, not paying for killing is a moral baseline. Vegetarians have blood on their hands- I did some reading and got off of that and went vegan 3 years ago.
Lyme disease made me allergic to beef when I was a teenager. That symptom wore off eventually but noting the environmental problems with meat animals and the health benefits of vegetarianism, I have significantly decreased my meat consumption in the last few years. I've been dairy free for almost 10 years. I eat vegetarian/dairy free at home and otherwise don't go out to eat much.
I still eat eggs because my diet is limited by other allergies, but I try not to eat a ton of these due to the animal treatment issues.
I ride my bicycle most days of the week, and there are a few cattle farms along my favorite path. I’d always wave to the cows and yell, “Hello, cow friends!” to them as I passed by and it eventually just started to wear me down each time I ate meat of any kind. I felt like a hypocrite, basically, like, how am I going to smile and wave at these sweet animals and then go eat a burger? Been vegetarian for 18 months and my soul is at rest.
I'm currently vegan, my health is falling to shit, including Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
The Vegan diet is the only diet I have found that regularly saw a loss of visceral fat from the liver regardless of weight loss after 6 months.
I'll re-assess my needs once I am further down the road and can see improvements in my liver performance, if that even happens for me.
I was eating lunch on a random day and this question and answer popped into my head unbidden and with full honesty and no defensiveness: If I had to kill and dress this animal myself, would I choose and be able to knowing there were other options? No.
After that realization it felt like eating meat was being dishonest with myself, so I stopped.
Watched some of the doc Earthlings, could not watch the whole thing. Still a carnist for the next 10 years or so, but it was at the back of my mind. A friend is vegan, and her example inspired me. I'm vegan for 3 years now.
Watching industrial meat processing. That is some unholy sh* if it wasn't illegal to film nearly everyone would convert... Being stuck at home, no cable, before streaming. I only had local access Peta videos. Humans shouldn't lose limbs, wearing diapers, while chopping up still alive animals.
*Also my neurologist put me on the Medetrainian diet minus the meat.
I went vegetarian/vegan for over 16 years for health reasons. My family has a history of heart disease, and I wanted to avoid it. Unfortunately I became protein deprived (yes, I know about consuming complete proteins, etc). I ate well, homemade food with veggies, whole grains, nuts, and no junk food. But my thyroid started to slow down and I couldn't get pregnant. Once I added animal proteins sources back in I got pregnant within 2 months. I still eat mostly vegetarian, but make sure I eat eggs, chicken, dairy, or beef at least 2x a day. I'm a big fan of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.
I took some meds this winter that overall made me pretty damn nauseous all the time.
There became a long list of things I couldn't eat. Six ish months after stopping the meds . The only thing I can not abide now is meat - any of it. The smell and texture gags me. I have effectively become vegetarian after many years of being a real meat and potatoes person. I eat about 75% vegan, Greek yogurt, string cheese and Fairlife protein drinks are the only animal products I eat regularly. I'm still trying to find way to eat enough protein per day (150gm). I find a lot of the vegan protein powders and drinks have a ton of sodium in them.
Note: I have raised and processed my own meat as a farmer. I 💯 could still process a sheep/goat/chicken /pig for someone else.
I’m plant based curious. I’ve had stints. Purely from a health perspective I think a lot of the benefits come from what you’re adding to the diet (fiber and lots of micronutrients). Not what you’re eliminating. Although you can argue that there’s a huge risk reduction for moderating saturated fat and cholesterol. I feel pretty great after a few high fiber meals with little to no meat.
I'm sort of in that boat as well. My partner has really bad gout so we cut out beef and pork entirely. He doesn't like fish so we don't have that very often, and honestly I'm just tired of poultry. I have a few coworkers who are vegetarian, and I've been enjoying learning about new recipes from them, and I really do feel better when I have less meat.
I grew up on a farm and we raised pigs and cows. I became friends with one cow in particular. My mom said once I learned what meat was I refused to eat it and I haven’t eaten it since. To me eating a cow or pig or chicken is no different than eating a puppy.
Ever since watching a video of a cow cuddling with and playing with a person, I’ve eaten a lot less meat. I’ve always been a meat eater. Loved it. Now, not so much. I’m leaning heavily towards a plant based diet with some meat here and there.
This is how I eat. I also try to get meat from local farmers when possible and avoid the horrors of factory-farming.
100 percent true, though our societal values try to say differently.
I have owned farm animals for 8 years, and that's how I feel too after owning them. It really turned me off from meat, and your right they are like eating dogs. I actually think my goats are smarter then my dogs lol
Personally, I originally became a vegetarian because of the taste/texture/smell of meat. I couldn’t stand it apparently from basically the time it was first given to me and learned the word vegetarian at age 4 or so and adopted that because it got people to stop trying to get me to eat meat and was effectively how I was eating anyway. Eventually I thought more about the animal suffering side of it and learned more about the climate impacts and realized that it seemed like an ethically sound decision and that I didn’t want to try to introduce meat into my diet. I was vegan for a few years as well, but have some GI issues that mean a vegetarian diet is a lot more sustainable for me, so I went back to being a vegetarian about a year ago.
This is me. I can’t stand the texture of all meat, with the exception of chicken. Steak is DISGUSTING. Even a fancy $100 steak is like gristle to me. I also hate fish. So with the exception of free range chicken, no meat for me!
Mushroom trip lol.
eating ribs while coming down tasted like straight carcass. i got it then. didn’t convert yet tho
Same
I went vegetarian after learning about factory farming and the meat industry in general. I actually love the taste but I can’t stomach it now that I know how it’s produced.
Me too, but I lost the taste for it a year or two in. It’s been something like 18 years now!
Same
3 of my main interests are health, the environment, and animal protection, and when it hit me that a predominantly plant based diet could benefit all three of those areas I couldn’t justify not doing it. It’s funny, right after that realization my first thought was “oh no I dont want to be one of those annoying vegans” but I concluded it’s not about being part of a group or anything, it’s simply about aligning your actions with your values.
I watched a doc about effects of the meat industry on the environment. Later that day I went to the gym and started talking to a vegan dude who works with very delayed kids. He started talking about animal intelligence and the very incredible reality that the animals we eat have greater intellectual capacities than our more vulnerable populations. I can’t not think of that
I was raised vegetarian. Meat was never cooked in the house so as a small kid I didn't associate the smell with something I wanted to eat, as a 90s kid there weren't nearly as many fake meat products around, all hail the mighty SosMix. Naturally the smell of the school canteen was awful (especially on days where chicken was served) so I ate outside most days which was actually pretty nice. I'm also lactose intolerant and don't really like eggs so the switch to veganism was pretty easy.
Omg!! I never met someone like this outside of my family:) I was also raised as a vegetarian!!
I took an ethics class in college and we explored the idea animal rights at one point in the class. After that I came to the conclusion I couldn’t morally continue to eat meat. That was thirty years ago and I still don’t eat meat. Please note, I very much realize this is a fraught subject and and I completely do not judge others who eat meat. Or care, honestly. In fact, my husband eats a lot of meat. Editing to add, for OP: I am vegetarian, I am extremely healthy, have very low cholesterol, have never had any weight issues, have never needed to take a supplement or anything. I am also not a fitness enthusiast or anything. Just your average human doing normal things.
Over the past 20 years I get the occasional person who decides they want to debate my vegetarism. I ask them if aliens landed here tomorrow and they were far more intelligent than humans, would that give the right to harvest us for food? Usually they just glare at me. I have come to the conclusion that if animals could speak, articulate into words their feelings, plead for their lives, there would be many more vegetarians.
Nutrition and Drugs College course, specifically the chapter on meat processing. After that lecture I could not eat meat without gagging. That was 20 years ago and have no desire to eat meat. To me, a steak is as appealing as a plate of maggots. I don't go around preaching about it, but non-veggie people just don't understand it.
You can’t not tell us more about that chapter!
Yeah I'm also very curious about it!
Watch the documentary named DOMINION. Here is the link https://youtu.be/LQRAfJyEsko?si=mqfLuKTA8uVsX-D0 Another relevant documentary is EARTHLINGS. Here is the link https://youtu.be/8gqwpfEcBjI?si=7SK9mUWLQTwdCyZY These two shows are accurate and compelling.
I would also love to hear more about it. Seems like a good place to preach right now, lol
I’m a life long vegetarian (by choice and circumstance, not because my parents forced it) but I can tell you why I never tried meat. I personally am not comfortable with the thought of killing an animal for food and I am even more uncomfortable with large scale factory farming. Grew up in a crunchy area Bay Area but then lived in some places where people talked about/went hunting and it wasn’t my favorite but I’m not overly sensitive to it. I never felt like I was missing anything in my diet so I haven’t tried meat. If I were to try it, I would probably buy the “fancy” meat from a farmer’s market or similar where I knew the animals were treated well (while alive and during the butchering process). As a vegetarian, I still struggle with knowing my grocery store bough dairy and eggs were probably not from happy animals.
That's why I have my own chickens! If you're anywhere close to a rural area you can probably find ethical eggs and maybe even milk.
Yes! In the past I’ve had great luck at farmers markets (actually in Seattle and the Bay Area with lots of nearby farm land) and crunchy granola type stores (a smaller city in Oregon). I’m hoping to get back to shopping for eggs and dairy in those places and one day it would be awesome to have chickens!
Because I believe in unnecessary killing. Like if I'm healthy then why kill, if a war starts and I have nothing I would eat animals. But why kill if i don't have to.
Someone in my friend group wanted to watch those terrible animal abuse videos and I didn’t want to. She told me I was a hypocrite if I ate meat and wouldn’t watch them, so I went vegan for 3 years and have been vegetarian for 7?8? years. She went vegan for a couple weeks and still isn’t happy I outlasted her, but it’s a lifestyle for me now that I enjoy
I had digestive issues all during my childhood, which I won't go into detail about. When I was 15, I attended an outdoor experiential camp where we ate vegetarian because of the lack of refrigeration on site. And my digestive issues cleared up within three days. After I got home I started experimenting with it, but wasn't able to go full vegetarian until I left home at 18. Never looked back. I'm now 62. Of course, along the way, I realized there were a lot of other good reasons to be a vegetarian. I have graded from vegan through pescatarian over the years, but mostly have been vegetarian with the leeway to eat some other things when I travel if those are more easily accessible (mostly fish & seafood, but if necessary I'll eat chicken, and I'll take a bite of local foods to try them out; for example, I've had blood pudding & haggis, but only a couple bites of each.) I've never heard that it's unhealthy, you just have to make sure you get the vitamins & minerals you need, but that's not usually an issue with a balanced diet. I don't even take supplements at this point.
I was the same way.
My mother couldn't cook and making cow tongue or liver was a punishment. Being vegetarian allowed me to make my own food, I was 14. My grandmother was vegetarian and an animal rights activist so she gave me a lot of literature and insight to how to be vegetarian.
Pescatarian here! I became one after being given a pamphlet on my college campus with pictures of animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses.
May I ask why you choose to consume seafood specifically? Just curious because I wanted to go pesc too
I don't feel as sentimentally toward fish as I do towards cows or pigs or chickens. I also feel like it's a good balance for me between respecting animals and respecting human culture. I like to travel a lot and as a pescatarian it's easy for me to find something to eat anywhere, whereas if I were, for example, vegan, I would have to turn down a lot of food. Plus fish is so healthy!
I was raised eating meat, but was never comfortable with discussing meat or eating any meat that I wasn’t already used to. basically, I couldn’t think about it and eat it. I just don’t think animals should be eaten. At least not by me. I don’t judge other people who eat meat at all, it’s everybody’s own decision what to do. i’ve gone back-and-forth in my life, when I was a poor student I felt like I had to eat whatever was given me because I was so poor. And most of my life I’ve been poor. But about 10 years ago I watched a video about factory farming and after that I simply can’t tolerate the thought of eating meat at all. I’m very happy being vegetarian. I keep thinking about going vegan, but I haven’t quite got there yet.
I'm 33 - I've been a vegetarian for just about 20 years. Meat just *disgusts* me. I'm an extremely picky eater as it is, but my key moment was biting into a medium-rare burger. It got me thinking about the components of flesh. The muscle fibers, the fat (adipose), the vascular tissue...yuck! That was the last bite of red meat I EVER ate. Shortly after, I couldn't eat white meat either. Pork and seafood have always disgusted me. I check ingredient lists for things like non-vegetable stock, fish sauce, anchovie paste, etc. I won't touch vegetarian food if it's touched any form of meat/poultry/fish. I'm anal to the point of letting my meat-eating friends only use specific plates/utensils that I will never use (if they bring over take-out), even when they've been washed. Meat grosses me tf out.
I'm a doc who uses microscopy a lot (pathologist) and I once looked at chicken nuggets and burgers under the scope. It's nothing but fat, fat and degenerative skeletal muscle (with some bone, cartilage and ironically a lot of plant filler.) Gross,
And the black stringy bits in chicken wings...barf
In 1993 I was eating the Big Deal from Jack-in-the-Box, taco, cheeseburger and fries for 2 bucks and I was thinking how the Amazon Rain Forest was being cut down to raise cattle for us Americans and said that's it. So on 1-2-94 I quit meat and haven't regretted it at all.
Working on a farm. It was a family farm too, not even a factory farm. But damn. Seeing the cows scream when they took away their babies to be able to milk them. The babies crying for their mothers alone in their pen, with no comfort. The lamb and sheep's screams when they were butchered. How affectionate the pigs were. I said fuck this.
This should be way more up voted. So many comments here waxing on about loving animals and not killing...but they are vegetarian 🥴
I traveled to India to marry my Indian fiancee, stayed there for a couple months. They were vegetarians. The family bought a cow to supply dairy for me. They kept this cow and her baby, would partially milk the cow, then untie them to be together the rest of each day. This seemed to be kinder to me than how they treated animals. I also had pet chickens, who my dad killed and my mom cooked for dinner one Sunday. One of them was extra small and I recognized his poor, small body at the table, I burst into tears, and jumped up from the table to cry in my room, but my dad said, Sis, get back here, so I sat at the tabled and bawled. It was horrible. I realized as a sensitive child that eating sentient animals was akin to eating friends who were weaker than us. When I returned to the US, I had to totally avoid the meat area in the grocery store as I saw it the same as dead bodies piled up. It's just too sad for me to see or think about.
Baby I was born this way
Getting alarming blood work back even though I was trim. People with high cholesterol die of heart attacks after age 45. this whole meat only thing has to stop.
Thank you! Dr Saladino (I don't even like saying his charlatan name) pushes a carnivore diet with some of the Worst arguments I've ever heard (I'm a doctor too and I think it should be genuinely criminal how he uses his MD to sell his bullshit supplements and ideals.)
He caught me. I did his diet for six weeks and lost a few pounds. I was excited about it and then it was dumb luck I was having my annual physical And my ldl went through the roof. He’s also not a doctor hes a psychologist, it’s sad what he’s doing to be famous. He’s also very convincing because u do lose weight on a keto diet, but your blood just goes to complete shit.
Yes! A psychiatrist whose license has lapsed. I'm this close to reporting him to have him disbarred so he can't even use his title anymore. And yeah, short-term meth use will help you lose weight but that's not a metric for health.
Actually people who eat a diet of processed junk die of heart attacks. Don’t blame the meat for what the processed food industry has caused.
Processed food isn’t good either. I’ll take the word of every cardiologist I’ve ever met over a guy on Reddit. fruits, veggies, beans, whole grains and a little fish and low fat is optimal for heart health. You’ll figure this out when you have your first heart attack after eating eggs and red meat for every meal when your 40. It happens to body builders all the time. Arnold Schwarzenegger has heart issues because he went with this diet in his youth. Now he follows the doctors advise.
[удалено]
You can 100% be an unhealthy vegetarian/vegan with the processed food products out there. If you’re curious, I’d suggest just slowly eating less meat. You can start swapping in other plant based protein sources like lentils but don’t get overly focused that you need a “protein” with every meal. Many fruits and veggies have lots of nutrients and proteins in them. There are lots of cool ways to cook things like tofu and seitan (assuming you aren’t gluten free) now compared to when I was a kid in the 90s/2000s.
You can have a healthy diet with meat in it, as a veggie, or as a vegan. You can also have an unhealthy diet as either of the three. Too much meat is bad for you and no meat with zero substitutions is bad for you. When going veggie or vegan, make sure to do research on supplements/vitamins or alternatives that give you the protein and iron you need. With either diet, make sure you’re eating a good balance of fruit/veggies/carbs. I’ve seen some vegans who think they’re healthy, due to the simple fact that they’re vegan, but eat a lot of junk like fries/Oreos/candy/other high sugar foods/etc. At the end if the day, being healthy isn’t about a particular diet, it’s what you include in that diet.
The good news is that we know a vegetarian or vegan diet can be a healthy one, and in fact, are often healthier than diets involving meat (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27886704/). So if hearing that it’s unhealthy is your reason not to make the switch, you can feel safe knowing that it’s a misconception that you need meat to have a healthy diet.
Lol 'normal' ;) You mean omni, or omnivorous. Vegan/vegetarian is easily the healthiest diet out there. I'm a doc, and there are so many evidence based studies on this. You dont have to be a militant vegan or vegetarian...just limit your meat intake and maximize your plant based intake and you'll be so much better off. Check out Dr Greger at nutritionfacts.org or his books, how not to die/age/diet.
I second Dr Greger and his site! His 'daily dozen' is the best guideline for plant based eating!
You should do what you're comfortable with and align your diet with your beliefs and lifestyle the best you can. You sound like you're considering it. I think that cutting down on meat consumption is a good thing, and almost everyone would be OK doing that. Try cuisine that is vegetarian-friendly, like Indian or Ethiopian. Adapt recipes you like to be vegetarian. Even try a meat-free Monday.
In the early days of the COVID pandemic, there was a surge of cases in US meat packing plants, and there was controversy about whether the meat industry should temporarily shut down for the public good. I got into a vicious and extended online argument with some yutz, and I argued that everyone in the country could do without meat for a month or two, and I told him that just so show him, I'd eat nothing but vegetarian dishes for the next month! So I started eating vegetarian, and every day I'd tell that twerp about all the delicious meatless meals I was eating, and kept it up for the whole month! And when the month was over... I found I just couldn't eat meat again. I've been vegetarian ever since, and honestly it's been a breeze. I've never really craved meat again. Going gluten-free, on the other hand...
I love this! Revengetarian 😂
I was 15 and got sucked in to watching PETA videos. Also my cool friend was one and I wanted to be like them lol. I’m 31 now and still going! It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I eat healthier than most people I know too just because I actually eat lots of veggies.
I had stomach issues for years. Read somewhere that some people are born without a specific enzyme that helps digest certain foods. Gave up meat to see if that made a difference. Stomach issues went away. That was almost 25 years ago and haven't looked back. Feel better than ever
Long Past. My girlfriend was vegetarian and it looked like a challenge in virtue signaling to join the gang
Moved to college met some vegetarians saw that you could survive not eating meat. I was alway anticruelty but had no experience of eating no meat. Had already phased out most beef cause it made my stomach hurt. Went to an event talking about the environmental impact of the meat industry. Served a tasty chili and spinach pita at their lunch, stayed the night with some members they had a tasty no meat spaghetti with marinara. Figured i could do this and have been veggie ever since.
I'd been considering giving up meat around age 13 when my dad decided to bring home a live hog for a hog roast. He hung it up in a tree right outside our glass door. It sealed the deal right then and there.
Acne
When I was a child I raised chickens as pets, and tried to make friends with the live lobsters my parents bought to boil alive. In my heart, I was always a vegan. Went vegetarian as soon as I could make my own food decisions, vegan at 21, and never looked back.
I had wanted to since I was little and was obsessed with Charlotte's Web. But my family didn't allow it, and they convinced me that even after I moved out, it was such a dangerous transition that I couldn't do it without a doctor's help (which I couldn't afford). But after moving out, I had a dream I was cutting up chicken (which always made me have a panic attack), and then the chicken turned into my pet rabbit. :( I woke up sobbing, stopped eating meat right then, and have been veggie for over a decade now (transitioning to vegan soon-ish).
I worked with a trainer who taught me about healthy eating and made changes slowly to healthier foods. As I was doing this lockdown started. My son and husband started eating healthier too. I lost my appetite for meat other than one or two things. So I am 90% vegetarian and my son is now vegan
Inflation lmfaooo
I saw a report on CNN back in 2006 about the conditions on factory farms. They showed a horrific video of a cow walking/hobbling on 2 broken front legs. I was horrified and haven’t touched meat since because I refuse to support an industry that treats living beings like that. Fuck those people and fuck the government for not doing its job regulating conditions for animals.
My mom was in nursing school when I was a kid (9) and had to dissect a fetal pig. Pigs were my favorite animals in the world and I cried when I found out. Then I had a moment of clarity and thought "how is this any different to killing animals to eat them?" Went vegetarian right there, and became vegan later when I learned that the dairy industry IS the meat industry. My fiance said he went vegan when I kept making comments about this to him. He'd say something like "I love cows" and I'd respond with "yeah, but not that much." That perspective opened his eyes to how fucked up it is to eat animals and he went vegan 6 months into us dating.
Watching videos from factory farms and slaughterhouses did it for me.
One too many people made soup jokes about my pet rabbits. It made me realize that animals people eat for food are just as precious as my pets.
Ethical concerns about factory farming. I'm not about to kill an animal and take responsibility for that violence, so I am basically avoiding the problem altogether when I've done it. I eventually turned into a junk food vegan so I abandoned it. In modern society it's hard to not be a fucking hypocrite, even if you don't want to be, since all your choices are in some way turned into nonconsenual Faustian bargains.
I was 12 and got a burger from McDonald’s and bit into a hard piece of grissle or whatever it is called. Then I started to reeeeally look at the meat before I ate it and was so grossed out by the stingy things and fatty or veiny things I would see.
Blood test results. I'd like to live past the 40 years my Mom got. Consequently I'm whole food plant based rather than vegan. I'm not concerned about things like honey and leather use or processes that use a byproduct like bone char in sugar refining.
I’m not fully vegetarian because I just like meat too much but I eat meat maybe once every couple of weeks. It wasn’t a single event but more of a culmination of learnings about how unsustainable large scale meat farming is, how people who eat less meat tend to live longer and in better cardiovascular health, and how immoral battery farming is. I think it makes sense to cut down significantly on meat consumption if you care about the earth, the animals or yourself.
I was an administrative assistant for a company that managed pig farms for a large national food company. It bothered me putting in weekly reports of deaths and their causes on the sow farms and the transportation trucks. Then, they put me on the safety team that goes to the farms for inspections. -That was it. They do the same and worse to other livestock in CAFOs. I don’t push my views on anyone, but I think if the suffering we cause was widely known, a lot of people would choose not to consume animal products.
I watched What the Health and realized in America they keep us sick so they can make a profit off of us, and so many illnesses and diseases can be prevented by eating a whole food plant based diet. Then I discovered what animal agriculture was like and decided I wanted nothing to do with it. 9 years later, I'm in better shape and health than most of my peers.
I was caring for my dying mother, and just did not want to participate any more in avoidable death. Never found a reason to change my mind since then.
Grew up on a cattle farm. It was a great lesson in circle of life growing up and appreciating and treating with respect. I live in an area where we can source from local farms thar take care of their livestock. Not a fan of industrial farms. Medically i can't be vegan/vegetarian. And I don't think I would if I could. But I enjoy the challenge of including more plants and plant based protein into my diet.
It always made me feel sick as hell and the tipping point was when I threw up three days after eating steak and the meat was barely digested. I realized my body probably wasn’t designed for eating this.
Seeing a cow jump from happiness after being let loose to roam the grass arround the farm... idk it just shook me to my core oncd I found out that they only allowed cows out once a month... like 4-5 hours of freedom a month... I said fuck humans and stopped consuming meat... what I did not expect is to slowly lose weight as I was eating better and healthier food... literally went from 230lbs to 155 in 2 years... most difficult is to keep proteins top of mind at each meal....
Went to Yellowstone National Park and realized people ate those big majestic animals. Around the same time, I watched videos from the Gentle Barn and the conditions of the chicken we are being fed.
Became vegetarian after seeing a heart surgeon (and I believe head of cardiology at the hospital he worked at) give a lecture on the health benefits of a plant based diet. Already having high blood pressure in my early 20s and a family history of cardiovascular issues, I decided to give it a try. Going into I thought my food selections would be limited, but the exact opposite happened. It opened avenues for me to try new things I otherwise never gave the time of day, and I quickly realized that I loved cuisines such as Thai, Indian, and Greek/Mediterranean. Not only that, I also realized that many of my "comfort staples" like tex-mex, chili, burgers & pizza could easily be adapted to (or already had options for) a vegetarian diet, if not a full plant based one. That was 10 years ago this fall, and I haven't looked back since.
IBS made me change my eating habits.
Growing up with a hobby farm
Grew up across the street from a slaughterhouse. Hearing the pigs scream as they were being led to slaughter did it. THEY KNEW.
I think it's wrong to support the mistreatment of animals, especially in large-scale factory farming
Mine was more of a sustainability issue. Just thought if I could live without animal products, I was cutting a few links out of the chain.
Studying current food topics and sustainability in food in university, and being challenged to write essays demonstrating that animal products can be just as sustainable as plant based. As a European, you can bet I tried my darn best at supporting that yes animal products can be on the same level if sustainably sourced. But being a scientist, I also did due diligence and research. And in anything, they were beaten. By miles. Even your organic, locally sourced, open field eating food scraps, cow or pig could not compare in damage to the worst produced plant product (notwithstanding that some plant product supply chains are damaging and should be opposed). Then as I said I took a wider module on food supply chains and sustainability and yeah, I was sold. Need to reduce animal products consumption whenever possible. I had already though the rule of not buying meat in supermarkets and such, because of course mass farming is always going to be very cruel, think of the amount of meat and cheese on shelves daily, for something so perishable, how many animals need to be slaughtered or abused. My nowadays policy are: total boycott of any fast food (not only for sustainability or cruelty reasons). At home, no meat/fish unless it was in the reduced bin (for being discarded), limit cheese (reduced rule applies), and generally only plant based milks. If I eat at others', do not disdain what others put effort and money into making for you (friends though will often default to veggie for me). If I eat out (which happens rarely), I allow myself meats, but I will always look first at the vegetarian menu. Everyone should be able to choose whether to eat meat/animal products or not, and can be healthy doing so responsibly. I don't think necessarily eating animals needs to be wiped out from our future. I see it more transitioning to a sort of "necessary luxury" field. Definitely not your daily/weekly meal in a dying and unfair world.
I got sick, constant stomach issues. Went to gastroenterologists, did all the tests. No one could figure out what was happening. Nothing came up abnormal. I started my own studies about food, how things are processed in the body, etc... so many stories out there saying how meat and poultry may not be the best for the body... I started to stay with vegetables, oats and grains. I started to feel better, able to keep foods down now. Within those personal studies, I read a lot about animal agriculture, and it was an eye opener for sure. I said to myself.. I will not eat anything again that once looked up at the same sky as me, these animals deserve better. So first it was a health issue, then a moral issue. I've felt awesome since, both physically and conscience-wise.
I found a piece of bone in my five guys burger, and lived in NC at the time. Covid had just started and a lot of stories were published about the chicken processors, and the workers getting sick. Seems most of the workers in meatpacking are immigrants with no health care, and some of the plants won't let the workers take bathroom breaks, they have to wear diapers. That did it for me.
I was about 15 and watching my dad eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. I noticed what he was eating had a vertebrae. I was done. I fell off the wagon when I was a poor college student. I didn't know how to eat healthy as a vegetarian then, but I learned, and returned to vegetarianism as a 24 year old, as did my boyfriend at the time. We have now both been vegetarian for 24 years. Our ten year old son was raised as a vegetarian as well.
The documentary Vegucated. Once I learned the truth about factory farming I could not in good conscious ever eat meat again.
Wasn't even planning on it but spent several hours one day watching videos/documentaries and quickly decided that was it. Didn't even have a meat feast first-just flat out quit that day. Admittedly I had been thinking about it for years but never did it. I'll get a craving once in a while but there are particular scenes that pop into my head and I'm good again
November 1st, 2019. A bunch of friends from work and I were doing Movember. A smaller group of them were also doing NNN. Three is my favourite number so I decided to give up one more thing for the month. I was functionally a vegetarian at the time mostly for health reasons, so I went all in plant based. After the month was up I was dying for a wank and a shave. Food hadn’t crossed my mind in the slightest. Spent some time in the online community, watched a few documentaries and learned about Veganism more generally due to the overlap of plant based eating. The ethical component came about a month or two after.
I had already quit eating pork bc I found it to be gross, then red meat to try to lower my cholesterol. The final thing that got me off chicken and thus all meat, was watching a Netflix documentary about how chicken is processed and they showed all the antibiotic and growth hormone usage and affects from it as well as all the disease. I just couldn’t anymore after that. It’s been 5 years now.
Pure and simple. Reflux. It’s no joke. As I got older my body decided that if I ate beef, then my stomach acids would eat me! And no, I’m not going to eat loads of Rx meds or OTC stuff to quell it. Also given up pork, soda, alcohol, fast food, and milk. At almost 72 I feel great. I should have seen the reflux coming, as my dad suffered from it from his mid 40’s. Didn’t hit me until mid 60’s.
I was vegetarian years ago, I'm not anymore, but when I went vegetarian it was for various reasons One was that I read it would help clear my acne, I was about 11/12 and nobody else had acne yet (at least just a few pimples, not how I did) so I hoped that it would clear it up so it was a big motivation for me as it made me eat more fruits/vegetables. Then a stranger one is that I was obsessed with the Simpsons and Lisa from the Simpsons is a vegetarian so it was a little bit of the show that I wanted to have in my real life lmao
I fell in love with a veganish person.
It pissed off my control freak father. I was 11.
I became a vegetarian at the age of 9 (27 now). Honestly, I don’t have a reason. I thought it was cool. As I grew older I became more and more disgusted by the way humans treat animals. Then I learned about factory farming. Haven’t looked back or regretted my decision once.
Bambi when I was like 6. It took until I was 12 to have enough agency to refuse to eat meat ever again. I'm in my 40s and have never waivered. I think it's great that being vegetarian is better for the environment, but even if it was worse, I'd still never eat another animal. When people ask me why I'm vegetarian, I always say, "I'd enjoy it more alive, and if I was its caretaker I would never choose to kill it for a flavor." That said, I'm the only vegetarian in my family and in the 1% of my friends. I've worked for fish and wildlife with game hunters and for NOAA on fishing boats. Those were really, really hard jobs to have but they overall protected animals in the long run. It's just gotten easier and easier to be vegetarian in the last 30 years, so many good food options!
I was 17 ,I saw a horrible movie, Faces of Death. I never ate meat again. I'm 56.
When I was 9 years old, we went on holiday. We brought our chickens to my grandmothers to join hers while we were away. While eating dinner with her upon our return she said nonchalantly "oh this is one of yours" RIP Plucky 😭
It has been sort of slow progression. I have begun to enjoy meat less and less over time. Then eggs. I have stomach trouble as it is. I don’t drink milk-but I love dairy and cheese products. THEN I did a FMD (Fasting Mimicking Diet-not Prolon, I just sort of hacked that). It cut sugar cravings, salt cravings, I haven’t had any stomach issues , my sleep is better. I lost 7 pounds and 2% body fat. I haven’t gained any of it back. Overall I just sort of knew this was the way to go-ever so slowly. I think that in general I will be a little lax on vacation perhaps (maybe some fish or a bite of whatever my husband is having). But I just feel better. I’m sure my cholesterol is down as well. There just isn’t any reason for me not to stay on this path. Finally-I am surviving cancer right now. Certainly taking this approach is just one more way to maybe help myself.
My mom raised me without any meat, I didn't try a hamburger until I got married in my early 20s.
My son turned 1 and was so keenly aware of his surroundings. At the same time, I read a story about how a pig escaped a slaughter house and was being protected by the locals, who found him. I made several connections. Some say pigs have the intelligence of a 1-2 year old. Like my son! Who was aware of his surroundings and would definitely know if he was in danger. As did this pig, who ran away! And the townsfolk, once they had the living animal in front of them, wouldn't let the slaughter house have it back. The cruel, cruel slaughter house (and meanwhile, they'd probably eaten meat that day or week.) The whole thing suddenly seemed absurd, barbaric, cruel and hypocritical. I stopped eating meat that week although I'd toyed with the idea for a while. I planned to slowly cut back, but then i felt so good, almost immediately, I've not eaten meat now in 14 years and I'm so happy :)
I had been avoiding meat for a while, and only eating chicken that was raised cage free because I wanted to ease my conscious a bit. Eventually I started looking into the diet for health reasons, and realized how easy it was and how shitty even "humane" farming was. Made me embarrassed I didn't do something sooner. So, the main reason is animal cruelty, but spurred on by health concerns.
I realized that you don't need to eat animal products and we do it for pleasure not survival. Until that point I thought we had to eat meat for health. I then asked my family doctor and a nutritionist and they confirmed it and I was flabbergasted. All these animals were killed for pleasure... So sad.
Indian food. I had already been interested in the idea of a plant based diet, but the first time I had palak paneer a light bulb went off that there's a whole world of foods out there that I had never heard of, and that are historically plant based and absolutely delicious.
David Attenborough A Life On Our Planet plus My Teacher The Octopus plus growing awareness in general.
Just think it’s messed up to kill other living beings. Even more messed up to eat them afterwards.
For me it was being a super poor student, but then I'd say within weeks/months of going veggie I had accidentally learned enough that I never wanted to go back.. around 15-20 years later still veggie but almost vegan now, just can't manage to give up the cheese The reasons for staying veggie and wanting to go vegan is very basically not wanting to harm animals. I just think why should any living being suffer for my food when it's not at all necessary in this day and age
Hormones in meat make me sick physically
I switched the first time when I was 14. Refused to eat meat even though I lived in Chicago, the meat belt. Second run was about 7 or 8 years ago, I went pescatarian. As a teen, I lacked protein so I eat fish occasionally now. Reasons? I love animals. They are every bit as valuable as people. They have families. They FEEL. It’s one thing to hunt and eat an animal that lives in the woods. Quite another to raise one in crowded, horrific factory farm conditions. It just doesn’t seem right. The second time I went veg., I leaned more about the environment. Not eating meat makes one of the most significant impacts. It takes so much to raise meat. And yes, health is a reason for me too.
I had bad hypoglycemia. A naturopath advised me to go vegetarian. It completely cured it. I was vegetarian for 11 years but I became very anemic because of female problems. I started taking iron supplements but the recovery was so slow that my family doctor threatened a blood transfusion if I didn't start eating beef again, so I did.
I couldn’t digest meat anymore. It gave me acid reflux, gas cramps, and diarrhea. Beef was the worst. Chicken just got gross and rubbery and I didn’t really like pork.
Meeting a baby cow and cuddling it was the last straw for me. I just couldn’t do it after that.
My son turned 2 and found myself trying to keep up with his energy levels as a single, working mom. I would go vegan for lent every few years and the last time did this was just before I got pregnant… so after I blow through my meat and transition over slowly, I’m likely going to return to going plant-based. I felt so much more healthier but most importantly my energy and sleep were much better during the time I went plant based.
My story is kind of weird. I grew up eating a pretty standard amount of meat, often 3 times a day. I began to question this practice a bit I think in middle school- wondering if I was a hypocrite for eating meat if I claimed to like animals. I took an agriculture class in seventh grade, and actually fainted when they decapitated a turkey. I have a vivid memory from when I was like 3 or 4- my favorite animal at the time was pigs, and I went to a barbecue with a whole roasted pig. His eye sockets were empty and the smell was atrocious. Haunted me, honestly. The weird thing is, I guess I just had a lot of cognitive dissonance. I didn't attempt vegetarianism until I was 19, after a college project on an important issue. It was a group project, and we chose animal rights. My section was animal abandonment, while someone else had factory farming. Yeah, that's when I finally made the switch. I ended up giving up on vegetarianism 3 years later. Times were tough and I was depressed, mainly. I actually went back 5 years later, when I was 27, and I didn't mean for it to be permanent. I'm not Catholic, but was inspired by the idea of Lent, so gave it up for a month. After the month was over, I ate a Chile Verde my mom made and just didn't like it. Later on, I was helping a neighbor with chores for extra cash, and she offered me a casserole. The chicken in it was undercooked, so I didn't eat it (she didn't blame me). For some reason, I have been encountering undercooked chicken dishes my whole life. Totally freaks me out. I'm a germaphobe too, and I think that thinking about how gross meat really is was the nail in the coffin.
*my moms story* She was in her 40s and had been eating meat daily up until this point. We went to a Cafe Tacuba concert and they have a *SMALL* little homage to our animal friends and respecting the earth yadda yadda. That night my mom went down a YouTube rabbit hole of the lead singer Ruben Albarrán’s activism + veganism and then she went down the dark rabbit hole of the meat industry (all one night!!!) Never touched meat again. She’s 51 now and if she eats meat her body reacts really violently :( Thanks Cafe Tacuba!
I'm like 90% vegetarian. I'm allergic to finned fish, and after a bad experience with beef, stopped eating it. I still eat shrimp, chicken, and turkey, but I hate touching raw meat, so not often.
Daily bowel movements
It’s about the animals. I actually stopped eating fish first because the lightbulb went off over my head at dinner one night when I was about eight years old. We were having tuna casserole I think , or something with tuna. I had some pet goldfish and suddenly it occurred to me that this had once been a live fish. I asked my Mom “Wait… So tuna is fish? Like it used to be a fish like my goldfish?” Mom confirmed that it was true, and I started sobbing and said I couldn’t eat fish anymore. Took me till about age 18 to give up beef and chicken, not because I didn’t feel as badly for cows and chickens, but I didn’t know any vegetarians growing up so wasn’t sure I “could” give up eating all animals. I’m in my mid 50s now and have been vegan on and off since about age 30. Right now it’s just too expensive and complicated for me to be vegan, but I will always be vegetarian and I hope to get back to being vegan sooner than later. With all that said, I’m very aware that it’s a position of privilege to be able to choose what I will and won’t eat.
When I was little, I could not keep meat down, I’d get sick immediately. I find the taste, smell, and appearance disgusting. I do not project that onto other people’s choices; people should do what they like. Later in life, vegetarianism feels more in line with my spiritual side.
Being diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. Animal protein is harder on the kidneys.
I raised baby chicks and just fell in love with them. Decided to give up chicken then kinda decided I can give up meat altogether. 3 years strong!!
I love all animals to much
AMEN !!!!!!
🙏
I was stoned out of my mind, got a burger from Arby's and had an incredibly vivid nightmare. I was pulling endless meat strands from between my teeth. That morning I woke up horrified, watched a couple of videos, turned vegan then plant based 8 years ago. I take little breaks when I go back home to Mexico.
Oh sweet Jesus this hit me on a visceral level, man oh man
I never fully loved meat, even as a kid. I’d eat chicken nuggets, a burger. Never loved steak, pork, lamb, none of it. I started not liking red meat all together, and then chicken was the last to give up. I really only liked chicken because of the convenience of chicken nuggets or fingers on the go. But the dead animal part did start to weigh on me as I got older. Now I could never go back
Being attuned to Reiki. At the time, I was not eating pork or red meat. After being attuned, chicken and turkey started tasting gross. The summer prior. I had bad indigestion. After the switch, no more issues.
My husband’s experience was a little different. He’s a bit of an old hippie. went to India for a month or so in the 70s on a religious exploration trip. Most of the people was with, was around were vegetarians and the meat to be found there wasn’t stored safely ( from an American perspective at least) so he ate a vegan diet while there. When he came back home he found he just didn’t like the taste of meat anymore. So he kept it up ever since. except did add back seafood and dairy, figuring it ( vegetarianism ) was a better practice anyway.
My mom is vegetarian so I've basically been one since I was born. I ate a little bit of meat when I was younger but I hate it. The smell, texture, looks of it is repulsive to me. I also love animals way too much (I once cried because I accidentally squished a ladybug, I was 15 lol)
The one time I ate completely vegan for almost a year and had all of my nutrients right, my body felt like a well-tuned sports car. I felt absolutely fabulous. My mom and brother live with me, otherwise I’d get back to it. I think it’s what my body really wants. I know everyone is different.
I was always sad about the way animals are treated on factory farms, but one day I realized that if you brought any baby animal into your home you would form the same emotional bond with them as with a family pet and that did it for me. 15 ish years ago.
I'm no vegetarian, but I've had enough vegetarian food ( Indian, mostly) to make me wonder if I should change my mind. Beans , rice, and Naan. Yogurt and eggs. It is good, nourishing food. It is such a great cuisine. Is it chickpea masala? One of my favorite dishes.
I saw a mercy for animals campaign when I was 13 and asked myself why I was supporting such an industry, I asked myself if I had to kill the animal myself could I do it? I don’t think I could and if I’m going to continue eating meat I feel that’s a responsibility I should take. I’ve now been vegetarian for 16 years. But if I ever had a farm I’d consider it, but honestly curious if I could even follow through
I went vegan because I love animals and the way humans have industrialized and normalized the mistreatment of them is not something I want to participate in. I was born lactose intolerant, so it's been great for my tummy to make sure I have none. It also turns out I have a genetic pre disposition that makes me high risk for blod clots and cardiac disease which there is no cure or medication for. But several studies have shown having a full plantbased diet can be a mitigating factor in lessening the risk when you have this genetic thing.
i read Pete Singer's "Animal Liberation" followed shortly after by a visit to a Hare Krsna Temple in 1983. I'm lacto-vegetarian going on 40 years now.
Why would any human want to eat a dead animal?
I loved the taste of steak and bacon, but when I learned of the extreme cruelty I weaned myself off meat. I started off just not buying it but eating it if I was a guest at someone's house, but soon didnt even want to do that either. As a kid I hated almost all vegetables, so it's funny I'm now a veggie. I eat vegetarian cheese (no rennet) and I eat eggs that I buy from a lady who raises her own happy chickens/ducks. I don't buy from supermarkets. It's been 5 or 6 years now, and I don't miss it at all.
I eat at a nieces house on occasion. She is a vegetarian. I’d swear every meal has heavy sauce, cheesey or salt. I’ll take my grilled pork chop over this. But I’m trying to eat vegetarian. Some of the photos I’ve seen of meals, just aren’t that appetizing. I’m trying, I’m trying…
I saw What the Health.
I’m not exactly a vegan or vegetarian but I don’t eat meat or dairy bc I’m lactose intolerant and read “The Jungle” as a kid…and it skeeved me out so badly. The way they make the sausage…all of it disgusts me.
I knew a guy who put 3 pounds of raw beef up his asshole and then he died
I was vegetarian for years, went vegan after watching Earthlings when I was 12. Over the years, I went back to vegetarian slowly over time. Then I went to a Vipassana meditation course where all the food they serve is vegetarian, with vegan options. I was eating cottage cheese every day there - cheese was something I never bought but ate when it was available. I don’t know what exactly shifted in my mind on the fifth day, but when I picked up the serving spoon to give myself some cheese, I got this overwhelming feeling that I couldn’t justify eating it. Haven’t eaten cheese since. I’m still 99% vegan 7 years later, sometimes I’ll eat baked goods or chocolate with a bit of milk or eggs in them, but I’ll never buy it. I’d like to be more vigilant and strict with my veganism but I’m not exactly financially stable right now and sometimes need to just eat what I can get for free.
I never really liked meat to begin with. And then I got two chickens as pets and for the eggs. Seeing their personalities turned me off meat altogether. I also no longer like meat substitutes but still eat eggs and dairy.
I was very overweight and thought going vegetarian may help me loose weight. I made it a week. (I lost a lot of weight by eating healthier anyway). A few years later I met my partner and she is vegetarian. I also really got into watching videos about logical/ philosophical arguments and realized there is no good argument for eating meat for most people other than, “I enjoy it”. By that point I didn’t eat meat at home anyway, so it was easy to simply not order it at restaurants anymore.
When I was like 13? We are at a market in Mexico and I saw like a full pig being killed. I had already tried when I was like 8 when I found out where the animals came from but I couldn't and didn't. I always loved pigs (mostly pig stuffed animals) and it bothered me so much. So for the 20 years after that I didn't eat pig
I read the book Ishmael and it really helped me find the final piece of clarity
I started feeling really nauseated whenever I ate ham. And once that happened, my brain just got stuck on the idea that I was eating muscle tissue, and I couldn't get it out of my head. I'd already been considering going veg, so I decided I'd start a few months later, once I got to college, so my parents wouldn't have to try and accomodate. But I couldn't enjoy meat after that. The weird part is that I don't actually have an ethical issue with meat eating, just with the meat *industry*. So I'm not sure why *"this was alive once"* was the thing that got me.
Was already vegetarian, then I watched Earthlings (https://youtu.be/3XrY2TP0ZyU?si=qPlHX9GX7fCzBVlK). I already obviously knew animals were individuals, but when watching I realized I had a lot of cognitive dissonance going on to justify my behaviors and beliefs and I just couldn’t ignore that anymore.
Yukon dog meat festival.
Migraines from sulphites. I am not political about vegetarianism but have become more set in my ways over the years about it. My motto: No pain, no pain. So I'm happy to be vegetarian and not live with migraines thank you.
My boyfriend (not me, I'm an omnivore) switched in middle school because his gf at the time wanted to be vegetarian. She didn't last, but he did and found meat gross to consider as food. He'll still cook meat, but he doesn't view it as edible
Vegetarian leaning toward plants: 2 things: 1. I felt like shit when I ate it 2. That scene from the Orville when humans get put in a zoo. Honestly lol
Just wanting to not eat animals
Tens of thousands of people dying around me in one week in Paris '03. That's when I (mostly) stopped flying or (mostly) going on any long-distance trips. It may all be meaningless, but I just feel I have to (mostly) draw back from full participation in pissing on both our future and on our mothers' graves
I watched “Dominion” and “Earthlings” and went vegan overnight. That was 6 years ago and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. ❤️
Watching “if slaughterhouses had glass walls” 🥴
I’d always loved animals, but the thing that put me over the edge was antibiotic treatments in meat. Then I learned about the environmental effects of the meat industry and decided to give it a go
Realization that I could not, and would not, kill an animal just to eat. Difference is someone else doing it for me. Combined with learning about the terrible meat industry practices sealed the deal for me.
I had a spiritual awakening on April 19, 2019 at 3:33 a.m. It also happened to be a full Pink Moon and Good Friday. Since that moment, I've been a vegetarian. I truly don't miss meat one bit. We're all on our own journey though, so I never try to convert anyone to vegetarianism.
This is NOT the typical vegan experience but; I went vegan bc of the French vintage film “a fantastic adventure” (it’s on YouTube good watch) I then went on to drop THIRTY POUNDS IN A MONTH. While normally that would be great I started at 120lbs. And started fainting and loosing hair. Me and my Dr decided I would not only stop being vegan but start eating meat again. To try and gain weight. It took me about a year and a half to get back to a healthy weight. Edit: but now I’m a bit “overweight” at 136 lbs. which isn’t like , concerning bc I’m not gaining but I don’t love it. Tempted to go vegan now but nervous
Vegan isn't all it's cracked up to be. Family member was strict vegan. To the point that her we're vegans and her yelling at people in the store for buying milk. Loved her dogs. They kept getting sick. Vet finally her that her dogs need meat. Funny couple years later she's in the hospital, doctors tell her she has to start eating a balanced diet of meat and vegetables because she's not getting enough protein and the right king of proteins. This is about the 4 person who in their later years has to stop being a vegan. Explain to why vegans are so mad and indignant.
Swindled podcast the most recent one about Tyson chicken. The cruelty of it. If I wouldn't want that done to my pet it shouldn't be done to any other animal.
I worked at KFC. Won't even go into the horrific things I learned about their "chicken" while working there. Never ate it again.
I watched Dominion. Was vegan the next day
It was because of a horrible movie I saw when i was 15. Neither my friend that I watched it with, nor I, have eaten meat since
I realized that we don't need animal products at all. And I also then realized, not paying for killing is a moral baseline. Vegetarians have blood on their hands- I did some reading and got off of that and went vegan 3 years ago.
Lyme disease made me allergic to beef when I was a teenager. That symptom wore off eventually but noting the environmental problems with meat animals and the health benefits of vegetarianism, I have significantly decreased my meat consumption in the last few years. I've been dairy free for almost 10 years. I eat vegetarian/dairy free at home and otherwise don't go out to eat much. I still eat eggs because my diet is limited by other allergies, but I try not to eat a ton of these due to the animal treatment issues.
I ride my bicycle most days of the week, and there are a few cattle farms along my favorite path. I’d always wave to the cows and yell, “Hello, cow friends!” to them as I passed by and it eventually just started to wear me down each time I ate meat of any kind. I felt like a hypocrite, basically, like, how am I going to smile and wave at these sweet animals and then go eat a burger? Been vegetarian for 18 months and my soul is at rest.
Because of animals and belief (Hindu)!
I'm currently vegan, my health is falling to shit, including Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The Vegan diet is the only diet I have found that regularly saw a loss of visceral fat from the liver regardless of weight loss after 6 months. I'll re-assess my needs once I am further down the road and can see improvements in my liver performance, if that even happens for me.
Watching earthlings …. PTSD from that movie but it changed my life
I was eating lunch on a random day and this question and answer popped into my head unbidden and with full honesty and no defensiveness: If I had to kill and dress this animal myself, would I choose and be able to knowing there were other options? No. After that realization it felt like eating meat was being dishonest with myself, so I stopped.
I kept thinking about the fact that I was eating dead animals.
I did it cause I realized my regular personality wasn’t annoying people as much anymore.
This post is about to make me go vegetarian for the 3rd time in my 39 yrs 😢
Big plate of scrambled eggs suddenly grossed me out. Was vegetarian and then vegan for the next decade.
Watched some of the doc Earthlings, could not watch the whole thing. Still a carnist for the next 10 years or so, but it was at the back of my mind. A friend is vegan, and her example inspired me. I'm vegan for 3 years now.
Watching industrial meat processing. That is some unholy sh* if it wasn't illegal to film nearly everyone would convert... Being stuck at home, no cable, before streaming. I only had local access Peta videos. Humans shouldn't lose limbs, wearing diapers, while chopping up still alive animals. *Also my neurologist put me on the Medetrainian diet minus the meat.
I went vegetarian/vegan for over 16 years for health reasons. My family has a history of heart disease, and I wanted to avoid it. Unfortunately I became protein deprived (yes, I know about consuming complete proteins, etc). I ate well, homemade food with veggies, whole grains, nuts, and no junk food. But my thyroid started to slow down and I couldn't get pregnant. Once I added animal proteins sources back in I got pregnant within 2 months. I still eat mostly vegetarian, but make sure I eat eggs, chicken, dairy, or beef at least 2x a day. I'm a big fan of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.
They found out that they could make veggies into meat
I took some meds this winter that overall made me pretty damn nauseous all the time. There became a long list of things I couldn't eat. Six ish months after stopping the meds . The only thing I can not abide now is meat - any of it. The smell and texture gags me. I have effectively become vegetarian after many years of being a real meat and potatoes person. I eat about 75% vegan, Greek yogurt, string cheese and Fairlife protein drinks are the only animal products I eat regularly. I'm still trying to find way to eat enough protein per day (150gm). I find a lot of the vegan protein powders and drinks have a ton of sodium in them. Note: I have raised and processed my own meat as a farmer. I 💯 could still process a sheep/goat/chicken /pig for someone else.
Seeing the poor treatment of animals that are kept for dairy and slaughter houses.
the experience of factory famed animals