what made you decide?

[matt]

I was wondering what made some of you to become vegaterrian? Was because of health or religeous? I was talking to someone who is in my astronomy class and he is practicing vegarterrian. I have a BIL that has been one for years he does it because he is a practicing Zen Buddist. Thx matt

[karenv]

Hi Matt, I am not a fully Vegan but do go through "boughts". I do believe that too much meat is not good for you but you really do need it for protein. I just can't go without but it kind of feels like I am cleansing my system a tad.

Karen

[kwormann]

Ive tried twice to go veggie for health reasons, but both times found myself eating worse and craving meat, which I dont normally want.

I usually eat tuna a couple days for lunch and chicken once a month. Any other meat is when we go out to eat. I find it humerous that when I "can" have it, I dont want it, but when I said "no more", I thought about it all of the time!

[emilycat]

Matt,

I was curious about the same thing about a month ago; here's a really good thread on the topic:
http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/003186.html

[hlao23]

I don't know how interested you are to hear from non-vegetarians. My DH and I discuss going veggie frequently but have never committed. We rarely (about 3x per month) eat meat anyway.

We lean toward vegatarianism for health reasons and environmental reasons (i.e. pollution from livestock, the land used to grow food for x number of cows could feed twice as many people, etc). Our logic for not following through and going fully veg is that if everyone just ate less meat a lot of this would be a non-issue. Some may see this as a rationalization tho'.

[cryskie]

matt,

I am currently a vegetarian (I say currently because i just started January 1 and I'm not sure how long it will continue http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif). I chose to become vegetarian after reading about the environmental issues (like hlao23 said, inefficiency of growing cattle versus eating grains, huge water usage to keep cattle going) and the animal treatment issues. When I read how the animals are slaughtered, I could only imagine how frightening and traumatic it must be, and it turned me off to meat completely at first. Now my feelings have calmed down a little, and I'm wondering whether I will begin eating small amounts of meat or not. I know that my body does not need it--we Americans get way too much protein--and I feel that my body can also absorb the calcium that i take in much better with my decrease in protein intake. I have checked my iron about once a week since I started, and it has always been fine, so I don't see a need for meat. I dont' really crave meat, it's more like I feel sad knowing that I will never taste certain foods again (which is why I'm not sure how long this will last). Sorry for the long-winded answer!

Crystal

[AndreaU]

Interesting topic... My husband and I have been lacto-ovo vegetarians for over 5 years now. (we don't eat meat, but do eat dairy and occasionally eggs) Our choice was based on health and environmental issues. Fat, cholesterol, animal cruelty, mad cow, etc. all played into our decision. And to tell you the truth, we don't miss meat. We've found some great meatless alternatives (though we've suffered through some yucky ones!) and have adapted quite well. We've found that a lot of ethnic dishes translate very well into vegetarianism- Mexican, Chinese, Greek, Italian, etc.


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