A long thread on the war zone got me wondering why all of us vegetarian low carbers or semi vegetarians are vegetarian? I have known quite a few vegetarians in my life and they all had a variety of reasons so I was just curious the reasons here.


NOTE: This is not a thread to discuss or tell why the reasons people are vegetarians are good or bad. This is simply to find out the reasons people have for being vegetarian. NOT to disagree with them.

Any discussions can be made via personal message or a larger discussion on another part of the forum.

Thanks

What a great question!

I have kind of a weird reason for being a vegetarian. But, it works for me. I realized that the only reason we don't eat dogs and cats here are due to cultural taboos that have no real meaning. In some areas eating cats are fine, in others you cannot eat cows. These dietary no no's are from religious reasons, or just high on the ick factor like eating cats and dogs here in the United States. So, I decided that I could not make those kinds of value judgements because they had no real inherent meaning. I should, in order to be consistent, be able to eat all animals, not just the ones my culture deems food worthy. I am not able to do that. I am not emotionally capable of eating cats or dogs. Therefore, again in order to be consistent, I decided that I would just not eat any.

One example of this inconsistency is my mom-who eats meat just fine, unless it is from some animal my dad hunted. She makes fun of him when he goes deer or geese hunting and tells him he is out killing Bambi or God's creatures. Where the heck does she think her hamburger came from? Elsie the cow, that's where. When I pointed that out, she stuck her fingers in her ears and hummed really loud. It was the first time she did this, that I realized how inconsistent I was being in my own food choices and seriously thought about what I ate and why.

It was soon after that I made the decision to become a vegetarian. But, I wasn't sure I could do it. Then I proctored a human anatomy exam and the cadavers looked a lot like ham. I actually couldn't eat meat for two weeks after that and figured out that I could do this.

The end.

I have been leaning towards a vegetarian way almost all of my life since age 4 when I found out in kindergarten where meat came from. I was shocked and horrified that it did not grown on a tree.

(Although it is more shocking and horrifying that some of the HIGH SCHOOLERS I teach now don't know either!)

I was pretty disgusted by it and have never eaten much meat since then. In high school I gradually cut out the meats and my last was a piece of shrimp freshman year in college. I have muscles, etc, like all the things I was eating and to me I could just never get used to that idea.

Thank goodness for meat substitutes!

Well I grew up with cows for pets so that kinda kills the whole desire to eat them(to make a long story short, my parents were going to slaughter our own cows for organic meat but they got names and the rest is history.). As for the rest of it... well I grew up with a family that was pretty whole food oriented. We didn't eat anything with sugar, food colorings, additives, processed, etc. They tried many different diets, but not in the sense that most families have I'm talking macrobiotic, vegan, all organics, etc. We did eat some meat, but it was more of a condiment than having a meal built around meat. We had a huge garden and grew pretty much everything we ate. My mom canned so we didn't even buy canned foods in the winter. We had fruit trees that we harvested our own fruit from, we only had homemade breads, yogurts, jellies, fresh squeezed orange juice etc.

I of course rebelled and lived off fruit loops cereal, white bread and soda as soon as I was old enough to get out on my own but in time, I missed the whole foods. By the time I was pregnant with my second son I very rarely ate meat at all but I tell you, my morning sickness was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad that I couldn't even go to a restraunt or home where meat was being cooked. So basically that was it, I just never had the desire to eat meat again. For me, I guess it just feels natural to eat vegetarian. There is just something about whole natural foods that makes you feel good about what you are putting into your body. (at least for me it works that way)

Jenn

I grew up in Germany where we ate loads of meat, i.e. meat every single day. About 15 years ago I watched a programme on slaughtering animals in a big abattoir. While many of the cows were dead at once, some of them weren't dead because the slaughter men had missed. I guess because there were so many animals to be killed, they must have got tired. Then the cows were hooked up still alive and my stomach started turning. A slaughter house that kills many animals a day (as opposed to small ones) must be absolute hell!

In this programme I also watched cows having their throats slit and hung up, and although certain religious groups deny that the animals still feel pain, I beg to differ, it was a terrible sight! After that I could not touch meat any more.

I cannot possibly agree with the inhumane conditions many animals are kept in, the exploitation and lack of care. I support several animal rescue organisations and one of them goes undercover to check the horrendous conditions of some farm animals, even so called free range ones. The resulting pictures are disgusting!

Although for years I didn't even eat fish, I do now because I don't think that a pure vegetarian diet is right for me. I have recently looked at a farm where the animals are kept properly and I know there are many farms in the UK where farmers take great pride in rearing healthy and happy animals and I absolutely respect that. But I am not sure at the moment if I can be persuaded to eat meat again (even though I know it might be healthier for me, and I do crave chicken from time to time).

I became vegetarian recently. I like the taste of meat (especially chicken), so there are times (especially when eating out) when I'd like to eat some. I have eaten fish a couple of times since starting this, but even fish doesn't appeal to me like it used to.

What started this? The first thing was that I started yoga and read about the "nonviolence" part of it. I didn't like the idea of personally killing animals and eating them, so I faced up to the fact that that's what meat is. I mean, people know that meat comes from animals, but they're so far removed from it when they pick up a pound of hamburger at the store...I think that there is a subset of people out there who would NOT eat meat if they had to personally kill and butcher it. I have experience with this (helping butcher chickens), and I was not very comfortable with eating them afterwards.

Shortly after the nonviolence idea, I saw this site: www.themeatrix.com and decided that I'd go ahead and give it a try. Then I read the book "Slaughterhouse" and was so disgusted that I knew I had made the right decision. I'm actually not very happy with animal welfare when it comes to milk/eggs either (and the pus content in milk is disgusting) but I'm sticking my head in the sand on those issues for now. I don't want to give up dairy products or eggs just yet. I enjoy the taste, and I prefer getting some animal protein rather than all soy.

I am not a vegetarian (yet) as I do eat wild salmon ( not farmed )twice a week and some free range chicken in very limited amounts. I am more or less adhering to the Atkins program by getting my protein thru low carb soy foods, nuts and seeds. I grew up on a large turkey farm and as a kid watched my dad give the poor birds steroid laden feed so the birds would grow faster and fatter. Dad would also add all sorts of medications to their water supply. This was in the seventies, and perhaps things have changed but I doubt it. Anyway, I have had all sorts of hormone problems and I often wondered if eating so much free turkey as a kid was the reason why. It is my goal to become a non -meat eater eventually because I feel that meat and even fish is becoming so contaminated with additives and pollutants that it is becoming more harmful than beneficial.

In my heart I have been a vegetarian since I was a child.

I have gone through years of cycling through both vegetarianism and meat eating (to please others), finally coming back to a place I am most comfortable with, both physically, emotionally and spiritually - being a lacto ovo vegetarian. I will never cycle again.

Look, I know the world is cruel and animals eat other animals in nature, and hunters kill for food, and the cycle of life is one of living and dying, but something happened to me that just made me come full circle.

When my beloved pet dog died 10 years ago, I decided to go to a shelter and adopt a dog. I never had an adopted dog before, but had heard they make the most loving, loyal companions. It's almost as if they know you have saved them from death.

I ending up adopting a chinese-crested female mix. She was abandoned, abused, hairless, almost toothless, with one blue eye and one brown eye, and frightened of her own shadow. To make a long story short, I adopted her because everyone else thought she was too ugly to adopt, and the ASPCA told me she was going to get gassed. So I took her home and have never regretted a moment of it. To me she is beautiful and also the most wonderful, loving pet I have ever had. At that point I realized there was no difference between eating a dog and eating a chicken or pigeon or pig or horse or lamb. I just couldn't do it anymore. Something just snapped in me, maybe the realization that these creatures are so different yet still the same, and it is only cultural conditioning that chooses which ones we eat.

So here I am! I never went back!

Seems like most people are veggie for moral/ethical reasons (like me). I guess that's how come we're staying that way even though it makes low carbing more difficult.

my reason for going vegetarian is also one of ethical issues. i rarely ever ate red meat and always hated the taste of pork. i never really thought of giving up chicken and fish, and ate the occassional hamburger because i just plain didn't think about what i was doing. then one day, i stumbled upon veggie substitutes in the grocery store. i figured i'd give them a try, and they were excellent! i then visited the websites of these products and from there, i learned about the cruelty towards animals.

at that point, it just clicked in my mind: it's not neccessary to eat meat. with literally hundreds of vegetarian meat substitutes, not to mention the healthy grains, fruits, and vegetables available but often forgotten, there is no reason to be killing animals for food! i believe that in a culture as advanced as ours today, we can choose to eat these substitutes.

i was entirely vegan for several months, but i found myself being very lethargic, and realized i am of the type that needs HIGH amounts of protein. i added back into my diet eggs and dairy (in moderate amounts) as well as fish, and i don't have regrets, as i feel much better today; however, i will never go back to eating red meat and chicken as there is just no need!

If it's a protein issue and quality of amino acids, there's absolutely no reason to add back fish to the diet, unless it's purely for your own personal taste.

I had lost a lot of weight eating no fats, and I was still eating chicken, fish, cheese, egg beaters, etc. I started eating more and more veggie burgers and went vegetarian then I learned about the inhumane conditions for farm animals and I became a vegan. I can clearly remember the last time I ate cheese and it tasted awful and I felt bad for eating it, that was the day I decided I would never eat cheese, eggs, milk and dairy ever again.

I started eating more carbs and gained back my weight. I decided to try low carb so I can still eat low carb vegan chocolates and peanut butter and not have to limit myself as much as on a fat free diet. Also when I was not eating any fats, I would get bad headaches and I was tired all of the time. I was down to 120 pounds but I was very unhealthy. Shannon

Yes ! yes ! I am loving my plan I chose it much healthier for me in the long run!!!