Why did you choose to become a vegan or vegetarian?

[Alexia]

I became a vegetarian when I was 16 years old because I wanted more control over my diet and to eat healthier. It was a combination of many reasons, I am against animal cruelty and I like to be healthy and know what goes into my food.

These days it is a lot easier as the classic nut roast was all that was around when I was younger. There are more choices and being a vegan or vegetarian isn't greeted with dismay when you in a restaurant now.

I know may people try being vegan and then go back to eating meat, but that never happened to me which is why I flit between the two of having vegan days and vegetarian days.

 

[longhair]

I can't say that I'm 100% vegetarian, so maybe I don't count. I don't eat much meat though. I feel so guilty when I do. Not only do I feel bad for the animal, the mere thought that it came from something that used to be alive completely grosses me out. On the occasions that I do have a little bit of meat, I have to eat it quickly before I really realize what I'm eating or, again, totally grossed out. Otherwise I've taken 3-5 bites and couldn't eat what I was eating.

I've been really trying to find alternative ways to get the nutrients meat offers through other foods. So grossed out and a lot of guilt.

 

[jennevieve]

I became a vegetarian when I was 13. I just never liked the texture of meat. Eventually, I realized the greater implications of using animals for food and I became vegan. I feel like it just fits me. I am compassionate toward people and animals. I do not want anything or anyone to suffer because of me.

I know that it is possible to be healthy and satisfied while eating a vegan diet. So it is hard for me to imagine ever living another way. It is also hard to see my friends who do not choose to be vegan. But I cannot change anyone else - only myself.

 

[kim1984]

For me there's a few reasons. Firstly, I read a few vegan blogs and the writers of those really raved about how much the vegan diet had helped them -- from dealing with health issues such as anxiety and depression, and just overall physical performance being improved by the vegan diet.
Secondly - I'm an animal lover. If I love my pets, it makes sense that eating other animals ethically just doesn't really balance out.

I'm still about 70-30 when it comes to a vegan diet and a normal every day diet. It's taken a lot of reading and learning to get to this point. Eventually it would be nice to be 100% vegan.

 

[Alexia]

I became a vegetarian when I was 13. I just never liked the texture of meat. Eventually, I realized the greater implications of using animals for food and I became vegan. I feel like it just fits me. I am compassionate toward people and animals. I do not want anything or anyone to suffer because of me.

I know that it is possible to be healthy and satisfied while eating a vegan diet. So it is hard for me to imagine ever living another way. It is also hard to see my friends who do not choose to be vegan. But I cannot change anyone else - only myself.

The majority of my friends eat meat and it doesn't bother me nor do I try to convert them. It's a personal choice and one that should be made for your own reasons, whether it be for health or ethical reasons. I don't judge and they don't judge me either. I've been vegetarian for so long now that I have heard all the arguments for and against and I am still alive and healthy.

Friendships shouldn't be based on your diet, but I do have some vegan friends who are critical of others and even turn their nose up at vegetarians. They give vegans a bad name, because as we choose who we want as friends is the same as choosing what you eat. It's up to you and it's personal.

 

[Stephen George]

Well what i can say is that vegetables are more nutritious and are more antioxidants comparing to other foods.
As for vegetables, it is very natural and it is better for health comparing to animal meat. When i first became a vegetarian, i feel awful though as time goes ... i feel so strong.

 

[sugarbooger]

One of the reasons I choose to remain vegan is the horrific toll the cattle industry takes on our enviroment. Fast food companies chop down rainforests for places for the cattle to graise. The amount of water and food that goes into raising cattle to slaughter is enough to end world hunger if we would feed it to the human population instead. The methane gas from the tooting cows is very dangerous and leads to climate change.

 

[lion]

I, myself, became a vegetarian mostly because of my mother's influence, I suspect - she was one, and though she never stopped me from consuming meat or brought me up as one, she did bring me up with a love for all creatures, and so, it was expected when I wanted to for ethical reasons when I was about 12. It was an easy transition since we didn't have much meat in the house anyway. I was pretty lucky in that regard - I know a lot of children/teenagers wanting to become vegetarian/vegan struggle to get their family to accept it and cook them vegetarian/vegan meals.

 

[KenBrace]

I'm not a hardcore vegan but I'm very health conscious and I do know that animals products aren't healthy. My attitude is that we should strive to be as healthy as possible without becoming taboo. I have no problem with eating animal products or sugary foods. I just make sure that it's not a part of my daily diet. If you consume unhealthy things only on occasion then it doesn't really have a negative effect on your health. Your body can easily handle a bowl of ice cream every now and then. The problem is when you eat ice cream every single day.

So to directly answer the OP, I became "mostly vegan" for health reasons.

 

[Jade Mae]

Being a vegan is necessary for me to sustain life. Years ago, i was attacked by a disease on my kidney and I needed to stay away from much meat. Mostly, meat is our main dish in here and I cant really eat without meat. As time goes, i learned to become vegan. My first training was to minimize my meat consumption which is very hard because I grew up eating meat. Its hard for my taste to adapt on my current situation though I really thought of my health.

Because of that health reasons, recently I am loving my vegan diet. Most of the time, I go with fresh lettuce as my breakfast with sliced apples and cucumbers it fits on my stomach.

 

[Blaine]

I am still in transition. It is quite a challenge for me because the people I live with do not follow a certain type of diet. My decision was based mostly on health issues. Like my family I was never particular with what I eat as long as the food tastes good. We eat almost anything from processed food to a high protein diet. The doctor advised us to minimize red meat especially pork.

 

[KenBrace]

I am still in transition. It is quite a challenge for me because the people I live with do not follow a certain type of diet. My decision was based mostly on health issues. Like my family I was never particular with what I eat as long as the food tastes good. We eat almost anything from processed food to a high protein diet. The doctor advised us to minimize red meat especially pork.

Pork is one of the worst meats out there. Not only is it very high in fat you are also risking a trichina worm infection. Cooking the meat can kill the worms but eggs can sometimes stay preserved. Once the eggs are in your system they can hatch and start an infestation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis

 

[Connie]

I became vegetarian at the age of 11 or 12 for a number of reasons but mostly to annoy my parents and make life as difficult as possible for them! There were a couple of other reasons, the biggest and most important to me was that in the early 80's there was a lot less attention to animal welfare and what they were subjected to than there is today. I also didn't really like meat or fish and never really ate it. I literally stopped eating over the course of one weekend and over time became aware of things like beef or pork gelatine and where it came from, how cheese was made when it wasn't vegetarian and things like that.

I started on the road to being vegan about 20 years ago, when I had to change from cow's milk to goat's milk. About 10 years ago I started with all the signs of an allergy to dairy (anaphylaxis rather than an intolerance) and had to remove all uncooked dairy from my diet completely. For a while I was able to manage with cooked cheese if it was of a non-cow origin, but about 4 years ago whilst at an advanced medical training course I had anaphylactic shock to some I ate and that was it. From there on in, I had to be vegetarian minus dairy. I have even had anaphylactic shock to an antihistamine tablet! They contain lactose monohydrate which is a tablet filler and although I am not allergic to lactose, I am allergic to a protein that can remain in the lactose monohydrate (as an impurity) when it is sourced from a dairy source...

So I became vegetarian to annoy my parents, about concerns over animal welfare and what they were fed, not really liking meat or fish anyhow and then vegan developing a severe allergy to all things dairy.

 

[Josie]

I became vegan when I saw what happens in the meat and dairy industries. Oh, and of course the eggs. I deluded myself to think the animals were all treated well until their quick and painless deaths. Not that I wanted any of them to die.. I just thought I would be the one dying if I didn't eat them LOL. So when I finally saw the truth, I sought more truths and found that animal products are not necessary for health and can actually be detrimental (I don't want to debate this if anyone feels the need lol). When I knew I could live on a plant based diet, I more than happily jumped into one... I've always despised eating animals. It was always a sad aspect of my diet for me.

I didn't choose vegetarianism because suffering doesn't stop at meat.. milk, cheese, eggs etc.. it's all connected to suffering and I can't be a part of that. I'm finally free of the burden I carried, I will never willingly be the reason an animal suffers again.

 

[Daisy Huck]

I was a vegetarian on and off for the entirety of my childhood. I became strictly vegan at 15 when I came to the realization that I could never eat meat, dairy or eggs again.
First and foremost, I find animal products, specifically meat, the burned muscle of dead animals, extremely gross. I do not care for the taste of milk, and after hearing how much pus is in it, had no problem cutting it out of my diet. Eggs were a little bit harder because I enjoyed the taste, but consuming chicken ovum was equally repellant to me.
Secondly, the way that animals are treated within the meat and dairy industry is abhorrent and I cannot support a system that breeds living beings, treats them barbarically, and then slaughters them, even though humans don't need their nutrients.
And thirdly, I must fight against the monumental impact the meat and dairy industries have upon our environment. At least 51% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture.
I am passionate about animals and the environment. I hope to make a difference in our society by defending the defenseless and standing in solidarity with them. (Plus, my body feels 150% better when I do not consume animal products!)

 

[LilAnn]

Originally, it was because of my weight and because I was always so sluggish. I can feel the "unhealthy" coursing through my veins. I want to feel light on my feet and I, not only want, but desperately need to cut the grease out of my diet. I want to eat without it weighing me down.

 

[AnnaBlah]

When I was about 7 years old, my family was trying out vegetarianism at home. We were hardcore meat eaters before that time so I didn't like the whole idea of no meat on my plate in every meal. I didn't like this change at all so basically I "food rebelled(if that's even a thing)" and continued with my meat consumption and hoped that this diet was just a phase my family was going through. As time went on, I slowly accepted the idea since it wasn't going away. I would try vegetables but still eat meat most of the time.
When I was in high school, I started reading on vegetarianism online. I watched a video about how animals were being slaughtered and it made me very emotional. Then, I decided I wanted to become a full vegetarian. I realized killing for food is something I don't want to be involved with. Animals have lives and hearing their cries while being slaughtered for human consumption is not humane at all. Of course, there is a long list of benefits of having a plant-based diet, but they only came in second. Still, the main reason of me deciding to becoming a full vegetarian was for the animals.

 

[turtledove]

I've been vegetarian since birth. I grew up in a household where both my parents were vegetarian, so me even trying meat never really came up. To this day, I've never tried meat, and now I'm so used to being vegetarian I don't think I'd try. I guess it's a lot easier to be vegetarian when you've never tried meat, because the whole concept of meat being 'tempting' just doesn't arise. As well as having grown up as a vegetarian, I also dislike the fact that we humans believe that we have the right to kill animals to eat when we have the option of eating other things. Just because we are 'superior', we have the right to torture and slaughter animals even when we don't have to do it to survive? I don't think so.

 

[Danielle Davidson]

One of the main reasons that I decided to be a vegetarian was because I hate what they do to the animals. I wanted to reduce the amount of animals that I kill. Another reason was because I also wanted to be more healthy. I find that I eat a lot healthier than before. I am glad that I decided to do it, just because of how much better I have been able to eat.

 

[luna.love2]

I don't do cruelty, I have too much love for that veganism for life