Why did you become veg*n, initially?
Posted by Allychristine on Sep 14, 2009 · Member since Dec 2007 · 15438 posts
I know all the great reasons, but what made you decide?
I always loved animals, and felt a close bond to them, and yet I always loved meat. (ew) No one in my family is vegetarian. Anyway, one night, I began to eat some of my mom's lasagna (she's a great cook), and it was kind of cold, and I was thought, "wow, this is really gross." So, I decided to never eat meat again! Ten years later, ::) P was talking to one of his friends (opposite of veg*n), and the friend asked, "why aren't you vegan?" P was like...I dunno. Then he asked me, and I was like..I dunno. Then we researched, and here we are! Branded and everything. If I knew then what I know now...
I was raised in a meat-eating family and am the only one to take the veg*n path. I became veg for ethical reasons. I am against animal suffering and to know that most animals are still conscious and can feel their bodies being torn apart and dismembered because of outrageous hourly quotas (300/hr cows), faulty equipment or inexperienced workers, workers who abuse animals on purpose - whatever the reason may be. I have heard about many cases of abuse at chicken slaughter plants in which the workers were pulling the heads of chickens as they go by on a line, they inserted items in their anuses, they blew them up with dry ice, ran over them with forklift, etc. It is just disturbing, sad and a real shame. Numbered: 1-ethical 2-environmental 3-health
I went vegetarian in April of 2007.
I did it in part because I thought it was the "cool" thing to do. (man, was I wrong).
The other part of me did it because I had always wanted to be vegetarian.
I have a vegan uncle, his girlfriend is vegetarian, my cousin dated a vegetarian, another cousin was a vegetarian (now vegan), my friends all "tried" vegetarianism.. the list goes on.
It's odd how I met all these vegetarians in my life and it never clicked. Sometimes it takes awhile.
I had tried once at the age of 13, only to fail miserably.
I never liked meat; I mainly ate chicken everyday.
I came home from school one day and decided I wanted to be a vegetarian.
That new years, I went vegan.
I set the goal a few months before.
I never really planned to go vegan until I was 18, but I did it beforehand anyways.
My reason for going vegan was 100% for the animals.
Edited to add stuff.
TB awesome story u made me shed a tear :(
Ooh I thought I had posted here but I haven't!
I was born into a very hippy family, my parents were lacto-vegetarian for ethical reasons and so they raised me that way too. We mostly lived in very rural farming areas, I was certainly the only vege kid in school, so we weren't exactly normal. When I got old enough to think about it myself, my folks always said it was my decision, that I was welcome to try stuff at school or friends' houses if I wanted, but they weren't going to buy it or cook it. So I gave the odd thing a try out of curiosity, mainly sausage sizzles or part of a meat pie (At school, the only food you could buy in those days was mince pies or sausage rolls...sucked if I forgot my lunch!), or a bite of something at a friend's house for dinner. I also had some horrible experiences like going on girl guide camp where the "vegetarian option" provided was a huge slab of chicken...ugh ugh ugh.
When I got to intermediate school, about age 11, I took a look at myself and my habits consciously for the first time and realised:
1) The tastes I've had have been nothing special and unmissable
2) A lot of what I've had has been gross or made me feel incredibly sick
3) I certainly don't want to kill animals
4) I am perfectly happy, healthy and satisfied without meat.
So at age 11 (I still remember the moment) I decided to be vegetarian of my own accord.
When I got to university for some reason I relaxed my ideas and had a brief flirtation with pescetarianism, and eggs as well - mainly because my boyfriend at the time was a sushi fanatic so I gave that a go - I think it was a combination of laziness and curiosity again, or different priorities being at the forefront of my mind. But I never ate a lot of fish, and eggs made me feel a bit sick when I ate them, so while I kept those options open for a while I was never enamoured with either. At the same time I was living with a vegan, and she was a bit crazy...I remember thinking that vegans were this insane group of cuckoo people because of her haha but I loved her food so that was a good influence on me.
Then, in my final year of university I had to do a public speaking paper and decided to do my speech about being a vegetarian. At the same time I was feeling sick a lot after eating, and so when I started my speech research I started looking at myself and my diet and realised that I wasn't really a vegetarian anymore if I ate fish sometimes, and that it was probably dairy making me feel sick.
So I rerealised that "being vegetarian is really important to me and I couldn't really care less about eating fish, and if I'm a vegetarian who doesn't want to eat dairy anymore that makes me....almost vegan."
So I researched it. And absolutely everything, from the animal rights, to the environmental impact, to the health benefits, just absolutely clicked with what I believe about how I would like to live. It was just the right information at exactly the right time, and I got extremely excited and ran with it.
Been vegan for a year, and could honestly never imagine going back to anything else. It's just right for me :-)
I read gandhi's autobiography and got inspired to try vegetarianism about three years ago. At first it was just an experiment but I grew to love the health aspect of it, and the fact that I was saving animals, saving the earth, everything about it felt right.
It seemed to me that, like I heard somewhere or saw on a t shirt or something, "when vegetarians grow up they become vegans", and thats just what happened. Veganism felt like the next step in my life and so I did it. Haven't looked back since.
I can now fully listen to that propagandhi song, nailing descartes to the wall, without feeling guilty or like something isn't right in my life.
i've had hang-ups about meat since i was really young. like i could never see raw chopped-meat if it was being cooked for dinner, i could never touch any raw meat, especially chicken. then in my stoner teens i couldn't even sit down to a meal with dead animals in it if i was high without getting super queasy.
anyway, my sister went vegan about 2 years ago, and i just said fuck it and went veg. she tries to get me to work towards vegan, but honestly it's not in my character to dissuade and evangelize. i'm more comfortable just doing my own thing.
I met someone who was a vegan and I was intrigued by her choices. So, I asked her a lot of questions which she answered clearly and without judgment. She then recommended I read the China Study. I became a vegan after reading the first two chapters. Funny, I teach at Cornell and never knew about Campbell's work. I'm so glad I learned about it, even if it was at the age of 48.
I did it to lose weight, and I did. In my first 3 weeks I dropped 10 kgs.
But as I immersed myself more in veganism, I realised how much of a benefit I was being to society, to the earth, and to all the animals lives I was saving.
I mean, to think, every single time you're not eating a hamburger, that animal isn't dying.
I never ate lamb as a child as I couldn't stand eating those little cute wooly animals, but looking back on it, how could I eat chicken or beef and not think the same way?
So yeah, I went straight from omnivore to vegan, in the space of 1 day. I woke up as an omnivore, and went to sleep as a vegan.
Not much of a spectacular story, but that was just how it was. Parked outside of the grocery store one day, and my mum just asked me, "Do you want to be Vegan?" and I did. Thus, I became vegan.
I stopped eating red meat at about age 20. The only meat I ate was chicken and turkey. About 9 years ago I went vegetarian. No reason other than meat just became unappetizing to me. . . and after a few months, totally repulsive. I've just tired to go vegan about a week ago. No reason other than the thought of eating eggs and cheese started to become unappetizing.
So there is no political or philosophical reason. It was just a natural progression. I despise cruelty to animals but that is not the reason to attempt to become vegan.
I was born into a very hippy family, my parents were lacto-vegetarian for ethical reasons and so they raised me that way too...When I got old enough to think about it myself, my folks always said it was my decision, that I was welcome to try stuff at school or friends' houses if I wanted, but they weren't going to buy it or cook it...So at age 11 (I still remember the moment) I decided to be vegetarian of my own accord.Then, in my final year of university I had to do a public speaking paper and decided to do my speech about being a vegetarian. At the same time I was feeling sick a lot after eating, and so when I started my speech research I started looking at myself and my diet and realised that I wasn't really a vegetarian anymore if I ate fish sometimes, and that it was probably dairy making me feel sick.
Theodamus - I have 2 young daughters and I plan to raise them the same as your parents did when it comes to food.
I'm a very new vegan, was vegetarian from age 14-30, got Celiac disease and was told to eat meat by my doctor for protein. ARGH! Should have never listened! Gained weight, got more and more sick, developed Fibromyalgia until recently, I reread Skinny B and Eating Animals, then decided that enough was enough - I couldn't ignore the animal abuse & killing, enviromental impact, and the negative impact on my health any longer. Haven't been vegan very long, but some of my Fibromyalgia complaints are already starting to disappear. I've also had an unclogged head for the first time in years. I swear I was lactose intolerant and just never knew it.
Vegans rock!...and we eat divinely, thank you very much :P
Well, I'm vegetarian right now, but veganism is looking more and more appealing. I've been a vegetarian various times in my life. I think it all began when I read an article in like Seventeen Magazine (probably 1997-98) when I was about 14 or 15 about being a vegetarian. I had NO idea someone would abstain from eating meat because I just ate whatever my mom and I cooked every night without a second thought, so that article (I wish I kept it) was a HUGE revelation for me. I immediately stopped eating meat, though my family was not wealthy by any means, which upset my step-dad very much. I think I went about a week without eating meat, through various fights with him about it, and then gave it up.
Then I went to K-State for college and lived in the dorms for my first two years. I decided to revisit vegetarianism my first two semesters there, and it was brilliant. I didn't gain the "Freshman 15"...I actually lost about 20 lbs. It was during this time I met my boyfriend and future fiance, and I remember it being the most blissful, happiest time of my life. And then I started eating meat again and gained all my weight (and then some) back.
I went back to veg twice more over the next three years. The next time started when my fiance and I were driving back to my hometown for a weekend, and we passed a field of cows, including a bunch of babies. He asked me if I knew what veal was (I didn't...even though my hometown is like the "veal capital" of KS..yeah, gross, right?). He proceeded to explain it to me, and I cried my eyes out for the rest of the drive. After I graduated and we moved to Wichita, I was thinking about doing it again, so I happened to watch the "Meet your Meat" video...and bawled again. My fiance always thinks I am being "dumb" by going veg, but he eventually comes around.
I think it's partly health, partly politics and ethics, and partly environment (mixed with a tad of rebellion) that motivates me. I am really, REALLY trying to become vegan, but again, my fiance thinks I am crazy. Although I have gotten him to eat some veg food (he hates veggies to begin with), it's still really tough. I am going to a birthday party for a friend tomorrow night at a Japanese Steakhouse, and I looked at the menu in advance online, since I've never been there. Yeah, all the meals are based around meat. Should be fun. In the past I've eaten shrimp when I went veg because I liked it so much in the past. Supposedly, when my mom was preggers with me, all she crazed was shrimp from this SPECIFIC Japanese Steakhouse...so there's a lot of pressure on my to try it, as I've never eaten it before. I am wavering, but this just goes to show how difficult it is to please friends and still maintain your beliefs.
they usually have sushi and those type of restraunts.... just have them make u some veggie sushi :) delicious... this is your life and your body! u have the right to do what u want with it... try not to give into the pressure because it will always be there... stand up for ur beliefs and values! watch "food, inc." on youtube... then watch "the world according to monsanto"... they r both really good :) u can do this we are all here to help... being vegan is not a crazy thing to do it is good for u :)
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