That human beings were designed to eat meat is not debatable, is just a fact of our biology. Lions, tigers, cats, eagles, bears, human beings, all were designed by nature/god to eat meat. Be not convinced if you like, but it’s like being not convinced of the fact of evolution.
And your assertion is demonstrably incorrect: My reason for eating meat is not that it tastes good (although it does), but rather that I believe it’s natural for me to do so.
Even if you are yourself not convinced that it’s natural, you pretty much have to accept that I believe it and that that is my reason for eating meat. Therefore, your assertion that there is no other reason than the taste is, as I said, demonstrably incorrect because there exists at least one (namely me) example of a second reason.
I am a vegetarian for both the environmental and the health reasons. I believe that we should be as natural as possible and I personally think that we are all herbivores. That’s contrary to popular opinion, I know, even among vegetarians. But I have yet to hear any sufficient evidence that proves to me that we are truly omnivores. I’ve read Cecil’s thread about this and frankly I just plain disagree. I’m not trying to get an argument started you understand. If you want to argue then let’s start another thread.
I’m also a devout Christian and it does pain me to know that God has given us permission to eat animals. Still, he didn’t COMMAND us to eat meat. And I know that all humans from Adam & Eve all the way to Noah and his family (until the flood) were forbidden to eat meat. And they were very healthy. In fact, if you believe the Bible, some lived hundreds of years. Can we attribute that to their diet? Well, it probably wasn’t the only reason, but they couldn’t have lived that long if all they ate was pork and beef.
Anyway, it is certainly possible to be an unhealthy vegetarian. A lot of junk food is vegetarian. (note: very strict vegetarians don’t ingest sugar because it is often processed through bone char.) However, it is more difficult to be a healthy omnivore than it is to be a healthy vegetarian, especially if you prepare your meals with fruits and vegetables. It is difficult to keep from eating too much protein if you eat meat. Too much protein is bad for you. It inhibits the absorbtion of calcium so too much protein can be contribute to osteoperosis.
Sorry for going on so much. I don’t mean to preach. You may disagree with me as you choose. I completely respect every person’s opinion about this. If you choose to eat meat I don’t mind at all. That just leaves more Tofu for me.
If you are really curious about vegetarianism you can go to http://www.vrg.org/ If you become a member ($20) you get a really excellent book: Vegan & Vegetarian FAQ. If you just want to buy the book you can just pay $15, but you don’t get the subscription to The Vegetarian Journal, which has recipes and articles every month. You don’t have to join of course. There is a lot of very useful information for free on the website.
I have a lot of reasons for becoming a vegetarian, so much so that it’s difficult to answer the question when people ask.
I started to consider it when a friend became vegetarian. I started to read about it. At the core I’m an environmentalist and I thought that this was a good way that I could show that through what I purchase (a powerful sway in society, as much if not more important as voting).
Also, I just couldn’t justify killing something needlessly, and, in today’s society, I don’t need to eat meat. That’s just how I look at it, though I don’t expect others to agree with me. It’s like sport hunting. You’re taking something’s life away without gaining anything but recreation, because you can survive (and survive well) as a vegetarian.
Lastly, nobody believed I had the willpower to do it. That pretty much sealed it. Been vegetarian all of my adult life and quite a bit of my teenage years as well.
All of the above. They are all good reasons, and they all had to do with my decision.
Primarily, I’m vegetarian because … meat just doesn’t look like food to me. And the health reason is just as important. I feel so incomparably better being vegetarian that I have constant positive reinforcement to stay this way. If I ate meat I would feel so yuck, so down. Who needs that? Ever since I became vegetarian, I feel lighter, fresher, happier, healthier, and more peaceful. I can think better.
Not wanting to kill animals, wanting to protect the environment, and benefiting my yoga practice are important reasons too.
I have very weird blood that can’t really handle iron. Meat is loaded with iron and literally makes me sick.
Just think about it: You can go out and gather your own fruits and veggies and eat them raw. How many people would eat meat if they had to kill it and eat it raw? You can store fruits and veggies without a frig and eat them later. Can you do that with meat? Eating meat doesn’t make much sense to me.
My parents brought me up to believe that if you could make friends with it, you shouldn’t eat it. This has made sense. Of course, with, say, ants, I don’t really have a moral objection, but I don’t want to eat one.
I initially became a vegetarian due to health reasons. Over the course of time I’ve become progressively less and less convinced about this. At some point (I forget when) I switched over to being a pescatarian - I now eat fish and seafood occasionally. By this point I’m not vegetarian for any moral or ideological reasons, I simply think that most meat is vaguely gross. I think that in general people eat too much meat, but I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with eating it from time to time. I just don’t do it.
