convince me not to eat meat?

Nope - it is a personal choice and unless you feel compelled you can't possibly understand. Good luck!

ha. I love this topic. My friends and I discuss it all the time!

well by NOT eating meat, the obvious thing is that you are helping the animals. But some other great thigns that come out of it are the health benefits, the impact on the environment, and beans, soy, and tofu is much cheaper then meat! Most people don't realize the amount hormones that are pumped into the meat that you eat, how healthy is that for you I mean really? By not eating meat you will also help the environment. And I think the money issue is pretty self-explainitory! :]

now I know this may sound sort of child-ish but by eating meat, you are taking away an innocent beings life! That piece of meat that makes up part of dinner once had a life, a family!

Most people say that we are the top of the food chain so that is why we have the right to eat meat. But really, we don't have any right to take away a livestock animals life.

Other people, if they believe in god, will say that God put the animals that people eat on a daily basis on the Earth so that we could eat them. That is a very rediculous statement in my opinion. Now I am an athiest, but people think that God put everything on the Earth for a specific reason, but why do we have any right to take away the life of one of "Gods" creatures?

Another thing that I find extremly rediculous is that we have all of these laws protecting house pets, such as cats and dogs. Now that is an animal, just like the animal that you ate for dinner last night. We, as humans, dont protect these poor little animals that are being in-humanly slaughtered.

And vegetarianism is really a personal choice, so I'm pretty sure that no one on this will be able to convince you to stop eating meat, but I'm happy you posted this

:]

Chris, I just finished eating one hell of a fat labster with my son. I am the wrong person to discuss this but I will share some of my thoughts with you.

As I get older, I find it much harder to kill. Even for food. I have seen many things die in my life (humans included) and hated it. The loss of life is dreadful, especially when you are the taker.

Once, I hunted with impunity. Now, I find that if I only eat the meat I kill then I take far less life. The lobster was the first thing I have killed in a while. It will be a while before I do it again. I will take a turkey this year, I will also eat it. Will I go to mcdee's and chow on crap food just because I can? No...

I have found in my lifes journey that NOT eating meat is not the answer. It is being cognisant of the life you take and respecting the gift you have been given.

Happy hunting...

There are lots of reasons. Mine was an ethical choice, but many other people have environmental, health, and spiritual motivators. I'm sure hunting, skinning, dismembering, and finding a place for all of that blood is a step up from buying a neat little package of meat. I wouldn't be able to hunt and take apart an animal myself, so I don't eat meat. If that isn't enough to make you want to stop hunting, then I don't know what is. There are a lot of wilderness sports and hiking that can connect you with nature, and you can also grown your own garden of food. The patience and hard work pays off when the food is ready.

BTW, I think we can 'change who we our' to 'who we are'.

:-D

I am a meat eater as well. The most logical argument that I have heard against meat eating is that it takes far less resources from the land to produce vegan and vegitarian foods than does raising an animal to maturity and then killing it.

The reasoning goes like this. It would take 100lbs (not a real # just for the sake of argument) of grain to raise a cow to maturity to butcher it. This cow will feed say 15 people. On the other hand that 100lbs of grain could feed 40 people without the harm to the land that grazing cattle causes.

This is the best non-emotional argument I have heard on the subject.

I eat meat...

Hmm.. Well, If you don't cook them right they can spread diseases to you. Uncooked beef can give you a certain type of worm (I forget what type specifically), Steak that is still red or cooked improperly can lead to the same thing and any diseases the living animal had.

It is cruelty, and we don't neccissarily need it. I have a (Very) high metabolism so, protein is a MUST for me. Sorry, vegitarians. Sorry, vegans.

Also, if you eat to much of it you could kill yourself. You need other things in your diet.

As they say "Too much of a good thing could kill you." it's true.

Oh, and vegitarians shouldn't be forced into eating meat because their body gets used to the vegies and fruits instead (they'll get sick); vise versa, a meat eater wil feel drained if they don't eat (enough) meat. I don't live off of meat by any means. I couldn't possibly buy enough for once a month.

My answer is simple: if you want to eat it, then eat it. If you don't, then don't. There's nothing wrong with either choice.

I eat meats, but there are some I don't like. There are also some kinds of vegetables I don't like. I eat what I like.

I know many vegetarians -- some believe it's more healthy, some believe for animal rights, some don't because they had a traumatic experience as a child dissecting an animal in school. Those are fine reasons. If people don't want to eat meat for those reasons, more power to them.

What I don't believe in is "convincing" someone either way to eat or not to eat meat. It just doesn't matter enough for people to try and push one belief or the other on another person.

I actually don't have a single issue with eating meat. In my case, I find that I feel better if I don't overload myself with protein, probably a carrier of some sort of enzyme deficiency or something. I just prefer the way I feel if I keep the meat items few and far between. Ribs are soooo good, but I just can't stand the flushed face and tired feeling afterward, so I eat half a rack on the rare occasions I eat them.

Your service to others is also a good thing :) I like that.

Eating meat or not eating meat is a personal choice. No one is going to be able to convince you to do something that you don't want to.

There probably is no answer that would change your thoughts on eating meat, the same as no argument you could give would make me want to go hunting.

It is futile to try and persuade people to try and do something they do not want to do. For you, your reasons for eating meat mean as much to you, as a vegetarians reasons for not eating it.

Thanks for being so open minded, I wish more people were willing to listen like you. Here are a few reasons I chose to become vegan.

1. Cruelty to Animals

C'mon we all know what goes on in factory farms.

2. Your Health

Meat is full of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, growth hormones, fat and cholesterol.

3. World Hunger

Coz the tonnes of grain used to feed animals could be used to solve world hunger.

4. Worker Rights

Abottoir workers, and other meat industries are the most exploited and lowest paid workers in the world.

5. Government Negligence

The government subsidises meat and dairy production. They subsidise water & grain to keep prices low, if the true cost was past on to the consumer it wouldn't be affordable. Is that where you want your tax dollar to go??? I would rather my money go towards education, health, and green research initiatives.

6. The environment

Eating meat contributes to carbon emissions, Beef generates about 24 times more CO2 than an equivalent vegie and rice dinner. Thousands of hectares of rain forest are cleared every year to house or graze animals. Even more land is cleared to grow grains to feed these animals (grains which could be used to feed starving people). This is in addition to the massive amounts of waste they produce, which goes largely untreated into the environment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27b...

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/01/27/weeki...

I just don't like the idea of taking animal life and it isn't necessary, so I don't eat meat.

I don't think the idea of vegetarianism can be forced on anyone. It has to come from within.