Why don't you eat meat?

Because i stopped eating meat when i was 5 years old. I couldn't bear eating it once i realized that it was a dead animal. Like when you're little, sometimes you don't draw the conclusion that Beef is Cow and Pork is pig, because they sound like a completely different thing, so once my mom explained it to me, i didn't want to eat it anymore. They thought i'd grow out of it, cause a lot of little kids don't stick with things for long, but surprisingly i did (stick with it). And i've grown up not eating it, and i don't plan on starting. But i have nothing against people who do, the rest of my family have meat at almost every meal. But honestly, i feel a little sick when i watch people eat it..

But i'm proud of myself for being one. I love animals and i wouldn't feel right knowing i was eating their cousins, haha.

well since the caveman days, we were hunting animals and eating them for food and survival. I can't imagine any vegitables would have been able to grow back then because of the climate (don't hold me to that). I guess it's a natural instinct. Don't you notice how if you wave a piece of meat and a peice of vegitable in a dog's face it will instantly go for the meat? I choose to eat meat and vegitables because it's a way of life. Plus do you really want to be a vegan? animals like cows and goat have been milked for centuries, although it doesn't look very friendly milking an animal, it's very natural. Drinking breast milk as a baby is pretty much the same thing. Soy milk isn't natural but good luck.

I have a vegan diet because eating meat is totally unnatural, totally unnecesaary and cruel beyond words.

To exsft, go and do some study of human physiology before claiming you and your family to be 'omnis'. Humans are herbivores, and are especially ill equipped to cope with the red meat of large animals that you get from your rancher friend. From dentition, to digestion, to physical characteristics we are meant to live on a plant based diet. There is absolutely no nutironal benefits frm eating meat that can't be derived from a plant based source.

To place living beings in the horrific conditions of factory farms, and to then subject them to the atrocities of a slaughter house is evil by any sane person definition. To do so merely to sate an indulgence for the taste of meat is absolutely disgraceful.

I don't like the use of the term 'humane treatment' when it comes ot animals. Obviously I don't believe that animals have all the same rights as humans, as humans live in a complex society and we have rights that animals could not express like the right to vote etc, but I believe animals have the same rights as humans to live their lives in a way that they can display natural behaviour, and be free from exploitation.

I also have trouble with the old line form meat eaters that if they respect our choice not to eat meat so we should respect their choice to eat it. It's a bit like a cannibal asking a meat eater to respect their choice to eat people. And in any case the dead animal sitting on their plate didn't have much 'choice' did they.

And as somebody else has said, eating the decaying flesh of another animal is just plain gross.

Well actually I eat meat (about 3-4 times a week) but even I don't eat ALL kinds of meat. I don't eat store bought or commercially available beef, pork and chicken. I buy it from a rancher friend or from online sources such a Lobel's ( the same brand that Dave Letterman gives away) or Morgan Ranch. My family produces vegetables and fruits though not organic. The production costs are such that it's not be a viable product at the moment. But we do have organic produce for our own use.

Am I reasonably healthy? My latest physical says I am in excellent shape and health. So are my wife and kids, all omnis.

Vegans are not cruelty free. No lifestyle truly is. The best one could say it is reasonably less cruel as it does not advocate, call or involve killing of animals for food and other products. But in many cases, or to some degree, veganism cannot avoid being involved in the killing of an animal large or small.

I'm a vegan and I don't eat meat, eggs, dairy, etc, because I don't like the way animals are treated for them. Also, to me, it doesn't seem natural to drink milk from another animal species. If I knew a farmer that sold eggs and I got to see the chickens to make sure they were being treated well, there might be a possibility that I might buy eggs from them. However, eggs just gross me out right now.

My personal reasons for not eating meat are the inhumanity and the health risks. The inhumanity is very important in my decision, and after alot of research which began with http://www.notmilk.com/ I decided that the health concerns along with the moral issue was enough to make me stop all dairy products as well.

There are as many personal reasons as there are people, and each one is important in it's own right. Whether you have a list of reasons, or no reason at all, just the fact that you are leaving a gentler touch on the planet is enough in itself to be all the reason you need.

Congratulations on 30 years of Vegetarianism. Wow!

I initially became a vegetarian because of the way the animals were treated at factory farms and by the workers. I stayed a vegetarian (now vegan) because of the FDA. Those people suck, they allow all kinds of drugs and hormones to be injected and added for "safety" reasons. Its disgusting actually. Meat, raised and slaughtered the right way is actually quite healthy and a good source of protein. But with everything thats added to it, from the low grade feed to the injected hormones makes it borderline toxic.

I just started living a vegan lifestyle about 6 weeks ago. I'm doing it for my health, for the animals, for the environment. I have learned so much in the past month and half, that I know this isnt just a diet, it is now a way of life for me. When I think of everything I have learned, I couldn't imagine going back to eating animals...Everyone is different, but I dont think I could eat meat again without a guilty conscience....

Well Stopped ages ago when I was 16, I do eat fish now, but the reason I stopped was due to animal cruelty....also watching the cruelty of the seals being killed.

Because I do not support animal cruelty and the torture and suffering that humans make animals go through. I am a vegan because I like having a cruelty free lifestyle.

Well, of course you have to have realistic standards and expectations but, in response to exfst, comparing someone who eats meat, wears things such as fur and/or leather and uses products that have animal derived ingredients and have been tested on animals to someone who is a vegan, technically it is as cruelty free as one can get. It would be possible to live a complete cruelty free lifestyle if we did not live in a meat eater's world. But, as time goes on and more people become vegetarians and vegans things change to accomodate them. So maybe one day, we can be absolutely positive that living a COMPLETELY cruelty free lifestyle is possible.