Vegetarians - why?

[Derek Westlund]

and can't survive well on only meat (you miss out on too many vitamins and minerals).

with the right meats you can survive exclusively on meat.

humans are omnivores they eat everything as it's available and in the best balance they can

anyone that doesn't do this is part of natures "lets kill as many as we can to control this plague" system

doesn't make you stupid or wrong (excluding my opinion) just naturally inclined to not follow evolutions past tracks

if that came across as a vague cop out then it came out how intended it to

also vegetarian diets ARE NOT HEALTHIER

it all comes down to which has more unhealthy things involved
insects and disease may be more likely to end up in your meat but pesticide which is just as bad if not worse than those diseases (and parasites)

anyone that says otherwise is lying deceiving you or stupid

organic means a legally acceptable amount of chemicals were used on your veges and their should be a meat equivalent if you look for it

or skip the whole organic or not process and learn to wash and cook it properly

 

[spartan231490]

Why not?

we are designed to eat meat? it's tasty? seem like good reasons to eat meat to me.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

I'm more than likely responsible for the death of hundreds of poor innocent creatures.

*eats bacon burger*

 

[Xyphon]

no idea, but i didnt climb the top of the food chain to eat rabbit food

Bears, sharks, and many more animals can easily kill and eat humans. I don't think we're at the top of the food chain

*cough*weapons*cough*

True, with a big enough gun I could kill a bear easily. But without guns/tools and knowledge of how to use them, humans lose to many animals.

But that's the thing about the human race. We may lack the claws and teeth of other animals, but what we lack we more than make up for in our ability to adapt. Virtually anything within our reach can be used to take a life and survive, be it a rock or even a small stick. I believe that our adaptive nature puts us on top of the food chain.

 

[Pakkie]

I'm a vegetarian, my main reason is, I just hate the idea of eating meat, I dunno why.
I just can't do it.
If I don't know I'm eating meat, I can eat it.
If I know or realize I'm eating meat I just throw up instantly :<.

 

[Hader]

On another note though, why would not eating dairy products be included in this (if at all)? Lactose intolerance aside that is.

 

[Chased]

To address one of your points I do salivate sometimes when I see deer or sheep or rabbits and I am hungry, I think they look pretty darn edible.

This is at the cause of a psychological connection of you associating the animal with food instead of salivating at the animal as a whole since we do not, as humans, hunt and sink our teeth into dead animal carcasses. When you see a dead possum on the road I doubt you think, "Damn I'd love to eat that." Your so called salivation is not caused from a natural standpoint, but instead a false preconception that you've instilled within yourself.

I'm not saying that humans should not eat meat, I'm just saying that we are not biologically designed to consume and take advantage of it in the way that natural carnivores and omnivores do.

 

[E-mantheseeker]

no idea, but i didnt climb the top of the food chain to eat rabbit food

Bears, sharks, and many more animals can easily kill and eat humans. I don't think we're at the top of the food chain

*cough*weapons*cough*

True, with a big enough gun I could kill a bear easily. But without guns/tools and knowledge of how to use them, humans lose to many animals.

But that's the thing about the human race. We may lack the claws and teeth of other animals, but what we lack we more than make up for in our ability to adapt. Virtually anything within our reach can be used to take a life and survive, be it a rock or even a small stick. I believe that our adaptive nature puts us on top of the food chain.

I agree that we are unrivaled when it comes to being creative and using creativity to adapt to situations. However, without the use of weapons or a well thought out plan, we most certainly would be eaten by another hungry predator. Basically, my logic is that if two animals (we count as animals) are in a room together and both are hungry, whichever animal that would be eaten more often than not, is below the other on the food chain

 

[E-mantheseeker]

On another note though, why would not eating dairy products be included in this (if at all)? Lactose intolerance aside that is.

All animals stop drinking milk at a certain point in their lives, humans are the only animals that continue consuming milk/dairy after our mothers stop producing it. To me, it makes no sense.

 

[Hader]

On another note though, why would not eating dairy products be included in this (if at all)? Lactose intolerance aside that is.

All animals stop drinking milk at a certain point in their lives, humans are the only animals that continue consuming milk/dairy after our mothers stop producing it. To me, it makes no sense.

That is not entirely true.

Most mammals (mammals only is key here as only mammals produce milk) are only lactose tolerant when they are infants. Lactose tolerance decreases as a child gets older, and eventually they cannot have milk anymore because it is so high in lactose. Some humans (only about 10% of all humans actually) have developed lactose tolerance, for various reasons (mostly that they lived with milk producing animals and instead of outgrowing milk just developed to keep lactose tolerance up). So a vast majority of humans today cannot drink milk past the infant stage. Anyone can eat other dairy products like cheese and yogurt though because those are lactose free.

 

[Steven True]

but nor would raw meat (which also must be cooked by the way to avoid disease and taste good.)

Actually not necessarily.
In Japan they love, yuke, which is high grade raw ground chuck mixed with raw quail egg.
It's eaten fresh and the food safety standards are quite high in Japan so there is not a problem with disease. In addition, I and most of the country find it quite delicious.
So, cooking meat is not necessary for food safety nor taste, it is only one method of doing so.

 

[squeekenator]

Why don't you eat human?

 

[OhSnap]

For me? Primarily moral/ethical reasons. So yes, I am one of those people who gave it up based on the animal cruelty behind it. I have a conscience, so sue me.

Although, I do have other reasons.

Environment. Takes more energy/resources to produce one pound of animals flesh as opposed to one pound of "rabbit food". I don't know the exact numbers, but if you would like I could find them. Also the raising of animals in the factories they grow them in now is a major contributor of greenhouse gases.

Health. Studies have shown that a predominately plant based diet reduces the risk of heart problems, obesity and certain cancers. I'd rather take every opportunity to extend the years of my life I remain healthy than not.

Also, I really don't like the taste.

Edit - I also like to watch people run around with their vegetarians are naive and need to be saved from themselves bs. It amuses me.

 

[Gigatoast]

Some people simply don't have the will power to live with even the least justified traces guilt. There are also religious reasons, but those come from a school unreason I won't even try to explain.

 

[BNguyen]

it's all about morals and preferential tastes,
even if a person is born in a culture which prohibited eating meat, that doesn't necessarily mean that they like the taste of vegetables, grains, and fruits
then there are the morals
some see it as an evil to kill animals for nourishment, although, these people fail to look at nature and realize that we as animals are part of nature. animals eat other animals but we are one of the few species which eats both meat and plants, but first and foremost, our anatomy was designed for eating meat.
Some may say eating only vegetables is healthy but lack of meat or on the basic level, protein and iron, is detrimental to one's health and these cannot be obtained in sufficient levels without eating meat.

From my standpoint, I prefer meat to eating vegetables but eat some
The people who bark that eating meat is wrong must understand that for men (a word I use to encompass all people regardless of gender) to rely entirely on fruits and vegetables would mean destroying the homes of countless animals in order to provide sizable farmland for production, and in the end, millions of species would go extinct through this process
insects would die via pesticides, as well as fish and animals that live in the soil from water poisoning, and animals that require specific plants to live off of would die out due to land clearing.

So while I understand a few viewpoints of not eating meat, they do not outweigh the benefits of eating meat

 

[Tdc2182]

If I put myself in an animals shoes (lolz), I would realize that it sucks to get eaten.

And you think about how that cow (or is it a bull if it's a male?) used to run around on a farm with it's it's cow wife and cow children with rainbows and stuff, only to be shoved into the back of a rusty old shack to be beaten over the head with a sledge hammer while it's wife get's molested for her milk and the cow children get their throats cut to be sold for a higher price at fancy restaurants, because veil is so much more expensive.

Yet so delicious.

I mean, I'm apparently in the minority in that I find chocolate ice cream absolutely disgusting and terrible.

I'm with you there.

 

[StormSeer]

I am a vegetarian for mostly heath benefits. I have more energy, I need less sleep, and I generally feel all around better.

Of course, there is also the fact that raising livestock takes many times more land and resources than growing plants.

On top of that, I have some moral objection to killing an animal for food when I do not have to.
I couldn't bring myself to kill some animal just because I wanted to taste something different for dinner that night.

For me, it seems silly to not be vegetarian, though I don't force my views on anyone.

 

[Steven True]

well on strictly philosophical terms i think there is a strong case to be made that it is unethical to cause unnecessary suffering to something capable of feeling pain

I can completely understand that ethical perspective. But another one worth considering is not looking at it from the individual animal's perspective but the species level.
Livestock animals are some of the most successful species on the planet. They have the greatest populations and ranges because human beings have set up a symbiotic relationship with them. We clear territory for them, provide them with food and water, protect them from predators and weather, and secure them mates and in return we get a high protein food source.

If we as a species were to abandon animal husbandry, chicken, bovine, sheep, and pork species would not be viable in the wild and would collapse.

 

[OhSnap]

it's all about morals and preferential tastes,
even if a person is born in a culture which prohibited eating meat, that doesn't necessarily mean that they like the taste of vegetables, grains, and fruits
then there are the morals
some see it as an evil to kill animals for nourishment, although, these people fail to look at nature and realize that we as animals are part of nature. animals eat other animals but we are one of the few species which eats both meat and plants, but first and foremost, our anatomy was designed for eating meat.
Some may say eating only vegetables is healthy but lack of meat or on the basic level, protein and iron, is detrimental to one's health and these cannot be obtained in sufficient levels without eating meat.

I beg to differ.

And yes, I'm going to copy and paste this.

Some might expect that since the vegan diet contains a form of iron that is not that well absorbed, vegans might be prone to developing iron deficiency anemia. However, surveys of vegans 2,3 have found that iron deficiency anemia is no more common among vegetarians than among the general population although vegans tend to have lower iron stores 3.

The reason for the satisfactory iron status of many vegans may be that commonly eaten foods are high in iron, as Table 1 shows. In fact, if the amount of iron in these foods is expressed as milligrams of iron per 100 calories, many foods eaten by vegans are superior to animal-derived foods. This concept is illustrated in Table 2. For example, you would have to eat more than 1700 calories of sirloin steak to get the same amount of iron as found in 100 calories of spinach.

Another reason for the satisfactory iron status of vegans is that vegan diets are high in vitamin C. Vitamin C acts to markedly increase absorption of non-heme iron. Adding a vitamin C source to a meal increases non-heme iron absorption up to six-fold which makes the absorption of non-heme iron as good or better than that of heme iron 4.

Fortunately, many vegetables, such as broccoli and bok choy, which are high in iron, are also high in vitamin C so that the iron in these foods is very well absorbed. Commonly eaten combinations, such as beans and tomato sauce or stir-fried tofu and broccoli, also result in generous levels of iron absorption.

From http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm#vegans

 

[loc978]

Why don't you eat human?

Legal issues.
Seriously, that's all. I have no moral issues with cannibalism. I think it could be used to combat hunger among the homeless. My government and I disagree on this point.