Comments | endseptember: :: ten reasons to be a vegetarian ::

endseptember

:: ten reasons to be a vegetarian ::

Sep 15, 2004 12:52

I'm having a harder and harder time lately with the idea of eating meat. I'm not really sure where it comes from. I was practically raised next to a barbeque, and the aroma of an open grill in the summertime still makes my mouth water. Meat often sounds appetizing to me when I'm really hungry, but lately I order a steak or a burger only to take ( Read more... )

Comments 16

swimsuit_issue September 15 2004, 20:39:22 UTC

jared,
i'm so happy to see that you're considering this. i've been vegetarian for almost 8 years now.
the first year is probably the most difficult, but even after a few months, you'll find yourself craving meat less and less.
being vegetarian forces you to become a little more conscientious of your diet, but that's probably a good thing anyway. i take vitamin supplements, and try to fill the protein void with a lot of soy (and dairy, sadly).
anyway, if you need any help dropping the meat habit, maybe we can set up some weekly vegan bbq's or something. :)

joey

endseptember September 15 2004, 20:47:06 UTC

thank you joey :)

I'm down for doing some vegan cooking. I need to get myself back in the habit of cooking my own meals instead of eating out anyway.

jentle September 15 2004, 20:43:30 UTC

<-- Vegetarian.

you seem to have done the research just fine and so I really don't know what else to say to you. All I know is that it must be good karma because after I quit eating meat, I felt so much better about myself on both emotional and physical levels.

I especially noticed the physical.

Every once in a while I miss it. But there are vast amount of alternatives to meat out there. Honestly - it's really not that hard - it's not near as life changing as I thought it would be. It's far more convienant than led to believe.

endseptember September 15 2004, 20:45:57 UTC

that's the one thing i hear most often is that people truly notice a difference in how they feel once they stop eating meat. I'm all for feeling better. :)

More from an ethical direction... xlabrysx September 15 2004, 21:16:57 UTC

I went vegan for ethical/social reasons, which was the most persuasive route for me. When it comes to books, I'd definitely recommend that you read Rattling The Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals by law professor Steven M. Wise. In it, he shows that animals are sentient individuals who can feel pain. Because of this, he argues, it is unethical that the law designates animals as mere objects to be bought, sold, discarded, or destroyed at the whim of an owner, and instead, every sentient being should be legally regarded as a "person" irrelevant to the species that individual belongs to.

Another great book that covers a variety of animal liberation angles, as well as the ethical aspect, is Animal Liberation by utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer. It was written in the 60's and basically sparked the modern animal rights movement.

As for online articles, these two are a couple of my favorites and pack everything into a shiny little nutshell pretty well:

Connections: "Our society is founded on the inherent belief in false dualisms ( ... )

Re: More from an ethical direction... endseptember September 15 2004, 21:58:19 UTC

Awesome! I knew I'd get a good response chock full of information from you, Mel. Thank you.

rebelact September 15 2004, 21:27:30 UTC

Was I what spurred this entry? haha

So is going vegetarian a counter measure for all the cigarette and weed smoke we take in, all the alcohol and soda that's guzzled, etc?

rebelact September 15 2004, 21:45:45 UTC

I like the "NO CARB DIET" myself. :-P

( ... )

endseptember September 15 2004, 21:57:05 UTC

hahaha

endseptember September 15 2004, 21:56:36 UTC

haha...no, but what did spur this entry was the still pinkish hamburgers that they "grilled" up for us at work today.

Honestly though, all moral, ethical, and dietary reasons aside, the main factor in my consideration of making the switch to a vegetarian diet is simply the fact that I just don't enjoy meat anymore.

Take that, and add all the reasons I listed above, and it's just hard for me to find a good reason to continue to eat meat.

Thread 7

"Diet for a New America" excelent choice in reading frika001 September 16 2004, 00:24:13 UTC

I think it's wonderful that you are getting info on this before you attempt to change your lifestyle. I wasn't that smart when I decided to go vegan, which caused me to be just as unhealthy as when I ate meat and dairy. Being veggie/vegan isn't a hard as long as you are serious about it. The hardest part of my lifestyle is dealing with the ignorance of those who aren’t tolerant of my choices. Don't get me wrong being raw is really hard, but not as hard as listening to people drill me about why I have chosen to live a raw foodist lifestyle and how wrong that is because god wants us to eat meat and other such lovely comments. For some reason I don't think that will be too hard for you to deal with considering you live in Utah with leftist political views:) I am not militant and never have been I think that one must choose a lifestyle that fits them on their own accord ( ... )

Re: "Diet for a New America" excelent choice in reading frika001 September 16 2004, 00:31:37 UTC

So sorry I linked it to google instead of the right page. Yeah... don't ask, but here is the right link.
The role of meat-eating in human evolution

Re: "Diet for a New America" excelent choice in reading endseptember September 16 2004, 20:52:53 UTC

thank you for all of the information. the links are much appreciated. And hey, anytime someone knows more about a topic than I do, I care about what they think :)

thanks again!