Why do people become vegetarian?

Answer 1

People decide to become vegetarians for a variety of reasons. Here are some responses by WikiAnswers contributors:

It's good for the animals, the environment and us.

For health reasons -

Excessive meat eating is linked to cancer and circulatory system diseases.

Meat is high in cholesterol and can be bad for you, especially in the quantities eaten in the US.

Most cases of food poisoning are from animal products; factory farms, slaughterhouses, and meat packing plants are extremely unsanitary places.

Vegetarians usually have less weight problems, lower rates of cancer, and live longer. The Ornish diet (low fat vegetarian) is proven to reverse Heart disease.

Meat takes a very long time to be digested.

For ethical/ philosophical reasons -

The cruelty of the meat industry is inexcusable.

Animals are not ours to eat, and should not be raised for slaughter.

We deny animals their natural rights.

Some people believe it is wrong to kill and eat animals.

They object to the way animals are treated in factory farms and in the slaughterhouses.

The animals are often given drugs to make them grow bigger and produce more meat; this is not healthy to animals or humans.

Animals have feelings and a personality just like us!!

They think eating meat is morally wrong.

For environmental reasons -

To help save the planet. Meat production destroys endangered rain forests, produces lots of methane (a greenhouse gas) and water pollution in the form of sewage. Livestock raising produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars in the world. Raising vegetarian food uses much less water. Half of all water used in the US is used to raise livestock. It takes many pounds of vegetarian food to produce one pound of meat. In the US over half of all the food grown goes to livestock production. Meat eating creates around half of the world's pollution, traffic only causes 11%. Meat production is wasteful to water resources, land resources, and food itself.

For political reasons -

If resources were diverted from meat production; there could be enough food to feed everyone on the earth. Meat production is wasteful; it takes many pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat. A fairer distribution of food and resources in the world is possible if the food fed to farm animals was used to feed people instead. Much of the food grown in the world goes to feeding livestock.

For religious reasons/ spiritual advancement -

Some religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and the Seventh Day Adventists encourage people to become vegetarian.

Eating meat creates bad karma.

Seventh Day Adventists are among the healthiest people in the world today.

For psychological reasons -

Some people find meat unappealing. They become aware of what they are eating and what disease it could hold. Also, they realize how messed up it is to eat a living thing. (That's me.)

Peer pressured to (not common, it usually pushes the person to go the other way).

To spare the lives of animals.

Individuals get a little disgusted when he/she learns about meat and digestion.

Health reasons/ healthy lifestyle change or a diet decision.

People are typically vegetarian for health, moral, or religious reasons. They may want to reduce (red) meat or meat aside from fish (eating fish with the exclusion of other meat would be pescitarian). They may believe that the killing of animals is wrong and/or their treatment in facilities to attain them is (in this case they may also be vegan - choosing not to eat animals or their by-products because of the treatment of the animals to get them). The moral reasons could also be religious.. Jewish and Muslim people tend to stay away from pork because of the perception of pigs being dirty.. But they are not necessarily vegetarian. Strictness depends on the person. Some people choose not to eat gelatin because it is made from cow or sheep bone (this is in pop tarts [the ones with icing], jello, marshmallows, and other foods). Cheese is also questionable because of animal enzymes or rectin. Most packages will just say "enzymes" so research is necessary to find out what kind. If they are animal derived, they can come from the removal of a cow or sheep stomach, scraping it out, and extracting the rectin or enzymes from the stomach to aid in the production of cheese. If a package says animal shortening, or lard, this is animal fat. I wouldn't think a vegetarian would eat that either.

Answer 2

Some people become vegetarians for religious reasons.

Answer 3

Some do it for religious reasons. Some for health reasons. Others for ethical reasons.