To Be Vegetarian or Not?

My personal belief is this:
How does it feel to you? How does being a vegetarian feel? How does eating meat feel? Your emotions will guide you. If it feels heavy, it's wrong for you.

And yes, please do support your local farmers!

Well just in case anyone was wondering, I ate meat and it was good yeah sure but but the veggie stuff is just as good and so I am back to being veggie

well I was a vegetarian for many years, then my doctors told me I was anemic and to start eating more red meat. But after a few months of eating more meat, I started to get really consipated. So now I just eat more beans and nuts, and my tummy feels way better

ok, one week being back to veggie, omgosh feel so good

Actually DarkAshHurts- I live in Nebraska which is a farm/cow state. I live where a good majority of your meat comes from. Ever heard of Omaha Steaks? I could drive 20 minutes to any of their slaughter houses or factories if I wanted to as well as a dozen other slaughter houses and factories. I live 10 minutes away from a cattle farm in a city so I see exactly how cows live. I've visited several dairy and cattle farms in my life and know how clean and humane the conditions are.

This just ticks me off. News media always focuses on the negative aspects and never shows the reality of where most food comes from and then we get a bunch of arrogant people waving the "inhumane" flag.

But I digress. You clearly didn’t read my posts because if you had you would have seen that I said nothing about slaughter houses or the living conditions of animals in either of them.

And I am really disgusted with your comparison of slaughter houses being equal to that of Jewish concentration camps. I’m Jewish and find it highly offensive when people use that as an analogy. It’s disgusting of you to compare a FDA approved slaughter house to a concentration camp where women were raped; children and elderly were murdered off the front. People were beaten, starved and forced to work hard labor. And that doesn’t even begin to say of the experiments that people were put under. Like dying eyes blue. You cannot compare an animal with square meals and vaccines to that horror of 20,000 people killed a day at Birkenau and how dare you for thinking you could. (and while I don’t take offense to 99% of your post- I really take offense to that statement you made- it was arrogant.)
Granted there are a lot of slaughter houses and factory farms where conditions are horrible and despicable but that does not mean most are or all are. This is a problem with humanity not a problem with eating meat.

If you look at the deer population in the US right now you would realize how it is actually more humane to hunt and eat meat than it is to let them breed and spread disease and bring about illness not just to themselves but also to humans. When you’ve studied history and realize that a big part of the reason why plagues spread throughout history and killed so many people was due to the fact that animals carried it from place to place, you’d think twice on animal control or the humane thing to eat meat that you kill rather than just killing it to keep the population down or for sport.

Darling Chelsea: I actually remember reading that article in rolling stone, as im a subscriber. lol I think i read that a few years after i became veggie. it was so horrible and made me so pissed off. I love pigs so much.

Pinkweeds: Im sorry if i offended you, but from what i have PERSONALLY SEEN ALSO i stick to what i said. I have also been to dairy farms (my dads family actually owns one), and i live in rural kentucky where there are more cows then people, and the FFA is a huge deal. I support local farms, small dairy farms, and what-not. I have no problem with that.
The only reason i brought up factory farms is because that is where the majority of meat in supermarkets comes from. The majority of what people eat and buy comes from there. (because most people dont bother to look & buy local or organic etc). The majority of factory farms ARE very unregulated and mistreat their animals. The FDA hasnt changed their rules on factory farms in a very long time, and those rules dont even regard the animals life or well-being. As long as its "safe to eat" in the end, they dont care much else.

And (agian) im very sorry i offended u, but i honestly think it does relate to concentration camps. Because (call me crazy) i see and care about animals like people. And in factory farms (& huge dairy farms), they do "rape" cows by inseminating them (so they make babies & keep producing milk), They are murdered without a choice, and born into harsh conditions, ...but they arent starved, they are actually force-fed tons of antibiotics and chemicals to keep them alive (70% of antibiotics used in the USA are used on animals in factory farms to keep them alive & to live thru harsh conditions that would otherwise kill them), and are poked/beaten/proded to do what their "caretakers" tell them to. And over 27 billion animals are killed for food every year in the USA alone in farms. And over half of the water used in the USA is used on raising animals for food. I'm sorry if you dont agree. But that kind of thing happening to any creature (human or animal) makes me absolutely sick. And i cant stand it. It really is not that much different. no one just doesnt want to face it ....and many people dont know about it. I also believe it is a humanity issue, and more people need to know about it to put a stop to it. But not eating meat, raises awareness in its own similar ways also.

I try to avoid speaking my mind on these issues online because it always causes conflict. I didnt mean to. But this is truely how i feel. I didnt give all the facts before because i didnt want to lag on, & it had nothing to do with the original girls question.

btw Ani, I'm glad you tried it out, then came back to being veggie. Lots of people go back & forth. Theres nothing wrong with that.

PinkWeeds, I am sorry that you were offended. My aim was to get information from both sides to help me make up my mind (and you guys did that,thanks ) I accept it if other people eat meat, I won't berate them for their decision even though I am personally against it. Every has the right to their own opinion.

Here's my take on it, people are vegetarians because of moral issues or health issues (or both). So I think the most important thing is your health. Some people are healthier as vegetarians and some aren't. If you fall into the first category then keep being a vegetarian and if you fall into the second then if I were you I'd start eating meat again. But that's just what I would do.

The moral issue is important and if you feel strongly about these morals than keep being a vegetarian unless it's harming your health. I just think the most important thing is your health.I think someone said something about your emotions guiding you about eating meat, I think that will help you to decide if it's morally okay to eat meat.

In my opinion I think it's okay to eat meat I just don't approve of the meat industry and plus it's greener not to eat meat. I think the way we raise animals with the intention of killing them is not very honorable. I think it's okay if you go out and hunt your own meat because that's just survival of the fittest. But most of the animals in the meat industry have poor living conditions. Especially chicken and fish (if grown in a farm).
In the end don't change your life style because of what other say or do. Decide for yourself what you want and it'll be the right decision.
Sorry if this made no sense or I'm just rambling, I'm super tired.
Oh I'm new so hi everyone.
-sarah

To start, I'm omnivorous and intend to stay that way, as that is the best way for my body to get the nutrients it needs. Evolution took millions of years to perfect this system, I ain't gonna monkey with it! I would be happier if there were better conditions in all farms but the fact that some are sub-par, or even downright terrible, does not change the fact that most farmers actually do care about their livestock and do the best they can for them.

DarkAshHurts - I mean, really... Wake up and smell the roses girl, what happened in the death camps can in no way be compared to slaughter houses. That's about as insulting as comparing a papercut to a serial killers victims wounds.

So, people want to live without harming any life? See how long they last on a sunshine diet. That's not to mention all the micro-organisms that die from medicines, insects that get exterminated, etc.. And how about the rest of the planet? Do they drive, use a car/bus/taxi/train etc? Do they use plastics? How about makeup, a large percentage of which contains petrochemical byproducts. There are many things in the world which humans have made, used or produced which cause far more damage for far longer...

Dear Ani W.,
the way I see it it's not about being a vegetarian or not - it's about feeling good and comfortable with yourself.

You shouldn't think about whether it's ethical or not, funny or not, easy or not. Sometimes labelling ourselves as "vegetarians" makes people react weirdly, just because they have a different opinion. It's like professing a different religion - you'll always find somebody who'll try to convince you that religion is better/worse than others.

Personally I've been a on/off vegetarian for a long time. I don't like being judged or labelled, and I didn't like people going "oh my God she's a vegetarian, whan the heck do I cook now?" when I went at their places for dinner. So I basically just stopped saying I am a vegetarian. I don't buy meat and I don't cook it, but I won't ask a friend to cook a three-course meal without using anything meaty because I'm going to be there.

I think it's just a matter of being honest with yourself. If you crave an hamburger once a month, go for it: the cows will forgive you. The way I look at it, you're already eating much less meat than anybody else, and that's healthy enough. Don't feel guilty, don't be an extremist - you'll be just fine.

Ani please don't apologize as you did nothing wrong. I think it’s a fair discussion where it stood before someone took it too far.

And I don't want to hear an apology from DarkAshHurts either as you apparently are actually going to defend your statement. The only thing that you should have said was "That was wrong of me to have said, I realize they are very different" and left it at that.

I think you ought to take some time and learn what the Jewish Holocaust looked like. Look at the pictures of the children who were starved to the point where you could count every bone in their body, were castrated and were experimented on. You look at the pictures of the starved piles of bodies in mass graves. At the man standing at the edge of one with a gun pointed to his head knowing that’s where he is about to go. Are there some similiarities between the Jewish Holocaust and factory farming? Yes. Can you say they are the same thing? No, never. Because the brutality on a factory farm does not even begin to live up to the brutality of the camps.

You want numbers? 5.9 million Jews were killed. 78% of the Jews living in Europe at the time were killed in a span of about 6 years.
Jews 5.9 million
Soviet POWs 2–3 million
Ethnic Poles 1.8–2 million
Romani 220,000–1,500,000

Disabled 200,000–250,000
Freemasons 80,000
Slovenes 20,000–25,000
Homosexuals 5,000–15,000
Jehovah's
Witnesses 2,500–5,000

Did you know that America was Hitler’s next target? He was getting ready to invade America and start there when the war ended. He had special uniforms made for his army to wear when they marched on New York City.

I don’t like to waste my time being PC and I don’t spend my time worrying about hurting other people’s feelings but I know when and where the line is and I don’t cross it. Apparently you don’t know that line so don’t respond because nothing you can say can make you right in this. It’s your opinion if you think that way but don’t share it with the rest of the world because people aren’t going to agree with you.

Pink weeds: DarkAshHurts didn't actually say they were the same or equal (as you said she did), she said she would relate them to the concentration camps, which would mean that when you said:

"Are there some similiarities between the Jewish Holocaust and factory farming? Yes."

you are agreeing with her point, as "relate" doesn't mean something's the same, it means they have similarities.

I feel your (for want of a better word) attack on DarkAshHurts was unnecessary as you misread what she said.

Also, I can tell you don't waste your time worrying about hurting other people's feelings, as every post i remember reading of yours has snide remarks in somewhere!!

You're right Claire, I don't waste my time tip-toeing around people's feelings as I pointed out in my last post. I'm honest with them and tell them the truth. My remarks aren't snide however, I take nothing personally and I mean nothing personally. I may not disclaim that every time I post but I do disclaim it on my profile and for the most part people tend to agree with what I have to say- that doesn’t entitle me but it does show that I’m saying what others are thinking. And I don't ever cross the line between right and wrong. I would never say the "N" word in a post or in person. I don't even swear in person and I don't call people names. And I would never compare the Jewish holocaust to a slaughter house. And if you were Jewish and heard everyone thinking it ok to compare their cause to the Jewish Holocaust you'd be pretty pissed off too.

But I was not agreeing. I was stating that if you were to go off of some of what is available out there it could be easy to think they are the same thing or that they "relate" to one another. But they do not. The senseless mass murder of humans does not compare to killing animals for food consumption. They are not the same. I did not misread what she said- I understood her meaning very clearly. I don’t need a degree in writing to understand how to interpret what people are saying in their writing but since I have one I might as well use it.

Since the last few posts have nothing to do with vegetarianism, I thought I would share some of the many different types of vegetarian you can be. The idea is to do what you feel comfortable with. Don't go more extreme than you want, just make sure you are healthy and happy, that's what counts.

* Vegans: Strict vegetarians who do not eat meat of any kind, eggs, dairy products, or even do not consume processed foods containing any animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin are termed as vegans. There also includes a subset of vegans who call themselves as ‘raw vegans’ who only consume unprocessed vegan foods.

* Fruitarians: Some people have carried the concept of vegetarianism to another extreme wherein the people only eat fresh fruits, these people are called fruitarians.

* Lacto-ovo-Vegetarians: Vegetarians who do not eat pork, beef, poultry, fish, or animal flesh of any kind, but do consume eggs and dairy products are called lacto-ovo vegetarians.

* Lacto Vegetarians: Vegetarians who do not eat any type of animal meat or even poultry and eggs but consume milk are called lacto vegetarians.

* Ovo Vegetarians: Vegetarians who do not eat any kind of animal flesh or meat, and do not even consume milk, but eat eggs are called ovo vegetarians.

* Pescatarian: Pescatarians are those who refrain from eating all types of meat with the exception of fish. Usually this type of diet results owing to the demand for nutritional requirements fulfilled by fish.

* Flexitarians: Flexitarians are those who mostly stick to a vegetarian diet but occasionally eat meat.

* Pollo-Vegetarians: People who eat poultry, such as chicken, turkey, and duck but no other type of animal flesh and meat and the regular vegetarian ingredients are termed as pollo vegetarians.