Welcome to Gaia! ::

These are just the things I cn remember off the top of my head, but here are at least a few of the benifits...


Ethics: If you do a little research on factory farms, I doubt that you'll be able to stomach another peice of meat. I actually became vegetarian on the sopt after accidentally stumbling across an article about factory farms. The conditions in factory farms are gruesome, but I won't go into details here...

Ecology: A recent UN report
states that livestock is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Many now argue that eating less/no meat is the single best thing that you can do to help curb greenhouse gas emissions. Not only are there the fossil fuel emissions linked to raising, transporting, and slaughtering livestock, as well as the flatulance of the animals, but you must also take into account the fact that large amounts of land are being deforested every day to make way for grazing lands for animals, as well as land to grow animal feed on. This deforestation damages ecosystems, and rips out rich forest lands which would create much more oxygen than an equivilant area of croplands could. Also, wste produced by animals can lead to enviromental disaster. I believe that in the early 2000's, animal waste from a factory farm somewhere in the mid-Atlantic states leaked into a nearby river, and completely poisoned that river.

Economy: According to a book I have, written by Princeton Univerity professor Peter Singer, it takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. That means that if the US cut its meat intake by 10%, then there would be enough food to supply more than the entire planet with a 2500 calorie diet.

Less Toxicity: A while back I was reading through a study saying that vegetarians and vegans have less pesticide residue in thier bodies. This is because, when an animal eats grains or whatever other plant products they are fed, whatever pesticides are on that food get stored up in the animals cells. When you eat that animal, those stored-up pesticide residues end up being stored in your cells. However, vegetarians/vegans don't get those concentrated amounts of pesticides that are found in meat.

Health: So long as you BALANCE your diet (eat those soybeans!) then you are less likely to suffer from many health problems which stem from diet... type II diabedes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and hypertension. Also, so long as you eat a varied diet, and take a multi-vitamin to cover whatever nutritional 'gaps' you may have missed, then you should be fine.


If you want more info, you can check out the following article. It was what shocked me into giving up meat: http://www.alternet.org/story/12162

And if anyone wants citation on any fact, feel free to ask.

I barely answered the health issues question.

I suppose that my off-topic ramblings are what I get for posting when I'm half-asleep...

Been a vegetarian since 1992. cool

@Sinister: Nice job smile

As for me, I doubt I could fully go vegetarian, let alone vegan. Recently, I've been eating more plant products and fewer animal products, but that's about it.

I am a vegan. I got into veganism since I was 7 or so and everyone wanted me to eat meat... I just couldn't stand it.
Didn't eat meat at all smile
I just can't eat a mutilated corpse lying on my plate thinking how has it suffered when they were killing it.... sad
Too sad...

I have been a happy vegetarian for a little over 2 years now =]
I did it because I no longer wanted to support an industry that makes it's money off the suffering of the poor farm animals who can't defend themselves against the horrible cruelty they have to endure on factory farms. It's just disgusting.

And personally speaking, were I a cow, I'd rather be fattened and slaughtered than stand around idly with a cold machine sucking milk from my utter.

Not that I'm one to speak. I'm neither a vegan nor a vegetarian. I like meat and dairy too much, selfish as it is. Nor that I'm a "I need meat and cheese at every meal!" kind of guy.

I LOVE vegetarian food. not VEGAN food, I cant eat only beans >> (you know what Im thinking about).

no-meat but things from animals like eggs, milk and cheese, Im for that. I doubt thats called anything like vegetarianism but I think its macrobiotics food. when you eat animal products, chickens and fish. other meat, never. its disgusting for me and Im not "ou nou poor cows!" rip them off I need a pair of new boots. my body just doesent need that meat any more and plus all of that, I really dont like that meat. I kinda feel sick after it and my head hurts like hell. plus the mood swings (yes its like that hole my life).

BUT soya and tofu are great. Its the best food evah. but it takes too long for me to make a tofu sandwich or a soya burger. you still cant buy them when you go out or in the stores (yes I live in a Shithole) so you need to make them at home. and it takes like double the time while you can easily make fish'n'chips or chicken filee with some vegetables.