Why People Become Vegetarians
Many non-vegetarians wonder what drives vegetarians to give up meat and adopt an entirely different lifestyle. There is no single answer to this question. Non-vegetarians become vegetarians for a number of different reasons - some even for multiple reasons. Most vegetarians claim that they became a vegetarian for one or more reasons.
Many vegetarians cite the poor treatment of animals as one of the main reasons they have ethical problems with eating meat. Chickens, for example are debeaked, put into small cages, and then slaughtered. Think about how much you would enjoy having your nose cut off, being put into an eight foot by eight foot egg laying room, and then having someone kill you because you didn’t produce enough. As if that weren’t bad enough, animals that are raised for food are also given food that is laced with powerful growth hormones, and then thrust into stressful living arrangements.
Vegetarians come in a variety of types who practice their beliefs in varying degrees. Some object to destroying plants for the purpose of harvesting vegetables for consumption like carrots for one. The strictest variety do not even eat yeast products and object to wearing wool made from animal fibers. Far less strict are the pseudo-vegetarians who do not consume meat but are open to eating fish and chicken.
Another reason vegetarians claim for not eating meat is that it conflicts with their dietary preferences. Some of these vegetarians simply do not like the texture and taste of meat; others do not eat it because it is high in cholesterol and often contains high concentrations of hormones and preservatives.
There is a small group of vegetarians who cite environmental reasons for not consuming meat. They complain that consumption of meat causes farmers to continually deforest land to create grazing land for cattle. In addition to these three reasons, there are also a number of other vegetarians who stopped eating meat for other reasons entirely.