vegetarian? or vegan? why?

[Katoo]

My plan originally was to be a very conscious selective omnivore. I was eating a vegetarian diet a couple of days a week and researching. As I researched, things kept getting crossed off my list of "allowables".

So, I decided no meat other than fish/shellfish. Plus I planned to eat dairy and eggs.

Then I looked into the dairy and egg industry. The egg industry, argh! What got me the most in my analysis, was that even if I could source out happy, free-range, almost pet chickens, that still doesn't help the baby chicks who have the misfortune of being born male and considered worthless and just simply killed off - (I saw footage of males coming down a chute into a grinder, and yes, they were alive as they were tumbling in). Eggs. Crossed off the list.

Then the dairy cows. When I was a kid, I remember an ad for Borden. "Contented Cows". Ha! Rape, then baby ripped away and caged and pretty much tortured till death, meanwhile cow is milked by machine until she has lost her usefulness. Milk and all dairy. Crossed off the list.

Then I read a list of all the incidental life killed off (horribly) to put a bit of fish or shrimp on my plate. Whales, dolphins, seahorses, birds, turtles, the list goes on and on. Fish. Crossed off the list.

If you look, the answer is easy. Vegan.

[LemonZest]

I've been vegetarian since Feb 7, 2005 at 2:10pm. I saw Meet Your Meat. Obviously, I don't want my lifestyle to cause harm to any sentient beings. After that, I always knew my goal was to be vegan. Also, after I did a little research, I could NOT ignore the fact that cheese & eggs raised the risk of heart disease by almost 60% and both were the leading cause of osteoporosis and many other diseases.

I decided to begin sampling vegan substitutes and preparing myself for veganism . Because I already had enough stress in my life, I decided it should be a fun process. It has been VERY fun... and RAW vegan cuisine (raw lasagna, raw pasta, raw pie. etc) has been the best discovery yet.

Suggestion: Anyone contemplating going VEGAN should search Google for RAW VEGAN recipes. THEY ARE SO MUCH FUN!! And soooo tasty. Check out this raw food blog by this talented and beautiful girl: http://rawgoddessheathy.blogspot.com/

[super veggie]

im a vegan becasue i came to te relization that begin vegetarian was awsomw but i want to do so much more to help animals

[Marissa_L]

I'm a vegetarian. I immediately stopped eating all meat but I still consumed most dairy products for a long time. Now, I no longer drink milk, I don't eat cheese, I don't wear ANY leather or fur EVER. However, from time to time I still eat chocolate. I used to be a HUGE choc a holic, I've been eating mostly vegan choc now though. I do want to make the transition to veganism soon enough.

My family hasn't realised that I've stopped eating cheese/drinking milk. They will offer some to me from time to time but I make up excuses. Everyone in my life gives me such a hard time for being a vegetarian so I'm hesitant about telling them that I'm on the path to veganism........