Introductions - Why Vegetarian?

[Chris Tinney]

How fun! Welcome.

Just thought I'd say hi and introduce myself.
Im the founder of VegHaven :)
This is me :)~

I'm traveling for the next year on The Peace Tour..

I'm Vegan for for both health and ethical reasons.
My intention in starting VegHaven was to create a Social Network that makes a difference!

Thanks for coming and please jump in and tell us about yourself :)

What made you become Vegetarian?

How did you find your way here?

We can't wait to learn more about you!

Namaste,
Chris

[Nikki]

I became vegetarian on August 13, 2007 after seeing the "Meet your Meat" video. I have been a long time animal lover and I didn't see how I could keep calling myself that while supporting a business that tortures them.

I found your MySpace page after doing a vegetarian search, you posted bulletins advertising this site, and I was the 499th person to join it!

[Wendy]

I had a special bond with a calf that I raised as a child, and was always a guilty meat eater. About 15 years old I was learning to golf at a course next to a packing plant. Watching the cows in their last hours, brought about serious concern. Around that time, I also watched a show on HBO about companion animals as food around the world. I witnessed in horror to the vision of a cat being dipped in boiling water, then to be de-furred alive, only then to drown in a water bucket. The vision never escapes me.
...I haven't ate flesh since that day

[Jason]

Uh, cause meat is kind of "ICKEY" when you think about it... really!

[Colin]

Aww, heck. I was gonna just tell people my story one at a time if they asked. now I find there's a whole thread about origins.. might as well post here, too :)

(shamelessly copied and pasted from my earlier tellings)
The story starts before I was born. At that time Vegetarians didn't have convenience foods and a lot of stuff we can make in 5 minutes today took a while to cook... so when my mother, who was at the time a vegetarian herself, became pregnant with me, she had to forgo her vegetarianism.. but felt somewhat reticent about that choice.
Fast forward a year and nine months or so, and you have me: a baby just about walking and already nearly conversational. (disclaimer: Colin MAY have used up a good portion of his allotted amount of genius in his formative years and makes no claim to such a level of development anymore... moving ahead!) It's about this time in a baby's development that s/he starts to eat solid foods, and being that my mother felt the way she did about meat and that she knew that I could not only understand her, but convey my responses and opinions to her, she made a point to inform me of what I was about to eat before I ate it. The first meat up was chicken.. but I didn't know that word so we used "hen". My mother said something like "ok, colin, now this is a hen" to which I replied something to the effect of: "Why is that a mommy hen who is supposed to be taking care of her babies on a farm?" My mother was understandably taken aback by this and she said very quickly that if I felt that way that I wouldn't have to eat it. I refused to eat it again, and followed suit with every other animal that I was offered... hence "vegetarian by choice since the age of one".

[Krista]

I remember being a little kid when I would eat meat if a gave a thought to the source of it I would loose my appetite every time. :P When I moved out and had control over my food choices I would go veg for a month here, couple weeks there, but didn't stick with it until my friend went from a conventional diet, to vegetarian, then vegan, then raw vegan. Seeing that she could be that commited to it I decided to try going veg for a month straight, and see from there. After the month was up I felt fantastic, physically and emotionally, and I knew there was no way I could go back to eating meat.
I'm way healthier, had some chronic problems that are totally gone now, but the best part is I can feel good abou what I eat. I don't look at my plate and know that I'm eating what had been a living breathing creature. That was almost two years ago, and in that time my hubby and kids are nearly vegetarian as well (no small feat) They eat entirely vegetarian meals at least four days a week, and all of them, even my five year old, will speak out about the benifits of cutting meat out of your diet. I don't know that they will ever be totally vegetarian, but they know the benifits and support my choice as well.

[Anita Karenina]

I am this person's partner and what he says is so true. If you are half way through A cruelty free life style and do care for animals, then go vegan.... boycott murder. For the animals and the earth's sake....

[Robin]

I just went vegetarian, but my goal is vegan. Baby steps, as they say. :)

[Jimsa]

My whole dislike of the manufactured, assembly line farming industry started a few years ago. I worked on a turkey farm called New Life Farms Inc. in Frazee, MN where they harvested turkeys for their eggs. Witnessing the cruelty their workers used on these animals first hand, really turned me off to the whole idea. Although I continued to eat meat occasionally for a while, I eventually gave up all meats and recently cut eggs out of my diet.

I feel a lot better when I fall asleep at night knowing that I'm not contributing to the suffering and mistreatment of these animals.

[Stephanie]

Hello Everyone,
My name is Stephanie, and I just joined today. I have been veggie since 1986 and vegan since 2004. I never liked eating animal parts when I was a little girl, and when I turned into a teenager and could make more food choices for myself, I went vegetarian. Vegan was a natural and slow progression. While I do not support the meat and dairy industries, I believe that everyone has a right to choose their own eating habits. I am not a militant vegan that preaches anything to anyone. I support that people have a right to choose. It is important to me that I not force my beliefs on others, lest they try to do the same to me. I am a yoga teacher and I love to cook.
That is pretty much me, in a nutshell!

[MIAOUKISS]

Hello
I became vegatarienne after viewing a story on foie gras .

[Jerome]

Bonjour everyone,

I started to become vegetarian 2 years ago. My Ex-girlfriend was vegan and she show me this plant-based diet. As french coming from a dairy farm it was a big challenge, but I love Challenge. I study this diet unknown from me and like it. Because I am in search to increase my athletic performance in cycling and learned the effect of dairy products on my health and the environment, I became vegan since over one year. The first 3 months were downhill for my racing performance but with persistence I get a great vegan body racing very fast and recover 3 times faster as before. Because I am biologist I love to learn more about nutrition and diseases... I plan to orient my researcher careere in nutritional phytotherapy to chronic diseases. I am listening this month the raw food workshop from Raw summit 2.

[Robin]

I was a vegetarian years ago and don't know why I went back, but in any case, I am again a vegetarian. I started doing some animal rights work and then was receiving many videos of how animals are treated and murdered. After seeing these, and looking at my beautiful kitties, looking in their eyes, knowing they feel everything, made me realize that all animals had emotions. Knowing what I know now, I could never go back.

Not to mention the millions of starving we could feed by just doing what is right.