I’m trying to cut back on sugar and refined or processed foods.
Health reasons
Not very strict.
Yes, hopefully by the time I have kids, I’ll have moved away from the crappy college student diet.
Most of the pressure with regards to vegetarianism has been in the reverse direction. All three girls I seriously dated are vegetarian, so I’ve had serious discussions about the subject (this also created a weird subconscious expectation that all women are vegetarian by default).
NA
I have no issues with what other people eat. I happily eat meat (though wondering about its moral status), but I wouldn’t question someone else’s choice.
Diet became substantially worse when I moved to college; slowly getting better.
I’ll reverse the question. How much would I miss animal products if I stopped eating them? Some, but I could easily do it. Right now, I am a vegetarian six days out of the week. Since my wife is vegetarian (out of preference, not for ethical reasons), it’s easier to cook what we’ll both eat.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with eating animal products per se. I don’t even have ethical qualms with cannibalism, assuming the meat were procured consensually. I do wonder whether animals experience substantial suffering when raised on farms or killed. Fish do not have the mental capacity to experience pain, so I see not problem there. Fish react to harm, and even remember it, but I don’t think they are even conscious enough to call this pain. On the other hand, most mammals, some birds, and possibly cephalopods probably do consciously feel pain. The amount of suffering these animals feel should be minimized. However, aside from dolphins, apes, and elephants, these animals lack a long-term conception of self. As such, I don’t think it is wrong for them to be humanely killed. Feedlots and factory farms do cause unjustified suffering, but otherwise, I don’t think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the meat industry.
For background, I was raised on a cattle ranch. I might be biased in support of my parents livelihood, but I did experience ranching first hand. At least on our ranch, I don’t think the cows lived that bad of lives. They would spend half the year on open range in a forest and the other half in pasture at our home. Once a year, they’d clearly suffer as we corralled them to vaccinate, brand, and tag them. Otherwise, they had plenty of space, food, and medical treatment. The end result is the year-old calves being sold for slaughter of course. Any comment by vegetarians on beef raised like this?
I also hunted as a teenager, shooting an elk, an antelope, and some game birds. I definitely don’t think sport hunting should be encouraged, and will never do it again, but don’t think it is that bad for similar reasons. If a freezer full of elk steaks trades off against a feedlot raised cow, that’s probably an improvement.
I’m trying to cut back on sugar and refined or processed foods.
Health reasons
Not very strict.
Yes, hopefully by the time I have kids, I’ll have moved away from the crappy college student diet.
Most of the pressure with regards to vegetarianism has been in the reverse direction. All three girls I seriously dated are vegetarian, so I’ve had serious discussions about the subject (this also created a weird subconscious expectation that all women are vegetarian by default).
NA
I have no issues with what other people eat. I happily eat meat (though wondering about its moral status), but I wouldn’t question someone else’s choice.
Diet became substantially worse when I moved to college; slowly getting better.
I’ll reverse the question. How much would I miss animal products if I stopped eating them? Some, but I could easily do it. Right now, I am a vegetarian six days out of the week. Since my wife is vegetarian (out of preference, not for ethical reasons), it’s easier to cook what we’ll both eat.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with eating animal products per se. I don’t even have ethical qualms with cannibalism, assuming the meat were procured consensually. I do wonder whether animals experience substantial suffering when raised on farms or killed. Fish do not have the mental capacity to experience pain, so I see not problem there. Fish react to harm, and even remember it, but I don’t think they are even conscious enough to call this pain. On the other hand, most mammals, some birds, and possibly cephalopods probably do consciously feel pain. The amount of suffering these animals feel should be minimized. However, aside from dolphins, apes, and elephants, these animals lack a long-term conception of self. As such, I don’t think it is wrong for them to be humanely killed. Feedlots and factory farms do cause unjustified suffering, but otherwise, I don’t think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the meat industry.
For background, I was raised on a cattle ranch. I might be biased in support of my parents livelihood, but I did experience ranching first hand. At least on our ranch, I don’t think the cows lived that bad of lives. They would spend half the year on open range in a forest and the other half in pasture at our home. Once a year, they’d clearly suffer as we corralled them to vaccinate, brand, and tag them. Otherwise, they had plenty of space, food, and medical treatment. The end result is the year-old calves being sold for slaughter of course. Any comment by vegetarians on beef raised like this?
I also hunted as a teenager, shooting an elk, an antelope, and some game birds. I definitely don’t think sport hunting should be encouraged, and will never do it again, but don’t think it is that bad for similar reasons. If a freezer full of elk steaks trades off against a feedlot raised cow, that’s probably an improvement.