September 14, 2023
Vegetarian or Vegan? Religious or health reason?
by Interfaith
I have reduced or stopped consuming animals…
- For religious reasons
- I don’t wish to harm animals
- I don’t wish to end a life to sustain mine
- Health reasons
When I first started (early 80s) on the quit eating meat thang…vegetarian was synonymous with today’s vegan….to me vegan came about when there pecame varieties of vegetarians…pescatarians, lacto, ovo etc.
I am weird (need I tell you?) I quit eating store-bought meats….capitalist farm raised meats where profits ruled. I saw cows put on weight at feedlots prior to slaughter, watched cows freak as they saw the cows in front of them killed and swung away to be butchered. I saw chicken leg bones that were fractured under the weight of a growing chickens with more breast meat faster than the legs could sustain them.
I was a hunter when I quit buying storebought. I still ate what got in front of my gun. I still ate what a friend raised, or I petted, or knew it’s name.
In a few years time I quit hunting…and quit eating meat on a weekly/monthly basis. But occasionally…when in rome….I did not pass up trying gator or roo in Australia, or a five critter chili in Colorado. When folks were oooing and ahhing about some great steak last year around a fire…I tried a bite…prolly my last bite of cow.
It ain’t religious or animal welfare for me really….it is health. I had to bosses who had to quit eating meat due to heart issue, and a brain disease (looking back I think mad cow, wasting disease, prions) both were in their 60s for both it was absolute hell to change their diets after 6 decades of habits.
I told my doc I was considering it. I told him the above reasons why. And what he said cemented the deal. He responded, “Why? You are still healthy.” I said, “You are an idiot, and you are fired” and I quit eating meat.
When my aorta blew up, they checked my heart, and despite being over 60 and overweight they could not believe how clean my arteries are.
Visit thread: https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/20648/
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