Vegetarianism, taking the plunge

A long time ago every dinner was beef, every lunch was chicken, and every breakfast was bacon. It was the way things were, and there was nothing the household teenager could do about it. Their parents bought the food, and they were required to eat it, no matter how much they grimaced at the sight of brussel sprouts or beef.

Nowadays, teens have choices. Vegetarianism is no longer a radical, unconventional thing to do. Many teens are choosing to eliminate meat from their diets because of choice. It's nice to know that we have a choice. We no longer have to be forced with our mouths pried open to eat "What's for dinner," as those countless commercials claim.

As a vegetarian myself, I am very happy to be starting a page on something that affects me every day. People ask why I choose to isolate my mouth from meat, they wonder why I don't take the turkey at Thanksgiving, and some even start conversations with me about why they too choose not to eat meat.

Teens everywhere are becoming vegetarians. In sophisticated New York City to rural Wyoming. If you asked 10 people, chances are at least one of them is a vegetarian, or at least thinking about it.

What is a vegetarian?
Why become one?
But what will people say?
Links

Why become a veggie?

So if you love hamburgers, stir fry, and that lovely meatloaf your mother makes...why switch? Well, I suppose if you have come to this place, you're probably wondering what's so bad about all those wonderful foods you eat all the time. It can be different for all people. I've talked to many non-veggies who, when mentioned the word tofu, look like they are about to barf. It's so easy to act that way when you've never tried something. Is it more gross to put a dead animal than some soy beans in your mouth? For me, it's the dead animal that disgusts me. Whatever your personal opinions are, they are yours, but what I am trying to tell you is why some people switch.

Sometimes people switch purely by the way meat tastes. They don't like meat, and nobody is going stop them. There is nothing you can really say to try to persuade somebody who doesn't like the taste of meat to eat the next sloppy joe they see. That is the way it is with a lot of vegetarians.

Some people switch to the veggie-life for health reasons. It is said that vegetarians live longer and have less of a chance of getting nastified diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer. They also tend to be thinner (that extra fat on the beef really adds up), and have lower blood pressure. These facts are because a vegetarian diet has less cholesterol and fat and more vitamins and fiber.

Many vegetarians are what they are because of a variety of religeous and ethical beliefs. (Thanks Animal Rights Homepage!) Some vegetarians such as Jains, Buddists, and Hindus, believe that killing and eating animals violates the ethical concept of ahimsa, or non-violence.

Another reason why people become vegetarians is for animal rights. For instance:

At the slaughterhouse, animals are supposed to be protected by something called the Humane Slaughter Act. This act, in part says that an animal is supposed to be unconscious before killed. There are many faults in this act. For one thing, the act doesn't even consider chickens, turkeys, and other birds to be animals. This means that most farm animals are conscious while being killed.

It's things like that that make people want to throw that hamburger out the fast food door. Here is a list of some other statistics and facts that I compiled through my research.