Reasons for being vegetarian or vegan other than ethical reasons?

Question

I met a lot of people that, even though they have strong reasons for being vegan or vegetarian, or even work saving or helping animals, etc. have failed to follow their principles and ended up including meat again.

Almost every vegetarian or vegan person I get to know has moved to vegetarianism for the same reasons I did (I'm moving in as well):

• Ethical reasons (i.e., not eating other animals)
• Trying to stop animal suffering (defending animals rights).

But, are there reasons besides the ones listed above?

I'm not saying they're not great reasons, which I think they are, just trying to find out all other reasons.

Answer 1

There are multiple reasons why people are/become Vegetarian/Vegan apart from ethics, including but not limited to

• Religion/Culture - most of the worlds Vegetarians reside in India, mainly due to culture/personal beliefs but often interlinked with some of their major religions (Hinduism/Sikhism/Jainism etc) which promote the diet. Some strains of Buddhism also look positively at not eating meat, as does the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
• Environment - reducing land degradation, climate change, reducing harm to bio-diversity etc. Animal agriculture causes a huge amount of problems to our planet and environment.
• Health - another major point. Being Vegetarian or Vegan won't automatically improve your health of course (it's easy to live off junk food, believe me), but there are lots of scientifically proven benefits to eat a plant based diet over a standard Western diet including a lower risk of heart disease, lower BMI, lower cholesterol etc.
• Political - a slightly less common reason but still; some people go Vegetarian or Vegan based on their political beliefs once they realise how much the two share intersectional values (e.g. from Anarchism to Veganarchism)

Answer 2

Vegetarians and vegans suffer lower rates of some forms of cancer.

A 2012 analysis of all the best studies done to date concluded vegetarians have significantly lower cancer rates. For example, the largest forward-looking study on diet and cancer ever performed concluded that “the incidence of all cancers combined is lower among vegetarians.”

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Vegan women, for example, had 34 percent lower rates of female-specific cancers such as breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer... Similar results are found for men and prostate cancer.

And that's not all, the American Dietetic Association reported that vegan and vegetarian diets can significantly reduce one’s risk of contracting heart disease, colon and lung cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, and a number of other debilitating conditions.

Answer 3

Environmental is pretty huge. Includes CO2 emissions and antibiotic-resistance superbugs (and superbugs caused by C02 emissions for that matter). You could call that ethics but it is broader than animal welfare.

Health is mentioned a lot, although that seems to be a reason people who are not vegan think they might go vegan. I think my health has improved along with going vegan but my diet is not pristine at all and I did not magically become thin.

Answer 4

Personally, I'm vegetarian by default. I dislike the taste and texture of meat and most meat products, and I am incredibly privileged to be in a position where I can eat only what I like. I don't drink animal milk and cook with very few animal products (occasional eggs for baking, cheese).

I'm certain I'm in the minority as far as reasons to be vegetarian/vegan. I have no ethical qualms about eating animal products and the destruction of the environment isn't enough of a deterrent.

Answer 5

Political.

Given that historically the land (and lives) of many indigenous peoples was taken for grazing. My main reason for not eating animals is ethical, but almost as importantly it is important to make the distinction that this is an industry that has done and continues to do much damage to indigenous peoples.

The history of Native Americans is well known. The bison were exterminated, in part, to create and maintain a dominant “cattle culture” across the Great Plains and the West—and, unfortunately for Native Peoples and wildlife—it worked. http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/about-buffalo/buffalo-and-native-americans

Australian indigenous people suffered a similar fate. In the face of continuing resistance, and justifying their actions by a belief in the superiority of their civilisation, the colonisers pushed Aboriginal people off the fertile lands into controlled settlements. http://www.clc.org.au/articles/info/the-history-of-the-land-rights-act/

I am uncomfortable with people having been killed, rounded up, forced into settlement (including being converted to christianity) and being effectively banned from their traditional lands which became pastoral leases or even freehold land. All so cattle can be grazed.

That is why I intentionally added the word "historically" in the answer. Australian indigenous peoples are still trying to get their lands back.

Answer 6

Genuine Disinterest/Unappetising

I've seen people say they don't like the taste of meat, but most of these people have actually tasted meat. I've been a vegetarian all my life and have never eaten meat (and thus never tasted it). But I do not want to and have never wanted to.

Not just because I don't like animals being killed to be eaten, but because I genuinely do not see how anyone would want to eat the dead flesh of any living creature.

I see raw meat (and sometimes cooked meat) and think "who in their right mind thought that looks like something that would be edible, let alone taste good". I see raw meat and my mind only sees 'flesh' not 'food'. Maybe it's a lamb shank, but my mind just equates it as 'animal flesh', and categorises it next to 'giraffe shank' and 'human shank'. The animal is abstract, it's still a severed body part and I don't find severed body parts particularly appetising.

Somtimes this will even be my main reason for not eating meat, my senses overriding any moral/ethical qualms, at which point the answer to the cliché hypothetical situation(1) of "if you don't eat this chicken we'll kill another chicken" is "sod the chicken, I'm not eating a corpse".

Then there's the smell. The smell of certain meats can make me feel ill. Particularly raw fish. I remember one time I walked past a fishmongers and the stench made my eyes water and I had to run swiftly past so I couldn't smell it anymore. Similarly I find the scent of certain meats cooking to be quite offputting. (I admit that I used to say Morrisey was being silly for walking off stage when someone was cooking meat, but there are times I can certainly empathise if his reasons were genuinely because of the smell).

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(1) I have genuinely had at least 8-10 people propose this situation to me over my lifetime, some of them twice.

Answer 7

Self-cultivation.

I chose this word rather than religious practice because Taoism is not generally considered religion but rather a philosophy.

This is what led me to be vegan in the first place, and initially it was as much about the benefits to my development as anything. It was only through mindfulness practices that my view of the world changed and I found that a meat-free diet was now in harmony with that world-view.

Prior to that my girlfriend was vegetarian and none of her subtle attempts to persuade me ever had any impact I'm sorry to say, I think ultimately people will act in their own interests first and only then if they see there's a benefit to themselves will they start to consider integrating it into their life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoist_diet

Answer 8

The main reasons in Western cultures (apart from ethics) are Health, Environment, and Economic. Many people are vegetarian for one or several of these reasons and it varies vastly between people. The perceived health and environmental benefits are a major reason for many people.

Another huge reason internationally is religion and culture, particularly in India where vegetarianism is the norm in some regions.

Bear in mind that some vegetarians do not have strong ethical or political reasons for their lifestyle. Some simply are due to financial constraints or they don't enjoy the taste or texture of meat.

Personally, I've never enjoyed the taste of meat and had trouble eating it, this may be due to an underlying medical problem as child but I've never seen eating meat as an option. Some of the other benefits have grown on me but none was the conventional "reason" and I wouldn't assume everyone even has one. Long-term vegetarians simply don't know any different.

Answer 9

Inheritance from a family Member

I know many people who are vegetarian primarily because some of their close family member is vegetarian. This goes for me as well. I never had meat since I was 3 years old. Now I feel it is very young age for a child to follow the above mentioned reasons. So, after so many years when I look back I feel The reason is my father being vegetarian. I followed his footsteps at an younger age and after many years I started defining my own logics to support my vegetarianism.

I have two more friends who are vegetarian for this reason.

Answer 10

Avoiding animal products which may not meet criteria of your religion. Some people's religions allow the eating of meat or other animal products, but have restrictions on it. (As opposed to lifetimes' answer about religions that prohibit meat or animal products outright)

A workmate at a previous job eats vegetarian/vegan when she goes to restaurants because the meat (possibly dairy) may not be kosher.

Appeal over baby-killing butcher's $3000 compensation mentions a Queensland prisoner who chose vegetarian food because he was (incorrectly) told that halal food was not available.

I thought I heard about some case involving prisoners choosing vegetarian/vegan because they were offered food described as halal but were not confident the food was really halal, but all I can find is a mention of Guantanamo Bay's food being mainly vegetarian.

Answer 11

Because it fits into ones sense of self-image (inward or outward), or you feel you have something to prove. This might sound cynical, like a description of manipulative/egoist/hipster behaviour on the surface - but the whole affair gets more complex if you look at the message you are choosing to send. Among several fashionable messages (to send) available, you chose one about nonviolence (or responsibility for your violence footprint) and ecological responsibility. When choosing to be different, you chose to be different in a manner that has direct positive effects. You made a lifestyle choice after discovering that the modern view of lifestyle choices being exempt from political reasoning has doubtful merit.

So even a reasoning that veg*ns are often accused of ... translates into ethical (aka political) and aesthetic (self cultivation, style) reasons...

Answer 12

Allergies

Most people who have allergies are allergic to things like milk, nuts, gluten etc. However, some people - like my mother - are allergic to meat. She is a vegetarian not by choice, but because if she eats meat she will be sick. It started with just pork when she was younger, so she used to still eat things that claimed to be 100% beef (not pork) - these claims were often sadly proven false by her. This lack of ability to trust manufacturers and increasing sensitivity over the years to all meat causing her to be ill meant she became vegetarian.

This means that we as a family have two of everything when it comes to cooking - two frying pans, two sets of saucepans, two sets of certain utensils, two sets of leftovers pots (colour coded) and even different plates for vegetarian food versus food containing meat.

Even now we're really careful about where we go to eat due to the lack of awareness about people with meat allergies resulting in cross-contamination of vegetarian meals. We know which restaurants are not as careful as they say they are, because my mum will be sick after eating there.

Answer 13

In the United States - anyway - several anabolic steroids are used in our meat industry. They include Trenbolone, Testosterone, and Estrogen. A mixture of 50/50 Estrogen and Testosterone is injected into the animal beginning at a young age. The combination has effects including better conversion of protein, water retention, and it also increases fat retention. Trenbolone is a bulking agent and is used by athletes who chose to use steroids for the same reason it is also injected into cattle because more pounds equals more profit, Testosterone is the main hormone in men, and has a number of effects ranging from aggression to larger size. I have heard, though not confirmed the estrogen is put there to deter steroid users from it. That is somewhat plausible, but so is anything cheap that increases the holy specification of "weigh in at slaughter." I want to add a couple things here that always seem to go without ever being brought to the mind of the popular collective which is, according to the “National Market Cow and Bull Beef Quality Audit — 2007, the average weight of cattle at slaughter in 1975 was 475 pounds. In 2007 it was 1,375 pounds! During that same time span the average weight of men went from 166 pounds to 195.7 pounds, and the world health organization states that 2 billion people are obese today.

My own personal account is my own proof; I began life as a vegetarian after a family photo left me asking who the heck that person was, I was shocked to be informed the very large man was myself facing away from the camera. I weighed over 300 pounds! As I aged and bought clothes I guess I just ignored the fact the waist size kept increasing. When I stopped eating meat in 2012 I weighed 321 pounds. Within 10 months I did what no diet program could believably even think about claiming, which was losing over 140 pounds. In 2015 I began finishing my degree, and found about zero time for that pesky meal thing, and began eating meat again. I stopped in 2016 at 280 pounds.

Now a little over 1 year off meat again, I weigh 175. My energy is greater, my mind is clearer, I feel better about life, and death. When I ate meat all three of those topics were things I just avoided.

Answer 14

In my country it depends on the caste,well in my caste we must eat non-veg, but i decided to become a vegetarian.The reason is same ,i don't like to kill or hurt other living creatures for my sake.

Answer 15

As the question has been answered adequately, I shall confer my own reason for transitioning to veganism that does not entail moral considerations and is distinct from the considerations evinced in other answers.

Expressed succinctly: my transition was experientially induced.

After perceiving the developmental and intellectual benefits of no fap, and understanding that this practice is suitably conducive to my principal ideals (developmental and intellectual actualisation, clarity and vigour), I pledged to myself that I will dedicate my efforts to the sustenance of this practice by renouncing onanism (and perhaps sex) altogether. This is distinguishably called celibacy.

About two years proceeding this revelation, bacon and egg sandwiches were becoming increasingly grotesque with each bite, and so were other animal products as a result (except beef). Eventually, there was this faint suspicion that 'I might go vegan' in the back of my head.

I quit bacon and eggs altogether due to how sickly it had become. I continued eating beef nonetheless. I started preparing my own burgers with ground beef -- and I enjoyed it. But veganism was still roaming around in the back of my head.

I decided to try a plant-based meal, a curry consisting of tofu and vegetables, the night after eating a home-made beef burger. It was markedly obvious that I did not experience the chronic lethargy that was the natural outcome after having eaten meat. I realised that I derived energy without feeling tired or struggling to digest my food.

The night after I had another beef burger. My last animal product.

What I realised immediately is that eating meat, compared to eating plants, drained my intellectual energy -- I could feel a slow descent from wakefulness to inertia. I find this sensation contemptable, and it is precisely this sensation that is antithetical to my ideals and the practice of celibacy because the descent of energy would counteract my intent to raise the energy (focus) into my mental faculties.

Note: this practice is not religiously motivated, but may entail spirituality.

This descent of energy, I observed, increased the likelihood of nocturnal ejaculation (wet dream), which compromises the practice of cultivating energy, whereas plant-based meals did not.

Essentially, it was this experience of chronic fatigue and intellectual inertia that repulsed me and repelled me from eating animal products again. I went vegan overnight and realised the intellectual and moral consistency of this practice later with further inquiry -- especially when I was brave enough to watch footage of the animal holocaust.

After assimilating the implications of eating meat compared to plants, it was imperative that I make the transformation -- especially if I am genuinely concerned about and value my developmental and intellectual welfare.

Which I do.

And so I did.

And I would have done it earlier if I ever had a plant-based meal to make the distinction that I needed to make.

Answer 16

Process quantity - vegan food required the least amount of effort to process often it requires a seed and some soil. However at the other end of the scale water can't be created yet through any amount of human effort to process it. In between vegan food and water on the process quantity scale is meat which often requires vegan food just to feed the animal as well as the creation of the animal as part of a process to create and feed two other animals, a male and a female of the same species.

To eat by process quantity I combine the amount of effort necessary from the Earth with the amount of effort necessary from human/animal activity as a vegan I tend to leave the bulk of the effort to the Earth (with the exception of course of water) rather than leaving the bulk of the effort to other humans and/or animals.

Answer 17

Another reason to avoid eating animals, which is an offshoot from the common health reason, is:

Bioaccumulation of plastics and heavy metals

As we become increasingly aware of the problem with micro plastics in our oceans, we are also learning that most fish and other sea life pulled out of the ocean are contaminated with bits of plastic. When smaller animals are predated by larger ones, the non-digestible components like plastics or heavy metals are accumulated and concentrated.

By eating lower on the food chain, and by eating plants especially, it is possible to greatly reduce our consumption of microplastics and heavy metals.

Answer 18

I simply just don't like the taste of meat. In fact, when I was younger, I used to think "vegetarian" just meant someone who's a fussy eater (e.g. if you dislike capsicum, you're a vegetarian). But of course, vegetarian pizza - which has a lot of vegetables I don't like - proved me wrong.

Answer 19

While I agree with most of the answers here and it is certain that these are the reasons people chose to go vegan, there are only few reasons if not one to be vegan. We can narrow down these to one reason: ethical / leaving animals alone.

I'll try to backup my opinion with few examples.

Example 1: If someone goes vegan because of health, there is no explanation why they wouldn't use some products derived from animals. Think of wearing a backpack made of leather, or some medicine made of bee vax, etc. While these products may still not influence the health in any way, and in some cases even promote health, they are still not considered vegan.

Example 2: If someone goes vegan because of the environment, it may happen that in some cases exploiting or farming certain animals may be better for the environment, but that would still go against vegan values. For example if we are testing animals or producing a medicine such as vaccines, we aren't really damaging the environment, but we are still exploiting animals.

You can use the same logic for the other reasons to get the idea. Religion is tricky and not always very well defined + it doesn't really evolve. One can find 'holes' in the teaching and certain situations may allow usage of animal products. For example, in Orthodox Christianity there are periods of fasting, where people are eating mostly vegan. However in many places fish is allowed as Jesus used fish to feed people.

TL;DR: It is a long and complex subjects and there are many reasons contributing for people to switch to vegan lifestyle, but to really be vegan would mean completely avoiding products derived from animals. Most if not all the reasons listed here aren't strict enough for someone to be vegan.

Answer 20

Old-fashioned American Ethics. Bring back small farms run the way they used to be. The farms that inspired all those cartoons and movies we watched as children. Those ethics. If you can't get that, then better to be a vegan.

I advocate a whole-foods-plant-based diet because of ethics. Ethically raised animals slaughtered in a calm, painless manner are permitted, if animals are eaten at all. Leather ethically sourced from American companies where the employees are not slaves or children are permitted, if used at all. If it is too hard to source ethical meat, then don't eat meat at all. If ethical leather American-made shoes are too expensive, wear what you have and save up for the shoes. Don't buy any more of the other stuff. I won't finance an $800 phone but I will spend $200 on ethically made shoes.

I don't think ANYONE should 'enjoy' killing an animal. I can appreciate the thrill of a hunt, but it's not the same thing. I think anybody who enjoys killing an animal has a mental problem and need to seek professional help - whether they work in a slaughter house or not. That's a sign of a serious lack of empathy and boundaries. However, I do not oppose killing an animal to feed a person.

Feedlot cattle and franken-chickens that are fed until they can't walk is grossly inhumane. Products in the supply chain made with these animals should be boycotted.

USA cattle fed and finished on grass, raised humanely, painlessly and calmly slaughtered are acceptable to me. They aren't bred continuously to keep milk going, the milk goes for their young as intended. Breeding is natural. The mother weans their own young. And if we chose to eat cows, we eat far, far less of them. Some of the cows die of old age.

Chickens have shelter and spend their lives outside with plenty of room to forage their own food, supplemented minimally. The breeders live with the roosters, and the rest make eggs and forage until they die. If they're needed for food, they are killed calmly and painlessly.

The world supply chain is rife with cheap products produced by poor people, mistreated people, coerced workers, children and even outright slaves. Anything using such labor should be boycotted. American made shoes and clothes only. Reduce plastics, lithium products, electronics. Buy less. De-google and de-apple your life. Use Linux.

Give more. Practice charity. Give to the poor and homeless.

Answer 21

I usually hear 5 reasons for why people choose to be vegan:

1. Spiritual
2. Personal welfare
3. Animal wellfare
4. Climate Catastrophe
5. It's just easier

1. Spiritual

Some religious do not permit eating animals (vegetarian). Fewer religious do not permit eating eggs (pure vegetarian). Even fewer do not permit eating anything from an animal (vegan).

2. Personal welfare

Many people choose to be vegan selfishly because it's healthier

3. Animal welfare

Many people choose to be vegan selflessly because it's better for animals.

4. Climate Catastrophe

Many people choose to be vegan because it's better for the environment.

5. It's just easier

Some people get anxious when presented with a lot of choices. Being vegan often means there's just one choice on the menu, and that makes things easier for them.