Any vegetarians or vegans here?

[_Gollum_]

I've recently been persuaded by the ethical arguments for veganism to stop buying animal products. My diet is now entirely plant-based (except for the butter that I had purchased in bulk before I became convinced about veganism). However, I guess I'm still not a "real vegan" because I will eat animal products as long as it's not me who purchased them, and they weren't purchased for me by someone else either.

Interestingly I came to veganism by way of anti-natalism, whose ethos is to minimize suffering by not breeding more beings into existence. Naturally anti-natalists have extended that to non-human animals and also believe that it's wrong for us to breed animals, as we do in factory farming. But beyond that, the amount of suffering we impose on animals in factory farming is just atrocious and I can no longer justify it in my own life. As the vegan philosopher who went on Jubilee put it, "extreme suffering for trivial pleasure is morally indefensible."

Anyway just wanted to know if there are any other vegetarians or vegans here, and if so what's your story?

 

[CarbonBased]

I'm not one, but I fully support it and feel bad for not changing my diet. I think the fraction of vegetarians/vegans on this forum is probably higher than average in a population, so you're likely to meet some here

 

[morina]

I've recently been persuaded by the ethical arguments for veganism to stop buying animal products. My diet is now entirely plant-based (except for the butter that I had purchased in bulk before I became convinced about veganism). However, I guess I'm still not a "real vegan" because I will eat animal products as long as it's not me who purchased them, and they weren't purchased for me by someone else either.

Interestingly I came to veganism by way of anti-natalism, whose ethos is to minimize suffering by not breeding more beings into existence. Naturally anti-natalists have extended that to non-human animals and also believe that it's wrong for us to breed animals, as we do in factory farming. But beyond that, the amount of suffering we impose on animals in factory farming is just atrocious and I can no longer justify it in my own life. As the vegan philosopher who went on Jubilee put it, "extreme suffering for trivial pleasure is morally indefensible."

Anyway just wanted to know if there are any other vegetarians or vegans here, and if so what's your story?

Have been vegetarian for about half my life and decided to become one after first grasping the horrors of what is done to animals and developing my own empathy independent from what I was raised/indoctrinated to believe. Though even then the "outing" to my family (I was a child and basically dependent on my parents for food) was really hard and took some time. I regret that I have stayed vegetarian for about 10 years before finally switching to veganism recently. I always knew veganism was the right thing but I, for quite some time, chose the path of solving the cognitive dissonance of animals being tortured but not directly murdered for my food by just telling myself that I don't care about human slaves and such either and therefore it's fine.
I never wanted to be a misanthrope, but ever since I decided that I want to treat everyone with empathy, I paradoxically became so much less empathetic against humans who aren't vegan. Everytime any carnist talks about how bad <insert minority here> is treated, any time they talk about rape and violence and murder and the trauma and suffering those induce, I cannot think anything else than "This is still so much less worse than what you monsters do to animals, how are you deserving of empathy?".
As an example, I am trans myself, so the topic of trans rights is obviously important to me, but even then, whenever I see other trans people talk about the oppressions they face while committing incomparably worse atrocities against other groups when it doesn't affect them, I just don't feel they matter anymore, no matter what that entails for my own wellbeing. I also feel bad about posting on a suicide forum myself when I know that my suffering is trivial compared to that of domesticated animals. The carnist society is one reason for me to be suicidal, though, since I just feel like I live in an entirely different world than most people. Having to listen to people talking about "personal choices" when that "personal choice" is murder vs. not-murder of innocents is, in a way, surreal.

As for anti-natalism, for me it was the other way around. I was not anti-natalist before, I don't think that a born life for itself is necessarily a net-negative, but I am anti-natalist when it comes to humans because less humans means fewer domesticated animals.

Anyway, that was my rant/story.

 

[crabclaw]

I'm a vegetarian, pretty much for the same reasons you describe. I was vegan for a while, but struggled to keep it up. Honestly, I do feel guilty about that, because I understand that veganism is a more ethical diet and it is selfish of me to eat eggs and milk purely because I like them. Sometimes I think of myself as a "vegan who eats eggs and milk", which I know is completely not what veganism is, but what I mean by that is that my ethics completely align with veganism, I've just failed to maintain a vegan diet.

 

[yotaka]

For several years now I've been more-or-less dumpster vegan. It's hard to live in a world where an incomprehensible amount of suffering is inflicted each day just because people like cheeseburgers. I try to not get too upset at people who eat meat—after all, that's pretty much everyone on the planet, including almost all my friends and family. I very much get where @morina is coming from, though. Once you force yourself to stop ignoring animal suffering, it becomes very difficult to be around people who don't give it a second thought, or worse, treat it as a joke.

I'm a vegetarian, pretty much for the same reasons you describe. I was vegan for a while, but struggled to keep it up. Honestly, I do feel guilty about that, because I understand that veganism is a more ethical diet and it is selfish of me to eat eggs and milk purely because I like them. Sometimes I think of myself as a "vegan who eats eggs and milk", which I know is completely not what veganism is, but what I mean by that is that my ethics completely align with veganism, I've just failed to maintain a vegan diet.

No need to beat yourself up, friend. You're doing something, at least.

 

[drugfiend]

been eating and living plant-based for about a decade myself. I struggle to use the word "vegan" because there's really no ethical consumption under capitalism. many farmers who produce the plants that I buy at the grocery store are underpaid and treated poorly, too. all the plastic that's used in packaging my fake meats is destroying the environment, but again, this isn't necessarily the fault of the consumers, just as I wouldn't fault a consumer for buying and eating meat, even if it's my own personal opinion that it's wrong. being alive is hard enough as it is, but I don't think it's ok to harm others, and I feel a lot of guilt just being alive already, so I try to minimize the suffering I cause on others. it will never be perfect, but it's somewhere to start at least.

 

[BlackNugget]

I fully got into veganism because of my boyfriend but even as a kid I would feel guilty understanding how much I am contributing to the unethical practices society commits on animals; it's not exactly to say I am fully against others eating meat (my boyfriend didn't even really tried to make me switch at all, I moreso did it because it felt like about time), nature is already quite cruel towards life, the very concept of needing to take one life to slightly sustain the other just shows how cruel life naturally is.

Pretending that I'm in some way morally superior over someone else just because I pick to eat life deemed insentient over sentient life is just being ignorant on how life really is: a cycle of misery and death (or 'release').

But, as long as I have the ability to minimise the amount of pain and suffering I bring about just from existing, that's enough for me.

 

[TooFarAway]

I'm a vegetarian because I find the whole "process" really gross to think about. But my parents eat meat, and it doesn't bother me. I just don't like consuming it myself.

 

[ZwartHartje]

Sadly I do eat a lot of dairy because alternatives are usually both inferior and expensive if available at all. Being a pro athlete I need a ton of protein, and the more inexpensive supplements are usually a mix of soy and dairy. But yes, for sure 100% vegetarian! I don't eat my fellow animals. I agree with everything @morina said above!
The counterparts to racism and white supremacy are speciesism and human supremacy, the latter two sadly still largely "normalized" when they're not any less cruel and reprehensible than the first two. But racism was also once considered "normal". Only recently a friend told me she had been looking into her family genealogy and was shocked to find that the records didn't go back very far and she was told she'd have to try and look into records about slaves to possibly find out more.
I was pointed toward the book "Eternal Treblinka", about the ongoing tragic holocaust that non-human beings are being subjected to, here's the (all too brief) Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Treblinka

And if someone should be interested, maybe I can attach the free PDF here, as I don't remember where the download link was found.

 

[violetforever]

im "vegan". im actually considered ovo vegetarian since i still eat eggs. im not going to lie i only cut meat and dairy out of my diet for disordered eating reasons, not because im very noble or something. i never got into the arguments on morality. i think it shows what type of person someone is if they mock vegans though. i dont get why somebody could ever be so bothered by another person altering their diet because they see the value in animals beyond being food products.

 

[lilyistootired]

I've been trying to be vegetarian for the past idk how long (few weeks, maybe a month or two?), idk at what point I'll feel comfortable actually myself one but I'm trying. Not vegan though because I hate my life enough already without giving up dairy and eggs.

 

[Al_stargate]

I been vegan/vegetarian last 15 years or so. Was vegan first but after my life went to shit, I stoped caring about dairy and will eat it for sake of convenience, even though I think dairy is extremely unhealthy but whatever, it's not like I'm planning to live long anyway. I started being vegan around 20 when I came across this spiritual practice that required a person being vegetarian, believing that eating meat is bad karma. Before I was just typical male doofus gymbro meathead, "wher do I get my protin" type of guy, like pretty much every young dude that wants to throw on some muscles. After going vegetarian I started doing extensive research on diet and health, and started experimenting and obsessing over every aspect of it. I soon learned about how unhealthy dairy is and when I cut that out I started noticing huge positive effects of it. My body shed weight on it's own, I detoxed massively, and everything improved drastically. But I did some mistakes too. Some ended up being quite bad. Main one was eating way too much fruit. My gut is just not built for sugar and it messed up my digestion. Once digestion (bacterial balance) is messed up it's very very hard to get it back to optimal if not impossible. Other mistake was avoiding fats. Nothing wrong with whole plant fats like nuts and seeds, avocados, olives, coconuts, etc. You absolutely need those on a daily basis. Avoiding those made me weak and I also noticed my teeth becoming almost translucent, I had to incorporate fats again to stop it.

So yeah that is my advice. In veganism there is a whole lot of wackjobs online promoting eating disorders and crazy diets. Do not listen to them. Raw, fruitarian, excessive fasting, weird restrictions, etc. Those people are all mentally ill or have some serious character flaws or personality disorder. When you obsess with something you are more likely to brake it. That is usually true with everything in life. People I recommend following are dr John McDougall and Michael Greger. Only thing I differ is that I'm not strict about being low fat, unless you are pretty sick. Yeah that's about it. Veganism is perfect allround diet when it comes to health, environment, morally, and karmically wise. Does it guerantes no health issues ever, no but no diet does. Some health is predetermined by genetics and damage done with past bad eating habits when you were still a kid and had no control.