Why Do People Become Vegetarians

Most nonvegetarians wonder what drives people to convert to vegetarians and give up their daily meat intake in order to adopt an entirely different way of lifestyle. There is no single answer to this question. Nonvegetarians become vegetarians for a lot of different reasons - some even for multiple reasons.

Most vegetarians claim that they became a vegetarian for one of three main reasons.

The first reason, which most vegetarians claim, is that they have serious ethical problems with eating meat. Most disagree with how chickens are debeaked, forced to live in small cages, and are then slaughtered when they do not produce eggs fast enough.

Most vegetarians also disagree with the crowded and stressful environments that animals are forced into; and the hormone-laden daily feed used to make them grow faster and produce more.

People who become vegetarians for this purpose often draw ethical boundaries in different spots, depending on their indept personal beliefs. For instance, some staunch vegans will refuse to consume yeast, wear wool, or even eat certain vegetables, such as carrots, that require killing the plant to harvest.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, some vegetarians, sometimes referred to as pseudo-vegetarians, will actually eat fish and chicken on a regular basis.

The second reason vegetarians claim for not eating meat is that it conflicts with their dietary preferences. Some of these vegetarians simply do not like the texture and taste of meat, others do not eat it because it is high in cholesterol and often contains very high concentrations of hormones and preservatives.

The third and smallest group of vegetarians cite some environmental reasons for not consuming meat. They complain that the consumption of meat causes farmers to continually deforest the land to create grazing land for their cattle.

In addition to these three major groups, there are a number of other smaller groups of vegetarians who stopped eating meat for entirely different reasons.