I had an awful dream about how animals feel when we slaughter them for meat :(

I saw the movie Earthlings and I became a vegetarian. My teenage son saw the movie and became a vegetarian shortly after I did. We have been vegetarians for more than a year now.

The only advice I have is, stick to it. DOn't be obnoxious about it, but try to spread the word. I personally tell people about the movie. If only a few people change because I said something, at least that's a few less meat-eating humans.

Find some good vegetarian cookbooks, there are a bazillion of them out there. Get some decent nutritional software (I use FitDay PC) to make sure you are getting a balanced diet, especially that you are getting enough protein. Also make an effort to vary your protein sources for the best health: some egg, some dairy, some soy, some legumes, etc. It's hard to do because you will need to find humane sources for your eggs and dairy (unless you are going vegan) and also non GMO sources for your soy. But it can be done. And I personally believe it's the right thing to do. At least in part because of what you dreamed about (animals have feelings), as well as because of the general evil and inhumanity of our factory food industry.

A superb resource to strengthen your resolve and also to find out more about humane meat sources is the book Eating Animals - by Jonathan Safran Foer. I checked mine out from the library, and it is also available at Amazon.

reply to post by KatieVA


Dear Katie,

Have been vegetarian most of my life. To answer your question in how not to give into the craving for meat, what I can tell you, is that after a while, the senses catch up with the habit, if they have been blunted from years of meat eating.

Your entire perception changes. When your body is cleaned from all the meat eating, you truly exprerience eating animal meat in the same light that you would eating a human body. It is revolting, disgusting. Beneath you. I cannot see eating meat as anything less than eating a body, a living body that walked, ran, jumped, mated and bled. When I see a meat advert I really cannot look. I make no show of it, but it is the most brutal image that my eyes experience. A total shock. People that eat meat for ages, cannot experience this. The soul becomes sensitive again, and the truth of what eating meat is can once again be percieved.

Hang in there, it really is worth it! For you and for your fellow creatures.

Love and peace,
A

Thank you so much for the informative, helpful replies. I'll definitely watch that Earthlings film. I went out today and bought a vegetarian cookbook in a charity shop so I can get a good idea of some meals I can make - they all look absolutely delicious! I think I'll start gradually, cutting down over a few weeks or months and cut out 1 day of eating meat each week or so...until gradually I won't be eating it at all, and I won't miss it.

Some vegetarians still eat fish, don't they? What do you all think of that?

The only worry I have, is that I have a 2 year old son who's a fairly fussy eater as it is. I think it'll be wrong for me to feed him meat when I'm not eating it myself, but it'll be hard converting him too! I guess it's a case of educating myself.

reply to post by KatieVA


Make sure you get enough nutrients otherwise craving for meat will become stronger. Eat the vegetarian things you like. Create nice menu's. And being a veggie is not eating anything slaughtered.

Think about this. You know meat/fish as a something nice on your plate. Now think about a rotting corps. Smell it, I dare you to taste it. I dare you to put your bare hands inside the rotting cadaver and feel all those maggots and other creatures on your hands and climbing up your arms into the direction of your face.

A carrot seems now a very nice thing, doesn't it Bon appetit!

reply to post by UnlimitedSky


What about the smell of raw meat.....brrrr.

Originally posted by QueenofWeird
reply to post by UnlimitedSky

 

What about the smell of raw meat.....brrrr.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR and horror.

Life without a body really does smell like death. When walking past a butcher shop or THAT section in the supermarket without being able to avoid it, I hold my breath and look the other way. Mostly I avoid it, but when walking with a friend down the road, I don't cross the road (to try and avoid it) if I see one of those morturies coming up ahead. I just do my best to close the senses.

It hurts to much.

And the smell makes me feel sick.

I don't see why anyone should be a strict vegetarian. There are several kinds of halfway diets. One is called the ovolactovegetarian diet, which is self-explanatory. Mi sort would have to be called insectopisciovolactovegetarian. I stopped eating all vertebrates except fish (no amphibians, reptiles, birds or mammals) a long time ago, and I eat eggs, dairy products, insects and seafood in general. At first it was hard to stop eating livestock meat and I'd feel the craving for a hamburger every now and then but eventually it vanished.

There's a big problem with cheese because there's both animal and plant rennet and in some places cheese makers still haven't switched to plant rennet because it's more expensive. It was revolting to discover that my cheese had things that had come out of a slaughterhouse and I stopped eating it at once. I just couldn't enjoy it anymore.

I refused to keep eating tunafish when I discovered that the "Dolphin-safe" label is an imposture. The special nets lessen but don't avoid the killing of dolphins, turtles, sharks, etc. The authorities are aware of this but they've always been on the side of Big Business, which places profits before everything else.

Riip9110, retrograde reincarnation is mentioned in the sacred Scriptures but it's a superstition. Coming back as a nonhuman animal is used in the way some parents use scary tales about evil characters who kidnap children when they misbehave, or in the way religions scare people with lakes of fire and brimstone and devils.

reply to post by escapevelocity


I'm intrigued. Which insects do you eat? Do you have a favourite? If so, which one? Do they all taste the same?

You stave off desire for anything you want to quit by just eating or drinking something else, it doesn't matter what. Thereby getting rid of your hunger and thirst. Probably if you want to come off meat (and a very good idea that is) focus on filling up on things with lots of B vitamins and high protein. Yeasts, tofus, gluten, cheeses...

From an ethical standpoint, my personal opinion is that eating eggs is as bad - if not worse - than eating meat. This is the reason why-

www.youtube.com...

Also read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by KatieVA
Some vegetarians still eat fish, don't they? What do you all think of that?

My opinion is if you eat fish try to avoid the "Big 5" (cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns). We are literally destroying the ocean and threatening ecosystem collapse. A lot of supermarkets have introduced more eco-friendly alternatives such as Pollock.