Samuel Williams Dr. Anderson English 1010 1 May 2014 If ordering a hamburger meant you had to watch the whole process of how that hamburger patty got to your plate, would you still eat it? Becoming vegetarian has been a topic of interest for me for the past few years. During my research I wanted to find out why people chose to be vegetarian and why others choose not to. Going through this vegetarian transition a few years ago myself, I wondered how others chose to participate. 1
Transcript
Samuel Williams
Dr. Anderson
English 1010
1 May 2014
If ordering a hamburger meant you had to watch the whole process of how that
hamburger patty got to your plate, would you still eat it? Becoming vegetarian has been a topic
of interest for me for the past few years. During my research I wanted to find out why people
chose to be vegetarian and why others choose not to. Going through this vegetarian transition a
few years ago myself, I wondered how others chose to participate.
Becoming Vegetarian
I selected this source based on my main research question as to why would someone that
has eaten meat their whole life without a problem, suddenly become vegetarian. I found this
source in the school library EBSCO under the search words “becoming vegetarian”.
Moralization and Becoming a Vegetarian, was the first link provided in the list of findings. The
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authors within the publication, for the University of Pennsylvania’s intent are to explain the
moral change in people (moralization) to become vegetarian. In other words, what has taken
place in somebodies life that has lead them to have a change of heart and have compassion for
animals. This compassion is to the point where eating meat is repulsive and they become
vegetarian on humanity and moral reasoning’s. The main argument in the research is the cultural
acceptance between health driven vegetarians and moral vegetarians. The authors depict how
being involved in a death sensitive situation, involvement with long suffering, even cognitive
reading on the subject can promote vegetarian moralization. I defiantly agree with the findings
in this academic research article. I personally have been motivated to become vegetarian by
being involved in sensitive situations for compassion. This moralization process has been a long
process of realization that the suffering I felt for the passing of close ones is the same suffering
that is involved within the meat industry. I have learned that through the author’s studies moral
vegetarians will more likely be questioned and prosecuted by meat advocates than health driven
vegetarians. Also that I am not alone, in the shift from becoming a moral vegetarian 48 percent
have craving moments for meat even after being vegetarian for years. This research develops a
study and insight as to why people are motivated to become vegetarian. Through testing and
questioning I am able to gain knowledge as to what is involved in the process of becoming
vegetarian, through cognitive and sensational motives. What I wanted to understand next was
what would lead a moral vegetarian to even further the spectrum to the extreme of becoming
vegan?
Veganism
I came across this research as I looked for, “reasoning for veganism” within my school
library research data base. This academic journal by Rachel M. MacNair, “Empirical Look at
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Becoming Vegan” answers my question as to why people choose with veganism. The journal
documents motives for changing food behaviors within the realm of vegetarianism and
veganism. The survey suggests that when becoming vegetarian because of animal concerns they
were more likely to answer that their initial motivations are emotional. When health concerns
were the beginning motivation, they eventually said they just had to use logic to become vegan.
Within the journal I agree up to the point of becoming vegetarian. When on the spectrum of
Veganism though, I had a hard time involving health risks on your own body for not including
animal byproducts. This meaning, I agree we should not harm animals for our eating but as far as
products like eggs which are naturally occurring and do not cause harm, why not eat them. This
is creditable to my research because it fulfills my questions on why people would become vegan.
It shows how health reasoning’s are more widely the socially acceptable reason as to why people
go to the extreme of vegan. Some interesting thing I have learned from this article is that age has
shown to be a factor in the transition for veganism. According to the research as we age we are
more prone to become vegetarian due to health reasoning’s that come with age. There is also a
sense of embarrassment that embellishes in the study, which people are more likely to say they
are vegan for health reasons because they are too embarrassed to say they are motivated by
animal rights and concerns. This was very informational on the benefits of becoming vegetarian
or vegan for humanitarian or moral reasoning’s. Though, I wonder what the health Pros (3) and
Cons (5) are to eating this way.
Healthy Study
I started my search for health risks among vegetarians in JSTOR, provided by our school
library. This search took me for a ride through charts and graphs but resulted in the finding of an
applicable case by the British Medical Journals, where a study involving 11,000 people and the
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conclusions were astonishing. The purpose of this publication is to show the relationship
between health risks such as cancer and heart disease among vegetarians compared to meat
eaters. The main content of the article argues Ischemic heart disease and cancer are the main
causes of death among adults. This study shows that vegetarians have a 40% less risk of getting
cancer compared to meat eaters. They do though conclude as a safety precaution that there may
be other elements involved that could have caused these results. I find these result incredible, I
had no idea what the effect of a vegetarian diet would provide in the long run. When you talk
about your life and the risk factor involved in dying, why not take that 40% less of a risk to not
get cancer. I know eastern medicine has claimed that vegetarianism lead to a longer life, but I
believe that western ideology needs a change. This change needs to be from the typical idea of
trying to cure disease, to preventing disease. I have learned from this article that there are
significant long term health benefits from a vegetarian diet. It further values my research topic in
a way that can motivate and sustain a vegetarian diet for a longer life as a consequence. I wonder
why people do not adopt a vegetarian diet given all of the health benefits. Is it because of denial?
Carnivore Dilemma
I came across this article by using JSTOR using the search words of “Carnivore Denial”
under the impression that maybe there is a study how denial is in association with eating animals.
The Author Michael Shae’s New York Times article, The Carnivore's Dilemma purpose is to
show that meat eaters are in denial with their morals; for instance not being able to relate to
animals pain and suffering. The arguments among the research article include that there is moral
ethics and issues disconnects among carnivores participating in our traditional American diet.
Michael claims that eating meat for health purposes for instance, is more for a sense of
dominance rather than for health reasoning. Shae uses a sense of sarcasm throughout the article
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to discredit carnivore ideology by contrasting traditional ideologies of meat compared to health
disclaimers about meat. I agree with the article and believe that carnivores are in fact in denial of
what has to happen for that piece of meat to reach your mouth. Not to mention all of the health
warnings surrounding meat and the dangers of eating it may cause. I have learned from this
article that the average meat eaters ideology on meat is that they are just either in denial, or have
never thought about it. We are so wrapped up in old eating habits based on power and strength
that we do not question our own food. It shows the contrary of my research question on why
someone would not become vegetarian. The article shows why people would not become
vegetarian are usually based on ignorance or denial. I believe denial is a suiting term given the
research that has proven that, not eating meat will increase your health and longevity. In
conclusion I believe this article leaves out some information as to the origins of our western
ideology on eating meat. This also leaves me wondering what are the health risks, or “Cons” to
not digesting meat regularly in a diet. Maybe this is a reason why people still eat meat.
Health Risks
For my fifth source I decided to try and find some contrary studies that would show that
there is health risks involved in being vegetarian. I had a hard time finding any cases where
being vegetarian actually could hurt your health. Under the search, “vegetarian health risks”, I
did find one case where it showed a young active girls health risks that could apply to other
vegetarian youth. Erin Meanley ‘s research in Dance Spirit, an academically study to shows the
health risks among young dancers eating a vegetarian and vegan diet. The summary of the article
shows how young active vegetarians or vegans could have insufficient in nutrition. This article is
a study of a girl who eats vegan and has a few health risks that other sport active vegetarians
should watch out for. These risks include low calcium, insufficient calories, diminishing muscle
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tone, and not consuming enough fats. By way of response, I do agree that when you eat
vegetarian it doesn’t mean you are eating healthy. There are some nutrition factors that you miss
out on that meat easily provides, for example protein. When eating vegetarian there are though
plenty of ways to get the proteins you need by just adjusting your eating habits. This study
provides the knowledge that young active vegetarians need to participate in higher volumes of
food that have plenty of nutrition packed into every meal. The study of the young girl also shows
that vegetarian youth can be just as energetic, if not more energetic than peers that eat meat. The
Vegan Dilemma provided the contrary health issues when eating vegetarian or vegan. It pulls up
some great issues and concerns with nutrition along with how to avoid these issues.
Concluded Research
In conclusion, my research questioning took me through all aspects on why people
choose to eat vegetarian and why others may not. Whether it was an influence to become
healthier or reasons involving a moral stand. My stand on this topic still stays with a moral
standard being the main influence on my beliefs on eating vegetarian. The answer I concluded
with this research is there a lot of factors that can influence ones eating habits, and a moral
reasoning is one that will stand the test of time. Health fads come and go, but standards tend to
not wavier with the wind.
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Works Cited
MacNair, Rachel M. "Mcdonald's "Empirical Look At Becoming Vegan." Society & Animals
