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Many non-vegetarians wonder what drives vegetarians to give up meat and adopt an entirely different lifestyle. There is no single answer to this question. Non-vegetarians become vegetarians for a number of different reasons – some even for multiple reasons. Most vegetarians claim that they became a vegetarian for one or more reasons.

The most mentioned reason, which many vegetarians claim, is that they have 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 animals are forced into and the hormone laden feed used to make them grow faster and produce more.

Vegetarians come in a variety of types who practice their beliefs in varying degrees. Some object to destroying plants for the purpose of harvesting vegetables for consumption like carrots for one. The strictest variety do not even eat yeast products and object to wearing wool made from animal fibers. Far less strict are the pseudo-vegetarians who do not consume meat but are open to eating fish and chicken.

Not all vegetarians object to consuming meat products for the same reasons. Some simply do not like meat or perhaps have health concerns pertaining to cholesterol, preservatives or hormones contained in meat.

There is a small group of vegetarians who cite environmental reasons for not consuming meat. They complain that consumption of meat causes farmers to continually deforest land to create grazing land for cattle. In addition to these three reasons, there are also a number of other vegetarians who stopped eating meat for other reasons entirely.