RSS Feed
Twitter
I feel like I owe it to myself and the animals to become a vegetarian. I know that it is difficult but I think I could do it. I’m looking for advice for any other vegetarians as to how to get started and hoe to explain this to my parents without them freaking out.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Posted in 
Tags: 
What a perfect scenario. I’m 15 and I just became a vegetarian
First off, I started cutting down my meat consumption. I made my mom aware of this and she tried too. We’d have it no more than once a day and try and go some days without. I wanted to make the transition to vegetarianism on my 15th birthday, but I couldn’t. Then one day I was at Harvey’s and ordered a veggie burger. I was really proud of myself for trying it and liking it and going a day without meat (hope that doesn’t sound conceited
) but it gave me the confidence to go full on vegetarian.
Tell your parents that you’re not okay with eating animals and you’d like their help to stop. I think all parents kind of expect their kids to do some idealistic things when they become a teenager. When I was little and I hated vegetables, my dad would always say to my mom "just watch, she’ll be a vegetarian one day". But the important thing is to educate yourself before you try to explain to your parents. They’ll probably have questions to which you need answers.
I find this site really helpful
http://www.goveg.com/
It’s mostly about going vegan (no animal products) but is useful to vegetarians as well. On the left under the green menu thing, you can order a free vegetarian starter kit. I have yet to receive mine, but it has lots of recipes in it.
There are a lot of health benefits to vegetarianism. Some studies show that you can live 6-10 years longer. Another study showed that kids who had a vegetarian diet were more likely to grow taller and have higher IQs (although vegetarians are more aware of what goes on in the world eg. animal cruelty so they are usually smarter people. They probably raised their kids to have a higher IQ, it’s not the diet). But you are also less likely to develop intestinal cancers.
As for nutrition, that’s the tricky part.
Count your calories for a day or two once you get into the swing of things. A lot of vegetarians don’t get enough.
Don’t just eat pasta and pizza. Try lots of veggies and fake meat. I recommend the Boca chicken burgers, they’re honestly better than real chicken.
I’ll list some nutrients you should be concerned about and a few alternate places to find them.
Zinc – Pumpkin seeds!
, milk
Iron – Green leafy vegetables, molasses, apparently sweet potatoes and soy
Protein- Milk, eggs, cheese, enriched grains (My toast has 5 grams. It’s Flaxseed)
B12 – Dairy products, Soy milk, fortified breakfast cereals
Riboflavin – Soy milk, dairy, eggs, enriched grains, whole wheat
Omega-3 – Supplements or eggs
Vitamin D – The sun
As long as you’re still eating milk, cheese and eggs you should be okay. I now buy free range eggs to avoid the cruelty that comes with regular eggs.
I hope this helps
Congratulations!
just tell your parents. and be sure to eat things with protein, because that is something you will need that you get from usual meats.
I suggest finding a vegetarian food pyramid online and buy some good vegetarian cookbooks. That way you can start planning healthy, balanced meals using the food pyramid as a guideline. And your parents can’t freak out over your protein intake because you can show them (on paper) that you ARE getting enough protein.
Any nutritionist who graduated from college in the last 20 years will tell you that the healthiest diet anyone can eat is a low-fat, whole-foods vegetarian diet. Whole foods are foods that are do not contain food chemicals or preservatives. Whole foods are also not usually pre-packaged, do not contain sugar and are not highly processed. Stay away from white flour, white rice and sugar (these foods are not whole foods). In other words, cook most of your meals from scratch and stay away from pre-packaged, ready-to-eat foods.
Tell your parents about Dr. Dean Ornish. He is a cardiology researcher who discovered that heart patients who started eating a low-fat, vegetarian diet were able to cure their heart disease. He also wrote a great cookbook/diet book called "Eat More, Weigh Less". The book contains daily meal plans and has tons of recipes. Dr. Ornish is very well respected in the medical community. I’m sure your family doctor knows who he is. If a vegetarian diet is so bad, then why does it make sick people better?
It has also been proven that vegetarians tend to keep their body weight and blood lipid levels closer to the desirable range than non-vegetarians. Vegetarians have a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, gout and diabetes.
i think your parents would understand. i am not vegetarian myself but i truly understand vegetarian people. if you were eating meat before just eat every time a little less untill you eat none at all. you can also try soy meat. it is not made of meat but it replaces it. and to me it tastes better than meat
Hi! Being vegetarian is a great choice. Its very healthy and animals are treated SO cruelly.
Being a vegetarian means giving up ALL meat and fish. It also means not eating gelatin (which is crushed up bones). Watch out for gelatin in things like marshmallow, gummy worms, gummy bears, jell-o, junior mints, starburst, and any gummy candies.
Make sure you get enough protein. It is mostly a myth how vegetarians need to "worry about protein." It isn’t as big of a deal as people make it seem. Just as long as you eat dairy, or tofu, or nuts/seeds, you’ll be ok.
You should explain to you’re parents WHY you want to be vegetarian, and if they are concerned about your health, do some research with them online. If you look up vegetarianism with them they will find that it is very healthy. Or you could do the research yourself and print out the paper and show it to them. Vegetarianism is definitely MUCH healthier. (:
Also, something interesting to read about animals in slaughterhouses: http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/ar-aninsidelook.html
Or watch this: http://action.peta.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=5&ea.campaign.id=5133
Check out a comparison of food pyramids here:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/debunking-diet-myths-the-food-pyramid-of-the-insane.html
It seems you are not doing this to be healthy but rather because you care about the way animals are treated. It may be easier to convince your parents by convincing them that it is also healthy. However, to be healthy you must avoid more than animal foods. You must also avoid all refined foods and most fats including vegetable oils and any food cooked in vegetable oils. A limited amount of nuts [especially raw] will provide you with the fats you need and a tablespoon of flax seed or chia seed a day would be recommended.
I suggest a book called Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman, MD. While Dr’ Fuhrman does not prohibit animal foods entirely he does advocate a vegan diet as a way of life and to finding true health. Vegetables are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet which means they provide all the nutrition AND protein needed for good health while also being low in calories.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article17.aspx
http://shopping.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AuUoQ2na9V5WmTLWHAaFixxGDSoD?p=joel+fuhrman&did=7
IF you do become a vegetarian you will need to take a vitamin B12 supplement. It is also highly recommended that you take a DHA supplement. Most people take fish oil for a DHA but you can get vegetarian DHA which comes from algae. Also, everyone should take vitamin D3, whether you are vegetarian or not.
Another great book to read is THE FOOD REVOLUTION by John Robbins. This book has convinced many persons to become vegetarians. http://shopping.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AuUoQ2na9V5WmTLWHAaFixwbFt0A?p=john+robbins+food+revolution&did=7
Follow the link and then go to the first link on that page which will take you to Amazon and read all the customer reviews of the book.
Check out these websites:
http://www.veganwolf.com/index.html
http://www.vegansociety.com/
http://www.vegsoc.org/
They have plenty of advice, recipes, nutrition information etc. Two are obviously meant for vegans but they still have lots of good stuff.
Hope that helps.
I went vegetarian when I was 8, I never had much of a problem with my parents, partly because they didn’t think I would last. But I really can’t understand any parent seeing vegetarianism as a problem, what sort of responsible parent want their children to live on fast food, burgers, chemicals, & foods dripping with cholesterol, rather than good home made meals vegetables, grains, & pulses.
It is a little hard at first knowing what you can & can’t eat.
Have fun learning to cook some healthy vegetarian foods, maybe cook for your parent to show them how healthy it is?
I never had any problems sticking to my diet, went you truly believe something so strongly, you never even think of giving up. From the second I knew where meat really came from I knew I would never go back to eating it & I’m still 100% certain 15 years later.
Also it might help to show them this huge list of famous vegetarians, I’m sure they will be surprised at some of the names, & realise that there is nothing to worry about.
http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/Celebrity_Vegetarians.php