Hello, I'm new to this forum. I'm 14 years old and have been sorta Vegetarian for a little over a year. What I mean by sorta is my parents make me eat fish. I don't want to but I have to. My problem is I really want to become a Vegan but I know my parents won't let me. They believe that my vegetarianism is costing money since they have to get me different foods and if I became Vegan it would cost more. Every time I mention becoming a Vegan my parents give my quite an earful. What should I do?
hahahha i see this post after 10 years of being a vegetarian( with peiods of being vegan, fruitarian, raw food vegetarian all mixed in) and i just happen to be gnawing on a piece of turkey right now. oops. well you do have to survive. you gotta eat. since you dont have money and dont live in the ideal world, then you may have to be patient if your folks wont cater veggie style. but vegan is healthier. either becvome a very good and knowlegable cook, then veggie is cheaper, or be patient, get a job when you turn 16, and go full fledged veggie. im goin back to veggie soon, i just lost so much weight over the past 3 years that i cheat from time to time. good luck.
yea it does get expensive but you know, there's this thing, it's called "cooking" and it can make a "alternative diet lifestyle" a lot easier. it might help if you could get a job and help pay for your food, too. /shrug but honestly, if you could cook food, a veggie diet wouldn't be expensive at all. go americans!...
all of the processed veggie food can be expensive. but for now before you can affordthat you can always stick to fruit, vegetables, pastas, breads, nuts and other things that don't contain animal products. unless all you parents eat is meat, i don't think it should be TOO much of a hassle to buy extra fruit and veggies.
"Bribe" your parents- tell them you'll do the cooking everynight (that is, unless theyre the kind of people that insist on meat everynight). Tell them that you'll do certain chores to make up for the extra money it may cost. By the way, to be vegan is only expensive if you buy mostly specialty foods (like faux meats, health food store type stuff, etc.) You can totally be a cheap vegan if you want. Buy foods in bulk, like dried beans and cous cous. Also, I'm sure your parents wouldn't object to there being more produce in the house- they can eat that too! Check out what veggies are in the kitchen and get creative with recipes. The only thing "different" you would necessarily HAVE to buy is B12 supplements. Usually soymilk and things like that are fortified with it, but if your parents refuse to buy those things, then you'll want to go out and get some B12 vitamins. Here's a link called "frugal living". It explains buying/growing/cooking vegans foods for a cheaper income. http://www.frugal.org.uk/food.html You may also want to explain to your parents that you can't put a price on health. Also, why not just say that you don't like the taste of fish and so you won't eat it-- most kids don't like fish, anyway.
When I began my vegetarian path, I brought my mom a bunch of articles about it, explaining the benefits and such. We came to an agreement that I would have to eat chicken and fish (but only with her homemade tartar sauce!) but I could cut out red meats. It wasn't easy, but we managed. For now, the best thing you can do is eat the fish. Remember, though, that a serving of fish or meat is about the size of a deck of cards, so once you've eaten that much, you don't have to eat any more than that. If they fill half your plate with fish, load up on veggies and fill up on those instead. It'll take time to get your parents adjusted to the idea, and going vegan overnight is not a good idea, especially since they're paying for you to eat and live. You have to be fair, but if you give them time and proven facts, they may come around eventually. The best thing you can start off doing is learning how to cook for yourself. Volunteer to make supper one night a week and practice non-meat meals, or cook meat for your folks on the side. Take your time and faze out the foods you don't want slowly. It's also important to show them that you're still healthy and strong, so that they don't get into a big kerfluffle about your health. That was my mom's big thing when I stopped eating meat. But show them that you've lost a few pounds or you did well in gym that day or whatever. As long as you're able to prove that vegetarianism is a positive thing, it should be better for you. BTW, there's very little reason why cutting out meat from your diet should cost too much extra money. You need protein, but you can get that from peanut butter, beans, nuts, tofu, and lots of other wonderful sources, all of which are very frugal when compared to meat. Here in Canada, at my local grocery store, 1 kg. of chicken costs $17.17. In pounds, that's $7.80/lb. Assuming a chicken breast is half a lb., it's roughly $3.50/chicken breast (I'm not great at math, so I say again, ROUGHLY!). You could buy two packages of tofu, a jar of peanut butter, several cans of beans or a bag of nuts for that price. And think how much more filling a can of beans in a soup or salad is compared to greasy old chicken. Blechers! Do some comparitive shopping on your own, but don't bombard them with this information immediately. Give them time -- parents are all about the "it's bad for you! Not enough protein" thing, or at least mine was. Take your time, you've got at least four more years in that home. Just try to prove to them that you'll be healthy, cost efficient and happy with a vegetarian/vegan diet. Good luck! Bright Blessings! Aphrodite Pretty
Well, technically, if you're still consuming fish, you're not actually a vegetarian. It's great that you're doing as much as you can, however. I know when I decided to go veggie (which really wasn't that long ago) my parents weren't too happy about it.. they didn't try to still make me consume fish -- I've never liked it and rarely ate it, so, that wasn't an issue. We got into many arguments (and we still do occassionally -- they kinda refuse to fully accept my vegan lifestyle) but I know I always simply told them that they can't make me eat things I don't want to. Hopefully they aren't going to insist upon physically stuffing down your throat.. either way, it's your decision.. you can let them continue to dictate everything, or you can make your opinions and what you want known.. I agree with some of the other posts, you could try to help out on the grocery bill, or do things around the house to make up the difference.. also, if you want to be old/responsible enough to make your own decisions about your diet, you should also be old/responsible to rely less on your parents and more on yourself - cook for yourself! Good luck!
im not sure what i come under, i rarely eat processed foods or ready made meals Ill drink milk and eat cheese as long as it is animal rennet free, il also eat eggs if the chickens have been free range other than that i wont eat any meat or fish I dont hate people for eating animals, its human nature and culture but if you feel it is wrong to eat animals you should never be forced to do so, theres too many alternatives available, when i turned veggie i realized that my diet did not actually chage a lot, i just missed out the bacon sarnie on a saturday morning and had a meat free fry up
