trying to go vegan plz help?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Hi dear,

I think i can relate to you because i'm a teenager, i'm 17 and i started on my vegan journey when i was 15 years old.

I'm very glad to know such a young child like you who are sensible and wants to make a change for a yourself and other sentient beings.

First off, the fact that you're only 12 and you want to make such a transition is a huge matter. Veganism is not a easy feat and it requires a lot of hardwork and effort to put into. Just cooking and planning your diet alone is a demanding effort for you as a pre-teen. Do not take this as an offensive remark, but you need to convince your parents to approve you of being a vegetarian or vegan. Family support is important in your case because you might lack the experience and the permission to cook alone for your meal. Having supportive parents who can understand your decision are a great help to you because it minimizes the tension built with your family and relatives so you can live harmoniously with them.

I am the only vegan at home right now, living with my grandma who is a occasional-vegetarian, i do not have any parents or siblings so i'm all alone. Hardship is inevitable. Be it your school friends, relatives or strangers that all lives in a non-vegan world, they might not agree and understand why you chose to be a vegan/ vegetarian at such a young age and that challenge your faith, determination and how willing you are to disregard their insult and mockery and at the time, compromise and maintain peace with them.

Since you mention that your parents probably will not let you go fully vegan, i suggest that you try out a vegetarian diet as a starter. As you move on in months or years, your body adjust to the diet, you eat well and you feel that you can manage on your own and your parents feels that you are ready to take care of your own health by further eliminating eggs and dairy from your diet , it would be a much easier process as you move on to a vegan diet.


As for the nutritional needs you mentioned,

Protein are abundant in many natural foods like tofu, lentils, beans , broccolli, bananas, Tempeh, Peanut butter, Spinach etc. Do not ever worry about having protein deficiencies, there's a lot of range of food that can be obtained in our diet.

As for calcium,

Blackstrap Molasse, Collard Greens, Soy milk, Tofu, Okra, kale, almonds are good sources of calcium that you can obtain from.

The only thing you need to worry if you really want to be a vegan is your vitamin B12. You are required to take supplements for it. Alternatively, you can obtain your B12 from nutritional yeasts. You can use nutritional yeasts to replace cheese in spaghetti, scrambled tofu etc.

If you need more help please message or email i am more than willing to help you with any enquiries or advices :)

I hope you make wise decision, just keep going and never look back ! Best wishes to you and good luck!

raptor_jesus' protein idea of "whey" is NOT vegan. whey = milk

vegan protein:
beans and legumes
quinoa (awesome grain... use instead of rice)
nuts and nut butters
whole grains (not the white flour)
seitan

calcium: dark green leafy vegetables. orange juice comes in an extra calcium version too.

vegan supplements: http://www.veganstore.com/vegan-vitamins.html?gclid=CMu4rofO6qYCFUpJ2godQl0o7g

if the treatment of the animals is your only reason for going vegan, you and your parents might be able to compromise by you going "ovo-lacto vegetarian" and eating eggs from a local farmer with pet chickens and your milk/yogurt from a local dairy with happy cows. look into your local farmer's markets or try locallygrown.net to see what's in your area.

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm

You may find it easier to go vegetarian to start with. Go on the vegan and vegetarian web site for advice on nutrition and recepe ideas.It is a healthy lifestyle as long as you do your research, get some recepe books from the library and do some cooking with your mum, go with her when she goes food shopping and make suggestions on what you would like.If you can show that you are serious and have learned about nutrition then it will be easier to persuade your mum what you want to do.

check out http://vegweb.com/index.php?action=recip… there is alot of good stuff for dinner there

you can find vegetarian restaurants with this website http://www.happycow.net otherwise chinese restaurants and italian restaurants should have atleast 1 thing on the menu.

silk soymilk, white and kidney beans have a lot of calcium. make some chili or pasta fazool

good for you on going vegan. i haven't gotten sick in 4 years since going vegan, i would get sick all the time before, even when i was vegetarian

Hi kiddo, well there is one place that will answer all your questions and that is The Vegetarian Society: https://www.vegsoc.org/

I went veggie at 14 and am now 40! But I would never become a vegan.

Good luck!

the best advice i can give to someone becoming a vegan is -- dont do it.
2nd though, for protein you can buy a whey or complex supplement from gmc or places like nutrishop or the internet. you can also get a powdered vitamin to make sure you have all the other essential nutrients and minerals. when you go out to eat, ask for the vegetarian options, many places have them now.
but really, the animals exist to be eaten -- if not by us, than by other animals, which will do it much more cruelly. lions eat their pray while its still living.