How to be a healthy vegan at 17?!

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Veganism is healthy for anyone of any age. Those people you talked to are very uneducated (along with some answerers on here). There is nothing special about dairy products. All of the nutrients we need are plant-based. Actually, countries with the highest rates of milk consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis. Half of the calcium in cow's milk cannot even be absorbed by humans. Cow's milk is made for baby cows, not adult humans. And just like any other food, nuts/seeds/legumes are healthy in moderation.
As long as you're not eating garbage, you'll be fine! You just have to do some research. Make sure you're eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts/seeds, and grains such as cereal, bread, and rice. Try almond or soy milk (I prefer almond milk). Make sure you drink water and water only (tea is alright also). Avoid soft drinks and juices. Make sure you get your 6-8 fruits/vegetables a day. It's honestly not as difficult as it sounds. As long as you stick with it you'll be adapted to your new lifestyle in no time. And yes, vegans can live much longer as long as they're eating decently.
Please do not listen to the voices of *uneducated* people. Educate yourself and choose what YOU believe is right for you. Do you know anybody who is vegan? You could always ask them for advice. Or buy a book about vegan nutrition. Here are a few websites that can help:
Vegan food pyramid: http://www.chooseveg.com/vegan-food-pyra…
http://www.vegan.org/
http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-li…
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/…
http://www.vegansociety.com/
I hope that helps you out, and congrats on going veg!

15 year old vegan

We have evolved to be omnivorous. But if you want to make a choice to be a vegan, you can do it healthy. There are plenty of sources of protein and calcium that are vegan. Just make sure you eat a balanced diet, maintain a healthy weight, and get exercise. If you find yourself without enough energy, you may need to moderate your diet for the short term, but you should be able to make it.

dont be a vegan

I've made the switch from eating meat to veganism about six years ago so I'm going to try to be as unbiased in my answer as possible.

As vegans, we get a lot of stigma and criticism from meat eaters. We are told that evolution intended us to eat meat, that one cannot get enough vitamins and nutrients from a vegan diet. Don't listen to these naysayers, most say those things because they don't have enough will power to stop eating meat, so they try to justify we need it in our diets. This isn't true at all. I can guarantee that if you make the switch to vegetarianism or even veganism, and do it properly, you will, without a doubt, be healthier, happier, and fulfill your nutritional requirement.

Let me tell you something about dairy. Stay away from it when you can. It's commonsense: humans are the only species to drink another species' milk. This is not healthy for us in the long term. When one is drinking dairy, they are drinking what is essentially the breast milk of a cow that was meant for its baby calves. Not for humans. I'm not knocking milk drinkers. I know it's something that is traditionally accepted in the Western diet and I'm not going to all the sudden change anyone's minds with this response. But I will say that nature never intended us to drink milk. Dairy intake has actually been shown to cause osteoporosis, arthritis, and other ailments; not prevent them. There are delicious substitutes to dairy such as soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, oat milk, and so on, that are a lot less calories and are jam packed with vitamins.

From an environmental standpoint, it takes 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef - and only 16 gallons to produce one pound of wheat! Also, vegans save a considerable amount of trees per year, as trees are rain forests are cut down to make room for animal farming. There are many environmental factors that I'll leave up for you to search.

Then there's the protein myth: you've probably heard that you cannot get enough protein without eating meat. Again, that's not the case. Meat actually has too much protein that turns into fat. Excess protein turns into fat. Just the right amount of protein is available in broccoli, leafy green vegetables, beans, and even soy milk. It's one of those things where too much is not good for you. This is why you see a lot of overweight meat eaters. Have you seen any overweight vegans lately? I didn't think so.

If you want what's best for the environment, the animals, and your health, I can assure you that these factors will greatly improve with a vegan diet. Even if you decide to be a vegetarian, that's a step in the right direction.

Every nutrient and vitamin we need for our bodies is available to us in plant form. Whatever we can get through animal sources, we can indeed get through plant sources.

Experienced vegan and minored in nutrition.

That is nonsense! You don't need milk/dairy. Milk/dairy is bad for humans. You can drink almond milk w/ high protein cereals like Kashi. Just make sure whatever cereal you eat is vegan. Don't eat anything w/ casein in it, ever. Don't drink cow's milk ever, cows milk is composed of bacteria, pus, yes pus and casein. Casein in a protein found in cows milk that is just like glue! It's actually used as glue by many companies, its what they use to glue labels to beer bottles. Some cereals have casein in them so be careful. Milk is not for humans its for calfs. Milk causes many digestion problems and constipation. It creates a lot of mucus and histamines in our bodies, go to notmilk.com Milk is the devil, bad, bad.

Eat lots of fruit veggies, beans (legumes). Leafy greens are the best. Bananas are great. Nuts are wonderful. Peanut butter is great. Brown rice. There are so many awesome vegan recipes out there. You can make vegan chili w/ brown rice. Steel cut oatmeal is really good for you too. An apple a day. Yum! Just make sure that you have a balanced diet. Veganism is bad when people eat lots of pasta, potatoes and nothing else. You needs veggies and fruits that are colorful. Try your best to eat organic, especially rooted fruits and veggies like carrots, squash. potatoes. Stuff like that. Hummus is good and easy to make w/ garbanzo beans. Don't give up! There is NOTHING better for you body than vegan/organic.

Good luck & God bless!

Before I answer more, I would like to know how tall are you? You probably have a few years left in you before you reach your full height. After you reach your full height, there is no problem giving up milk. Veganism is very very healthy once your reach adulthood. I stopped drinking milk almost a year ago, and I never get sick even if people come and sneeze on my face. I have travelled a lot in public transport lately and never picked up flu or anything. When you stop dairy, you stop producing excess mucus so you never get cold or sick. Vegans are the healthiest people ever.

Also vegan diet is very easy to follow. I can help you with that....i will tell you what i eat. You have to listen to your own body to decide what you want to eat.


Edit: 5'10" or 5'11' is good height. My personal recommendation is you stay vegetarian until you reach full height, then switch to vegan (may be by age 21) Good luck!


early morning.....Drink warm water with some orange juice (6am)
soak 3 almonds overnight ....peel the skin and have them before breakfast (8 am) [your body absorbs protien better from soaked nuts]
For breakfast , you can have fruits.....melons, apple, or grapes etc....just one type of fruit, don't mix (9 am)
mid-morning snack ....1 banana (10 am)
Lunch ....your choice.....(i normally have a big smoothie of fruits)
mid afternoon snack....1 banana
evening snack ...1 slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter
night....dinner...I eat cooked vegan dinner at night(1 cooked veggie item + 2 flat whole wheat indian bread (chappati) + lentils or yogurt)

vegetarian since birth, mostly vegan now

You can consume as much meat as possible until you reach age 17.