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View Full Version : I want to go back! (Need advice)



ragdoll
Aug 20th, 2004, 08:39 PM
I need some advice!... I was originally vegan for about nine months and up until i began to feel a bit sick i stopped. I went back to eating all but red meat. ( i feel awful about it). it's been about 1 month and a half since i made that decision, but recently i have gone back to seeing how awful it is to be doing so. I would like to go back to a vegan diet. I just don't know how to tell my parents that i do. (i'm 17) They were never to fond of me being vegan in the first place. I want to go back with more control of what i eat this time around and truly take care of myself. How can i tell them? i don't know how to approach them. :confused:

PLEASE HELP!...

captainvegan
Aug 21st, 2004, 12:18 PM
Jumping between not vegan and vegan makes it look more like a fashion statement than a moral conviction. Veganism is not hard at all, it seems strange to me that people drop their values the first thing after they get sick.
I`m quite large guy ( 185 cm, inbetween 100 kilos ) and haven`t gotten ill because of my diet.
I can`t tell you how to approach to your parents, but if you feel that expoloiting animals is wrong, then I guess you don`t really have to say much more.
I don`t think that your parents get the picture no matter how hard you reason with them. Majority of people are just blind and stupid and choose not care. Giving up a moral guideline just because you`re not supported is just dumb.

beforewisdom
Aug 21st, 2004, 03:39 PM
You need to know about nutrition, both to make veganism work for you and to convince you parents you are doing something safe.

IMHO, this is the best nutrition book around:

Becoming Vegan
Brenda Davis, R.D. & Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D.
Published 2000. ISBN 1-57067-103-6

Get it at the lowest price at:
http://www.bestbookbuys.com

Gorilla
Aug 21st, 2004, 07:36 PM
make sure you know enough about proper nutrition. i've seen people go veggie and decide that it made them ill, even though all they were eating was pizza and chips :confused:

another good book is Plant Based Nutrition and Health, available from the Vegan Society and Amazon and loads of other places.

being vegan really isn't too hard. my parents weren't happy about me being vegan, but they know i believe in it so there's nothing they can do. i would never eat animal products again because i believe in it so strongly. there are lots of websites that will help remind you of the suffering caused by animal foods, not just to the animals but to your own health and the environment. try some of these for starters:

Vegan Society - Animals (http://www.vegansociety.com/html/animals/)
Vegan Society - Environment (http://www.vegansociety.com/html/environment/)
Viva! (http://www.viva.org.uk/goingvegan/index.html)

check out this for some info on nutrition Vegan nutrition (http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/)

there are so many vegan products that will help provide familiarity to begin with, you don't have to give up all your favourite foods. Please try again, and use this forum for any questions you have. Good luck :cool:

Fruitbat
Aug 22nd, 2004, 07:38 PM
Maybe you should be a vegan more gradually? Start with being vegetarian and then go to vegan? Some ppl find this easier however just make sure you dont stop at veggie!!!!

My parents are anti-vegan completely and although they accept me as a vegetarian (vegan and my parents are incompatible) I waited until I turned 18 and was withing sight of living home before announcing my decision. I still trying to figure out how to sort out veganism and my paretns!

You must show your parents you are well-read and healthy and most importantly of all you must learn to cook and where ot buy things so that your parents arent doing all the work keeping you fed.

Good luck!

Kiva Dancer
Jan 1st, 2005, 10:43 PM
I agree with the gradual thing. That will give you a chance to get back to the vegan diet slowly while you're learning about vegan nutrition and how not to get sick again.

After you're pretty comfortable with nutrition and how to get certian things, then I'd come out to the parents. I wouldn't do it before then because if you get sick again then it will only firm in their minds that vegan is dangerious and you wouldn't want them believing that.

eve
Jan 2nd, 2005, 06:55 AM
I don't know what happened to ragdoll, as he/she didn't come back, but I must say that this 'gradual' attitude is something I don't understand at all. If dairy is unhealthy, or meat and fish unhealthy, why continue eating those things? It's like someone being a smoker, then after deciding it's not doing them any good, still smoking but a bit less. That way is hopeless. (Before anyone says something about smoking being given up gradually, well I was a smoker many years ago, and I and my friends kept trying to give them up gradually. In the end I was in a situation that didn't fit with cigarettes so I gave them up, albeit intending to smoke again, but never did.)

However, I do agree that it is advisable to learn as much as poss about nutrition.

PinkFluffyCloud
Jan 2nd, 2005, 04:37 PM
I agree, Eve, get the info, then plan some meals, buy the food, and off you go!

gertvegan
Jan 2nd, 2005, 05:43 PM
How can i tell them? i don't know how to approach them. :confused:

PLEASE HELP!...

Ragdoll or anyone else in the same situation, the Mom, Dad, I'm Vegan! Explaining Veganism to the Family (http://www.vegsource.com/jo/qa/qanewvegan.htm) article may help.

All the best. :)