y wont my family understand my new vegetarianism?

Question

omg my family so annoying im a vegetarian and they are like u have to eat meat ur still growing and blah blah blah. but i dont wanna. how do i make them understand. also do any of youse kno any good substatutes for meat? cos i think im low on iron and stuff

Answer 1

Iron is found in many things, most important are legumes(beans, peas, lentils) which are also packed with protein.
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/iron
http://www.veganhealth.org/sh

There have been vegan Olympic gold medalists and a vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML_(Draft).htm

Here are some more veg people:
http://www.mikemahler.com/index.html
http://www.vegetarianbodybuilder.com/index2.html
http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bios
http://www.andreascahling.com/andreas-about
http://www.billpearl.com/career.asp
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-23-27/Salim-Stoudamire-Runs-on-Broccoli.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Danzig
http://www.scottjurek.com/career.php
http://www.nfl.com/players/rickywilliams/profile?id=WIL271115
http://www.brendanbrazier.com/raceresults/index.html

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There is a Japanese analogy/proverb that goes like this, "The nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down". People are like this everywhere. When you tell your family that it is your personal belief that animals should not be eaten, they take a look at themselves and it can be subconsciously translated into, "What you do is wrong and I choose to be right."

Your parents have probably been taught a huge amount of misinformation by their parents and their teachers while growing up. You really need to research vegetarian diets and health before you even think about saying the "V-word" in front of your parents or anyone else.

When you have gathered enough information and feel confident in a vegetarian diet's ability to maintain or even improve health, you may mention to them that you have made the decision. They may be shocked, angry, worried, curious or many other things, but you must NEVER react to their behavior and always stay calm. If they are able to speak to you and respect your choice, please tell them everything and answer all questions. If they are rude, inconsiderate, judgmental, violent, or verbally abusive, refuse to continue any conversation until they can speak to you with respect.

The best advice is to study everything that you can about a healthy vegetarian diet and keep yourself in good shape (better than most people your age or than your friends/family if possible). If nobody that you know shows a genuine, positive interest in your choice, don't give them the privilege of the knowledge that you have gathered. Work your way around any attempts they make to trivialize your beliefs and if possible, go shopping with your parents and buy things that aren't obvious veggie fare. Instead of trying to sneak fake meat into the cart, toss in lentil soup, peanut butter, pasta, fruits & veggies or anything else that you have learned is needed to fill any gaps in your diet.

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If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.

You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.

When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.

A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.

Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.

A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.

Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.

If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.

If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.

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I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:

Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.

Snack: BRUSSEL SPROUTS =) no joke

Lunch: vegan "sausage" sandwiches, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.

Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup, baked tofu, BBQ homemade seitan (tastes like BBQ'd ribs), kabobs

I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com

Answer 2

Definately do some research about how healthy a vegetarian diet can be. Talk to them about it very nicely, even if they annoy you, because if you back talk and tell them they're murderers or something they won't let you become vegetarian. If they are still concerned you won't get good nutrition, go to a dietician who can make a healthy diet plan for you.
It'll probably take some time for them to understand you being vegetarian because most people are used to eating meat. They just see it as regular food and don't know how badly the animals are treated, or believe they have a right to eat other creatures. (not insulting anyone just saying)
And Morning Star, Boca, and Yves all have good meat substitues.
Good luck!

Answer 3

You need to do a little research, not just so you can learn about good sources of "iron and stuff," but so you can educate your family. If you can show that you know far more about nutrition than they do, they will probably back off. If you're still growing you must be pretty young. Check out a book called "Raising Vegetarian Children" (Stepaniak/Melina). It's obviously geared mostly to parents and it covers nutrition for kids much younger than you, but it also covers adolescent nutrition requirements and has really great packed lunch ideas and stuff. You'll know all you need to be an extremely healthy vegetarian. Plus, the recipes sound really great - contribute to the cooking so your family doesn't have to accommodate you. Share yummy vegetarian dishes with them. If you're healthy and happy, they'll come around.

Answer 4

It's the same with me. I also stopped eating non-vegetarian food two months back and my family members were like, "you're a fool that you stopped eating pepperoni pizzas' and beef steaks" and my friends laugh at me and say "losers are vegetarian". Usually i ignore them and eat the vegetarian food cause its kinda better than non-vegetarian food. It's probably cause they don't understand the pain cause to the animals that are killed. I was successful in converting my sister for a while to a vegetarian after convincing her and showing her some videos on youtube. My mom was always vegetarian so she didn't say much but my dad and my grand-dad always bugged me.
Anyway, substitutes for meat would be (iron rich stuff) Spinach (best source of iron, no wonder Popeye is so strong) . Mainly whole grains, green leafy vegetables and fruits (red beans, soybeans, soy milk, apples, bananas or any fruit which gets oxidized).

Answer 5

Well, your family is concerned and they care about you...but at the same time, it sounds like they don't completely understand the vegetarian lifestyle.
Here's where you come in to help them. LOL. If you have not already, do some research about it. When they start asking questions and annoy you with their "you must eat meat" argument, you'll have information to back up your decision. If you gave it up for health reasons, research the health benefits of the diet. If you gave it up for moral/ethical reasons, research that aspect of it.
If you are eating a well-balanced diet of fruit, veggies, beans/legumes, you should not be deficient in any vitamins or minerals. If I were you, I'd steer clear of the meat substitutes that you find in the freezer section of the grocery store...those are "convenience" foods that should be consumed in moderation. Eat more beans. They are a good source of iron. Tofu is also a good source of protein.

Answer 6

Hey baby,
Here is some stuff which can be of great use 2 u. First of all, don't make the mistake to listen to your parents concerning this matter. Secondly, I would like to make you know that three quarter of human diseases result from meat-eating. Last but not least, as you have well decided to tread the path of truth, here are some great subsitutes for meat. They will give you much more than what meat used to give you!

Soya is a good source of protein and low fat.
Can be used to produce milk, dairy replacements products, as well as to replace the texture and bulk of meat, usually in the form of textured vegetable protein.
Is usually the basis for many meat substitutes.

Tofu
Manufactured by a process similar to cheese making, but from soya milk.
Very good source of protein, calcium and low fat.
Able to take on flavours well — great for marinating. Can be used for stir–fries, kebabs, salads and just about anything savoury.
Tofu also is available in a silken form which is used for desserts, sauces or flans.

If you want to learn some more stuff, then go to this cool page:-

http://www.vegsoc.org/

Answer 7

Wow, my mom was the exact same way when I tried to become a vegetarian a while back... She said that I was still growing, too young to make a choice to become vegetarian, malnourished, you know. She eventually forced me back to eating meat, even though I don't want to.... It doesn't have to be like that with you, though, if you present your case reasonably, and your family are understanding people, you should be able to convince them that you'll be able to find meat substitutes (tofu, soy, the likes of that)... And maybe just try it out for a little while, like a month or so, to see how it goes for you... Here's a really good website for young people trying to maintain a vegetarian diet:

http://www.vegetarianteen.com/

Answer 8

I want to applaude your perserverence because I am 35 year old mom who can relate to your dillema although I cannot claim being vegitarian because I often crave meat... TRULY I believe it is the best possible way to show our humanity and LOVE OF NATURE/LIFE
respect our fellow earthlings {animals} I never could understand how people love their pets like family can also justify the mass slaughter and cruelty to such sweet vunerable creatures,who have never been a threat to mankind like cows,chickens,pigs,turkeys,lambs,duck,etcetera.Personally I
reccomend that you enlist another adult such as doctor or a teacher ... even a nutritionist to educate your family about the incredible health benefits of living free of meat....TRY TO REMEMBER THAT YOUR FAMILY IS JUST LOOKING OUT FOR YOU IN THIS ...situation annoying or not EVEN IF THEY CANT REALLY RELATE TO YOUR distaste with eating...flesh wheewww. HOPE THIS HELPS imagine free of the bad physical / mental /spiritual /emmotional karma
YES you can get all your proteins through soy based tasty alternatives,nuts,can help....or vitamin supplements.....are you Anemic.?FISH OR EGGS . YOU are not alone Talk to your peers too I am sure you will begin to feel more alliances support AWARENESS...YOUR Body is telling you it cant tolerate meat for whatever good reasons .....ALSO CHECK THIS WEB SITE www.http://vegetarian.lifetips.com

Experiment with Substitutes
There are countless soy and vegetable-based meat substitutes on the market that will make your transition to meatless fare a piece of cake. You can buy frozen ground beef or sausage substitutes to use in tacos, sloppy joes, chili and lasagne. You can also find many varieties of veggie burgers, meatless hot dogs, vegetarian deli slices, and other meat replacements to satisfy any desire you might have for
some of these "comfort foods".

North American vegetarian teens eating varied foods rarely have any difficulty getting enough protein as long as their diet contains enough calories to support growth. http://vegetarian.lifetips.com/ cat/ 9167/ teen-vegetarians/ index.html JUST GET more SUPPORT IN PERSON VS.CYBER help BE Safe

Answer 9

Just tell your family to eff the eff off. You will eat what you want to regardless of the crap they are serving you. Morningstar Farms makes really good meat substitues like burgers, hot dogs, chicken patties, etc. You can also buy texured vegeatable protein from a health food store that sells it in bulk to add to stuff like stir frys and sloppy joes. The best thing to do when you become vegetarian is learn how to cook your own meals.

Answer 10

Leafy green vegetables are a great source of iron, not just spinach.

variety is good for you and it makes things taste better too!

its also good to get a mix of the lighter and darker varieties of leafy greens.

as far eating something instead of meat, legumes, beans, mushrooms, nuts and seeds are all great.

chich peas and lentils are especially good.

all that kinda stuff has iron and protein.

the leafy green vegetables have lots of vitamin C and calcium as well as the iron.

Do more research for yourself, structure yourself a good diet and im sure they will take your goal more seriously.

Good luck with your family
: )

Answer 11

Reassure your family that you will maintain a healthy diet. next time you are at the doctors ask him/her what your diet should look like now that you are a vegetarian. make sure that you get enough protein and definetly take a multi-vitamin everyday. congradulations on being a vegetarian!