NZ My parents won't let me go vegetarian

[Frederic Lavender]

My comments are very much in line with Lou here. It's a marathon, not a sprint. So pace yourself and make changes in small increments over a period of time to get to where you need to be. All the best

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Good to see the progress and updates. Please keep coming back and updating - even if things don't go so well.

As I was reading back the thread to try and remember where I got it the last time I dropped in, I noticed in post 67, I wrote I have a nutrition book called "Becoming Nutrition". That's a mistake; the book is actually called "Becoming Vegan".

 

[SaraSmith85]

I have asked my parents to let me go vegetarian for months now, to no avail! Here are some of the reasons they give:

- Veganism is unhealthy, especially when you are still growing
- Humans were meant to eat meat
- We are a family, we eat the same meals, and I am not giving up meat
- Animals are not treated cruelly in farms

They argue that regulations about animal welfare are getting stricter although they buy cage chicken meat, although (yay) I managed to persuade them to buy free range eggs and not cage eggs, but cannot do this with meat. I am only going to go vegetarian, and not vegan, as it will be too hard to convince my parents to go vegan, if vegetarian is already so hard. I have also gathered some pictures of factory farms and farm abuse from the internet and I have some websites like healthline.com that say how healthy vegetarianism is compared to meat-eating, but I don't know how to show them these. So how do I convince my parents to let me go vegetarian???

Dont tell them, just do it. And maybe you need to negotiate som meals, but you can eat mostly vegetarian at least. Its better then nothing.

 

[veggannie94]

Hmm maybe try to do it from the other side. What about you cooking more in home for your family? Then you can prepare whole vege meals and show they they can be also tasty and nutritious! I think that is amazing idea! And maybe it will help you to convince your parents that vegetarianism and even veganism are not that bad!

 

[Luis Halson]

Hmm maybe try to do it from the other side. What about you cooking more in home for your family? Then you can prepare whole vege meals and show they they can be also tasty and nutritious! I think that is amazing idea! And maybe it will help you to convince your parents that vegetarianism and even veganism are not that bad!

How did you know? I actually am doing that! Every two weeks (I started about 4 weeks ago) I am making a vegan recipe I find online and we have it together as a whole family - last week I made a vegan lentil stew - it was very filling and delicious: Rainy Day Lentil Soup | FatFree Vegan Kitchen

 

[Luis Halson]

Another victory! We used to take a fish oil supplemint and I managed to convince my parents to let me take flaxseed oil instead of fish oil! (however they still take fish oil as before)

 

[anarchist100]

I have asked my parents to let me go vegetarian for months now, to no avail! Here are some of the reasons they give:

- Veganism is unhealthy, especially when you are still growing
- Humans were meant to eat meat
- We are a family, we eat the same meals, and I am not giving up meat
- Animals are not treated cruelly in farms

They argue that regulations about animal welfare are getting stricter although they buy cage chicken meat, although (yay) I managed to persuade them to buy free range eggs and not cage eggs, but cannot do this with meat. I am only going to go vegetarian, and not vegan, as it will be too hard to convince my parents to go vegan, if vegetarian is already so hard. I have also gathered some pictures of factory farms and farm abuse from the internet and I have some websites like healthline.com that say how healthy vegetarianism is compared to meat-eating, but I don't know how to show them these. So how do I convince my parents to let me go vegetarian???

They can mind there own damn business!

 

[Maja]

I had the same with my parents and I think a lot depends on how you approach it yourself. If you sit down with them calmly, explain what drives you, make a list of sample dishes or suggest that you cook for yourself - maybe you will succeed

 

[crgtheman]

This has been a problem of mine too when I was younger. It would be very hard for them to change their minds about this whatever you do... You know why? They'll tell you that as long as they're the ones putting food on the table and as long as you live under their roof... you have no choice.

I suggest you go get a job and buy your own food. Learn how to cook and prepare your meals.