Parents wont let me go vegan

Question

I have been a vegetarian for about half a year now, but I feel very strongly about the food industry. My parents allow me to be a vegetarian, but I want to go vegan. I have explained them why I want this, how I want to do this, that I do not expect them to go vegan too and what responibilities they might expect from me. But the tell me no everytime, as long as I'm under their roof, I can not go vegan. When I tell them I find that a weak argument, they tell me I still need to grow, and I need the products I no longer want to eat. Please, how do teens like me convince their parents to let them go vegan?

Crito · Answer

That's a pretty sad situation in my opinion and I'm very sorry you have to go through it.  Now that I'm a parent, I can see the inevitable pushback you will get because you have to remember, right or wrong, they are doing what they think is best for you.  Which in this case happens to be very wrong.

Based on the info you have given, I'd guess they aren't going to be swayed by a compassion for animals case because they seem to see meat/dairy/eggs as a dietary necessity.  These things are not needed and in fact negatively impact your health.

I'd make sure you have the right info and back it from a fact-based non-confrontational source like Dr Greger.  Check out his Ted talk on YouTube (and Neal Barnard's), check out his site nutritionfacts.org and then watch What the Health on Netflix, ideally with your parents.  These aren't the end all, be all, but its a good start for someone in your position who needs to layout the facts about why these foods are not at all a dietary necessity.

Explain to them that you don't want to die of heart disease or get diabetes.  The link is well established.  
Explain that there is absolutely nothing in meat products that can't be had from a better, cleaner and more ethical source.  You'll need a B12 supplement, but that doesn't come from animals either, it comes from what they eat.  
Demonstrate with all the extremely large and growing animals on earth who never eat meat or dairy; gorillas, elephants, cows themselves....they all grow just fine without meat and you will too because you will get all your nutritional needs from plants, and much more.  

They will bring up protein.  But protein is in everything.  You can eat your daily calories of literally any food and get more than enough protein.  Seriously, you could eat 2,000 calories of broccoli and get your daily required protein.  Explain that no vegan and virtually no human (except in starving nations or with extreme diseases) suffers from protein deficiencies.  We only have diseases of excess.  Then ask them to google the daily requirement of fiber and ask if they are getting enough fiber, because they most certainly are not.

If you have a decent physician, you can get them to back you up.

Once you can establish that it is healthier, you can checkmate them with it being cheaper.  Tofu and beans are much cheaper than meat, they provide not just protein but a host of fiber, minerals and nutrients that meat and dairy fail at.

Good luck, and in the end, don't worry too much.  What seems like endless battles now will go by in the blink of an eye and when you're old enough to provide for yourself, you get to eat whatever you want.

Crito · Answer

....and now I'm imagining an opposite scenario where my kids are teens and demanding to eat meat and dairy in the house....oy

BreakfastKlutz · Answer

They cannot force you to eat eggs, dairy etc...

veggienator_coaching · Answer

Show them this:
"...It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes". 
But the keyword is "appropriately planned"-very important! Good luck

herwin · Answer

try to understand your parents, they are the ones that are supposed to take care of you. 
you could be creative and at night replace the cow milk with soymilk.
or, and this is not a popular answer, just listen to them, be thankful that at least they suport you being a vegetarian, and express that to them, and just wait a few years until you live on your own. big change though if you surprise yr parents with your mature understanding, they might sooner or later let you go vegan all the way.
anyway, dont be a [censored] about it, dont go with a Peta activist kinda attitude trying to convince or wrestle yr parents into letting having it the vegan way. bc your parents will RESENT veganism.
u just a half year vegetarian? give yr parents also time to adapt, right?

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