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How to get support
Started
by Sara
on December 27, 2009
I am 15 years old and i am starting to go vegan. But my family is against it and think that i will ruin my health. I try to give facts from the book "A Kind Diet" to explain why i want to be vegan. but then they go on about how those facts arn't true how i wont get my protein and calcium. It makes me so mad that they won't respect my choice and help me fullfill it. How should i get my family to accept my choice?
:) My name is Sarah too. Anyway..I have a feeling Alicia will be commenting on this one..but till then..all I can tell you is to be VERY EDUCATED and just keep talking about it and how smart you are being about it. No one can continue to put down something when they are thrown facts that are truth constantly. Re-read TKD and really any other infomation you can get your hands on about being vegan..diabetics association advocates it...heart doctors advocate it. A great response I have heard from people online about how to answer back to the statements " How will you get your calcium/protien???!!" (with that smart-alec type tone..you know exactly which one i mean)..I love saying..Well how do cows get their calcium..or horses get their protien to be such amazing work animals full of muscle??? They are field animals and get it from grass and grain. The most important thing is to just stick to your convictions. You know what you wanna do...don't let any one stop you. Btw there was just someone posting on the forums this past week who was having the same if not worse problem than you with her family. Maybe you guys could kinda encourage eachother since you guys seem to be sharing the same problem....here's the link to her post http://www.thekindlife.com/discussion_posts/list/2/4958/1
If your doctor has a pretty solid understanding of nutrition, he or she might be a good advocate for you. You could always call or make an appointment with your doctor, just to talk about your diet and go over whether you're getting everything you need. That way maybe your doctor could speak to your parents about it and they'd be hearing the information firsthand from a source they'll believe. (That being said, doctors receive less than 25 hours of nutritional training in med school, so just be aware that your doctor might not necessarily know about all the beneifts of a vegan diet!)
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