Any advice to becoming a vegan and stay healthy?

Question

Okay I'm 13 and was a vegan for a month in a half but I stopped because of my mom and most of my relatives.she told me it was bad for me to stop eating meat and suddenly change my diet.I told her I felt really bad for the animals that were being mistreated.So she agreed,untill a month in a half later.I really want to be a vegan again but I know the main reason was because of money.She told me that it would be too much money and yada yada yada.So anyway my main reason is do you hace any ideas to be a vegan and stay healthy without wasting much money?

Answer 1

It's great that you want to become vegan again.

You can be perfectly healthy by including a variety of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and grains in your diet. You can splurge on vegan fake meats and non-dairy products, but they're not necessary.

Vegan forms of protein like tofu, beans, lentils, and sunflower seeds are cheap compared to meat.

Here's a long list of vegan food ideas for people who are on a budget:

http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=07budge...

Good vegan sources of protein, iron, and calcium:

http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=08sourc...

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Answer 2

Hello there, sorry to hear you're having problems and thank you for thinking about the animals. It sounds like your mum has some prejudices about vegetarianism. You don't have to get iron and protein from meat, they can be found in perfectly adaquate amounts in a vegetarian or vegan diet. In fact, a lot of meat-eaters consume too much protein, which can lead to all sorts of problems. You certainly don't need supplements as long as you eat a variety of foods. There's nothing with vegetarianism or veganism in itself, it's how people don't pay any attention to what their change of diet entails that is the problem, i.e. they think they can just cut out the meat and animal products.

It doesn't have to be expensive to be vegan. If you stay away from processed soya products, the cost will go down. Buying whole grains and beans in bulk is very inexpensive, and they are excellent sources of nutrition.

I answered a very similar question to this recently, so if you don't mind terribly, I'll copy and paste it to save me from typing it all again but in different words:

Protein repairs and replaces cells in your body, so it's important to have a good variety of protein rich plant foods, such as the following:

Type of food Quantity providing 10g protein (g)

Soya flour 24

Peanuts 39

Pumpkin seeds 41

Almonds 47

Brazil Nuts 50

Sunflower seeds 51

Sesame seeds 55

Hazel Nuts 71

Wholemeal bread 95

Whole lentils dried & boiled 114

Chickpeas dried & boiled 119

Kidney beans dried & boiled 119

Wholemeal spaghetti boiled 213

Brown rice boiled 385

Iron is another thing that some new vegetarians and vegans neglect, even though it's pretty easy to get if you just take a little bit of notice of the variety of foods that will keep you healthy. Both me and my girlfriend have really healthy iron levels because we eat a good variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, dried fruit, nuts etc. Here's some info on plant sources of iron:

Type of food Quantity providing 2mg iron (g)

Pistachios 14

Cashews (roasted) 32

Whole lentils 57

Chick peas (boiled) 95

Wholemeal bread 74

Sesame seeds or tahini 19

Black molasses 22

Apricots (dried) 59

Spinach (boiled) 125

Another thing you may be worried about is calcium. The ironic thing is that eating meat can actually reduce your body's ability to use calcium; a vegan diet is statistically no more likely to lead to calcium deficiency than a meat-eating one. You'll definitely be fine as long as you just take a little notice of what you eat. There are some plant sources of calcium that are actually richer than cow's milk, and don't contain all the nasty cancer causing substances and traces of blood or pus like 'the white stuff' does:

Examples of amounts of foods providing 100mg calcium Type of Food

Black molasses 20g

Dried figs 40g

Almonds 42g

Soya flour 44g

Parsley 50g

Kale 67g

Brazils Nuts 59g

Wholemeal bread 185g

Vitamin B12 is something just to bear in mind as well. Your body stores enough B12 for several decades, and some people are starting to think that a long-term vegan learns to make B12 in his own body - eating too much of it in your diet can actually rob your body of the ability to make it. However, not having enough B12 can lead to you feeling lacking in energy or woozy, in which case, just look for some B12 fortified products such as yeast extracts and cereals.

I can certainly say that you don't need soya milk etc. to have enough calcium and protein, and that you certianly won't die from not having either that or cow's milk, on the contrary, cow's milk protein is thought to be the most potent carcinogen (something that can cause cancer) exposed to man on a day to day basis!

There are other alternatives to cow’s milk apart from soy, too. There are milks made from rice, various nuts, oats and hemp. Some are fortified with things such as calcium, as well. There are things like ice cream made from these other alternatives as well, although they may be harder to find in the shops. However, I’d certainly recommend eating a lot of fresh vegetables (especially greens), beans nuts and legumes for protein and calcium.

There is a lot of contradictory evidence out there, as there is in most science. It's hard to figure out what's right, but it's important to remember that the meat, dairy and egg industry are very powerful and have a lot of influence over the research out there. It's also pretty well known that a vegan diet can significantly reduce the chance of many cancers, heart and circulatory problems (including high blood pressure), respiratory complaints, osteoporosis and other diseases. On a personal note, both me and my girlfriend have never been healthier since we turned vegan (around a year ago). I feel full of energy and stamina, have healthy levels of everything, low blood pressure and a resting heart rate of 59. I have done quite a bit of research, watch what I eat and exercise regularly, but it shows you just how healthy a vegetarian

Answer 3

vegetables are cheap (fresh or frozen or canned)

fruit is cheap (fresh or frozen, although fresh is much better)

beans are very cheap (canned, plus super easy to prepare, just drain rinse and heat)

pasta/bread is very very cheap and easy.

Nuts and seeds are a pretty good price per portion too.

Those are all you need to be healthy plus a vitamin to get B12, which you cant get as a vegan anymore because of the way we produce food now a days.  You could take a multivitamin to get that, they're on sale frequently and normal grocery stores.

ALSO, vegetarian soups are cheap and easy to make, vegetarian refried beans, vegetarian baked beans, vegetarian chili.  All are good and cheap and easy.

Don't forget about peanut butter sandwiches with whatever else you like on them.

I like cucumber sandwiches too, and pitas (with basically salad in them)

Answer 4

Find yourself a copy of "Becoming Vegan" by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina.  They are both registered dietitians and it's pretty much the bible of vegan nutrition.  Go over it with your mom and she should see that it's very healthy when done right.

It also doesn't have to be expensive.  It's only pricey if you're eating a lot of fake meats, vegan cheeses and soy ice cream.  You can do without all that processed convenience stuff - it's not what you should be basing a healthy diet on anyway.  You'll need to learn to cook, though.  A whole foods diet is cheap (my grocery bill went down 25% when I switched to a whole food-based vegan diet and cut out most of the processed c**p.)  Thirteen is old enough to get comfortable in the kitchen and your mom will probably have a much easier time going along with this if she doesn't have to do all the work.  A couple of good cookbooks would be helpful.  "The Student's Go Vegan Cookbook" is geared toward college students who need to eat healthy on a budget and you don't need to be a pro in the kitchen to follow the recipes.  "Veganomicon" is also really good for a beginner vegan and less experienced cook; there are chapters like "how to cook a vegetable" that give you basic skills and show you how to use mix and match recipes to plan complete meals.

Answer 5

Awesome that you want to go vegan! This blog is good: veganpeace.blogspot.com It has links to guides, information, reasons to go veg, recipe sites, foods to eat, other vegan blogs, nutrition, tips and ideas, just go to toggle post. Good place to start there:

http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2007/12/n...

List of vegan foods:

http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2008/03/v...

Vegan nutrition:

http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2008/02/v...

Vegan recipe links:

http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2007/08/v...

Some other sites that will help:

http://www.veganoutreach.org/starterpack...

http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=07groce...

http://www.vegcooking.com/guide-favs.asp

http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/

http://www.vivausa.org/activistresources...

bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/page/65746...

http://vegan-info.com/faq.html

Just remember check the ingredients and research on nutrition and what foods to eat (links above)!

Just have your mother and relatives read The China Study and research on veganism foods, nutrition, and health benefits. And the vegan diet can definitely be cheaper than an animal based diet because it is based on a plant diet and focuses and whole, natural and fresh foods minus all animal products.

Some money saving tips:

-Cook your own food at home, it is always cheaper

-Buy in bulk

-Buy local and at Farmers Markets

-Buy frozen vegetables instead, they tend to be cheaper

-Do not buy processed veggie meats and products, they tend to be expensive

Good food that is (normally) cheaper than animal products and essential: frozen vegetables, fresh fruits, bulk nuts, dried beans, shelf-stable plant milks, bulk quinoa, oatmeal, bulk whole grains and pastas, bulk nutrional yeast, bulk TVP, wheat gluten, tofu, ready/easy make cheap boxed food such as couscous, rices, falafel, etc such brands as Fanatic Foods, TastyBite, Uncle Bens, Ore-Ida (has great hash browns and other pre-made potatoes that can easily be cooked and last a while), etc.

Links to check out:

tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=07budget

urbanvegan.blogspot.com/2008/01/25-mon...

community.livejournal.com/cheapvegan/

vrg.org/journal/vj2006issue2/vj2006iss...

Answer 6

you should just go to say if you have a TRADER JOE's there because i see that they have many VEGAN foods. i suggest you be a VEGETARIAN you are still SAVING ANIMALS and such :) but being a vegetarian you can kinda be healthier you should just get a lot of calcium (: my sister has been a vegetarian for over 5 years and she's been doing well she's just as healthy as any other person. she also did this because of the mistreatment of the animals :) but it's YOUR choice if you want to be a VEGAN or a VEGETARIAN! :D

sorrry. if i didn't make sense...

i HOPED i helped you!

GOOD LUCK! (: