How can i tell my parents i want to be a vegetarian?

Question

I am 16 and I don't think my parents are going to be to keen on the idea. I have researched what food i can still eat and it is something i think I can do as I am not a huge meat eater and only used to eat meat in pasta and pasties/pies and on pizza and ham on rolls and chicken. My dad is certainly not an animal lover and my parents are fussy about how much food my family eats because of a lack of food related death in the family. I have had anemia and taken tablets but I don't think I have it anymore. Any suggestions how to tell the parents?

Answer 1

say hey mom/dad hey i want to make a change can i become a veggie(tarien) and so on hope i helped

Brittney snow<3

Answer 2

Well, I think any choice stated in a respectful way has no room for argument.  And no one can actually force you to eat meat but they sure can make meal time difficult.  Probably if you come armed with factual material about all of the many foods that can be substituted for meat there will not be anything much to debate about.  You can bring the healthy word into the conversation and that red meat is just plain unhealthy for the human body now, especially with all of the antibiotics and hormone's that are fed to the animals.  If they aren't animal lovers, then mentioning the cruelty involved will probably not make much of an impact on them or a case for you.  I think their "beef" with your sudden choice would be the nutritional question, so again, do some research of meat substitutes before you bring the conversation to the table.  And don't rebel openly or make trouble so they won't have anything negative to say.  Lastly, don't make a big obvious deal about it..try first just introducing some of your thoughts a little at a time instead of springing the 'V" word on them suddenly.  If you feel comfortable with your choice, then eventually so will they.  Good luck and always be a person of personal convictions while being respectful of other's opinions.

Answer 3

YOu don't have to tell them, as if it's some big trashy TV show "revealing moments" deal. Just STOP EATING it. YOU control what goes in your body, not your parents.

Answer 4

A history of anemia that you don't "think" you have any more is not a strong basis on which to make your case. If I were your parent, I'd put my foot down until you had a home of your own and were able to cultivate your own anemia.

Answer 5

I told my parents that I wanted to be a vegetarian when I was 14

just be straight up, like "yo, imma not eat meat anymore"

it totally worked

and it's been two years..and I'm the only vegetarian in my family.

but my dad still complains a lot that I'm not gettting enough protein, although I totally am.

Answer 6

First of all, congratulations on wanting to go veg :) I became a vegetarian when I was 14. I stopped eating chicken because they were my favorite animals (haha :P) and started talking about animal cruelty a lot. One day me and my mom were in the car and I was talking about slaughter houses and their impact on the enviorment, and she was just like "So are you going vegetarian?". Truth be told I had never really thought about it before but I suddenly realized it was an excellent idea. My parents were (and still are) completely supportive of me. I'm very lucky to have such understanding parents :)

Anyways when talking to YOUR parents about going veg, first let them know that it is healthy. Here's what the American Dietetic Association has to say about it:

“Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein, as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.”

--American Dietetic Association, June 2003 position paper

Then give your reasons why you want to become a vegetarian. It could be to minimize animal cruelty, to be more enviormental-friendly, or even to be more healthy. Whatever your reasons are, explain it to them. Hopefully they will be understanding and supportive. However if your parents are still concerned, maybe you can take a trip to the family doctor to reassure them that it is safe and healthy.

Also when going veg your parents may worry that you won't get enough protein. Fortunately, this is not the case. There are so many other foods you can get protein from besides meat. Here is a list of foods that contain protein:

almonds

black beans

brown rice

cashews

garbonzo beans

kidney beans

lentils

lima beans

cottage cheese

eggs

yogurt

peanut butter

pinto beans

seitan

soybeans

soymilk

sunflower seeds

textured vegetable protein

tofu

veggie dogs & burgers

Well good luck, hun. Hope I helped! :)

PS. Vegetarianism is not radical, but you should definetly make sure you are healthy before jumping aboard the veg-train :P

Answer 7

Tell them anyways. It's YOUR choice and you should have the total right to decide what goes in your mouth and what doesn't. If they don't like it...try as hard as you can to stay away from meat...just do it. You can get all your nutritional needs and everything. Explain everything to them and tell them about meat substitutes. They actually are faily good tasting. They don't have to eat them...but they can be for you. If they still refuse to let you do it...wait till your 18...your a legal adult and your parents don't really have that control over you. But show them that you actually cutting very little out of your diet and tell them what your going to do to make sure you get all nutrients you need. In fact I have a shortcut to a list of foods vegetarians can eat. It's amazing. Here's the link.

http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/eat.html#n...

It's an amzing amount of food. SHow that to your parents and make a shortcut for it so they know.

Your family might also tease you for it to. It goes down but they probably will give you c**p for it. I know mine did. So there's a heads up there too. It does stop though if they see giving you c**p for it doesn't work.