Tips on becoming a vegan?!?

Question

Hey, I'm 13 years old, and I've been a "vegetarian" for five years now, though for the first couple of years I still ate seafood, so I'm not sure if that really counts. Hearing about the link with dairy products and meat products have made me consider becoming a vegan, but I'm a little stuck. Can anyone tell me how I should go about this transition and any good vegan recipes? Also, is there a moral issue with eating eggs? What do you do when you go to restaurants? I find it hard enough as a vegetarian!

By the way, my family are all meat-eaters but will support me whatever decision I make :)

Please help me!!

Answer 1

the problem with eggs is that some producers keep their hens in terrible conditions, like being unable to move or sleep.

some think it is ok to eat organic eggs from happy hens, which live in farms where they can move and even chase some worms.

But of course, it depends completely on you, and your moral and ethics.

i think you might find useful information here:

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

http://www.vegcooking.com/

http://www.peta.org/

Good luck!

Answer 2

Good for you and your family for being so supportive of you.  Eggs are not eaten by vegans for the same reasons vegans dont drink milk.  The cruelty behind the industry is endless.  Vegan beleive that animals should not be used for or by humans in any way.

Egg chickens are tortured in the same ways as any other factory farm animal.  The only way you can truly make a decision to eat eggs or not is by seeing in person how the aniamls are kept. For instance, there is a farm by my house called Laughing Hens Farm.  Their chickens are brought in as chicks and hatched on the farm and are completely free ranges in fenced (for safety) pastures around the farm house. All of the chickens are fed full vegetarian diet, with the acception of the bugs they get to munch on as they wish, and lay eggs in nest they make themselves.  None of the chickens are ever killedafter they stop producing, they are simply retired to the property and are free to gossip and do as they like till their time to die naturally.

These to me, are acceptable eggs to consume, however, these baby chicks they order every couple years come from somewhere else where they kill all the male chicks and ship off the females to become egg laying hens.  It is all one big circle of cruelty really.

Also, places like burger king now offer a vegie burger and they have a veggie whopper too, which is really just a whopper without meat (and they still charge you the same! JERKS!).  Restaurants can make pretty much anything you want if you ask for it.  Subway has a great veggie sub w/spicy mustard.  Check out vegan websites too, they are filled with great recipes and trader Joe's markets and wholefoods markets are loaded with vegan items.

Watch 30 days: animal rights this weekend on FX and you will never want to touch dairy again. Good luck.

Answer 3

your too young. your 13 and your still well growing. vegan if way too difficult. I've talked to many nutritionists, and it's not healthy. besides, eating dairy products doesn't hurt any animals hunn!

Answer 4

do u cook? if so everything has an alternative. for example milk->soymilk, butter-> vegan butter, eggs->baking powder/soda (i dont remember).vegans dont eat eggs cuz we dont support how laying hens are treated. watever restaurant you go to there will be vegetarian options and from there, its simple to alter it into a vegan one.

yay another vegan!

:)

Answer 5

Sorry, I don't have an answer. I just want to have this question on my answers so I can go back and check it. I'm vegetarian and trying to become vegan too :)

I'll still try to answer though...

For me, I'm thinking of starting the transition by drinking soya milk rather than the usual semi-skimmed we get. I think the issue with eggs is that people say they were potential life too, so it's like killing something. Playing God I suppose, taking life, bringing death, when it's not your decision.

I find the same problem... Whenever I go into town with my friends I always end up getting egg and cress sandwhiches. And if I become vegan that wont even be an option either. I usually end up eating cheese and tomato pizzas at restaurants. There was a vegetarian restaurant at one point in my area, but it shut down before I'd been. And now there are none!

Same, my family are all meat-eaters too. At first they thought I wouldn't be able to keep it up (being veggie) but it just made me more determined. So hopefully it will be the same for being vegan or partly vegan at least.

I'm not sure if I could keep up with being as dedicated as vegans, but there are definetely aspects of the vegan lifestyle and diet that I'd like to bring into my own diet and lifestyle. Eg. drinking soya milk, getting vegan cheese, I think they call it 'sheese' etc. I'm not sure how I'd cope without chocolate that's the only thing!!

Here's a good website which I just found on answers today actually. Take a look:

http://goveg.org

Answer 6

Wow, very cool. It's rare to have a family that is supportive towards your choices, especially at 13. Hats off to your family, I wish their were more like them.

Some useful resources:

veganhealth.org - website, comprehenseively looking at every aspect of vegan nutrition.

veganoutreach.org - talks about the social side of what you can do to inform others about your choice, if you wish. Also will address your egg question - yes, there are moral problems with eating eggs, at least most mass produced ones.

Good vegan recipes: there are lots on the Internet of course, but Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson is a great place to start.

Also, go to vegan.com, and listen to the podcasts of "Oprah's 21 day vegan challenge" by Erik Marcus. He goes into detail over these 21 podcasts about all aspects of vegan living, and how to develop and sustain yourself as a vegan.

Hope that helps. Good luck!