Stop preaching and shoving veganism in my face. Enough now

[Borkins]

Just found out a Vegan documentary was preached at my teenager at youth club
It's a choice grown adults should be allowed to make. But such a restrictive diet should not be preached at growing children who could also be vulnerable to eating problems.
I've never preached my diet at anyone but this has been shoved in my face continuously. Judgement when I order animal products in restaurants, advertising, now my rapidly growing young son is to eat without milk, cheese, eggs, butter etc
I'm absolutely fuming
There is no hard science to back the health benefits. The environmental impact is dubious.
Sure I understand if you are an animal lover but that's still an individual choice.

YABU, where's that damn vote button!

The most common eating problem that children in the UK have is that they eat far too much and far too unhealthily. They are constantly bombarded with ads for sweets and burgers and chicken and processed foods and fizzy drinks. Meat and dairy are absolutely the norm and that message is preached to children daily.

I am not vegan, but it is both a morally and environmentally better choice. There's plenty of concrete science on the environmental impacts of meat consumption, and the morality is dead obvious. That's what's bothering you, by the way. They're right, and you'd rather that they weren't.

mindfulmam The meta analysis re saturated fat and stroke risk can be found here:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0939475319303801

IIRC, the Framingham study also shows outcomes for cardio vascular disease risk that go against the prevailing orthodoxy re what constitutes a healthy diet.

Being vegan is not a restricted diet.

Eh?! It restricts you from eating meat, dairy, eggs, and anything that remotely had a connection to an animal. It is, by definition, restrictive.

BinkyandBunty Northern Europeans have been consuming dairy in adulthood for thousands of years - way before any dairy ‘industry’ came along. Dairy products were already an important part of our diet, it wasn’t Dairy Crest who invented cheese and then sold it to us, though of course manufacturers of dairy products market specific products to us, in the same way that manufacturers of, say, crisps, do. Having milk in your tea, a cheese sandwich for lunch and yogurt with dinner has been standard fare for a very long time.

I agree OP.

Veganism is a restrictive diet- that's the entire point of it.

It is also getting a bit cult like- even recognised as so by a court recently.

And putting babies and toddlers on a vegan diet is child abuse.

Flame me.

I'd not be happy about a specific diet being shown, be that vegan, the 5.2 diet, Atkins, whatever.

That's not really the same though is it? 5.2 and Atkins are predominantly weight loss diets and no I wouldn't be happy with my kids being encouraged towards these either.

Veganism isn't a "diet" it's a lifestyle choice. Driven in the main by ethical choices, environmental concerns, moral concerns, animal welfare, health. But not usually for weight loss.

But your not telling me that a vulnerable teenage girl, with a tendency towards eating disorder couldn't be persuaded by this restrictive diet in harmful ways.

Yes sugar is causing obesity. But that's sugar - cake, biscuits, drinks

Not eggs, milk, cheese etc

Large parts of the world live vegan. Historically for most Europeans meat and to some extent dairy were a huge treat. eggs and milk are excluded in Christian fasts that used to occur at advent as well as lent.

Yet you just once eat a peanut butter sandwidtch or choose the bean burger and you will be grilled by the meat eaters as to why you are not eating meat. Are you a traitor?

No I am not a veggie or a vegan, but that does not mean I must eat meat ate every opportunity. There seem to be a lot of meat eaters who want to force their habits onto others and show aggression at even a single "no thanks" to a meat dish. I have had far more food judgement from meat eaters than veggies and vegans despite being an omnivore

When I was at school, we watched documentaries/docuseries about:-backstreet abortions-HIV underage pregnancyprostitution-religious fundamentalism-animal rights activism -political extremism -drugs. Probably not an inclusive list. Anyway, I’m didn’t convert to radical Islam after my anarchistic drug and sex fuelled teen years. I did develop some critical faculties and a more rounded insight into the world.

I’d add euthanasia, contraception, and oil depletion to that list.

Climate change is the hugest challenge we’ve had to deal with for decades and will require big changes. Is it right to move away from animal products? Maybe, maybe not. Look at the palm oil problems. But the debate has to be had. And it will affect your son more than you.

I don’t see any problem in this, unless you want your son to grow up bigoted and closed-minded.

I'm bemused by the poster who said it IS a healthier more moral option like it's authority. Where is your evidence?

I'm a fitness professional and the NHS advocate dairy as a good source of Calcium. Dairy is good for you.

Now I'm not saying that plant based food isn't healthy either. Or that there isn't Calcium in plant foods. I'm not even saying that Vegans can't be healthy.

But non-vegans can be very healthy too so no way should it be preached as the superior diet, touted as a moral necessity etc

@feetfreckles

There are no, vegan traditional cultures. None.

Not even India

Eggs milk and cheese aren't the be all and end all.

I think that as a parent, if my teen daughter wanted to become vegan, I would need to research carefully how to ensure she still got the right amounts of protein and calcium for a growing body.

I agree that if you become vegan not knowing what you are doing then it could be harmful! I had a friend in high school who literally ate mashed potato and plain pasta and that was it.

I'm vegetarian but doing veganuary to see if I could go vegan long term. I researched protein sources online and eat a good mix of healthy and nourishing plant based food including lots of different veg, beans, grains, lentils, tofu and soy yoghurt. I see no need to eat anything that's made with another species milk (that's just my opinion). Yes I do take a b12 supplement but that's it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you do it carefully and ensure you are still getting all the right nutrients then it's not actually as restrictive as people may think.

Also think it’s great that there’s so much choice out there to not eat animal products cos industrial production is horrible for the animals and has huge detrimental local impacts with run off etc. Can’t wait to try the new BK one!

Of course I don't want him to be bigoted. He isn't and neither am I.

HotPenguin Yes a days calories may require less land but may need a lot more air miles or sea miles.Not all land is suitable for growing crops ( or grazing animals) where i live the land is only suitable for sheep and cattle and a very small amount of potatoes on a couple of fields by the coast.
In this country we would eat a very boring diet if we didnt import a lot of fruit and veg

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969715303697

I despise the Cult Of Vegan. I eat a mainly plant based diet but I have a work colleague who lectures people non stop. I’m due to put a complaint in

I will eat anything with a pulse but Jesus calm down OP.

Veganism isn't necessarily healthier. A vegan could be eating nothing but oven chips and cornflakes. It depends what a person is eating.

But the environmental benefits are well and widely documented. If you need me or anyone else to Google links for you (like the UN report in 2018), then you are being willfully ignorant to suit your bias.

Morally... really? How can killing and eating an animal, or putting them through the hellish life of a dairy farm (and I have worked on one), ever be a morally better choice than not doing that? That one's a no-brainer.

My point about obesity and overweight children was that our children are constantly being encouraged to make unhealthy food choices, and yet you are 'fuming' about a documentary on veganism. In the wider context of teenage eating patterns in the UK, it's not the vegans that are the problem.

If you really don't understand why we need to reduce our consumption of animal products there's not much hope for you.

We need to reduce our consumption of internationally shipped animal products. Crucial difference.

In fact, we need to just reduce consumption full stop. Clothes, toys, books, energy, everything!

Eating a lump of internationally shipped soy and palm oil in a KFC bun is part of the problem, not the solution.

The cult of veganism is mainly driven by marketing. People can't see that.

Also, vegans have a higher risk of stroke.

the NHS advocate dairy as a good source of Calcium. Dairy is good for you

Tbf the biggest study on the matter also mentioned that current nutritional advice on the matter is outdated.

The problem is also having to many children

How many threads here...I want a third / fourth

The Christmas threads full of all the plastic junk you buy to excess.

*too