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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to worry about my teenage daughter going vegan?

222 replies

Meechimoo · 22/10/2014 08:41

She's 14.
She decided to go veggie about a month ago.
She now wants to cut out all animal products and be vegan.
I've had long long conversations about this with her and told her that I'm very concerned about it. I'm worried she'll end up with poor nutrition and get rickets or something. I'm worried she won't get enough calories from a vegan diet.
But she's 14, almost 15, and hellbent on being vegan. The way I look at it, I can't force feed her dairy, can I?

My husband, her Dad, is dead against it because he thinks this is a control thing and we shouldn't allow her to dictate this sort of thing. And he's worried at additional cost to our food bill if we have to get her supplements, soya milk, vegan cheese etc.
Are there any vegan mumsnetters with vegan teens out there? How do you do it? Is it ok? Are they healthy and enough energy? Should I just go with it and support her or put our feet down and say she can remain veggie but we're not supporting her going vegan??

OP posts:
sunflower49 · 22/10/2014 23:00

cote most vegans I know do not wear leather or wool or ,eat honey. I don't think I know anybody vegan or otherwise, who is a pianist so I can't answer that!

The problem with dairy, is the constant cycle of pregnancy and losing their calves, for cows. Being constantly impregnated so you produce milk, the hormones pumped into you so you produce much , much more milk than you would naturally, then your calf taken away to be killed for veal, is no nice life for a cow. They're killed as soon as they're too old to be of 'use', although their 'natural' life cycle would be for much longer.

I put natural in inverted commas because cows are not a 'natural' animal, they're a human 'invention', there for us to eat and get milk from.

My other issue with milk (LONG before I became vegan) is that I just can't get my head around it being healthy to consume somethign that another species produces to supply its baby with nutrition until It's weaned.

Eggs, similar. Egg-producing chickens are generally treated appalingly. Intensive breeding being just a part of it but male chicks are of no use and are often thrown alive into a grinder. Vegans tend to want to not be part of such things.

Of course there is the debate as to whether a vegan could/would/should consume eggs from a hen with a good, happy ,healthy life. But that's another thread altogether.

ScreamEggsAndHam · 22/10/2014 23:19

Hmm. Not read all the replies, but going on your OP. She's 14. That means she's old enough to make up her own mind in regards to whether she wants to eat animal produce or not. It's up to you to make sure she does it sensibly though.
A vegan diet can be healthy or unhealthy - it all depends on what you're eating.

sunflower49 · 22/10/2014 23:21

I agree with that Iscream veganism isn't a cut and dry thing. As isn't an omnivorous diet. You can be healthy or very unhealthy on either.

If I decided to just eat chips and chocolate and drink beer, I'd still be vegan Grin

sunflower49 · 22/10/2014 23:22

I don't know if you're on facebook OP, but if you are there are some great groups and pages for vegan recipes, specifically I love 'What Fat Vegans Eat' (it isn't about being physically fat, just a 'foodie' sort of page), and 'Vegan Special Offers UK' which is just as it says about food products :)

ScreamEggsAndHam · 22/10/2014 23:27

She can do veganism healthily if you show her how.
Breakfasts

  • porridge oats made with soya or oat milk with blueberries scattered in.
  • weetabix (soya milk) with sliced banana
  • slices of toast with dairy free margarine such as Pure

lunches
jacket potatoes with hummus or baked beans
salad sandwiches
pasta salad with passata and diced spring onions and red peppers

dinners
lentil and potato hotpot, green beans or asparagus
You can even make macaroni cheese vegan - use soya milk and grated or sliced vegan cheese. It's lovely Smile

Plenty of nuts and seeds as snacks.

ScreamEggsAndHam · 22/10/2014 23:29

This is a brilliant website with loads of vegan websites - not only is there lots of dinner inspiration, there's lots of CAKE! Not to mention desserts and everything else in between Smile

www.parsleysoup.co.uk/

sunflower49 · 22/10/2014 23:30

Nobody has mentioned avocados yet. I can't survive without them for sandwiches and salads. My favourite sandwich (when I'm not dieting!) is salad, hummus, avocado and salad. Best in a wrap or it ends up down my front

ScreamEggsAndHam · 22/10/2014 23:30

This is a brilliant website with loads of vegan websites

should read with loads of vegan RECIPES not websites. Duh. need an edit button like on Nethuns

sunflower49 · 22/10/2014 23:30

Is that a girl called Cherry's website, scream ?I used to chat to her a lot on a forum :)

ScreamEggsAndHam · 22/10/2014 23:33

Is that a girl called Cherry's website, scream ?I used to chat to her a lot on a forum

Yes, that'll be the one! Got loads of lovely recipes on there. Smile

sunflower49 · 22/10/2014 23:39

When I saw you'd replied to that I thought 'eeek, maybe scream IS Cherry :)

There are, she's brilliant. I perfected her 'hedgehog' cake once but I daren't make it again, I'll just eat it!

SorryOP, I have to post a link , I just love this recipe.
Shame your DD may be too old to get excited about it (I do, in my thirties, though).

www.parsleysoup.co.uk/getrecipe.php?section=kids&recipe=hedgehog_cake

maninawomansworld · 22/10/2014 23:39

Why not get her to go veggie for a whole until she's got used to what it entails and is eating well (healthily - getting proper nutrition). Then support her in cutting out the dairy etc.. to become fully vegan?

cakedcrusader · 22/10/2014 23:57

I'm a vegan and very healthy - it's lovely to see there are so many of us here Smile

Cote - as others have said vegans avoid all forms of animal use so that means honey, wool, leather, zoos etc are all out. It all comes from the belief that animals do not belong to us and we have no right to keep them in captivity and use them as a resource. There is a documentary called earthlings available to watch on YouTube which explains this pov very well if you want to research more.

Op well done for supporting your dd with this. It is easy to stay healthy and get all the nutrients you need from a vegan diet providing you learn a bit about nutrition and plan how to get all the nutrients in! It doesn't need to cost a fortune either. Aldi soya milk is very cheap and they also do houmous, nuts and milled linseed (packed with fibre, protein and omega 3). The biggest challenge ime is reading labels on EVERYTHING in the early days and learning what things on food labels actually mean. Co op and superdrug own brand are very good for vegan friendly cleaning products and toiletries and inexpensive too. I'm the only vegan in this house but dh and dcs happily tuck into whatever I serve up so it doesn't have to be a case of cooking lots of different meals.

sunflower49 · 23/10/2014 00:21

CakeCrusader I'm the same really-everyone I cook for and have cooked for has loved 99% of things I have made for them, there's never been a problem.

DP didn't even know I was vegan until around the 6 week mark, during which time I had cooked for him most evenings.

Meat-eaters tend to assume vegans are restricted. For me any many others I have known It's been the opposite. Because society is 'geared' for the omnivorous, the challenge of learning about what you can eat and how to cook opens new avenues and food becomes more enjoyable for sustenance and as an activity, I am sure my diet's now much, much more varied than it was before.

Hubb · 23/10/2014 08:21

The hardest thing about being a vegan is that everyone else isn't Grin

Hubb · 23/10/2014 08:23

sunflower that hedgehog cake is gorgeous!!

CoteDAzur · 23/10/2014 09:21

"The problem with dairy, is the constant cycle of pregnancy and losing their calves, for cows."

That sounds quite similar to the life of our ancestors, and not even that far in the past. Before birth control, women produced babies one after the other and lost most of them to disease and war. My great-grandmother had eight children, only the youngest of whom survived beyond childhood (my grandfather). Many women still lead similar lives in other parts of the world.

"the hormones pumped into you so you produce much , much more milk than you would naturally"

Have you been reading American websites? I'm pretty sure that those hormones are not legal in the EU.

"I just can't get my head around it being healthy to consume somethign that another species produces"

Animals eat each other - i.e. consume the flesh that another species produces for their own body. We have specific enzymes in our body that digest animal protein and animal fat. What is it you don't understand?

"Egg-producing chickens are generally treated appalingly."

Not all. It's not even hard to find free-range bio chicken and their eggs in supermarkets these days.

Frankly, to me personally, all that sounds like strange reasons for self-imposed malnutrition, squarely against what your body is designed to do - digest animal protein and fat.

CoteDAzur · 23/10/2014 09:23

"as others have said vegans avoid all forms of animal use so that means honey, wool, leather, zoos etc are all out"

Where do you get your shoes? I'm genuinely curious. Are there vegan shoe shops? What are those shoes made of?

whois · 23/10/2014 09:38

The hardest thing about being a vegan is that everyone else isn't

I that is probably true! Very easy to cook and eat yummy and varied vegan food. Les easy if you also have to worry about committed meat-and-2-vegers.

It's not even hard to find free-range bio chicken and their eggs in supermarkets these days.

Yes but what do you think happens to the male chicks born from the egg layers...? Given to an animal rescue? Left to have a lovely free range life around the farm? Are they fuck. They are chucked into a big macerator to die and its grim.

I love eggs and eat them. But I don't kid myself the industry is ethical.

CoteDAzur · 23/10/2014 09:54

"what do you think happens to the male chicks born from the egg layers...?"

Some cocks and kept around to impregnate the chicken. The rest get roasted and eaten, I presume.

And if they were left to their own devices, they would be eaten by foxes. Sorry but there is something called "the food chain". Animals eat each other.

cakedcrusader · 23/10/2014 10:40

Animals do eat each other because usually they have to in order to survive - we don't have to do that and this is the ethical standpoint of a lot of vegans.

Shoes are really not that difficult - cheaper shoes tend to be plastic (imitation leather) but there are specialist vegan stores online too Smile

CoteDAzur · 23/10/2014 10:44

We also need to eat animal protein.

Just ask Gwynneth Palthrow, who managed to give herself pre-osteoporosis at the grand old age of... 38.

Needless to say, she is not a vegan anymore.

cakedcrusader · 23/10/2014 10:52

You've come to this conclusion based on your random sample of 1? There are plenty of unhealthy meat eaters just as there are unhealthy vegans, if you know what you're doing it is easy to get enough protein from other sources.

Suzannewithaplan · 23/10/2014 10:52

not eating animal products doesnt make you malnourishedHmm

we need certain macro and micronutrients but they can come from animal ?or vegetable sources.
We have enzymes and the general capacity to digest fats and proteins not specifically animal fats and proteins.
?
Humans can thrive on a wide variety of diets, we are very very adaptable ?

Suzannewithaplan · 23/10/2014 10:57

'We also need to eat animal protein'

bullshit
Risible bullshit

have you just arrived from the 1970'sConfused
You can't expect anyone to take your argument seriously when it rests on one flimsy celebrity anecdote Cote?

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