teen has decided to be vegan

[Anonymous]

Jack fruit is not a substitute for meat. My goodness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Just curious: Are you still vegan? I'm wondering if this is a phase or a genuine commitment.

This made me LOL. I became vegetarian at age 11. 35 years later, my parents asked me if I was still going through that "phase". Yes, not only did I never once stop being vegetarian, but I eventually became vegan.

My vegetarian phase has lasted 40 years.

Ha! Mine, too. My dad used to offer me money to eat a hamburger. Blech, no thank you.

Anyway, my daughter who is vegetarian by choice became vegan a few years ago (mid-teens). She wanted to try it because of animal treatment, health reasons, a challenge, etc. She lasted one year as it became really hard for her as she missed several foods and found it hard to eat with people at meals. She's back to being a vegetarian. It's been about 12 years now, I think. So, it wasn't to hide an eating disorder.

Also, for those saying why would vegetarians cook vegan meals? I do! Certainly not for every meal but there are several typical meals that are easy to make vegan if they are not already - things like salad/pasta/bread; vegetable pad thai or fried rice/lo mein; vegetarian chili; tacos or burritos with veggies, rice, beans; pita/falafel/hummus/veggies. Those kinds of foods are on our regular rotatation with three vegetarians in our house. Of course, cheese can be added to some of those meals, but is not necessary and easy to add at the end if you're feeding a vegan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were vegan dinners off the menu in the first place?
Life is long. Expand your palate and your repertoire. Learning is good for you.

Rather supercilious comment. Why would vegan meals be on the menu if nobody in the family was vegetarian?

Right! This makes no sense. A lot of families may have a vegetarian meal in rotation but having a truly vegan meal in rotation if you’re not vegan isn’t really the norm.

Open you mind, you might like it.

Why would I go through the trouble of cooking a vegan meal if we aren’t vegan? Again, this makes no sense. Why don’t you expand your palette

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is her reason for this, OP? I’d definitely be concerned that this is a proxy for an eating disorder.

She's concerned about the treatment of animals and the environmental impact of non vegan eating.

I'm concerned too, but can't give up eggs and butter and cheese. Has she looked at sourcing those types of products from a humane farm? I love South Mountain Creamery, which is local and which takes really good care of its animals.

Lol what? You aren't mentally strong enough to commit to a vegan diet therefore some stranger shouldn't do it either?

Lol what? Being vegan is some kind of accomplishment that requires mental strength?

When you talk like this it screams “eating disorder.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not vegan, but 2/3rds of my meals are salads, good bread and fresh fruit, so I would have no problem with a DD like that.

I’m not sure salad, fruit and bread is a great diet for a teen girl.

It’s a crap diet for anyone.

I mean, that’s what the French and Greek eat and let me tell you, they look way better than overweight Americans. Live healthier longer lives too.

Tell me you’ve never traveled to France or Greece without telling me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jack fruit is not a substitute for meat. My goodness.

For anorexics it is. That’s one of the tells.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I know this is maybe not fair, but I also worry that for some teens, the restrictive nature of veganism can be a component of (or lead to) disordered eating. To be clear, I'm not saying that is true for all or most vegans. Just that the restrictive nature of the diet has some parallels.

This is exactly what happened to my friend’s child. Vegetarian -> vegan -> eating disorder.

Oh please, the vegetarian/vegan did not cause an eating disorder. Two separate issues.

Wrong. The kid decided to restrict, which is how vegetarianism started. It allowed him to eat his own stuff,
Largely undetected. Then he announced he was vegan. After he lost a starting amount of weight he went to a nutritionist and then was referred to a psychologist. The kid - not you and not me - is the one who said he started it as a way to cut things out of his diet and it became more and more extreme. Fwiw- he’s doing well now, and eats normally but said he had to be very mindful of his eating and not slipping into bad habits.

I have a kid who is a veg so I’m not posting this to veg bash. I’m posting this to say that yes, it can be a sign of an ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jack fruit is not a substitute for meat. My goodness.

It most certainly IS a substitute (in texture), you nincompoop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I know this is maybe not fair, but I also worry that for some teens, the restrictive nature of veganism can be a component of (or lead to) disordered eating. To be clear, I'm not saying that is true for all or most vegans. Just that the restrictive nature of the diet has some parallels.

This is exactly what happened to my friend’s child. Vegetarian -> vegan -> eating disorder.

Oh please, the vegetarian/vegan did not cause an eating disorder. Two separate issues.

Wrong. The kid decided to restrict, which is how vegetarianism started. It allowed him to eat his own stuff,
Largely undetected. Then he announced he was vegan. After he lost a starting amount of weight he went to a nutritionist and then was referred to a psychologist. The kid - not you and not me - is the one who said he started it as a way to cut things out of his diet and it became more and more extreme. Fwiw- he’s doing well now, and eats normally but said he had to be very mindful of his eating and not slipping into bad habits.

I have a kid who is a veg so I’m not posting this to veg bash. I’m posting this to say that yes, it can be a sign of an ED.

Again, this is why parents should be INVOLVED in the meal planning and preparation, rather than a blanket “no” or the lazy “do it yourself” responses advocated in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jack fruit is not a substitute for meat. My goodness.

It most certainly IS a substitute (in texture), you nincompoop.

And so is styrofoam, and bonus! No calories!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not vegan, but 2/3rds of my meals are salads, good bread and fresh fruit, so I would have no problem with a DD like that.

I’m not sure salad, fruit and bread is a great diet for a teen girl.

It’s a crap diet for anyone.

You folks are likely thinking of salad the way meat eaters do. Salad is a whole world of delicious and more than adequately nutritious foods.

The best foods for gut health and overall health are vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts/seeds. Meat is unnecessary for optimal human health.

You folks making the anti vegan statements should really know that the Google machine easily debunks all your bogus claims.

Also, vegan body builders - there are many just a Google away. Here’s one:



https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.insider.com/vegan-bodybuilder-how-to-build-muscle-on-plant-based-diet-2020-10%3famp

He eats salads and fruit and bread - oh my!

Beans are not good for my gut health, sorry. My coworkers can attest to this.

[Anonymous]

My kid tried this nonsense. I told her that I'm only making one dinner. Eat it or leave it, she's not old enough to decide that she's going to make this huge dietary change.
When she's responsible for herself she can make these life altering decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jack fruit is not a substitute for meat. My goodness.

It most certainly IS a substitute (in texture), you nincompoop.

We are talking nutritional content here, try to keep up. Jack fruit is a fine thing to eat but the nutritional profile is not the same as meat. I bet if you ate some meat you would be mentally sharper…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I know this is maybe not fair, but I also worry that for some teens, the restrictive nature of veganism can be a component of (or lead to) disordered eating. To be clear, I'm not saying that is true for all or most vegans. Just that the restrictive nature of the diet has some parallels.

This is exactly what happened to my friend’s child. Vegetarian -> vegan -> eating disorder.

Oh please, the vegetarian/vegan did not cause an eating disorder. Two separate issues.

Wrong. The kid decided to restrict, which is how vegetarianism started. It allowed him to eat his own stuff,
Largely undetected. Then he announced he was vegan. After he lost a starting amount of weight he went to a nutritionist and then was referred to a psychologist. The kid - not you and not me - is the one who said he started it as a way to cut things out of his diet and it became more and more extreme. Fwiw- he’s doing well now, and eats normally but said he had to be very mindful of his eating and not slipping into bad habits.

I have a kid who is a veg so I’m not posting this to veg bash. I’m posting this to say that yes, it can be a sign of an ED.

The child had an eating disorder. How they choose to do it is a different issue. Stop making it an excuse. Same child would still have an eating disorder if they ate meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is her reason for this, OP? I’d definitely be concerned that this is a proxy for an eating disorder.

She's concerned about the treatment of animals and the environmental impact of non vegan eating.

I'm concerned too, but can't give up eggs and butter and cheese. Has she looked at sourcing those types of products from a humane farm? I love South Mountain Creamery, which is local and which takes really good care of its animals.

Agree there are humane sources for dairy and eggs. Please convince her to go this route. Not getting enough food sourced calcium (fortified foods don’t count and are just poorly absorbed supplements) in teen years is detrimental to bone health later in life.

There is more bioavailable calcium in kale than in milk. That’s just one example of the many plant food sources of calcium.

The old lame arguments against a vegan diet are just pathetic in this day and age when all of them are so easily debunked by a simple google search into the actual nutritional science which has been done and dusted for decades.