1. vegsunshine Said,

   You could tell them about the health benefits of being a vegetarian and that could have them interested in helping (it worked for me) and some good websites about being vegetarian and vegetarian cooking are GoVeg.com and Vegcooking.com. Good Luck
   References :

2. Julie Said,

   Explain to them (in a calm way) why you want to go vegetarian and show them that you’re informed about proper nutrition. For example, you could show them this vegetarian pyramid: http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html If they’re still concerned about health issues, show them this: http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/veg_foods.html

   You could offer to go grocery shopping with them and help with meal planning / cooking. Some of the best meat substitutes are listed here: http://vegcooking.com/guide-favs.asp Once you find meat substitutes you like, you can make very simple meals. For example: pasta with veg meatballs, tacos with veg burger crumbles, veg chicken patties, veg stir fry with Morningstar "chicken" strips, sandwiches with Tofurkey deli slices, etc. Packaged soups are very easy and there are lots of veg ones.

   For cookbooks, there’s one called The Teen’s Vegetarian Cookbook – http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-6216675-7455864?asin=0613152166&afid=yahoosspplp_bmvd&lnm=0613152166|Books_:_The_Teen’s_Vegetarian_Cookbook&ref=tgt_adv_XSNG1060

   Another one with simple recipes is Meatless Meals for Working People – http://www.vrg.org/catalog/meatless.htm

   The website http://www.chooseveg.com/vegan-recipes.asp has some easy recipes.

   Also check out http://www.vegetarianteen.com/ and http://www.tryveg.com

   It might take your parents some time to adjust to the idea, but hopefully they will support you when they see that it’s important to you. Good luck!
   References :

3. Aquestion Said,

   As a vegetarian your food bills normally drop a bit. You could always ask them for your own budget of money for your own foods… as for recipes, find some. Might want to keep in mind be wary of your protein intake or rather anti-intake if you go vegetarian and keep it up a bit at least if your male… As for them helping you, don’t expect it… lol. I havent met a family yet that is fully supportive. Unless of course they are like that themselves. Good luck tho. Just take it and do it if you want to, or you’ll never get it done.
   References :

4. BATMAN Said,

   besides being vegetarian being dumb and stupid. if ur parents love and care for you and want u to grow up healthy u need a good combination of all foods and excersise. especially as a teen. now if ur going to make the mistake of doing it u can do it on ur owne
   References :

5. Mel Said,

   Well for starters, I would say that fresh salads should accompany every dinner meal. You could put yourself in charge of this. There are tons of salad recipes, but most important, use your imagination. Cut up some bell peppers, carrots, cucumber…add in some croutons, slices of cheese, etc. Throw in some tomatoes, or spice things up with some jalepeno peppers. There are also some great rice salads out there with veggies. This could be an important first step into working your vegetarian lifestyle in with your parents. They cannot deny the tastiness and healthiness of the salads.

   You should seek out a school nurse, family doctor, or dietician who could give you a menu of foods that will help ensure you get all of your nutrients. This way, you’ll be directly speaking with an expert with all of the answers. They can explain how healthy this is for you to your parents, and your parents will likely accept a professional’s opinion. They will be able to give you a list of good, easy recipes that can get you started as well. The reason I recommended the salad is because it’s simply an excellent beginning.

   Eventually you can get zuchini and squash and grill them, or steam them in the microwave. Ask for a veggie steamer for your birthday. Or suggest it to your parents. I am sure that your parents will love the idea of steaming veggies in a more easy way. This will give you steamed corn, broccoli, squash, etc to perfection.

   There are tons of tasty things you can do with potatoes as well. Pick out some spices that sound good, lemon and pepper, lemon and herb, garlic and herb are some suggestions.

   Cut the potatoes into strips (or have your parents to it) and mix up a teaspoon of cider vinegar with a tablespoon of canola oil, then sprinkle the potatoes with it. Let them soak for a few minutes, then sprinkle some herbs and some fresh parsley on them and grill them. I use the george foreman grill, and I highly suggest that if you dont have this, to suggest it to your other family as a gift for your parents at christmas time.

   Here’s a recipe for excellent corn on the cob!
   Soak the cobs, still in the husks, in some warm water with a dash of salt for one hour.

   After the hour, unhusk the corn.

   Get a cutting board.
   Cut up some fresh parsley.
   Scoop out a lot of butter, 3 tablespoons or so.
   Mix a small handful of parlsey into the butter mass.
   Add Garlic Salt (it’s a spice) to taste. It usually takes a lot of garlic salt.
   Take a test taste of the mass, it should not taste too buttery, but have a slight garlic, salty taste to it. Add more parsley or garlic to taste.

   Rub the butter mixture onto each cob lavishly. Then wrap up each individual corn on the cob in foil.

   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
   Place these wrapped cobs into a baking dish of some kind, and then place them into the oven.
   Bake for 12 minutes.
   After 12 minutes, the corn is ready to be served. Keep them wrapped for people and it will keep the savory taste of parsley and the garlic salt in the corn. This is excellent and will be a huge hit.

   anyway, good luck to you!
   References :

6. ALFyakuza Said,

   If done wisely, there is a dramatic reduction in risk of cardiovascular diseases and many cancers.

   Have you seen this http://meat.org

   There have been vegan Olympic gold medalists and a vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don’t let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis
   http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML_(Draft).htm

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   There is a Japanese analogy/proverb that goes like this, "The nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down". People are like this everywhere. When you tell your family that it is your personal belief that animals should not be eaten, they take a look at themselves and it can be subconsciously translated into, "What you do is wrong and I choose to be right."

   Your parents have probably been taught a huge amount of misinformation by their parents and their teachers while growing up. You really need to research vegetarian diets and health before you even think about saying the "V-word" in front of your parents.

   When you have gathered enough information and feel confident in a vegetarian diet’s ability to maintain or even improve health, you may mention to them that you have made the decision. They may be shocked, angry, worried, curious or many other things, but you must NEVER react to their behavior and always stay calm. If they are able to speak to you and respect your choice, please tell them everything and answer all questions. If they are rude, inconsiderate, judgmental, violent, or verbally abusive, refuse to continue any conversation until they can speak to you with respect.

   The best advice is to study everything that you can about a healthy vegetarian diet and keep yourself in good shape (better than most people your age or than your friends/family if possible). If nobody that you know shows a genuine, positive interest in your choice, don’t give them the privilege of the knowledge that you have gathered. Work your way around any attempts they make to trivialize your beliefs and if possible, go shopping with your parents and buy things that aren’t obvious veggie fare. Instead of trying to sneak fake meat into the cart, toss in lentil soup, peanut butter, pasta, fruits & veggies or anything else that you have learned is needed to fill any gaps in your diet.

   ————————————————————————–

   If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.

   You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
   http://meat.org
   Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
   Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
   ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.

   When you you hold off on the subject until it’s necessary and then act like it isn’t a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone’s eating or just using it as a conversation starter.

   A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
   To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.

   Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
   A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
   http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
   http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
   http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
   Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.

   A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don’t let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.

   Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don’t consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
   http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
   The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
   Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.

   If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don’t maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.

   If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.

   —————————————————————————

   I’m vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:

   Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.

   Lunch: VEGAN "SAUSAGE" SANDWICHES, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that’s kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.

   Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe’s "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard’s noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup

   I use these sites to find recipes:
   http://www.foodnetwork.com
   http://vegweb.com
   http://www.recipezaar.com
   References :

7. KitKat Said,

   Just google "easy vegetarian recipes". The ingredients and directions will be right there.
   References :

8. horse-girl Said,

   Hey,
   I am a veggitarian and i’m 12, so its ok.
   You could start by cutting out all red meat and just eat chicken and fish, that way its easier for your parents to cook for you. Also you can buy "ready-made" veggitarian meals, from morrisons and tesco’s. Even stuff like cottage pie, made from quorn. There just microwave meals. For example when your parents are having "lamb dinner" you can have all the veggitables that your parents have cooked with quorn sausages or something.
   Its really not that bad. But when your a veggie you need iron and protein suppliements. Make sure you eat enough iron and protein. I really suggest you should just cut out red meat first. Good luck, hope this helps =]
   References :
   experience

9. Himanshu S Said,

   If you gonna buy ready to cook meals just look for the veggie ones. Its not hard. You can get soup, pizza, pasta, salads and so many other choices – garden burger. it should be no sweat if u have safeway.
   References :

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