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World history gives us many clear examples of when neophytes turned out to be much more ardent adherents of one concept or another than people who had long adhered to this concept, be it religion, scientific theory, or some life principles.
After all, the phrase ‘more catholic than the Pope’ didn’t come out of the blue, and new converts are often more zealous in trying to win over more and more supporters. This is exactly what happened to the user u/veganmomthrowaway – and yes, the guy’s login itself, in principle, looks like a kind of TL;DR. If you are interested in knowing everything in detail, please read on.
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The author of the post is a 17 Y.O. teenager who lives with his parents and younger sister
Image credits: Vegan Liftz (not the actual photo)
Several years ago the author’s sister decided to go vegan and their parents shared her beliefs soon after
Image credits: u/veganmomthrowaway
Image credits: fauxels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/veganmomthrowaway
However, the author firmly decided to stick to his meat and dairy – especially since he buys and cooks it on his own
Image credits: Pavel Danilyuk (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/veganmomthrowaway
The guy’s parents, meanwhile, have not ceased their attempts to persuade him to ’embrace’ the vegan diet
According to the Original Poster (OP), (and we have absolutely no reason not to believe him), he is 17 years old, has a part time job, and lives with his parents and younger sister. The teenager is very proud that he can partly earn his living, in particular, buy and cook his own food. And that’s exactly what our story is about.
A few years ago, the author’s sister made the decision to go vegan. Her parents and brother respectfully accepted this, and mom and dad even, after some time, shared her new beliefs. First, after watching a documentary shown by the daughter, they went vegetarian, then completely switched to a vegan lifestyle. However, this did not affect the OP’s food tastes in any way.
As before, the guy continued to delight himself with some pepperoni pizzas and pork burgers from time to time, but the parents gradually began to try to convince their son to also go vegan. The son, however, politely but firmly stated that he respected his relatives’ choice, but would stick to his meat and dairy. However, with each new day, it became more and more difficult…
It is interesting that the author’s sister, in his own words, fully respected his choice, not trying to impose her own point of view. But the parents, on the contrary, tried in every possible way to persuade their son to switch to a new diet, along the way telling many stories about the benefits of veganism (many of which, according to the OP, did not correspond to reality – for example, that veganism stops cancer or heart disease).
The guy defended his right to eat what he wants – all the more, he paid for it and cooked it himself, but mom and dad regularly say that he ‘should embrace’ the vegan diet, and that by eating meat and milk, he only ‘contributes to the problem.’ As a result, the constant controversy irritated the original poster so much that he decided to take it online.
Image credits: Le Creuset (not the actual photo)
Let’s face it – according to the results of many studies, a vegan lifestyle really has beneficial effects on health – in particular, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer, such as colon cancer. However, this is precisely a risk reduction, not a cure or a complete guarantee that you will not get sick if you exclude meat and dairy products from your diet.
“You can be overweight and be a vegan; you can be malnourished and be a vegan,” the RUSH official website quotes Jeffrey Soble, MD, a cardiologist at RUSH University Medical Center. “Whatever your diet choice, you have to know which foods to avoid and which foods to seek out.” In other words, everyone chooses the diet that suits them. And the question of this choice is exclusively individual. Period.
In any case, the original poster’s teenage sister is clearly more mature and balanced than her adult parents in this situation. And people in the comments also noted this. Moreover, many vegan commenters also wrote that the OP’s parents acted rudely and inappropriately here, because it’s their son’s body and his own choice to eat what he wants and prefers. And any aggressive imposition of one’s point of view is unacceptable here, commenters stated.
Some folks in the comments also shared stories from their lives, where, for example, one person in a couple turns out to be a vegan, and the second is not, but at the same time, the spouses highly respected each other’s choice. Some commenters even suggested that the author’s parents just look like the worst kind of vegans, “only being vegans for a short amount of time and already having a chip in their shoulders about it all the while forgetting they had decades where they couldn’t be bothered about the animals.” And it’s really hard to disagree with this… By the way, have you ever been in a similar situation yourselves?
Commenters, even staunch vegans, however, believe that the author’s parents are behaving rudely and immaturely in this situation
What do you think ?
Mad Dragon 1 year ago
My husband is vegetarian, our kids and I are not. It's never been a big deal. I sometimes cook 2 different main dishes, sometimes we all have a meatless main, and sometimes I make a main dish and divide it up before I add the protein (meat substitute and meat). It's a very small thing to accommodate my husband's beliefs. He has never pressure me or the kids to go vegetarian, and I have never pressured him or the kids to eat meat.
Poison Ivy/Boo 1 year ago
Same scenario here, but my hubby cooks his meals and I cook mine. It works for us.
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Zophra 1 year ago
The bigger problem over pushing vegetarianism is the weird parents shifting their views and expecting their child to automatically do the same.
Kathryn Baylis 1 year ago (edited)
Especially since the sister, who was the first vegan in the household, has a live and let live attitude and thinks her brother is entitled to choose his diet for himself. If she’s not trying to force him to become vegan, then the parents should adopt the same attitude, unless they want him to slowly extricate himself from their lives and finally go no contact with them, so they end up strangers to his children and possibly dying alone in an old folks home after—-inevitably—-alienating their daughter too. Unless someone is genuinely endangering themself or others, we should all adopt a live and let live attitude toward our fellow human beings. You like meat and I don’t? So what? You do you, and I’ll do me. It’s such a minor thing. Doesn’t qualify as a reason to start a long-standing Hatfields and McCoys type feud, ffs. OP’s parents are well on their way to stupidly and recklessly blowing up their family for no valid reason.
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Amanda Taylor 1 year ago
Idk what "studies" they are looking at but a healthy diet of Whole Foods, including meat, is as nutritious as it gets. If vegan's have to take vitamin and mineral supplants to compensate for what their vegan diet doesn't provide then that should tell you all u need to know. Plus, how do farms grow vegetables? They us manure.. from cows, and milk cows HAVE to be milked or it will cause them great pain. We need their manure, and we need their iron and healthy fats (in appropriate portions). It's all apart of the cycle that we built our civilization on. Although I admit that the way farms treat their slaughter animals is atrocious. We can do better on that tip.
Mad Dragon 1 year ago
My husband is vegetarian, our kids and I are not. It's never been a big deal. I sometimes cook 2 different main dishes, sometimes we all have a meatless main, and sometimes I make a main dish and divide it up before I add the protein (meat substitute and meat). It's a very small thing to accommodate my husband's beliefs. He has never pressure me or the kids to go vegetarian, and I have never pressured him or the kids to eat meat.
Poison Ivy/Boo 1 year ago
Same scenario here, but my hubby cooks his meals and I cook mine. It works for us.
Load More Replies... Zophra 1 year ago
The bigger problem over pushing vegetarianism is the weird parents shifting their views and expecting their child to automatically do the same.
Kathryn Baylis 1 year ago (edited)
Especially since the sister, who was the first vegan in the household, has a live and let live attitude and thinks her brother is entitled to choose his diet for himself. If she’s not trying to force him to become vegan, then the parents should adopt the same attitude, unless they want him to slowly extricate himself from their lives and finally go no contact with them, so they end up strangers to his children and possibly dying alone in an old folks home after—-inevitably—-alienating their daughter too. Unless someone is genuinely endangering themself or others, we should all adopt a live and let live attitude toward our fellow human beings. You like meat and I don’t? So what? You do you, and I’ll do me. It’s such a minor thing. Doesn’t qualify as a reason to start a long-standing Hatfields and McCoys type feud, ffs. OP’s parents are well on their way to stupidly and recklessly blowing up their family for no valid reason.
Load More Replies... Amanda Taylor 1 year ago
Idk what "studies" they are looking at but a healthy diet of Whole Foods, including meat, is as nutritious as it gets. If vegan's have to take vitamin and mineral supplants to compensate for what their vegan diet doesn't provide then that should tell you all u need to know. Plus, how do farms grow vegetables? They us manure.. from cows, and milk cows HAVE to be milked or it will cause them great pain. We need their manure, and we need their iron and healthy fats (in appropriate portions). It's all apart of the cycle that we built our civilization on. Although I admit that the way farms treat their slaughter animals is atrocious. We can do better on that tip.
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