[Sad] Can anyone else relate?

[GRardB]

Just a post to get some things off my chest. It's hard being different.

 

For those who don't know me too well...

Age: 16

Area: NYC metropolitan area (New Jersey)

Lacto-ovo vegetarian (although I eat vegan almost every day)

 

I have no idea what to do about people I care about anymore. It seems like everybody is shielding me out of their lives because I annoy them about health. Nearly everybody I know thinks I'm too much of a health freak and always argue with me about my beliefs.

 

It seems like nobody else I know even cares just a little bit about their health. People drink milk by the gallon, eat animals by the pound, eat sugar by the kilograms, and spread oil by the liters. Every time I see somebody eating something terribly unhealthy, I kindly say "Do you know how bad that is for you?" The response I usually get is "No, it's not" or "Who cares?" Occasionally it becomes a debate as to whether or not milk or candy is bad for you. Just yesterday a girl I know was eating commercial chocolate covered raisins, so I said "Those are unhealthy" and she says "No, they're not" without even thinking about it. This girl eats candy and bakes goods on a daily basis in school, so I thought I'd let her know about what she's putting into her body, but with no success.

 

I have a hard time eating at my mom's house (yes, my parents are divorced) because she loves dairy and meat products. Another downside is that she smokes cigarettes. I try to educate her on health, but she refuses to listen. The problem is that because she doesn't care, my health is directly affected. It's rare that I go a day at my mom's house without eating cheese. Not only that, but the smoke is terrible. Even though she's courteous enough to go out onto the balcony and smoke, she doesn't realize that I still receive some of the second hand smoke. Studies show that children whose parents leave the house to smoke still have 8 times the amount of nicotine in their bodies as children with parents that don't smoke. Thank God I only come to my mother's house once a week. She gets extremely frustrated with me because she doesn't think she can cook anything that will satisfy me. One week I had no other choice but to eat a cheese empanada (Hispanic dish for those who don't know) fried in butter (because we had no oil). I had loose stools for about 4 days after eating it. Last week we ordered pizza, and I ordered a pie with no cheese and the other with light cheese. Today she was talking on the phone about it and she said that I ordered them like that because I'm "crazy" and "insane". She speaks very loudly on the phone so I heard her perfectly. I'm sure many of you realize how much this hurts.

 

The next is my girlfriend. She loves eating meat and dairy as well. She eats our school's cafeteria food which is terrible. Her parents are Polish immigrants and while they make some great food like pierogi and kopitka, they refuse to believe that animal food is bad for people to eat. My girlfriend also has doubts, even after everything I've shown her, but the main reason she won't limit her unhealthy food is because she "can't eat food she doesn't like". I talked to her seriously about it today and told her that the only reason I try to get her to eat healthier is because I care about her and it could mean the difference between living to be 75 and 105. Most of you guys will probably think "Well you're 16, you guys won't be together forever." That may very well be true, but it still hurts me nonetheless.

 

It's extremely hard for me to live my life like this, but I know that in the end it will pay off. On my father's side, both of my grandparents passed away because of cancer. My grandmother and grandfather were in their low 80's and mid 70's (I think) respectively. On the other hand, my dad has an Indian Hindu friend who's been a vegetarian his whole life and came from India. He won't tell us his age, but my dad is pretty sure he's over 100 (and he has no birth certificate because during the time that he came to the USA, India had no birth certificates). I seem to be the only kid around here that realizes living a long life is something to be desired. I know that if there is no god or an afterlife of any kind, I want to live my life as long as possible. Going to sleep and never waking up is a terrible and scary thought to me. This is why I live my life as healthy as I can. I don't want to face the same fate my grandparents did. I'm sure that the reason they got cancer was because when they grew up (and even still today), people didn't understand health and the USA is the biggest meat-eating, milk-drinking society in the world. I don't care what anyone says, I can honestly say that my grandparents died because of their diet and lifestyle. I loved them and I wish they were still here. I don't want my grandkids to feel the same way when they're 12 or 15.

 

I just can't explain it any better in words.

 

Sisters #1 and #2 eat whatever they want.

Sister #3 is a lacto-ovo vegetarian, but eats more cheese than most non-vegetarians.

My brother is 8 and eats whatever he's fed. He's obese as of right now (he weighs over 100 pounds already). I try to alter his diet, but there's no chance I can help him.

My mom eats whatever she wants, drinks alcohol, and smokes. She doesn't care.

My dad lives fairly healthy as a lacto-ovo vegetarian. A bit more dairy than me, but considerably less calories (he's not bulking or growing haha).

My girlfriend eats whatever she wants.

All of my friends eat whatever they want.

 

Honestly, the only people that I seem to relate to in this world are people on these forums. I just wish other people saw the light and at least cut their animal product consumption to 1/4 of what it is now. I can imagine it now. I'll be in my 90's and everyone else I ever knew in my life will be dead. To some I might seem a little radical, but that's truly how I feel.

 

People think I'm crazy and nobody seems to understand me. I'm sure you guys do.

 

Any other people that can relate at least a bit?

 

Thanks for reading,

Gerard

[Guest]

I think mostly everyone here can relate and it sucks. Thing is...most of us have become vegan at an older age so its a bit different. For me though it was more about being around the non-vegan friends than the non-vegan family. I wasn't doing it for health and I didn't bug them but they did bug me. Basically you get constant disrespect of others putting food in your face. Luckily I went vegan at a Catholic School/University and it was easy to shut people up with pointing out there flaws and lack of self control under doctrine they believe in. It pisses them off but at least it shuts them up for a while.

 

If they're arguing with you...that probably means you aren't bugging them and they're the ones bugging you...the bugging is their problem(and yours out of consequence) and so will the health problems they suffer from. Basically I eventually just let my health/physical performance speak for itself. If you show them you're at least physically more capable than they are...you've got a shot at opening people up a little bit.

[Couture547]

Animal foods are the least of the problems in this country as far as diet goes. There's no reason to eat it and i love animals, so that's why i don't eat it. The biggest problem is all the processed foods. So eatting a orgainic diet with no processed foods is much healtier than a vegan junk food diet.

 

People are pretty clueless when it comes to diet and health. I remember i'd have argumets with people that said junk food doesn't have any thing to do with why diseases are so common. People think eatting healthy is just for losing weight and stuff like diet coke and fat free foods are healthy. It also drives me crazy when people exerice alot and say they do it to be healthy mean while there drinking and eatting crap food At the end of the day your not going to change someones mind, so you just kinda have to lead by example and hopefully people will come to you for advice

[GRardB]

I think mostly everyone here can relate and it sucks. Thing is...most of us have become vegan at an older age so its a bit different. For me though it was more about being around the non-vegan friends than the non-vegan family. I wasn't doing it for health and I didn't bug them but they did bug me. Basically you get constant disrespect of others putting food in your face. Luckily I went vegan at a Catholic School/University and it was easy to shut people up with pointing out there flaws and lack of self control under doctrine they believe in. It pisses them off but at least it shuts them up for a while.

 

If they're arguing with you...that probably means you aren't bugging them and they're the ones bugging you...the bugging is their problem(and yours out of consequence) and so will the health problems they suffer from. Basically I eventually just let my health/physical performance speak for itself. If you show them you're at least physically more capable than they are...you've got a shot at opening people up a little bit.

 

I can always rely on Potter for a helping reply.

 

I go to a public high school, so I can't really bring up religion because most people don't even know half of what their religion is (I know a bunch of Catholics that claim they aren't Christians; I know, retarded). In fact, I can't really bring up anything besides health because kids seem to be so oblivious to everything around them that I can't even mention something and expect another kid to know about it or understand it.

 

And you also mentioned becoming vegan for reasons other than health. That's actually another slap in the face to me around here. I know a few vegetarians and even one vegan, but none of them do it for health. They either do it because they're Hindu or because they don't want to kill animals. Besides that, they eat the same garbage that meat-eaters eat, just minus the meat! (Although I used to be the same, so I can't complain TOO much about them). Even they think I'm crazy! That's the reason I love these forums so much. Everyone's into health.

 

Animal foods are the least of the problems in this country as far as diet goes. There's no reason to eat it and i love animals, so that's why i don't eat it. The biggest problem is all the processed foods. So eatting a orgainic diet with no processed foods is much healtier than a vegan junk food diet.

 

People are pretty clueless when it comes to diet and health. I remember i'd have argumets with people that said junk food doesn't have any thing to do with why diseases are so common. People think eatting healthy is just for losing weight and stuff like diet coke and fat free foods are healthy. It also drives me crazy when people exerice alot and say they do it to be healthy mean while there drinking and eatting crap food At the end of the day your not going to change someones mind, so you just kinda have to lead by example and hopefully people will come to you for advice

 

Yeah, I actually forgot to mention all of my concerns about that kind of stuff (processed foods, sodium, etc.). It was a long post anyway, so I guess it's alright.

 

But yes, people are truly ignorant about health. I talk about the saturated fats in meat, how animal protein leaches calcium from human bones, how milk is the cause of so many different cancers, The China Study, cholesterol and how we don't need any extra (plus the kind in meat is the kind we want very low), sodium and high blood pressure, etc. The reply I get ranges from "Whatever" to "I don't believe that's true." The thing that angers me the most is that when people disagree with my beliefs, they have NO research or education under their belts to back up what they believe. They just don't like hearing what I believe, so they deny the truth of it.

[Couture547]

I think mostly everyone here can relate and it sucks. Thing is...most of us have become vegan at an older age so its a bit different. For me though it was more about being around the non-vegan friends than the non-vegan family. I wasn't doing it for health and I didn't bug them but they did bug me. Basically you get constant disrespect of others putting food in your face. Luckily I went vegan at a Catholic School/University and it was easy to shut people up with pointing out there flaws and lack of self control under doctrine they believe in. It pisses them off but at least it shuts them up for a while.

 

If they're arguing with you...that probably means you aren't bugging them and they're the ones bugging you...the bugging is their problem(and yours out of consequence) and so will the health problems they suffer from. Basically I eventually just let my health/physical performance speak for itself. If you show them you're at least physically more capable than they are...you've got a shot at opening people up a little bit.

 

I can always rely on Potter for a helping reply.

 

I go to a public high school, so I can't really bring up religion because most people don't even know half of what their religion is (I know a bunch of Catholics that claim they aren't Christians; I know, retarded). In fact, I can't really bring up anything besides health because kids seem to be so oblivious to everything around them that I can't even mention something and expect another kid to know about it or understand it.

 

And you also mentioned becoming vegan for reasons other than health. That's actually another slap in the face to me around here. I know a few vegetarians and even one vegan, but none of them do it for health. They either do it because they're Hindu or because they don't want to kill animals. Besides that, they eat the same garbage that meat-eaters eat, just minus the meat! (Although I used to be the same, so I can't complain TOO much about them). Even they think I'm crazy! That's the reason I love these forums so much. Everyone's into health.

 

Animal foods are the least of the problems in this country as far as diet goes. There's no reason to eat it and i love animals, so that's why i don't eat it. The biggest problem is all the processed foods. So eatting a orgainic diet with no processed foods is much healtier than a vegan junk food diet.

 

People are pretty clueless when it comes to diet and health. I remember i'd have argumets with people that said junk food doesn't have any thing to do with why diseases are so common. People think eatting healthy is just for losing weight and stuff like diet coke and fat free foods are healthy. It also drives me crazy when people exerice alot and say they do it to be healthy mean while there drinking and eatting crap food At the end of the day your not going to change someones mind, so you just kinda have to lead by example and hopefully people will come to you for advice

 

Yeah, I actually forgot to mention all of my concerns about that kind of stuff (processed foods, sodium, etc.). It was a long post anyway, so I guess it's alright.

 

But yes, people are truly ignorant about health. I talk about the saturated fats in meat, how animal protein leaches calcium from human bones, how milk is the cause of so many different cancers, The China Study, cholesterol and how we don't need any extra (plus the kind in meat is the kind we want very low), sodium and high blood pressure, etc. The reply I get ranges from "Whatever" to "I don't believe that's true." The thing that angers me the most is that when people disagree with my beliefs, they have NO research or education under their belts to back up what they believe. They just don't like hearing what I believe, so they deny the truth of it.

 

You are extremely well imformed for your age. I didn't start learning about proper diet until i was like 19. I used to get very frustrated having arugements with people. I used to try and get my parents to eat better, but until they want to it's not going to happen. My brother even knows alot about healty eatting and stuff yet he eats compete crap and says as long as he's happy now.

[Zack]

Keep to yourself, problems will go away.

 

Nobody wants to be evangelized to, they have to find it on their own.

[Guest]

At least you know some veggies...I didn't know any...if I did I may have turned earlier. As for your friends being oblivious...get more friends. I have all kinds of friends...jock friends who tend to be oblivious to everything...then other friends that are more than willing to talk politics...there is very little overlap though...and when you try to talk about something else with either group...they tend to get stumped or annoyed.

 

On a side note...there are many good arguments as to why a Catholic isn't a Christian. I don't care either way but even in school this was brought up in debate by my teacher(who was a monk).

[Richard]

If your goal is to educate people about health, yet they are refusing to be educated, then it's just a waste of your time. It isn't up to you to make everyone healthier, if you can't convince somebody, it's not the end of the world, leave them to it:

 

If you've tried talking about health to person X, and they make it clear they are not interested in talking about it, then I'd advise making a note of it, and then not talking about it to them again (at least not for a year or so). You will most likely notice a pattern, and pretty soon you will no longer be talking to anybody about health, since almost everybody will not want to hear it. I used to be the same but with ethics, I used to say to nearly everyone I met "why do you eat meat?" etc and try to convince them to change their lifestyle, because to me, it is hugely important to get people to stop causing cruelty to animals. But over the years, I realised that I was achieving nothing, I was just irritating everyone, and making myself frustrated. So I stopped talking to people about it, unless there was a specific reason to think that they would listen, or if they asked me about it directly.

 

Regarding your girlfriend, I'm not sure how you can stay with her if your feelings on this subject are so strong, that's how it seems to me personally. If you look at how much you've written about this, and how much it is affecting you, it's a big part of your life, and I think you need to be with somebody who appreciates that, and is on the same wavelength.

 

With your mum, maybe you could suggest going shopping with her for food and point out stuff you want, or offer to help with the cooking / cook your own food. That way there is less pressure on her. (Obviously she is being really unreasonable).

[oselifer]

Its hard living in a non vegan world....But it worths the effort..

However luck plays its role in becoming vegan..

 

Personally speaking,i had to become ill and weak to understand what food really is...Till then i ate all day sweets,milk,meat,fried potatoes,junk food,cola,and whatever you can imagine...

Then at about 18yo i felt terribly sick all the time,i couldn't cope any stress,i had acne all over my face and many other problem..

That's what helped me understand that something was going wrong..Then i had the luck to watch in the tv a nutritionist who talked about veganism..

That was the time that i made a complete turn in my life and diet...

 

My conclusion is that i had to be lucky,firstly to get ill so young and then to hear about veganism..

If that never happened i may have lived my entire life as i used to...This happens to most of the population...

[Im Your Man]

It's sad but true, people won't listen to what you say. They will only believe the government, and right now he's saying that meat and dairies are good. Since there's more campaigns against smoking, people start to stop smoking. It could be the same with meat and dairies but right now they find the priority is economy, war, etc. But with better food, the health costs wouldn't be so high.

 

When I started to be vegeterian and then vegan, I was like you, trying to inform people and to help them. But I soon learned that it's useless. I decided to be vegan by myself (with help of books, documentaries, etc), it has to be the samething for others.

Nobody will believe you when you say milk is bad, they think YOU are gonna die if you don't drink milk.

Even when there's a living proof like the Running Raw project, they're gonna say something like: "yeah but he would perform even better with meat and milk".

 

So what ca we do ? It's hard but you must accept their choice, even if it'snot really a choice, it's carelessness and carefree attitude, misinformation and ignorance.

 

We always have choice. You're not forced to eat your mom's food. Bring your own food.

Forget about trying to convert people. Maybe after some years they're gonna see with their own eyes that your in perfect shape, better health than them, and maybe they're gonna think about changig, or maybe not. Talk to people about a very good vegan book that tells the truth about meat and dairies. Just say you liked this book and recommand it, say the title and author, let do the rest, you've done your job. If they read it or not, liked it or not, change their life because of it, is a decision that returns to them.

[GRardB]

You are extremely well imformed for your age. I didn't start learning about proper diet until i was like 19. I used to get very frustrated having arugements with people. I used to try and get my parents to eat better, but until they want to it's not going to happen. My brother even knows alot about healty eatting and stuff yet he eats compete crap and says as long as he's happy now.

 

Why thank you

 

And yeah, I get that same reply all the time. Some people even say that they WANT to die in their 60's because they don't want to "suffer" as a senior citizen. It never occurs to them that they may never suffer if they just lived healthier. Most people's logic is totally backwards.

 

Keep to yourself, problems will go away.

 

Nobody wants to be evangelized to, they have to find it on their own.

 

I wish it was that easy :-\ It's hard to see people I care about digging an early grave.

 

At least you know some veggies...I didn't know any...if I did I may have turned earlier. As for your friends being oblivious...get more friends. I have all kinds of friends...jock friends who tend to be oblivious to everything...then other friends that are more than willing to talk politics...there is very little overlap though...and when you try to talk about something else with either group...they tend to get stumped or annoyed.

 

On a side note...there are many good arguments as to why a Catholic isn't a Christian. I don't care either way but even in school this was brought up in debate by my teacher(who was a monk).

 

I guess you're right. Some vegetarians are better than none. They're easier to hang out with in a group, that's for sure.

 

As for the religion thing, nobody I know who claims to be Catholic (but not Christian) has never been introduced to those kinds of arguments. They just assume that they aren't Christians because Protestants usually describe themselves as "Christians" to other people, so my friends say "Oh, then I'm not Christian." If they had valid arguments, that'd be a different story.

 

If your goal is to educate people about health, yet they are refusing to be educated, then it's just a waste of your time. It isn't up to you to make everyone healthier, if you can't convince somebody, it's not the end of the world, leave them to it:

 

If you've tried talking about health to person X, and they make it clear they are not interested in talking about it, then I'd advise making a note of it, and then not talking about it to them again (at least not for a year or so). You will most likely notice a pattern, and pretty soon you will no longer be talking to anybody about health, since almost everybody will not want to hear it. I used to be the same but with ethics, I used to say to nearly everyone I met "why do you eat meat?" etc and try to convince them to change their lifestyle, because to me, it is hugely important to get people to stop causing cruelty to animals. But over the years, I realised that I was achieving nothing, I was just irritating everyone, and making myself frustrated. So I stopped talking to people about it, unless there was a specific reason to think that they would listen, or if they asked me about it directly.

 

Regarding your girlfriend, I'm not sure how you can stay with her if your feelings on this subject are so strong, that's how it seems to me personally. If you look at how much you've written about this, and how much it is affecting you, it's a big part of your life, and I think you need to be with somebody who appreciates that, and is on the same wavelength.

 

With your mum, maybe you could suggest going shopping with her for food and point out stuff you want, or offer to help with the cooking / cook your own food. That way there is less pressure on her. (Obviously she is being really unreasonable).

 

I'll definitely make an effort to keep my beliefs to myself unless brought up...It's just hard to keep it inside because I wish someone had pointed it out to me at an earlier age. I grew up most of my life overweight and unhealthy because nobody guided me.

 

As for my girlfriend, the health issue is really the only thing that bothers me about her, but the only other person I know that I would say eats healthy is my dad. Leaving her because of the way she eats would be useless and unnecessary (and probably cause me more frustration).

 

And my mom...the problem with her is that she rarely goes shopping, and when she does, I don't really have a chance to go with her. Not only that, but another one of her complaints is that the food I eat is too expensive for her and since I only go to her house once a week, she doesn't want to waste food and money. I've brought food to her house before for myself, but it's actually not an easy task because her apartment is not properly equipped for my food preparation methods (as weird as that sounds, it's true).

 

Its hard living in a non vegan world....But it worths the effort..

However luck plays its role in becoming vegan..

 

Personally speaking,i had to become ill and weak to understand what food really is...Till then i ate all day sweets,milk,meat,fried potatoes,junk food,cola,and whatever you can imagine...

Then at about 18yo i felt terribly sick all the time,i couldn't cope any stress,i had acne all over my face and many other problem..

That's what helped me understand that something was going wrong..Then i had the luck to watch in the tv a nutritionist who talked about veganism..

That was the time that i made a complete turn in my life and diet...

 

My conclusion is that i had to be lucky,firstly to get ill so young and then to hear about veganism..

If that never happened i may have lived my entire life as i used to...This happens to most of the population...

 

I'm glad it didn't take me so long to change my diet. My parents became vegetarian when I was about 7 (although my mom gave up a few years later) so I followed them out of choice. Although I still ate unhealthy as a vegetarian up until a few months ago, I'm sure I would've been much worse as a meat-eater. I can definitely feel the effects as I haven't been sick for over a year now. Most people I know get sick every few weeks or months. It's sad.

 

It's sad but true, people won't listen to what you say. They will only believe the government, and right now he's saying that meat and dairies are good. Since there's more campaigns against smoking, people start to stop smoking. It could be the same with meat and dairies but right now they find the priority is economy, war, etc. But with better food, the health costs wouldn't be so high.

 

When I started to be vegeterian and then vegan, I was like you, trying to inform people and to help them. But I soon learned that it's useless. I decided to be vegan by myself (with help of books, documentaries, etc), it has to be the samething for others.

Nobody will believe you when you say milk is bad, they think YOU are gonna die if you don't drink milk.

Even when there's a living proof like the Running Raw project, they're gonna say something like: "yeah but he would perform even better with meat and milk".

 

So what ca we do ? It's hard but you must accept their choice, even if it'snot really a choice, it's carelessness and carefree attitude, misinformation and ignorance.

 

We always have choice. You're not forced to eat your mom's food. Bring your own food.

Forget about trying to convert people. Maybe after some years they're gonna see with their own eyes that your in perfect shape, better health than them, and maybe they're gonna think about changig, or maybe not. Talk to people about a very good vegan book that tells the truth about meat and dairies. Just say you liked this book and recommand it, say the title and author, let do the rest, you've done your job. If they read it or not, liked it or not, change their life because of it, is a decision that returns to them.

 

Entirely true. Many times people will tell me that their doctors tell them what foods to eat, and say "Why would people say that milk and meat is good for you if it wasn't?" I bring up money and people start shutting me out and saying that I'm wrong. I can't imagine listening to doctors in general, especially after past experiences. Most of them are just concerned about shoving as many pills down your throat as possible to get some cash. This isn't true for all doctors obviously, but for many doctors it is.

 

I guess the best thing for me to do is just keep to myself...If anyone watches The Boondocks, I feel like Huey Freeman most of the time. I think he said it best:

 

"Sir, would you like to hear about how the government wants you dead by 62 so you can't collect on Social Security?"

[Marcina]

I TOTALLY relate to you! When I was your age I went vegetarian and everyone thought I was nuts. Nobody supported my diet, my mom never got substitutes at the store for meat and dairy, so I just went without. I lost weight very quickly, my nails became brittle, I was weak and sick. I had no choice but to go back to eating meat and some dairy. (Dairy's always been hard cuz i'm lactose intolerant and has gotten progressively worse over the years)

I didn't go vegan until the age of 21. My family still thinks I'm crazy and won't listen to a word I say. My sister, my stepdad, my mom are ALL smokers. My sister is pregnant and expecting in May and she still smokes. I have lost so much respect for her because of that.

My family smoked indoors for about 20 years until I had enough and ordered them to stop. By ordered I mean I got really pissed off and irate and went on a tangent about how I'm not gonna get cancer because they're too lazy to take their asses outside.

AHEM

Anyways.

There's really nothing we can do to help save people who are too ignorant to listen. Luckily, my boyfriend is the only one who is supportive of my diet.

I really feel for you, Grard. I know how frusterating it is to see your family and friends ruin their health and badmouth you for caring about yours.

9 times out of 10 when I have a bad day it's because some retard I'm related to made a snotty comment about what I eat. Sometimes we just need to say "Fuck em."

[SeaSiren]

Can't relate since I honestly don't care what anyone else does to their own body. I see people eat horrid all the time. And in my industry (modeling and dancing) drugs are rampant... never did them, never will. People offer me drugs, bad food, cigarettes, everything. I just say no thank you. I lead by example.

 

They used to question me, by arguing takes two people. I don't/won't feed into it. Now I rare to never get questioned about what I do or how I eat. They know better

[endcruelty]

don't worry i'm in the same boat as you, i don't know any vegans or vegetarians (people i've met sure, but not close friends) i would recommend stop preaching i know you're intentions are good, but some people are turned off by it. since day one i haven't told people they shouldn't eat this or that, well maybe a little but it's more like "i can't believe you still eat that crap. we have so much knowledge at our fingertips and with all the science saying how bad this shit is, how you still eat it is beyond me" then i laugh and usually nod in lol people don't really know how to respond, i know it's a little condescending, but i think it makes them think a bit about what they're eating. mac danzig said it perfectly in the ultimate fighter "i don't put that shit in my mouth, it's garbage" might not be the exact quote, but something similar, i cracked up

 

refuse to be in the house with her while she smokes, say you'll sleep outside. if she still does it, i know i know you don't wanna sleep outside, but i'd do it anyways lol just to show her how much it bothers you, but that's just me

 

cafeteria food i think is part of high school hahaha like getting piss drunk at college lol it's an experience you know is shit to live through, but once you're out you usually learn from, i know i did

 

HEY!!!!!! i'm a polish immigrant, not all of us are kielbasa, liver, sugar addicts lol

 

going to sleep and never waking up, i'd take that over being shot in the face and suffering in a hospital and while dying slowing or drowning anyday

 

do your thing, get healthy, do the right stuff, and lead by example. sometimes the best way to preach an important message is by living it silently and letting people realize it on their own.

[hsorlando]

I think most of us have been in this place before, at least with one other person in our lives. You care about people, and you try to help them be healthier, and make better choices, but it's really up to them. Lead by example. Eat right, exercise,and maybe someone will get the picture. Recently an aquaintance of mine said she could kind of see why I was vegan. This blew me away, because she never seemed to care before. But her son recently became vegetarian for humane reasons, and I think she's seeing it in a different light now. Just keep doing what your doing, without trying to make others do something they're obviously not ready for, and perhaps one day you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Edited April 14, 2008 by hsorlando

[Guest]

I always reference Howard Lyman when you think someone will never go vegan. He was as non-vegan as it gets. He's owned tens of thousands of cows for slaughter on thousands of acres of land and now he's one of the biggest vegan advocates out there. Any regular meat eater can be changed if he changed.

[Richard]

I always reference Howard Lyman when you think someone will never go vegan. He was as non-vegan as it gets. He's owned tens of thousands of cows for slaughter on thousands of acres of land and now he's one of the biggest vegan advocates out there. Any regular meat eater can be changed if he changed.

 

I think he's a pretty rare type of person, plus he's been around animal cruelty first-hand, a lot of people won't witness what he has, I think that makes a big difference as well. I think it is true that it is possible for anybody to change, but I think it's very unlikely, and almost impossible to tell how to do it, unless that person is open to change whilst talking to you. The best way to do it seems to be to start a relationhip with someone, and bang some veganism into them*.

 

*have sex with them