How can you convince your parents that being vegan isn't about losing weight?

I have been fighting an eating disorder for the past few years, but my being vegan has nothing to do with it. Well not nothing, but I'm not just vegan because of it. How can I convince my parents that it's healthy, spiritual, and may even help me fight my ED?

I've never talked about this in this forum, and this might surprise some people.

I was anorexic as a teenager and I know how you feel. I struggled desperately through a series of "fad diets". I only have a handful of pictures of myself where I look healthy, the rest are so terrible that I threw them away, I was nowhere near healthy, and I DO NOT like to talk about it. I can tell you need some support though.

Originally I started to look at video footage of what happens in slaughterhouses and I began to read about the cruelty to animals because I wanted to disgust myself and make myself unable to crave like 90% of the food I craved.

I quickly stopped being selfish, because I realized there is more to life than weight and food. I think that if you are slowly pulling out of the selfish, life-consuming ED and moving into a world of realities and healthy choices, this is a very good step to be vegan.

I became vegetarian and then consequently vegan and it kept me sane and pulled me out of my eating disorder. I learned so much about food, about what happens to food, what your body does to food, how to balance your diet. As long as you are not doing typical restricting (cutting out fats, choosing only fat-free or very lean options), and as long as you are NOT losing weight any longer, you will be alright.

You know yourself and you know when you are lying to yourself. You know EXACTLY the thoughts and feelings that occur that make you realize, "Uh-oh, I'm just doing this to lose weight".

If you pinch your body fat and decide to pick the avocado out of your salad, you're still letting the ED rule your diet, and not an ethical concern for animals.

If you weigh yourself every single day and base what you eat that day because of your weight, that is still your ED. You know what your behaviors are, and you need to be honest with yourself about them. Only you will know whether being vegan is making you healthier or sicker. If you really do want to be healthy and be vegan at the same time, you can certainly do it.

However, if you relapse or you do start to get more and more ED-controlled, don't fight it, you might need to go into the hospital for an in-patient or out-patient treatment, and they don't cater easily in the ED programs to vegetarians/vegans. Just let it happen, don't cop out of recovery and healthy meal planning because there is no vegan choice, okay? I made this mistake once before, the entire out-patient program was thousands of dollars in the hole because I would not cooperate. Make the best of the treatment opportunities while they are there, because even the most concerned parents eventually start to disintegrate into despair and stop trying to help you... this I also learned... I was rock bottom before I turned around, more than 70 pounds lost off my frame, I looked like freaking death.

Good luck and I really hope you recover, because one day you will look back and regret all the time you wasted being sick, all the youth and joy and all the happy choices and healthy things you could have done would be gone. I really wish you the best.

If being vegan is important to you (as it quickly became for me), if it teaches you and leads you into a life where you feel GOOD about yourself, GOOD about what goes into your body (yay! for once!), then it's totally worth it!

I'm adding you to my contacts :)

get some education for them. Look online and show them how healtyhy you can become being a vegan. And show them that this is not just a fad you are going through

i'd say show 'em a video on the crulity of the slaughter house for animals http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.... but make sure you tell them that you are not tring to convince them to be a vegetarian (evan if you are)
also here is a site that helps you win an argument with a meat eater
http://www.vegsource.com/how_to_win.htm#...

Well, if you are vegan for animals right, show them videos of how animals are killed cruely, and beaten and hurt, here this video might get through to them. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...

Hope it helps!=)

Well, that really depends.

How long have you been vegan? Have you saw any improvements with your ED since you became vegan?

Personally, I would back up my claims to my parents with research. Also, take a look at what you eat. Are you eating a healthy vegan diet or are you just eating chips, salads, and fruit? Are you taking multi-vitamins?

You should also try cooking for your parents if possible. By showing them that eating vegan can be healthy, delicious and filling, it may sway them towards your side.

I don't know how spiritual it is, but they might gain some understanding about living and raw foods in the area of cell food particularly

Just make sure the issue isn't with you. You have to be honest with yourself first, before you can be honest with anyone else. I certainly understand why they might be concerned, but even with out your eating disorder, they'd probably still not quite understand the decision to be vegan. As long as you are being honest with yourself, and your decision to be vegan isn't only related to your eating disorder, then and only then will you be able to help your parents understand and believe you. Good Luck!