Hey Mom! I am going Raw!

I realize that this thought might be afloat in other threads but, I'll throw my worries out there anyway.

After going vegan 3 years ago, my family was confused by my new lifestyle chioce. Coming from an uppermidwestern family that loves all things that have to do with shooting animals (or catching them on hooks or stabbing them with arrows), "cleaning them," and roasting them, the whole veganism concept, even vegetarianism, seems terribly odd. And . . . the whole no dairy thing was quite the shocker for my famliy as I am from Wisconsin, the dairy state. My father refers to my diet as "Rabbit food" and continues to tease me at most every outing. I understand that this is perhaps his way of dealing with our differences but I am a little terrified of telling him and the rest of my family about my transition to raw food. I explained to them that I was becoming a vegan because I felt it was healthier and a more human diet than the SAD. My father accused me of having an eating disorder when I went vegan (which I do not and have never had) and I worry that my raw food diet may seem a little too "out there" for them.

I already talked to my mother about it a little bit but then she protested with "But doesn't freezing the blueberries make them better for you? I heard that on the Today show . . ." Granted, I am an adult and can make my own decisions and, really, this shouldn't be an issue for me. Yet I don't want everytime I return home from college for the dinner table to turn into the "raw diet vs. decaying animal flesh diet" debate. I want them to realize that gathering around the table for dinner should be about enjoying eachother's company rather than what is on everyone's plate. And that health and humanity is imporant to me.

That was alot. Thanks for reading if you do :)

Comments

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    ckersten, i share your same story... except that i'm not from wisconsin haha when my parents found out that i was vegan, they flipped out. they both refuse to live with it and still offer me non-vegan foods. they are divorced, too, so i hear all the food talk when i'm at home and at my dad's. i didn't even go to christmas dinner at my dad's because i just couldn't bare him belittling my eating habits.

    though i'm not 100% raw yet, i've been eating raw for over a week and my mom seems okay with it. she's just mad that i've lost weight and so is my dad.

    what is it with parents!??!?!

    just know you aren't alone in this. i just wish people would understand that it's your body and you can put whatever food you want into it. it shouldn't be other people's concerns, you know??

    my advice to you is to maybe not have a "talk" about it. just don't speak up until you have to. i mean, the truth always comes out, but you don't have to necessarily declare that you are eating raw. just eat how you want and continue to do it even when they do question it.

  • my dad is completely supportive. he's a progressive liberal democrat born and raised in the blue state of new jersey. he is very open to anything I tell him. my mom and grandmother are weirded out by the idea. they also believe I have an eating disorder, being that I lost 40lbs in 2 months. Oh well, I just tell them to deal with it!

  • ckersten,

    Hi! I feel you. My family is from Texas and Arkansas and when I went vegetarian (13 yrs old) to vegan (29 yrs old) to raw (31 yrs old) my dad and that side of the family did the same sorta thing. Never where they mean or angry about it, but lughed it off and made many a jokes on my behalf! It took from age 13 to probably 27 for my dad to stop making jokes. But, I have to say, the avid meat eater he is, he has, in the last 10 years, become an incredible chef and now when I go home, even for Christmas or thanksgiving dinner, he always has a spread for me fit for any vegan, raw Queen. No more jokes. (although friends of the family still make them!)

    What I am saying is, stay strong with your viewpoint, stay healthy and fit and they will EVENTUALLY see that you are not only OKAY, but thriving.

    love-Kirsten

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