You either be vegan or do sport.

[Mehrad]

Hey all,

Anyone who's read my introduction would know my parents need a little bit of persuading about veganism and how many athletes can be vegan and win (all i say is two words CARL LEWIS! )

Ive sent my dad endless emails, told him about my personal reasons, tried persuading my mother too about veganism and why I should be allowd such a freedom.

I went out for a run, becuase i was expecting to have a little talk with my father about something, I kind of guessed it had something to do with my lifestyle habbits. After running a couple of miles to cool myself down (I can have a short fuse sometimes, especially when my family argue with me) I had a little break and had this very short talk with my father. He basically said that I broke his promise in eating meat if i wanted to do martial arts and that i either do sport ( I had been a veggie for 1 year when he first made me promise him this) or be a vegan, if i be a vegan he wont support me in anyway in any of my dreams regardless of proffesion or sport.

Pretty sucks doesnt it? I have to kill animals to do what I love. How can choose between two things that are part of me? I would pursue my goals on my own but i hardly have any money to back it up let alone the motivation with my family attacking me all the time. Im so annoyed!

What would you do in my position?

[soniczip]

you could find a part time job, to pay your gym and martial art courses don't give up

[Dave Noisy]

Stay vegan, do whatever sports you can do without his support, then do the ones you want to do when you can afford them.

Just show him that not only can you be vegan, but you can do sports as well -- AND be independent.

And if he doesn't respect all that..fuck him. You don't need your dad to be happy in life, especially when he's being such a drawback to what both important and good for you.

[Primeval Man-Ro]

Hey all,

Anyone who's read my introduction would know my parents need a little bit of persuading about veganism and how many athletes can be vegan and win (all i say is two words CARL LEWIS! )

Ive sent my dad endless emails, told him about my personal reasons, tried persuading my mother too about veganism and why I should be allowd such a freedom.

I went out for a run, becuase i was expecting to have a little talk with my father about something, I kind of guessed it had something to do with my lifestyle habbits. After running a couple of miles to cool myself down (I can have a short fuse sometimes, especially when my family argue with me) I had a little break and had this very short talk with my father. He basically said that I broke his promise in eating meat if i wanted to do martial arts and that i either do sport ( I had been a veggie for 1 year when he first made me promise him this) or be a vegan, if i be a vegan he wont support me in anyway in any of my dreams regardless of proffesion or sport.

Pretty sucks doesnt it? I have to kill animals to do what I love. How can choose between two things that are part of me? I would pursue my goals on my own but i hardly have any money to back it up let alone the motivation with my family attacking me all the time. Im so annoyed!

What would you do in my position?

Challenge your dad to a grappling contest. If you submit him he supports you unconditionally in anything even if you decide to destroy the sun.

If he submits you and you lose..... well just dont lose.
Id go for a Keylock from side control if i were you, unless your dad has far better upper body strength, in that case take his back and sink a rear naked choke.

If you dont feel like fighting, try to guilt trip him into supporting you.

[Mehrad]

Hey all,

Anyone who's read my introduction would know my parents need a little bit of persuading about veganism and how many athletes can be vegan and win (all i say is two words CARL LEWIS! )

Ive sent my dad endless emails, told him about my personal reasons, tried persuading my mother too about veganism and why I should be allowd such a freedom.

I went out for a run, becuase i was expecting to have a little talk with my father about something, I kind of guessed it had something to do with my lifestyle habbits. After running a couple of miles to cool myself down (I can have a short fuse sometimes, especially when my family argue with me) I had a little break and had this very short talk with my father. He basically said that I broke his promise in eating meat if i wanted to do martial arts and that i either do sport ( I had been a veggie for 1 year when he first made me promise him this) or be a vegan, if i be a vegan he wont support me in anyway in any of my dreams regardless of proffesion or sport.

Pretty sucks doesnt it? I have to kill animals to do what I love. How can choose between two things that are part of me? I would pursue my goals on my own but i hardly have any money to back it up let alone the motivation with my family attacking me all the time. Im so annoyed!

What would you do in my position?

Challenge your dad to a grappling contest. If you submit him he supports you unconditionally in anything even if you decide to destroy the sun.

If he submits you and you lose..... well just dont lose.
Id go for a Keylock from side control if i were you, unless your dad has far better upper body strength, in that case take his back and sink a rear naked choke.

If you dont feel like fighting, try to guilt trip him into supporting you.

Hahaha, id probebly go for the choke
Yeah a guilt trip is probebly hard to do as he's the master of making me feel guilty!

Thanks for the support guys i really aprecciate it

[JP]

one has to wonder why is he making these restrictions on you...

I am thinking, maybe it is that he knows you love your sport so much that he thinks you will drop veganism because of it. So its kind of extortion tactic.

He clearly is worried about you being vegan. Maybe worth it to try to calmly find out why, is it the nutrition? Worry about your health? Worrying about you joining some gang or a cult?

But you are practically an adult already, you can make your own decisions, stick to them and defend them.

Where there is a will there is a way, i'm sure if you put your mind to it, you can do both. Maybe after a wee while when your father sees that you are progressing with your sport and are healthy as a vegan (make sure you will be!) he will start supporting you again?

[Mehrad]

one has to wonder why is he making these restrictions on you...

I am thinking, maybe it is that he knows you love your sport so much that he thinks you will drop veganism because of it. So its kind of extortion tactic.

He clearly is worried about you being vegan. Maybe worth it to try to calmly find out why, is it the nutrition? Worry about your health? Worrying about you joining some gang or a cult?

But you are practically an adult already, you can make your own decisions, stick to them and defend them.

Where there is a will there is a way, i'm sure if you put your mind to it, you can do both. Maybe after a wee while when your father sees that you are progressing with your sport and are healthy as a vegan (make sure you will be!) he will start supporting you again?

Yeah you are right, its mostly about the nutrition, he thinks i couldnt cope being an athlete on a vegan diet. He would support me in any sport i do, as long as i stick to it, which i havent really done becuase i did tennis, decided to do karate, changed styles then returnd and now im dabbling on mma, mostly becuase i feel that mma is a more flexible martial art, no restrictions of how to punch how to do this or that, it teaches you a wide variety of technique.

My dad is one of those people who knows he's right, he has so much pride in what he does and what he believes in that unless im 18 i dont think he would listen to me and my mother dosnt accept help cooking or cleaning from anyone, she prefers to clean and cook on her own terms becuas she dosnt trust me, I was really weak and premature as a baby and she didnt want me to be like that for the rest of my life, if i cook when thier away, regardless on whether i clean up or not my mother will have a go at me for a very long time, ive tried it, nice food not a pretty conclusion. So i might as well do this solo, and some support from my brother and friends, its a shame, but hey thats Persian culture for ya.

[Mehrad]

Sorry, i really shouldnt start telling my whole life story, I shouldnt really moan that much, theres other people worse off than me who dont even have access to food or dont have a family at all.

[Konstantin]

JP is right, lets get to the bottom of this. What is 'missing' from the vegan diet, and lets fill that gap. It's worth remembering that it was understandable for so long that people thought you needed meat because it was never challenged and access to information was so much less. Can I honestly say I was confident about strength etc when I packed in the corpse? Prob not.

Does your dad have an interest in specific sports? Would printing off certain training logs, strength table, running table etc. be helpful?

The odd thing for me is that most people I know are much weaker and slower than me (aside from those in my running club). Already they kind of accept my diet is doing me OK. Yet I'm way down on lists/tables when I go on VF. A lot of people are amazed I can run a 10K in 47 mins, yet I'm right down at the bottom of the Vegan running table. What does that say about the typical vegan?

[XkillerX]

Mehrad, i wish i could tell you anything that would bring you and your family peace and reconciliation. but i cant. that's how it is. it is of no meaning to you - but anyways - i think your oldman is worse about it than mine!! (mine's all crazy about cuuullltiiisssttssssss).

if you dont do MA you will hate yourself - and your family will probably hate you a lot, especially early on. bare in mind, PARENTS DO NOT WANT THEIR CHILDREN TO BE HAPPY, *THEY* WANT TO BE HAPPY AND RUN THEIR KIDS AS STRING PUPPETS.


but if you bail out on veganism.... dont know about you, but i couldnt live with that. or develop schizophrenia and a new identity to leave it all behind.

(as for the challenge, dont forget the guard!!! you can also go for a straight takedown to ankle lock, or if you trap him in guard position just do a wrist lock!!! quickest and most painful!!!)

[stan vegantooth]

i hate to advocate disobedience but i find that confrontation usually works best when resolving problems of ignorance. show him videos of vegan athletes wining competitions and calmly explain every resource you can find in support of your position.
just for means of inspiration, my cousin, a vegan of many years, recently finished the philly marathon only 20 minutes behind the leader, qualifying him for the boston marathon.

dont give up! fight for your right to kick ass (and not eat animals )

[erske]

Stay vegan! And use this thread as releaf and suport! We are behind you, you are not alone!!!

[Mehrad]

Thanks even though despite me obviously wanting to be vegan, ive been forced to eat meat and such things or starve...right now i had to eat the most processed cheese pizza youve ever seen in your life, it was pretty unfair seeing as my bro had a much nicer one with loads of veggies...

I was also not allowed to go to MA class.

man that was a bad dinner....

I dont think I can decide anymore just be forced to do things.

[moggy]

My mother never spoke to me for a week when I turned vegan!

Its tough for you because you're only 16 and living at home. If only your parents could see the torment that they are causing you- it so pisses me off when parents bring kids up to be decent and caring, yet try to then decide for you just what it is that you can care about

Good luck, - try and stay vegan- its not always a smooth ride though.

[Mehrad]

Thanks!
I just had a long talk about this whole issue with my parents and ive come to a compromise of being a vegetarian till a couple of years, its not what i really want to do but at least itll save more animals than an omnivore lifestyle!

TBA i think it would help me eat more vegan foods as i dont really like dairy. Thanks for the support everyone, obviously i didnt win my rights but its better than nothing. I dunno if I should contribute here on VF as i feel kind of shameful of not being Vegan (the whole dairy is rape thing) but i just want to thank you for the support