Is being Vegan safe?

This new trend of starting to eat as a vegan from such an early age can become dangerous. Parents influencing them to be vegan or vegetarian but not teaching them how to properly take care of themselves leads to unhealthy diets and health problems. My sister became a vegan after my dad did. My dad decided to become vegan because his cholesterol was through the roof. He was given the option to either start taking pills or to try veganism and see if it works for him. Turns out it did. 

My sister on the other hand became vegan because she believes in animal rights. It started after she had watched a movie on animal rights in the US and how they treat the animals in the food industry. My dad took care of her and made sure she was eating enough from all the food groups to be healthy but many stories of children becoming vegan today have not turned out the same way.

A friend of mine in school became vegan for the fact that it was cool. We were 14 years old at the time. Her parents didn’t really know much about it and didn’t look into it as parents should. She started taking 2 tablets of B12 a day which turned out to be incredibly high. She was poising herself with it. One is not supposed to take more than one a week. The doctor was so concerned that she was held for observation for two nights at the hospital. 

Another friend of mine had decided to become vegan just for the fact to lose weight. He mother had done the same had due to that had lost 10 pounds in a very short amount of time. She was 16 years old at the time when she started doing this. He mother didn’t really teach her how to do the diet and when she went off to college and had little resources to properly take care of herself, she just started eating blueberries. She thought it was healthier than anything else. She stopped taking the B12 and ate 4 packs of blueberries a day. She became anorexic in a very short period of time. Since her parents hadn’t seen her for a while, they were no aware of this situation. She quickly lost a lot of weight, which to her meant the diet was working. Over Christmas she came back home to visit her family and they greeted her in shock. They took her to the doctor right away and had to treat her for the eating disorder she was suffering from. The mother was so horrified that she took her daughter out of school right away.

My personal opinion is that children should not have a dietary restriction introduced into their lives at such an early age. Their bodies are still forming and they do not have the capacity to understand what danger you can be in if you don’t carry out the diet properly. In college people should not be on this kind of diet if they do not have the means to finance it. It can be incredibly dangerous and most people are not properly educated in this field. If you have a child who is vegan, the first thing one should do is go and see a dietitian who can confirm whether or not the diet is safe. A doctor should also be consulted before any child decides to take this diet on. 

My friend could have died if she hadn’t gone home to see her family over the break. She complained about dizziness and fatigue, while still driving her car. She could have severely hurt herself or maybe even someone else. A healthy vegan doesn’t just stop eating animal products. One has to substitute that nutrients with alternatives, and that what people don’t seem to understand.