My adult daughter was a vegetarian for a few years before going vegan. She has a degree in Family and Consumer Science. She also teaches it in a public school. Not only don't I have to guide her--she can help me with my nutrition concerns.

What if someone changed his name to Fox and his mom let him eat buffalo wings, pizza, or Ruben sandwiches for every meal? There are lots of ways to be malnurished.

You are a good aunt to be concerned about Raven.

Great point, Rho. I'd do the same kind of gentle encouragement to good nutrition for Fox, if he asked (my young friend did ask...I'm not sure that was clear)..

I once was asked to plan and cook a meal at church for 100 "travelling minstrels"....a college chorus. I asked were there food restrictions....and was given a preprinted sheet with the "restrictions" after each name. There were vagans, vegitarians, no onion no garlic folks, no pork, no fish, low salt and nothing hot people!!

I made a big casserole with ground beef, tomatoes, onions,garlic, oregano, basil and topped with cheese. Also made a basiv green salad ( spinach and lettuce with a few grated carrots and red cabbage for color)....dressed some with a simple oil and vinegar and left a bowl undressed.....and boiled up several pounds of dry pinto beans....gently salted.

Most people ate both casserole and the dressed salad...one girl asked if there was pork in the casserole. Many took beans as well as casserole and abour 2 ate just beans and undressed greens. I eventually put some dressing on the undressed greens. And they raved....thanked me....said it was the best meal they had on the road.

Our pastor is vegan....so when planning a meal I always make sure there is some dish protein filled she can eat. One time I was planning a meal for a bunch of women (she was included) and found a lovely ladylike bean salad.....when I saw her eating later....she had a mound of chicken salad on her plate. I stopped and said? Meat? i made that bean salad for you.....she said but the chicken looked sooo good.

So....many vegans can be tempted to stray!!

Nope. I do not argue anyone's CHOSEN diet, nor try to help them when it is them who want to restrict. I think that is 100% on them to see how they physically feel and correct any deficencies.

Now, a diet to be followed by coercion because of a medical problem, yes will do my best,but only if I am involved in the cooking of the food for that person.

One of my pet peeves is unsolicited advice, especially when I am following a diet that someone else might not agree with for themselves. I recently restarted my low carb diet for weight loss and frankly am sick of everyone weighing in on it when they notice I am not eating certain things, asking why, then going off on a lecture about moderation in all things. Lemme alone if I want help ill ask. (Grumpy face) So I tend to let people eat how they want with no comment from me, unless specifically asked, and that never happens.

However, if i were the mother of such a person my feelings would undoubtedly be different.

Just a follow up. This was 20 years ago, and Raven eventually went back to her given name. She went from vegan to vegetarian, then added in some poultry and fish. This young (ish) woman runs 100 mile races!

I am a teacher, who has taught college and high school students, and lived pretty closely with them since I also supervised many for work related tasks where we lived and ate together. If I had a nickel for every bad decision those kids made in and out of the food realm, I would be quite rich. One tries to lead by example, but some of this is live-and-learn, and some of this is live-and-let-live . . .

I had two friends who literally ate themselves into early graves due to diabetes, and for a wedding gift I got them Jane Brody's "Good Food Cookbook." Not sure if they were insulted or not, I tried to be subtle and useful no matter what their choices were . . .

I went vegetarian at 18, and it was the start of my lifelong quest to eat and cook healthy. But I am a bit of a weenie so I didn't just adopt the diet and call it a day, I started experimenting with all kinds of new dishes to eat and cooking my own food and shopping for whole foods ingredients, etc. Many kids do this at a college age, but some just adopt a diet for a while but then realize they aren't that committed to the lifestyle and slide back. I backslid in many ways and am now trying to get back to it to lose weight which I need to do now for health.

I would only talk to my niece about her diet if she asked for my advice . . .

One family (of mine) has soooo many allergies that I just let them do the cooking. Right now they are: gluten-free; dairy-free; and egg-free. I, personally, don’t think their diet is the best, but I’m not the one with all the allergies and so I mind my own business.

I know that vegan and vegitarian can work, but are hard to manage, and close attention has to be paid to the preparation.

Oh gosh! I'm not saying anything is wrong with vegan or vegetarian choices, what I was thinking of was my SIL, being a chef, cooking for her teen daughter who decided to become vegan, and not teaching her how to get certain things, such as protein into her diet!

My niece is now in her 30s, eats limited meat and dairy and runs 100 mile races!

None of my business, but is she still called Raven?

LOL! NO! In fact she's in her 30's and kind of forgot her RAVEN days! LOL She is a very well rounded young 30 something with a Masters degree, who runs 100 mile races and eats healthy, but does allow some animal protein into her life!

Again, my experience with college students and teens shows me that you don't have to have a chef for a mom to be ironically clueless about how to cook for yourself. That is one possible positive outcome of having a working mom, you have to help with dinner. At least that's how it went for me. I think I would have had to help anyway, but my mother was not one to wait on people, so I learned how to cook for myself and was happy to do it. And my mother did not learn to cook from her mother, they couldn't get along in the kitchen. But grandma made the point that, "If you can read you can cook." and that has held true. Nowdays one's reading skills don't even have to be that great, in the age of "Youtube" videos. There are still some things best learned at the side of a good teacher and master, like artisan breads, for example. I try, but not willing to put in the time and waste of trial and error . . .