My father is forcin' the eggs...

[HauntedGraffiti]

I just became raw vegan for the second time after last year last week. Just this morning I realized that most of my detox symptoms are gone, and I feel that greatness I felt last year!

But my dad, who doesn't know much about nutrition [though he's a doctor, he thinks he does], told me yesterday "Before you did this, we made a deal that you'd have some eggs." I MADE NO SUCH DEAL!!! He told me this morning that he's making me an omelette for dinner.

I tried to talk him out of it, but he refuses & since he buys all the produce for the raw food diet I'm on, it's generally his call (I am broke).

What can I do? I've tried everything from pulling up factual web pages to explaining why I'm against cooked food & the science behind it--he won't budge. AND he refuses to believe that we never made a deal, he actually believes it!

This is really frustrating. I finally get that clean spiritual feeling from raw food, and I don't want a mere omelette to ruin that. I know it's only eggs, which he says "They're natural, how can they hurt?" but I want a green smoothie & a raw mexican salad!! The "I'm vegan now, sticking up for animals" approach didn't work either.

HELP!!

[Revvell]

I began working when I was 13 so I could buy my own whatever. My suggestion, create some work where you can get paid and buy your own produce.

In actuality, as long as you're living in your parent's home AND, he's buying, they're home, they're rules.

[Green_Woman]

I started working when I was 15 for the same reason Revvell listed.

I began buying my own food when I was 17 in order to experiment with diets.

Broke is a state of mind. ;) You can find a way to earn an income, and you DON'T need much to pay for food for just one person!!

You can do this. But you have to take control of your own potential -- and meanwhile, RESPECT your Dad's household as long as you live there.

How old are you, btw?

[rawlight]

What Rev and Green Woman said.

You are in a situation that is controlling and toxic. Don't let your mind tell you you are stuck. Find ways to support what you know is true and live YOUR life. You can find all the 'evidence' in the world, but it won't change your father's or anyone else's mind. Only the way you live your life will.

By the way, as an adult, no one can physically MAKE you eat anything. You do not need to come to that table!

[streetsurfer]

If you are concerned with the negative effects eating them will have on you, and have to succumb to this forced eating, try to strike a deal to remove the yolk. This is suggested for IBS sufferers, and I think it is because the protein in the yolk is harder to digest than the white. Before finding the raw lifestyle, I had the IBS and food sensitivity issues. Changing to the whites alone provided great relief and lessened many of the symptoms I suffered by consuming whole eggs. Of course avoidance is ideal, but were I required to eat them I would fight for whites alone. You should also keep a food log and journal how you feel before and after including the eggs to show your father any negative effects animal fats and proteins may bring on and the positive effects of plant based diet.

Surely he is just concerned for you well being. It's tough for us old dogs to learn new tricks sometimes. Keeping a food diary might help to show him you are thriving and not wasting away on raw.

[bikediva]

My mom is a doctor, too, and although I am long moved out (13 years ago, and I'm now 28), I remember her take on food. All about the traditional food groups, getting 'balance' at every meal. I think you should:
a) realize that your dad thinks he knows WAY more than you about how the body works, and I highly doubt he will listen to you.
b) stand firm that your body is your business, and you should not have to put anything you don't want into it. If you're consistent, he'll eventually SEE what you're doing and respect it.
c) get him to read The China Study.

And huge kudos for finding the raw 'high' so young. I'm finding more and more that the things I believed strongly in my gut when I was younger, are even more true today.

[Lunar*Fey]

If he is willing to provide all the other food (raw) and only insists on occasional eggs, I would say embrace it. As someone who has struggled with tremendous resistance from parents in the past, I cannot stress enough how much better it will be to have his support than to fight it (and this is coming from a very stubborn, independent, non-conformist style girl). How old are you? Your body is still growing and maturing and while cooking does denature proteins, the occasional egg really wont be too bad when your young body is receiving such a clean diet otherwise. I would just compromise that it be from a trustworthy local source if possible, or if not then organic or cage free etc. Please email me and we can talk about this more if you need some support, have any questions, or want to hear what else I have to say. I would like to talk about it more with you outside this forum if you are cool with that.

best to you! hang in there! My best advice, although I know it was never something I wanted to hear, is to embrace his support elsewhere and eat the one thing he wants you to eat. He'll feel better, you'll feel better and you'll both maintain or possibly improve love and respect within your relationship. With parents it is a relationship of give in take as you mature...if they give then you know that there is hope for future giving and so the best thing is to give a little in return and over time he will learn to let go and allow you to "grow up" fully. Perhaps he will open his mind to your ideas over time and see the greatness in what you are doing, or increase his trust in you and stop mandating egg consumption. In the meantime at least you wont have to worry about supplementing vitamins B12 and D. Bless the food as it enters your body and eat it in joy and reverence (knowing that your father made it for you with love) and thus it will be nourishing to you. Perhaps some nights he can make eggs and you can eat them over a big fresh salad, and then other nights you can make a raw meal to share, alternate days or something like that.

I wish you all the best :) HUGS

[Revvell]

Hmmm. A week later and HauntedGraffiti has not responded?