my boyfriend and I just recently became vegan. It has been such an important part of our lives and had made us so much closer. We are both teens and since animal rights and living a vegan lifestyle touches every part of our lives now it has been hard to relate or connect with people are age. because of this i was wondering if there were any other teenaged kind lifers out there. 
if so i was hoping we could use this as a place to come for support and talk about things that affect teens, for example: -dealing with non vegan friends/family, -how to start conversations with others about being vegan, -affordable healthy vegan food, -how to gain family support, -affordable vegan and cruelty free beauty products, -vegan clothing, -cooking tips and whatever else is on the vegan teens mind.
please start posting, i would like to know i'm not alone as a teen kind lifer. 

-Lauren

I'm a teen kind lifer too! I just became vegan a couple of months ago, and I'm totally feeling the impact!! I feel so much better. It was such a great idea to start this teen section, I hope some more will come too! I know how frustrating it is to see CHEESE in the fridge that's someone else's when you're hungry. I'm so excited to see what other teens have to say. If you look on my profile it says I'm 22, but I will actually be 14 on the 26th of may. It wouldn't let me change it once I was registered.

-Alex

YAY! another post! i feel your pain! its such a drag to see others consuming stuff that is so unhealthy for themselves, the animals, and the planet. I'm doing a video on how gross dairy is for school and i really hope it will make an impact. if i could just get a couple of people to question how animal products affects our health i'll be so excited! plus im making the rice treats from the kind diet and handing them out at school, who wouldn't be interested in what i have to say after those yummy things are in their tummies? : )

Hi guys!  I am so proud of you both and of all young people that take a stand.  It shows real character and I'll bet you are such interesting people.  I am now 40 but I went on a very strict diet at age 17 due to health issues that doctors just could not seem to help me with and I benefited greatly.  I have wandered on and off over the years but always made a connection between my diet and my health and have always had sort of a road map when it came to getting myself into balance.  Like I have always told my almost 20 son, the decisions you make today are going to affect where you are in a few weeks ,months, or even years.  The Kind Diet/Life is a great resource that you have stumbled upon.  Best wishes to you!

At my school we do yearly BIG reports, this year i'm doing it on veganism!! Hope i convince some people!

im sure you'll open many other teens eyes! im really anxious to give my speech on dairy! i think i can really grab teens attention by explaining how dairy gives you zits and makes you fat, what teen possibly would want to have to deal with those two problems.

i just wanted to share some tips that i've found really helpful as a vegan teen:#1: the vegetarian food for thought podcast is SO AMAZING and i'm so glad i have this in my life. its really easy to listen to on your ipod or MP3. the podcast is all about living a vegan lifestyle and "following your truth" many podcast episodes for vegan teens. its really inspiring and informative in a way that isn't overwhelming. i listen to it on my runs and it always gets me pumped to know im not alone.  if you don't know what a podcast is heres more info on the vegetarian food for thought podcast and how to get it: http://www.compassionatecooks.com/podcast.htm#2: put animal rights related music videos on your myspace/facebook/whatever. People might be more likely to view the video if in a way they don't know what they are getting themselves into. they might not want to click on a PETA meet your meat video but they might want to listen to a cool song by rise against or goldfinger that has an animal rights aspect to their music video. a bit sneaky but it works.my favorites: goldfinger's "open your eyes":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7I3PHqcy_o&feature=fvst and "ready to fall" by rise against:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmoB2svMld8&feature=PlayList&p=40FA80F0A8E3AA26&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=4

 #3: get the FREE vegetarian starter kit from goveg.com. view it online here: http://www.peta.org/vsk/ 

you can also get it in the mail for FREE here:

 http://www.goveg.com/order.asp?c=pfvskvp09

 and keep it in your binder/locker at school. so if anyone asks about being vegan you have something to give them.

#4: get the FREE cruelty free shopping guide. its small enough to keep in your wallet at all times. get it here: http://www.caringconsumer.com/resources_order.aspit also comes with stickers to put on your school books!

#5: its hard for me to find affordable vegan bread at the supermarket that isn’t  pretty much wonderbread and when I read the ingredients it doesn’t sound like something I want to eat, so I got a bread machine! I found a super cheap one on www.craigslist.com and I’ve been baking so much vegan bread since. Its so easy you toss all the ingredients in and it does the rest the mixing, rising, and baking most machines also have a timer so you can set it before school toss in the ingredients and time it so you have fresh bread by dinner time!  *if any bread recipe calls for eggs use flaxseed meal, if it calls for butter use earth balance. 

hope this helps someone out there : )

-Lauren

hey guys... im 19 so only got a year of teenagerdom left. but ive been veggie since i was 15, and vegan since june last year. lauren, its so cool your boyfirend is doing this too, so you have someone to talk to about everything and work through any problems together. i now flat as am in my second year of university, (studying human nutrition) and cook all my own food, but spent a couple years learning how to deal with living in a meat eating household. its tough at first, but gets easier after a while.

 ive been vegetarian for 3 years and with my boyfriend for 2 and he was a meat eater, it was pretty hard for me but we made it work. then one day he saw Alicia on the cover of a magazine in my room and was asking me where he had see her before.  he remembered her from the cover of the kind die. he read the interview with her and asked if he could read her book. he was very secretive about all of it, then we watched food inc. and after he said "im never eating animals again." i am VERY lucky. 

wow. lucky. and thats so cool about bout the alcia thingy.. my boyf is not gonna turn veggie over the animal thig. but he is concerned about his health. so im attempting via that angle, slowly. its difficult, but the science is on our side.

is theres any chance that te book "the kind diet" be traduced to spanish! it will be easier!  
i have 17, and yesterday i was decided to be healthyer (well when i read that eathing well clears your acne i was like -im in!!-) and i found Alicia's  book, and i am so exited to bough it!.
is so great that your family suports you. yesterday a told my mom about the book, and today she did this delicius food, everithing made whit fresh ingredents, alot of vegies,and fish (im not vegetarian i just leaving meet), its cool that your family suport you.
 

it would be cool if the book was translated into ALL the different languages. im sure it will happen one day soon...

it's being translated into chinese so im sure spanish will be next!it for sure clears your acne! that was one of my main reasons for switching from just vegetarian to vegan, im also not eating anything with sugar and that helped clear my skin so much.for my project on dairy i told everyone how theres blood and pus in milk (along with how it makes you fat gives you bad skin and can even lead to cancer), i think everyone was VERY grossed out. i hope it made an impact. 

i just wanted to let all kind lifers of any age who have acne problems know that if you follow this book it WILL make your skin clear! ive seen such an improvement in my skin since i started this lifestyle change and i want you all to know there's hope! 

Follow the hot body scrub instructions and do it every day and you will see such a difference in your skin all over. i like to add some salt and vitamin E oil into the hot water and it feels so nice! the body scrub has also made my body breakouts (gross "bacne") a thing of the past which i am so happy about. its something that is so simple but it has amazing results.