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-Is it healthy to be vegan in my age?

It is healthy to be vegan at any age. The ADA says well-planned vegetarian or vegan diets are appropriate for any age or stage, including infancy, pregnancy, and adolescence.

“Vegetarian diets are often associated with a number of health advantages, including lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure levels, and lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI) and lower overall cancer rates."

-ADA 2009 position paper

-What vegan foods have lots of protein and Iron?

Protein is found in tons of food- beans, lentils, peas, soy products, fake meats, nuts, nut butters, seeds, and many grains.

Iron is also in many foods- pasta, bagels, tofu, tempeh, oatmeal, leafy greens, beans, lentils, fake meats, many nuts, and even random stuff like sun-dried tomatoes.

-Do I have to take Vitamins in order to stay healthy, as a vegan?

You absolutely must supplement B12. You don't need any other supplements if you eat a pretty balanced diet. Personally I track my diet on SparkTeens to make sure I get enough iron, protein, and calcium- I actually have no trouble getting any of those, but I do have an issue getting zinc.

Zinc is in some legumes (like chickpeas), some nuts/seeds (like pumpkin seeds), and some grains.

-Also, what are some good replacements of dairy?

Cheese- they sell rice cheese, or soy cheese. Daiya, Follow Your Heart, and LightLife are the brands I usually see. You can also buy a cookbook like 'The Uncheese Cookbook', which has a ton of recipes for vegan cheese sauces and stuff, without all the artificial ingredients.

Milk- soymilk, almond milk, and rice milk are the ones I usually see. Oat milk, coconut milk, and hemp milk are also available, and you can look up directions for making almond milk and use them for any kind of nut (I tried hazelnut milk, which was really good for hot chocolate :)).

Cream cheese- Tofutti

Yogurt- soy yogurt or coconut milk yogurt, never tried any

Ice Cream- coconut milk ice cream or soy ice cream. There are these delicious coconut milk ice cream bars from SoDelicious that I can find at SuperFresh.

-What are some of your favourite vegan recipes?

I recommend looking on vegweb.com, or picking up a vegan cookbook or two- all of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's books are AMAZING- Veganomicon, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Other good sites are Chef Chloe Coscarelli's blog (She won the cupcake wars with vegan cupcakes):

http://www.chefchloe.com/

and vegetariantimes.com

In general, I'd say play to yout tastes. If you love Mexican food, try some stuff like spicy black bean or tortilla soups, burritos, black bean tamales, bakes or dinner pies, or tacos. If you like Italian, try some recipes like minestrone soup (http://www.food.com/recipe/Copycat-Olive-Garden-Mi... ), breadsticks with marinara sauce, vegan ravioli, pasta dishes, etcetera. There are so many options, click around on the websites I mentioned for some ideas.

Congrats on deciding to go vegan:)

It is 100% completely healthy for anyone of any age to go vegan. Parents have successfully raised vegan children since birth. It's been shown that vegans tend to live longer the meat eaters.

Nearly everything have protein and iron. You honestly don't have to worry about it much. As long as you're not eating processed garbage, and aim for whole and natural foods, you should be fine.

No vitamins are necessary as long as you have variety. But some vegans take a multivitamin or b12 supplement a couple days a week just in case. If you feel comfortable taking one, it won't hurt you.

Silk soy milk is great for milk! I love their Lite Vanilla flavor, and their chocolate is good too. I've also heard almond milk is awesome. Daiya cheese is a popular cheese replacer and Earth Balance is a popular margarine. But be sure to use these sparingly, because they're very processed.

Here are some good vegan recipes: http://www.vegweb.com/

And here is my favorite vegan youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/healthyvegan

I hope that helps:)

Check out Loma Linda University. They have lot's of books available on Vegan. I'm basically a Vegetarian, with the exception of baked fish once a week. Not sure about 13 yr. old on a vegan diet. You might need more B-12 too. Lot's of websites available on the net where you would probably get some very good information.. Good luck.

I was considering it for a long time and finally this summer i went vegan and it's the best decision I've ever made in my 21 years on the Earth.♥ It was pretty much the same reasons as yours and I just flipped the switch and stopped eating anything that would hurt an animal in any way and harm my body as well (all those hormones and antibiotics in meat doesn't sound appealing at all) I'm far,far from an air sign, though :) I'm Capricorn sun, Cancer moon & Scorpio rising

-Yes it is more healthy to be vegan than to be vegetarian.

-Beans and Boca Burgers have lots of both and are delicious. Almost everything on the planet has protein, so that's not a concern. Iron is in lots of things you probably already eat as a vegetarian.

-You do not have to take vitamins. The only thing you need to make sure you get is B12, which is in soy milk and most cereals. I eat a bowl of Total cereal a day which is 100% daily value of B12 and a dozen other things.

-Soy milk and Almond milk. Also, leafy greens have a lot of calcium and so do sesame seeds. When we eat burgers I get buns with sesame seeds and I get a ton of calcium from it.

-Supermarket Vegan and Vegan on the Cheap are great vegan cookbooks that are cheap and easy to make and every single one I've tried are delicious.

I would really suggest researching. I myself am a vegan but you really need to read up on it to truly understand. Being a vegan is the healthiest thing you can do. Don't trust those who say it is not healthy and you won't be getting your protein etc. NUTS have tons of protein. I have a hand full of my favorites a day. Beans as well. You can get whatever you need from fruits, veggies, nuts and anything else a vegan can eat. Dairy replacements that I recommend are rice milk, soy milk, and almond milk. I really enjoy almond milk. Cheese there is soy cheese in many "flavors" and for butter try margarine. Also I want to say that there are so many vegan meat replacements they even have shrimp, as well as egg replacements if you are ever baking. My favorite vegan recipes? Vegetable lo mien, asparagus and balsamic vinegar, tofu and noodles. My favorite cookbook is Veganomicon. And again I am going to push researching. There are many foods on the market that say they are vegan but are not.

I am going to suggest some websites you should check out. For vegan restaurants in your area. Recipes for you to try and things to avoid.

http://www.veganwolf.com/

http://vegweb.com/

http://www.happycow.net/

In my own experience as a vegan it did not work for me mostly because I am borderline anemic according to my doctor. (Someone who is anemic has an underproduction of red blood cells and not enough normal hemoglobin.) I did further research and found out that my blood type 0+ needs red meats as part of a healthy diet. I found vital information about my diet and blood type in a book called Eat Right for your type by Dr. D'Adamo. (See link below).

Now, lets talk about you. First see your family doctor and ask him or her. They can tell you if it is alright.

The Vegan foods such as Soy Bean has protein.

The Vegan foods that have Iron are Spinach and Broccoli.

Replacements of dairy: See the link below.

I don't have a favorite recipe, sorry.

-Is it healthy to be vegan in my age?

Yes, as long as you're sensible about what you eat.

-What vegan foods have lots of protein and Iron?

Beans, lentils, grains, seeds and nuts are good sources of protein. Green vegetables are good sources of iron.

-Do I have to take Vitamins in order to stay healthy, as a vegan?

No, but it can't hurt.

-Also, what are some good replacements of dairy?

Soya milk, rice milk, oat milk.. etc. They're usually fortified with vitamins and minerals anyway. Broccoli, sesame (particularly ground sesame/tahini) and oranges are good sources of calcium.

-What are some of your favourite vegan recipes?

Sweet potato and butter bean pie, mushroom and thyme risotto, roasted garlic soup, chocolate fudge cake.. etc.

Try this site:

http://vegweb.com/index.php?action=recipecategorie...

You may find this a useful guide for vegan nutrition:

http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/nutrition/

2 liters evian, 2 espressos, 4 clementines, 6 bruschetta on panera french baguette so like half the baguette, run 6mph 7-8am then shower then this brunch daily

If your sole reason for going vegan is the poor treatment of animals on factory farms and feedlots, perhaps you could investigate whether there are small family farms near you that raise their animals humanely. It can be a little more expensive, so convincing your parents may be a challenge, but I just wanted you to know that option is out there (we raise cage-free chickens, grass-fed cattle, etc. and they are much loved and well cared for).