I had been doing a lot of research on veganism and was really interested in it. I mentioned going vegan once to my parents and they shot it down. I kept researching, and the more I did, the more I wanted to go vegan.

Being the analytical person I am, I made a PowerPoint about convincing them to let me go vegan. I originally didn't plan on actually showing it to them, but I did. One random night after we all had dinner, I called my parents upstairs because ‘I had something to show them’. They assumed it was a school assignment that I wanted their opinion on.

I pulled up the PowerPoint and presented it. For every comment they made I had a plan or explanation already prepared for all their questions. They were really impressed with the presentation and my dedication to wanting to be vegan.

We came to an agreement. They said they would let me slowly transition to veganism. It started with eating at least one vegan meal a day, then two, then completely vegan but, that's not really what happened. I started on the plan but I skipped two meals and went completely vegan.

But, first, I had to deal with their questions and concerns. Here are three of their main questions and three answers that helped me convince them:

Question 1: How will you know that you're getting proper nutrition?

Answer: I told them I could put what I ate in a day into a website, like Cronometer, and it will tell me how much of which nutrients I'm getting.

Question 2: What if we don’t want to make a separate meal for you?

Answer: You can cook for yourself, and sometimes the whole family could eat vegan.

Question 3: But, isn't it too expensive to be vegan?

Answer: It really isn’t. It really just depends on what and where you buy. You don't have to get all your groceries at Whole Foods. Most stores have a surprisingly good amount of vegan options, including a lot of products you would have no idea were vegan.

Answering these questions helped me convince my parents to let me go vegan and helped me transition into veganism.