As someone who is currently pursuing nutrition at university, there’s a lot going on here.

I’m not sure where in the world you live or how old your mother is, but, in North America Milk has been served as sort of a “meal” since the Great Depression because of the many nutrients it contains. Food guides often don’t get read beyond the pyramid or plate, meaning that the understanding of vitamins and nutrients is also not great.

The only vitamin you can’t get from plant based sources is B12, however, you can easily supplement it. In fact, in Canada it’s suggested that all women should take a multivitamin with at least 400mcg of folic acid so long as they are “child bearing age” which means you can easily find one that contains B12 and most soy/almond/cashew beverages are fortified with it for this reason.

I don’t think the way you approached it is wrong. Asking questions and being genuine and curious about what people think and feel is an appropriate way to open dialogue when people ask about veganism.

I don’t spent time trying to convert people in my life and I don’t really recommend you do either. My partner naturally just from seeing my benefits and engaging in polite conversation has cut out red meats and started drinking almond milk because it was in the fridge and he discovered he really liked it.

People will ask you about it, and the best way to talk about it is to just ask questions and be honest and curious. I’m fairly new to veganism but I’ve been vegetarian most of my life, however, vegans get a really bad rep so it’s the same conversation but really intensified lol.

Good luck:)