Welcome to Gaia! ::

No one is too young to be vegetarian, I believe. If you believe being vegetarian is a good thing, keep on doing it. Don't let them pressure you into doing something that you believe in.

Your family members don't know what they are talking about. It's healthy for people to be veg at any age, as long as they do it right and are getting all the nutrients that they need. As Suicidal said, many kids are raised completely vegetarian or vegan.

I'd recommend doing some research if you haven't already. Make sure you're eating a balanced veg diet. Find some information on the health benefits of a veg diet and show it to your family. And talk to your doctor about it since you're going in soon anyway (Just be aware that doctors are not the same as nutritionists. Some doctors don't know much about nutrition and the benefits of a veg diet.) 3nodding

See a nutritionist or better yet, a dietitian. Make sure you phone in advance and ask if they're veg friendly, some are not. (That's an important step, education on specific issues varies wildly in this profession.)

You're 17, you are *not* too young to be a vegetarian, but everyone is too young (and too old) to not get the proper nutrition. You can push as hard as you can and some parents won't help. My parents refused to help me at all when I was young and I didn't go veg until I got to college. As in I would have been eating potatoes and cheerios with water for four years until I got out of the house.

However my experience isn't yours, if your parents were supportive at first you can sit them down and say 'This is what I believe in, nothing you say or do will be forcing me to eat meat, you can either help me do it so that I am healthy or you can stop me from being able to be healthy in this regard."

Good luck luv,

Everyone else has given GREAT advice! but here is a good solid stepping stone into doing some research. http://pcrm.org
The Physician's Committee For Responsible Medicine is a GROUP of doctors. When my rents were freaking out over my going VEGAN(a version of vegetarian where one eats NOTHING from an animal at all) and tried to shoot down PCRM, and I went to my next doctor, she RECOMMENDED this organization

My doctor also recommended Vegan.org and veggieteenscookbok.com

(And since my doctor recommended them and they ARE pro-vegan, they are bound to have PLENTY of reliable info. ;P)

Also, when you see your doctor, ask them where you can get some reliable information supporting a vegetarian diet over an omni one at any age.

Parent's are afraid to mess w/doctors, despite how little they actually know. ;P