Whilst scouring recent health news stories, I read that country music star and American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, has switched from being vegetarian to a vegan, or what she refers to as a 95% vegan, after noticing the positive effects of the diet on her friend’s looks.
Carrie told Self Magazine:
“I’ve been a vegetarian for seven years. But after seeing a friend who looked amazing and had recently gone vegan, I thought, What’s holding me back?”
When you read the full article, it becomes clear that Carrie’s reasons for becoming a vegan aren’t limited to improving her physical appearance alone, but her comments are nevertheless interesting. She continues:
“My veganism is based on a concern about where my food is coming from. In my perfect world, I’d have webcams wherever food is processed so I’d know how clean it is.”
“I’ll never eat meat again, because I look and feel better without it, but if I could raise my own cows and chickens and produce my own eggs and cheese, it would be awesome! The food would taste better, because the animals would be happy.”
It seems that, for some celebrities, the looks, weight and health benefits of becoming a vegetarian or vegan outweigh the ethical reasons for choosing a meat-free lifestyle. And I’m certainly not going to judge anyone for their choices, my husband and I switched to a vegetarian diet for health reasons – all vegetarians have their own reasons for choosing to be meat-free and that’s not something I feel the need to call into question.
I’m curious, however, as to why other people choose to give up meat. So I did a bit more scouring and found this article on the SFGate.com blog about famous vegetarians and vegans. Some, like Alec Baldwin and Alicia Silverstone, are vocal, animal rights activists; others, like, Bill Clinton and Venus Williams, switched to a vegan diet to address specific health issues.
Whatever their reasons, and whatever your views are on the cult of celebrity, it has to be said that high-profile vegetarians and vegans help to raise awareness about our lifestyle. Whether they’re talking about looking good, animal rights issues, or health benefits, they’re helping to spread the word about the numerous positive aspects of the vegetarian/vegan way of life.
So why did you choose to become a vegetarian or vegan? What was the turning point for you or the motivating factor? Do you have a favorite celebrity vegetarian or vegan? As always, I’d love to hear your stories and your views.
- Jenny Sangler
Interesting. I don’t have a fave veg celebrity as I am not sure who is and who isn’t and tend to dislike most of them! LOL
My husband and I became vegetarians last year while my FIL was dying of prostate cancer. My husband was on a quest to cure him and what kept coming up? Lower your bodies Ph and to do that eat a plant based diet. I was a vegetarian before meeting my husband but he got me back into meat so it wasn’t a hard switch for me. Since last March I have lost 73 pounds and feel like a whole new person! We have found so many great recipes for great vegetarian food that we don’t miss our old S.A.D. diet! Hubby still does eat chicken occasionally.
Now if we could get our kids to come around….I am currently eliminating dairy from my diet due to concerns about what is in milk and feeling like it has no value in my diet. But eggs are one thing I do not know if I can give up so that prevents me from being Vegan.
I am enjoying your blog – keep up the great articles!
I’m glad that you liked my blog! Thanks for posting a comment!