I’ve always loved old Hollywood. There was always certain glamorous innocence that appealed to me, even as a child.
I still love the music, the actors and the acting. I’m all for stars bursting out in song or dance mid sentence. Girls with perfectly set hair, men treating women like ladies.
As I thought about watching one of my favourite oldies today, I wondered if there were any old Hollywood stars who used their star power back then to actively promote not eating animals. An olden day Alicia Silverstone. A Casey Affleck in black and white.
My never-fail Google search lead me to 1920s glamour girl Gloria Swanson, who became vegetarian in 1928. She was known as an early advocate of healthy eating—to the extent she even brought her own meals to functions in a paper bag. She had also recommended a macrobiotic diet to actor Dirk Benedict, after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Benedict had refused conventional therapies and later said his recovery was due to his healthy diet.
Swanson also used her Hollywood connections and her natural health know-how to help promote the classic health book, Sugar Blues, written by her husband William Dufty.
She only bought organically grown food and tap water wasn’t acceptable. In 1976, she told People magazine: “If you looked at it (water) under a microscope, you’d be horrified.” Instead of refined sugar, Swanson recommended natural sugar boiled off from organically grown raisins.
Read More Post a comment (0)I was thrilled down to my organic cotton socks when I heard that the Vegan Society of Aotearoa New Zealand had been revived. Perfect timing for my arrival in this beautiful part of the world.
The dedicated folks have wasted not one minute since their relaunch on World Vegan Day (November 1), getting fluorescent tans in some of the country’s big-chain supermarkets in the effort to sort through products that are helpful and harmful—all while making veganism more accessible the public and to those flirting with the idea of living animal-product free.
The result is The Big Book of Vegan Products, which lists, you guessed it, all vegan-friendly products available in supermarkets nationwide. It includes a huge range of crackers, biscuits, cereal, desserts, ready meals and convenience foods. It’s also free to download.
“We want to demonstrate how easy it is to eat ‘normal’ food on a vegan diet. You don’t need to go to a specialist store or spend a lot of money,” said co-ordinator Alice Leonard. “People don’t have control over the environment but they do have control over their diet. Veganism is a solution to the environmental crisis as well as health issues and animal welfare concerns.”
The proactive peeps also have plans to develop a supermarket tour video, a ‘vegan-approved’ tick for food products and branch out in local communities through stalls and market days. Watch this space!
For those living outside the Land of the Long White Cloud, check out The Vegan Society international site to see what initiatives your local branch is undertaking. Better yet, get involved!
It seems this is my week to write about actress Natalie Portman. Since penning the article about the protein myth and how being famous doesn’t make you an expert, I’ve noticed there’s a lot of debate about whether Nat is a vegan or vegetarian.
From here, I got to wondering why we vegans care so deeply about celebrity diet choices, particularly once they’ve mentioned they’re one of “us”. And why we want to let meat eaters know their diet choices aren’t optimal for their own health, the health of animals and the planet.
My reasoning came down to this: it’s because we have learned and lived what it means to be animal-flesh-and-product free. It’s like finding the buried treasure, the golden ring, the never-seen-before episodes of Seinfeld. It’s so damn exciting that we want to let the world know, wake up the sleepy and declare our new found clarity and meaning to anyone who’ll listen. And we also want celebrities on our side. They have a bigger reach, they can influence more people. People actually listen to them.
But I also believe the every day person (like little ol’ me) can reach millions too, through tolerance and understanding, but also more importantly leading by example. Everyday actions that come from a kind place add up to be big actions of positive influence. Look at Oprah. She took one step at a time, doing what she believed in while practicing tolerance and understanding. Her little steps added up to be a worldwide phenomenon. Her success, it seems to me, came out of a deep desire to help others and her willingness to let others see her faults. To show that she is human, just like you and me. Most of us vegans were meat eaters and dairy drinkers too at some point in our lives, unless, of course, we were lucky enough to have vegan parents ourselves.
So that’s just it. Just because I’m vegan doesn’t mean I’m right about everything, or have the answers to the world’s diet woes (although I’m certain I could guide and greatly help those who ask for it). And just because Natalie Portman is on her journey between vegetarianism and veganism doesn’t really matter either. It’s the kind actions we take, every day, that add up to make a big difference. If we all lead by positive example, who knows, eating animals could be a habit of the past sooner than we think.
But for the record, in Natalie’s words herself, and thanks to Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals, she is indeed vegan.
It’s so great to know this information is getting more exposure in all the right places. Viva la vegan! (And thanks to Cynthia Morgan for sharing).
I’ve heard a lot about Ann Wigmore in my travels, but until today hadn’t ventured beyond Google to find out more about this widely admired “mother of living foods”.
Founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, Ann was a natural health pioneer and one of the first to bring the health benefits of wheatgrass juice into the spotlight. Word has it she even used the juice to reverse her gray hair.
This morning it was time to abandon my old pal Google for a more old-fashioned approach. I took a walk to my local library to hunt down a book or two penned by the holistic health practitioner—and arrived home with The Wheatgrass Book tucked under my arm.
What have I learned so far? That you can use wheatgrass (which is high in chlorophyll—a component that helps plants transform light into energy) internally and externally. On the inside, this little wonder of nature helps to cleanse the blood, organs and gastrointestinal tract. It stimulates metabolism and bodily enzyme systems to increase red blood cell count. It also reduces blood pressure. Externally it’s great for stopping itches, soothing sunburn and, if applied to your hair before shampooing, it can help mend those damaged strands.
Now I’ll I’ve got to do is grow some wheatgrass (or find an organic market that sells it) and get myself one of those fancy juicers… Once I do that, I’ll keep you posted on reversal of those ‘ol niggly gray hairs (gray means wise, right?).
“Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge.”— Thomas A. Edison
Photos courtesy of Fresh Picked
Love Alicia Silverstone! Here’s a recent interview she did with Peta about her new book, The Kind Diet.
Glowingly-gorgeous Alicia Silverstone is sharing her beauty and health secrets, with the release of her book The Kind Diet, with a forward by fellow-veg Sir Paul McCartney.
The actress writes about the benefits of adopting a plant-based diet, from effortless weight loss to clear skin. She also spills the beans on how her vegan diet has given her boundless energy and a digestion that works how it’s supposed to.
While her name may be associated with Clueless, the health-happy celeb is anything but. While the vegan diet she recommends will be kind to your bod, Silverstone also explains why chowing down on meat, fish, milk and cheese causes permanent damage to the planet—so deleting it from the diet is a sure fire way to keep people and the planet healthy.
May The Kind Diet hit the bestseller lists everywhere!
