We all love to keep up with celebrity fashion and gossip! I don’t know about you, but I definitely pay attention to celebrities’ choices about nutrition. Think about it; these people’s jobs depend on their appearance, and many of them have the money to hire the most sought-after nutritionists and personal chefs.
What I have found surprising is that so many of our favorite celebrities and public figures are vegetarians and vegans! In case you are not sure of the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan, I’ll quickly fill you in before I get into the specifics. There are essentially four types of vegetarians. A vegetarian is a general term that refers to a “person who does not eat meat, and sometimes other animal products, esp. for moral, religious, or health reasons” (dictionary).
An Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian only excludes meat and fish and is the most common type. An Ovo Vegetarian will cut out dairy but still eat eggs. A Lacto Vegetarian will cut out eggs but will still consume dairy products. A vegan is simply a more strict type of vegetarian who will not eat anything that results from the exploitation of any animal. This includes cutting out meat, fish, dairy, eggs and even honey!
Female celebrities
There are so many! But here are a few that you may know:
Vegetarians: Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Hayden Panettiere and Anna Paquin
Vegans: Natalie Portman, Pink, Alyssa Milano, Ellen Degeneres, Lea Michele and Oliva Wilde (seen below).
Male celebrities
Vegetarian: Brad Pitt (seen below), Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Johnson, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Robert Redford and Vanilla Ice
Vegan: Joaquin Phoenix, Steve-O, Alec Baldwin and Star Trek’s Michael Dorn
Former presidents
Bill Clinton is a vegan and Abraham Lincoln was a vegetarian.
Vegetarians/vegans throughout history
Vegetarians/vegans: Jane Goodall, Rosa Parks, Albert Einstein, Buddha, Leo Tolstoy, Leonardo Da Vinci, Martin Luther, Charlotte Bronte, Pythagorus, Saint Francesco d’Assisi, Sir Isaac Newton, Socrates, Thomas Edison and Vincent Van Gogh
*vegan is a relatively modern term, so it in not clear whether these vegetarians also cut out dairy, eggs and honey.
Doctors
Joel Furhman, M.D. is a vegan.
“On the board of directors of the National Health Association, which promotes the benefits of plant-based diets. Author of ‘Eat to Live’” (Bluejay).
Dean Ornish, M.D. is a vegan.
“Ornish was the first researcher to successfully reverse heart disease in a study. The primary component of his treatment was a low-fat vegetarian diet” (Bluejay).
Charles Atwood, M.D. is a vegetarian.
“World-famous pediatric physician and activist. As a result of his work the 1996 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans admitted for the first time that a vegetarian diet could be healthy” (Bluejay).
If you ever consider going vegetarian, you will be in fantastic company! These are just a few of many influential people who took the leap. There are so many more!