On Celebs Who Go Vegan, But Not For the Animals

J-Lo and fur coat. Jennifer Lopez is the latest celebrity to convert to veganism for reasons that have nothing to do with animals. 

It seems like at least once a week, you hear about a celebrity who "goes vegan."

The latest convert to veganism is pop diva and actress Jennifer Lopez, a.k.a. J-Lo. J-Lo went vegan earlier this year, and she is now crediting the diet with leading to her abrupt 10-pound weight loss. She explained her reasoning recently to Access Hollywood:

I'll be honest with you guys, since I had the babies about six years ago, I had that really stubborn 8 to 10 pounds on me. People are used to seeing me be kind of thickish, but when I started eating [vegan], right away I dropped like 8 to 10 pounds. It was a real change, but more than that I felt better and people were like, 'Your energy's better,' ... everything's better.

In the Access Hollywood interview, there was one word J-Lo never mentioned: "animals." It's clear that Lopez did not embrace veganism for ethical reasons. She merely wanted to get rid of that 8 to 10 pounds she put on when she had babies. In fact, at one point in the same interview, J-Lo advises, "The truth is, even if you're 70-80 percent vegan, it's so much better having those vegetables, greens, plant-based stuff. It's going to change your health."

I know what you're thinking. "Huh? 70-80 percent vegan???" One cannot be 70-80 percent vegan, any more than one can be 70-80 percent kind, or 70-80 percent ethical, or 70-80 percent of anything that demands an entire lifestyle commitment. You either live that life or you don't.

What J-Lo probably should've said is "even if your diet is 70-80 percent plant-based." But I imagine these matters having to do with semantics are lost on the singer/actress. She is clearly not an ethical vegan. She is not doing it for the animals. In fact, J-Lo has been a target in the past of anti-fur protesters for constantly wearing fur coats.

I don't want to pick on J-Lo. Lots of celebrities have "gone vegan" for reasons that have nothing to do with animals. One of the recent big vegan crazes is the so-called "22-Day Vegan Diet." Such entertainers as power couple Jay Z and Beyonce have gone on it. Ashley (High School Musical) Tisdale has started on it.

Two years ago, actress Michelle Pfeiffer went vegan, after being inspired by a documentary about Bill Clinton's conversion to veganism. Al Gore also embraced veganism, citing concern over his health and "environmental ethics." (source) Singer Alanis Morissette claimed to be a vegan - then clarified that she was "80 percent vegan" - for health reasons. The liberal MSNBC commentator Al Sharpton told Oprah Winfrey that he went vegan and plunged from 305 pounds to 135 pounds (he actually looks too gaunt, in my opinion) as a result of an exercise regimen and a "sugar free vegan diet." (source)

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson recently boasted of 40-pound weight loss from veganism (to his credit, Jackson also cited the film Forks Over Knives as an influence, and has mentioned cruelty to animals as a motivating factor in his decision).

With the exception of Jackson, all of these vegan celebs have something in common: Animals aren't really on their radars.

There are a fair number of vegan celebs who put animals front and center in their justifications for being vegan: Woody Harrelson, Natalie Portman, Joaquin Phoenix, Russell Brand, Casey Affleck, Olivia Wilde, Ellen DeGeneres, Emily Deschanel, Russell Simmons, James Cromwell, the list goes on. These celebrities have been especially laudable in their unwavering commitment to the animals.

But the question arises: Are celebrities who embrace veganism for reasons that have nothing to do with animals helping the cause?

I believe they are. Hear me out. Sure, they treat veganism as a "flavor of the month." It is also true they're misusing and abusing the word in a way that reduces it purely to a dietary term, rather than an ethical lifestyle (which it is). How does one be a 70 percent vegan? It's impossible! And yes, their lack of compassion, their refusal to even devote a single sentence to the suffering of sentient beings, is troubling.

However, on the flip side, at least the health-conscious vegan celebs who avoid the "a" word are choosing the right diet. Remember when the Atkins Diet was all the rage and people were eating meat from sunrise to sunset? Ew. That disturbing trend gave rise to the dreadful bacon-eating hipsters who are so abundant these days. You know the type? They have bacon on everything: sandwiches, deserts, salads, pasta - you name it, they top it with bacon. I won't go so far as to say, "There's no getting through to these people." I used to eat bacon. Obviously, someone got through to me.

But at least with someone starting a vegan diet for health reasons, even if they only plan to stick with it for 22 days, there is some hope that their commitment might become longer term (look at Al Gore, who only intended to become a vegan temporarily, and no anticipates that he'll be one for life).

Mark Bittman

And look at Mark Bittman, author of the VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 cookbook. Initially, Bittman wrote his cookbook to encourage healthier diets. He now constantly wrestles with issues of animal ethics, even if he himself hasn't fully taken the big plunge into permanent veganhood (is that a word?).

For good or ill, in our contemporary culture of celebrity, people pay close - one might even say obsessive - attention to celebs - right down to what they eat on a day-to-day basis. The "foodie" culture is huge in North America and other parts of the world right now. It is true that some high-profile advocates of a "vegan diet" have focused almost exclusively on its nutritional value instead of animals.

Yet all of this attention to veganism has actually helped legitimize it. It has moved veganism into the mainstream. Twenty years ago, veganism seemed extreme. Vegan options were hard to find in stores, even harder to locate on restaurant menus. All of that has changed over the course of the last decade. Veganism has made a great leap forward.

So what do we make of a fur coat wearing "vegan" like J-Lo? Hey, she's reaching a far bigger audience than I am with this little blog mine. She could be extolling the virtues of putting bacon on everything. She's not. Other people will try veganism because she's doing it. And maybe one of those people will open his or her eyes to the suffering of our fellow sentient beings. Hell, is it naive or foolish to expect that one convert might even be J-Lo herself?

Whoever it is that's awakened, that is one more person in the trenches with us. One more light has gone on. That's one more man or woman who understands that what happens to non-human animals actually matters a great deal to us, both as individuals and as an entire species.

The Most Hopeful Word in the English Language

It is so encouraging to see the Vegan Diet going mainstream across North America. In the United States and Canada, people are realizing that veganism is not only a healthier way to live, it's the only way to enjoy a truly humane diet, one in which animals are not exploited, treated harshly and murdered in the making of our food.

Up here in Canada, CBC News featured a fantastic article on its Website about the mainstreaming of veganism the country. From British Columbia to the Maritimes, people are going vegan every day, with new converts all over the place. Asked about vegan diets, Dana McIntyre, president of the Vegans and Vegetarians of Alberta Association, noted, "They're gaining in popularity. It's not a trendy, hippy way of eating anymore." These days, she adds, "you see a range of groups all moving towards a vegan diet."

Just the other night, I ate at a local family restaurant where I've taken my kids for years. They've added several new dishes to their menu that are explicitly advertised as "vegan." Their dessert menu now includes vegan cheesecake and a few other vegan treats. This trend is repeating itself in restaurants across Canada.

The same thing is occurring in the United States. Veganism is here to stay. It's going mainstream. And this is a wonderful thing to see. As Blogger Jamessina Hille wrote on her blog the other day:

Veganism is considered trendy now I suppose, but really, it’s just a choice. It’s a choice that goes beyond food, and finds itself in your decision making about toothpaste and carpeting and even automobiles. I promise it’s a journey that will invite you to ask more questions, demand answers, get carried away in amazing conversations and debates and will most of all, provide you more energy, more vibrance and an ease of conscious. We’ve got a packed agenda ahead of us – one that will be eye-opening and adventure seeking. We will even be taste-testing some amazing vegan cupcakes this summer. Vegan is not a dirty word. In fact, it’s one of the most pure and simple words there is. (Source)

These developments are encouraging. And believe me, we need all the encouragement we can get. Because the alternative way of living - the one we see too often in documentaries, and read about in books - rests on a foundation involving the rampant, horrific and immoral abuse of animals. Vegans are showing that there is a different way of living, a hopeful way, one that does not involve the destruction of life.

Not only is vegan not a dirty word. Vegan is the most hopeful word in the English language.

Oprah and Veganism

I realize I still haven't commented on Oprah Winfrey and her 378 staffers "going vegan" for one week. Earlier this month, after the episode aired (February 1), the blogosphere was aflutter with all kinds of commentary. Like millions of other people across North America, I did see the episode in question, at least most of it. I did like Kathy Freston, the New York Times bestselling author who served as a very eloquent "vegan ambassador" to Oprah's show and was the only person on it who discussed the suffering of animals. Good for Kathy, whose book Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World has undoubtedly won over new converts.

I agree with the moderates who insist that Oprah's vegan message is being beamed to a largely omnivore audience, thus breaking through the formidable anti-vegan wall that surrounds many people who eat meat and other animal products.

It is too bad that Oprah used the word "radical" to describe the vegan diet. It is too bad that one of her guests was Michael Pollan, who frustrates the hell out of me because he recognizes how evil factory farming is, but he insists that "happy meat" is an acceptable alternative. Murder is murder, Michael, and it doesn't matter whether the being whose life is taken lived in a cramped gestation crate or out in a grassy field. Murdering them is still a crime, no matter how you slice it or spin it.

It was a huge missed opportunity that Oprah didn't have Gary Francione on her show. The man would've set everybody straight.

It's difficult to either universally praise or condemn Oprah. Her message is getting out to tens of millions. Lately, veganism has been a part of that message. Too often on her show, the vegan message is wrapped up in losing weight and staying healthy, and not so much in liberating animals from suffering.

But inevitably there are going to be some people who were moved by her message who explore veganism in greater depth. Hopefully, some of these compassionate omnivores will discover Gary Francione's website and the countless others that are dedicated to an unwavering message of compassion toward animals. Hopefully, these newcomers will learn more about what happens to animals and fish who are thrown by the billions into the factory farm meat grinder. And equally importantly, hopefully they'll learn that dairy products also exact a tremendous toll on cows and calves. And maybe, just maybe, they'll discover that the "happy meat" touted by Michael Pollan is a myth.

The message we want them to hear is that all animal suffering is immoral and must end right now. Sadly, on Oprah's vegan episode, that message often got lost.

This much ought to be said about Oprah's vegan program: It is presenting veganism as an option, and it is beaming the message on a level that the rest of us cannot. It is reaching an audience that the rest of us are not. It is winning over people who are beyond the scope of abolitionists to win over. The omnivores aren't listening to us, but they're listening to her.

That doesn't mean her message isn't fraught with problems. It is. What it does mean is that veganism is being nudged into the mainstream. Omnivores are usually won over by accident. They turn on Oprah, watch her show, buy Freston's book and go out and Google "veganism." Googling "veganism" brings up websites, news stories and videos. Maybe the curious soul looking into veganism for the first time will click on one of the videos that PETA posted about animals suffering in the factory farm system. Maybe they'll stumble upon a Gary Francione podcast. Who knows? Maybe they'll find "We're All Animals"! You never know.

Accidents often cause people to put 2 and 2 together. Information is piled upon new information. For the first time ever, a shocked soul watches animals being slaughtered, fish being cut open alive, calves being whisked off for veal. "I didn't know," they might say. "I just didn't know." Sometimes, the scenes are so awful, the sensitive soul will look away. But a light has been turned on. Consciousness has been raised. The long march, as we all know, begins with a single step.

Learning about suffering is a complicated process. Who knows why some people choose to live compassionately while others turn a blind eye to suffering? These questions are all a part of life's great mystery.

But at least Oprah's show - bad as it was in some spots - was a spark. Some viewers are undoubtedly going to investigate veganism more deeply after watching it. Veganism will inevitably lead some to animal rights. At the end of the day, the vegan and animal rights movements may win over a few converts who stumbled our way as a result of seeing Oprah's deeply flawed vegan episode. Our best hope is that curious folks with kind hearts set off down the path, and eventually cross the point of no return.

Another Vegan Success Story

If you get a chance, check out this video of Loreen Dinwiddie, a spirited 108-year-old woman from Portland who insists that a big part of her longevity is her vegan diet.

Similarly, fitness guru Jack LaLanne, who passed away in late January at the age of 96, while not a vegan, was close to it. He did eat fish and eggs, but almost never touched any other animal products.

In the scheme of things, the vegan diet is a relatively new way of life. The pioneering British vegan Donald Watson (1910-2005) founded the first vegan group in 1944 with a few kindred spirits. He died at the age of 95, living long enough to see his once marginalized lifestyle gaining new adherents around the world and moving from the fringes to the mainstream.

Because the diet has not been around for long (even though there were certainly practitioners of it before Watson came along and gave it a name), we have not really had time to test whether it promotes human longevity. Do vegans live longer than non-vegans? The verdict is still out.

But we do know that so many animal-based products are not healthy. For those who still don't believe this, check out the statistics published by the Vegetarian & Vegan Society of Queensland, Australia. Or any other reliable, comprehensive vegan Website. Or download Vegan Outreach's wonderful brochure here.

The stats don't lie. Veganism is a far healthier way of living than omnivorism or vegetarianism. But - like all diets - you always have to be mindful about what you eat. My downfall comes from the fact that Oreos and Ruffles are vegan. Also, Sweet & Sara's Vegan Marshmallows have become a staple of my diet, and sometimes I'd be better off if I didn't eat quite so many of those.

The vegan diet has only been around in name for 67 years, but I have a feeling that history's verdict on the lifestyle will be a very positive one. And people who embrace it will be rewarded with longer lives and a knowledge that their decisions are not spreading and prolonging misery among non-human animals.

Bill Clinton as PETA's Man of the Year? Hmmmmm...

Remember that song by C+C Music Factory that was popular about 20 years ago called "Things That Make You Go Hmmm"? It was based on one of Arsenio Hall's favorite taglines (talk about relics of the early nineties!).

Anyway, Bill Clinton winning People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) "Man of the Year" award today was definitely one of those things that made me go hmmm. Most of you already knew by now that Clinton adopted a mostly vegan diet in May of this year.

Yeah, OK, I know that just the other day I said that on balance, maybe - maybe - animal rights advocates should stick with PETA, despite the mistakes and lousy stands the organization has made over the past several years.

And yeah, I know Bill Clinton is the most high-profile figure to embrace a vegan diet in 2010, which does a lot to bring the issue of veganism into the mainstream. That's terrific. And I'm especially happy that the vegan diet has worked wonders in helping to improve Clinton's health.

Bill Clinton explained his vegan diet on a national talk show:

I live on beans, legumes, vegetables, fruit. I drink a protein supplement every morning -- no dairy, I drink almond milk mixed in with fruit and a protein powder so I get the protein for the day when I start the day up. (Source)

And PETA defended its decision to name Clinton its "Man of the Year" thusly (in the words of Senior Vice President Dan Matthews):

Bill Clinton won not only because he's the most prominent person to go vegan this year but also because he used his platform to articulate the reasons why a plant-based diet is the most healthy diet. And of course, it doesn't hurt that he has Chelsea's lead to follow. She went vegan at 10, though her motivation was simply not wanting to support cruelty to animals. (Source)

I saw Clinton's interviews when he made the big announcement and he was extremely careful not to raise the issue of animal rights at any point. Moreover, Clinton admitted in all of those interviews that he eats fish. (Media outlets said Clinton was on a "mostly vegan" diet; is there such a thing??? I always thought you were either vegan or you weren't. Maybe I'm wrong...)

My purpose here is not to nitpick. I suppose my main concern is that there are a growing number of people embracing a vegan diet purely for health reasons. They want to lose weight. They want to feel healthier. And that's good. I'm happy to see it.

But when ethics are not at the root of these choices, then the "Vegan Diet" becomes a fad much like the South Beach Diet or the Atkins Diet (remember that god-awful thing??? I remember a loved one eating bacon all day long!!! Blech!).

People go on these fad diets. They lose weight fast (I lost 25 pounds instantaneously when I became a vegan... sadly a lot of his crept back on). And maybe in the process, the number of animals getting murdered dips slightly because of it.

But, much like all of those people who ditched the South Beach and Atkins diets after they quickly lost 10 or 15 or however many pounds, it's likely that a lot folks who become vegans for health reasons - like Bill Clinton - may very well end up following the same path.

It's difficult because of the temptation to cheer on every little advance that veganism makes. And I'm glad Bill Clinton is getting healthy again thanks to veganism - or a "mostly vegan" diet, I should say. But PETA giving him this award celebrates someone who became a vegan purely for health reasons, not to consciously help bring an end to the death and suffering of animals. Do his actions help animals? Probably some lives will be saved.

But you also have to look at intentions in these cases. Even if Clinton drew attention to the pluses of a vegetable-based diet, he did not - in any meaningful way - challenge the destructive system that is killing large numbers of animals every second of every day. Clinton deserves to be commended for his personal choices. But awarded? And by an organization that is supposed to champion animal rights?

Like I said at the outset, file this one under the "Things That Make You Go Hmmm" category.