Vegetarian Star

Ellen DeGeneres "Shape"

In this month’s issue of Shape, Ellen DeGeneres reveals that although today it’s all about eating vegan, years ago she was a horrible eater, downing anything from cheeseburgers to steak.

“I can’t believe how irresponsible I was, eating what I ate,” she said. “All I did was eat. Cheeseburgers, fried chicken, fried things.”

Today she doesn’t starve herself, but consumes copious amounts of anything that grows in the ground, a prescription of “no animals, no dairy, nothing processed; a lot of soup, veggies, rice, beans, legumes.”

She opts for healthier fried “things,” as she revealed her breakfast for the morning of the interview as a “bok choy rice stir-fry thing.”

“I want to be on my toes; I want to have energy,” she added. “And as much as the diet seems like a sacrifice, it’s helping me.”

Visit Shape for the entire story on Ellen.

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Jake Shields for PETA

Jake Shields has released a new ad for PETA 2 promoting vegetarianism.

The ad coincides with the MMA fighter’s competition this weekend on CBS.

“I’m living proof that you can further, train harder, and pack a meaner punch without eating animals. I’m Jake Shields, and I’m a vegetarian,” the ad reads.

Shields is a lifelong vegetarian and according to his biography, was home schooled up until Junior High, so he was able to avoid the nasty mystery meat made by the lunch ladies.

He’s looking great!

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Author Michael Pollan hasn’t always expressed warm feelings for the vegetarian and vegan community, but in a recent interview with Time magazine, he said he has “enormous respect for vegetarians,” and eats a lot less meat than in the past.

In an exclusive interview with the Huffington Post, Pollan gave his thoughts on animal rights, criticizer of factory farming and author Jonathan Safran Foer and even Oprah.

That’s quite a combination, and here are a few highlights.

On Foer and “Eating Animals”
In terms of the argument that I don’t grapple with meat, I would refer Jonathan and anyone else to Chapter…hold on, I can dig it out… (flips through book)…it’s a very long…Chapter 17 of Omnivore’s Dilemma, “The Ethics of Eating Animals.” And that is where I try to grapple with the best arguments against meat eating, which in my view are Peter Singer’s arguments, and defend a very limited kind of meat eating, which is the kind I do.

On Animal Rights:
I think one of the changes you’ve seen in the animals right’s community in the last five or ten years is a lot more interest in mitigating the worst abuses of animal agriculture …which I think is a more realistic goal than abolition.

On Oprah Winfrey:
She had a very bad run-in with the cattle industry, and she doesn’t want to spend any more time in court, so it was much to her credit and it took a certain courage for her to air the issues and show clips from Food Inc., especially, and to have me on, and the fact that she was willing to re-engage on these issues of factory farming was all to her credit.

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Natalie Merchant released a new album this week, Leave Your Sleep, a collection of songs ruminating about childhood and motherhood that include  joy, grief and death.

Merchant has been a vegetarian for almost two decades, and according to Tonic, has previously release songs that touch on animal rights.

Merchant was once quoted as saying, “I’ve been a vegetarian for 17 years and I consider myself an environmentalist inasmuch as I can be, considering the job that I have. I prefer living in the countryside rather than the city; I find it more sane and sustaining for myself.”

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Christofer Ingle of Never Shout Never turned vegan about a year ago, but he may be closer to one of those “vegan in the home” kind of people.

When Beatweek asked him how he keeps this up on the road, Ingle answered, “I’ll sometimes dabble into, like, a cheese pizza and what not. But other than that I’m pretty much a vegan. I try to eat all natural and stuff.”

Does dabbling into cheese pizza when you’re in the middle of nowhere with low blood sugar make you a terrible vegan?

Probably not.

Would a little planning on the road by stocking a freezer full of frozen vegetarian entrees, something similar to what Death Cab for Cutie does, help keep Ingle on the straight course?

Probably so.

What are some ways you’ve circumvented eating animal products when there’s seemingly no other options?

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Ellen DeGeneres was honored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recently by receiving the Voice of Compassion reward.

President and founder of the PCRM, an organization of physicians and others that promotes healthy living through a vegetarian diet and ethics in animal research, Dr. Neal Barnard, arrived at the show to personally present it to her.

Dr. Barnard said Ellen was chosen for the award for working to “expand the circle of compassion” for animals in everything she’s done, which includes donating to the Humane Society, supporting other animal rights campaigns and featuring vegetarian/vegan recipes on the show.

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Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently touched on the new study that suggested eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day isn’t as beneficial in preventing cancer as once thought.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, followed thousands of Europeans in 10 different countries over nine years and only found a weak association between cancer and produce intake.

Specifically, the study found those who got an extra 2 servings of fruits and vegetables a day reduced their cancer risk by 4%, versus the 20% or 30% found in previous studies that launched the famous “Five a Day” campaign.

It’s thought this exaggeration was found because previous studies used healthier populations who were less likely to get cancer and more likely to demonstrate other health conscious practices to begin with.

Does that mean you should toss your daily apple to the birds?

Not exactly, unless you enjoy feeding them.

“Experts do agree still, of course, that you should eat your carrots, your tomatoes, your spinach, et cetera, it’s good for your heart,” Dr. Gupta said on a recent segment on CNN. “It’s good for your waistline as well. And, by the way, keeping the fat off is also a good thing because the estrogen in fat can fuel some cancers.”

Fruits and vegetables contain fiber, which keep you fuller, causing you to eat less, which is a proven way to keep fat off.

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“My doctor said, ‘I think you should become a vegan. That’s when I decided to try the ‘vegan before 6′ thing. It worked for me. In three months, I lost 35 pounds. My cholesterol went down and stayed down. My blood sugar went down and stayed down. My knees pretty much got better. It solved everything.”

–Mark Bittman to the Washington Post.  The author of books like How To Cook Everything and How To Cook Everything Vegetarian recommends a vegan before 6 approach for those who can’t go all the way. Eat what you want for dinner, but keep breakfast and lunch animal product free!

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