Another super-skinny celebrity has declared that her vegan diet was unhealthy. Angelina Jolie, who says she was a vegan for “a long time” insists that she couldn’t get enough nutrition from plant foods alone. She says being vegan nearly killed her.
It’s a safe bet that Angelina didn’t understand healthful vegan eating, though. After all, even the conservative American Dietetic Association says that a vegan diet is safe and healthful. Plant-based diets are successfully used in programs for reversal of heart disease and families raise healthy vegan children.
Celebs who go vegan, though, are often focused on something other than healthy eating. An announcement last month from Jessica Simpson that she was going to “shock” her body with a vegan diet suggests that for some who live in the limelight, giving up animal foods is more about food faddism than veganism.
Many celebrities are chronic dieters who seek austere regimens, and the more restrictive, the better. As a result, they ignore--or never seek--recommendations from vegan nutrition experts. Many shun all fats and follow overly restrictive menus that may even be too low in protein.
On his website veganhealth.org, dietitian and vegan expert Jack Norris says: “Something as simple as not eating enough calories might be a problem for an uninformed person who decides to give the vegan diet a try for a few days. They might only be aware of low-calorie vegan foods (e.g., salads, vegetables, fruits), and eating only these foods for a day might leave them feeling hungry and weak.”
A healthy vegan diet isn’t just brown rice and steamed vegetables, after all. It includes protein-rich foods such as legumes and soyfoods as well as foods rich in healthful plant fats like nuts, seeds, and avocados. Among other things, dietary fat is needed for absorption of some nutrients. Knowledgeable vegans also supplement with vitamin B12 and vitamin D and make sure they are consuming plenty of calcium-rich foods.
Norris sums up his nutrition recommendations for vegans here. It’s too bad Angelina Jolie didn’t know about them. Had she followed these simple guidelines, she would most likely still be vegan.
For more about vegan nutrition, please check out my blog The Vegan RD and follow me on twitter!
Comments
it's too bad such high profile people can make such ignorant opinions sound like facts. thanks for this informative article to dispel myths that one can't be a healthy vegan. i've been one for 25 years and have no problem keeping weight on(;
What an idiot. The more I learn about Jolie the more she irks me. Just another frivolous celebrity.
On the contrary, I think this makes me like her even more. She's only human and absolutely prone to mistakes. It's not only celebrities who are hard driven to invest their time in fads. When the majority of folks observe other people doing something, they're going to follow suit because it's the popular thing to do. Angelina's a grown woman who can make her own decisions; not some God-like being on Mount Olympus. It sounds like she tried a vegan diet on for size and it probably didn't appeal to her. No big deal. It's not like she went on a full rampage in opposition of veganism.
Might she have succeeded in this dietary choice had she obtained all the facts? Perhaps. Perhaps not. A lot of people revert back to point A after trying something new that doesn't necessarily meet their standards. This doesn't just apply to food. I think the most important point here is that people should do their own research instead of falling prey to sheep mentality. If a person is serious about something, they will stick with it. If not, they're bound to rethink that decision. It's nice to have freedom of choice, especially when the outcome will not be harmful to other (thinking) individuals.
I think it's funny how angry the vegan people get. I thought vegans were kind and peaceful but most comments and bloggers are so judgemental and mean. Heck, who knows if she even said his quote in the first place considering how the media loves to either make stuff up r take really old quotes and make then look new
Your comment is ironic as it can read as being judgmental itself. Just substitute "blacks" or "Jews" for "vegans" in your comment and you will see what I mean. You are making generalizations about millions of people.
I think it's funny that people actually hide behind Anonymous signings because they may not feel strong in their own skin.
To Anonymous- {I'm not sure I like your generalization about angry vegans but I want to thank you for the rest of it. When I first read Angelina's comment, I kept thinking: "Please don't be accurate, please don't be accurate." I've been interviewed by press so I know how different your comments become when translated by their brains to something 'news-worthy'. I was begining to lose sight of that, so I'm thanking you for reminding me.}
Anyway, I wonder if, with all of Angelina's humanitarian work, anyone has pointed out the human casualties of the diet she just advertised...
Fen~
Fen;
I've been a vegetarian for over 30 years and a vegan for over 15 years. Cardiovascular disease runs in my family and I don't have it. Everyone in my family wears glass. I don't. Most people my age are on prescription drugs. I don't take prescriptions, at all. I'm roughly the same weight as I was in high school. I don't think about my diet on a daily basis more than anyone else does.
Am I one of your "human causalities" ?
How do I reply to a reply?
To the anonymous that replied to my comment- I think we are arguing the same side :) I was referring to Angelina's advertisement of 'lots of red meat' as a beauty secret, as I read it, in the particular article I read. And the human casualties, although victims of heart disease, etc., would certainly count, I was referring to the many that die of hunger in third world countries while we feed what should be their food, to our farm animals in an entirely inefficient, sinful, waste.
Sorry, I didn't realize that I hadn't made myself clear.
So, by stating that the disease runs in your family, you're also stating, with no proof, that you believe your vegan diet has kept you from obtaining? I'm sorry to inform you, but vegans/vegetarians get sick. Also, people who consume meat can be entirely healthy and cancer free. People have been eating meat for centuries with no ill effects as many vegans try to claim. It is fine to be on a vegan diet, just don't go skew out that it's your diet alone helping to keep you from a disease when there could be many variables contributing. You eating a healthy, balanced diet could account more for the lack of the disease then simply the fact you keep animal product outside of it. I'm sure a person who eats properly (including meat in their diet) would be just as a healthy and disease free, too.
I wonder if her anorexia,depression and recreational drug abuse had anything to do with making her feel fatigued?
WERE HER LIPS SHRINKING FOR LACK OF ANIMAL FLESH? hOW WAS IT KILLING HER? MAYBE SHE SHOULD GO BACK TO DRINKING HER BOYFRIENDS BLOOD, AND LEAVE THE ANIMALS ALONE.....WHAT AN ECCENTRIC BIMBO.
Thanks for this article. I really didn't understand how someone rich like Jolie would decide to become a vegan and not hire a nutritionist and a cook. There are people who eat french fries all day and call themselves "vegan." It made me angry to see her speak such ignorance and misinform the public.
I´m complety angry about this, i just heard this today on the radio, and i was sooo angry because, she is a fuking mad, and she is anorexic, is not about being vegan is about being mad. Of course if you eat only lettuce and tomato you will get ill. A vegan diet is the best way to live with animals, health and planet. I can´t belive how so important people like her can speak, with no information, and another stupid people like her (like in the argentinan radio program) belives that she have reason and vegans are extremist.
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I think we should all relax. Angelina didn't misinform the public about veganism at all. Heroin and cocaine are technically vegan and one could die from going on that diet, so she's right. Plus, she's speaking from experience, so I would trust her more than, say, medical doctors, what do they know?
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Rock on Angelina Jolie IS RIGHT! Vegan diets are insane! HUMANS ARE CARNIVOROUS! MEAT ROCKS!! Vegetarian diet almost killed me too And I was eating all the crap YES CRAP you plug! SOY IS HIGHLY TOXIC. IT DESTROYS YOUR THRYOID! All soy is GMO and organic soy is cross contaminated.
MEAT FTW!! Everyone educate yourselves: go to WESTON A PRICE DOT ORG
Stop the insanity. Animals are here for humans to eat them!
WESTON A PRICE is a crackpot. Big headline on his homepage says people are happy because they eat butter, Really?
Now this is Important Soy is not TOXIC, It does not destroy your THYROID, all soy is not GMO, and Weston A Price is a huckster pushing bad information about human nutrition.
10's of hundreds of nutritional studies including the largest and most comprehensive studies ever done, show conclusively that the largest risk factor for chronic disease is eating a diet rich in Meat and Dairy. There is no longer any dispute about this in the scientific literature. However there are still industry whores like Weston A Price and ignorant people like you and Angelina Jolie who make uninformed ignorant statements about a subject you do not understand.
If you think this response is Angry or Judgmental it is not! It is factual. That feeling you are feeling is embarrassment, because you realize you showed your complete ignorance of nutritional science in an international forum.
Soy (aka all GMO's) causes Morgellons disease Google it No better yet: youtube it! Soy is a fake health food promoted by the USDA to kill people or make them sick so Big Pharma makes a ton of money off your grave.
Soy is loaded with toxic xenoestrogens. People NEED MEAT TO BUILD MUSCLE! All my vegan friends are OBESE! once I started a high organic beef diet I totally rescupted my body in 1 week!
Soy causes Morgellons disease? Seriously? Soy is a fake health food promoted by the USDA to kill people or make them sick so Big Pharma makes a ton of money off your grave? Seriously? All my vegan friends are OBESE? Seriously? once I started a high organic beef diet I totally rescupted my body in 1 week? Seriously?
Seriously Ano..., You need to do some serious Studying about nutrition science, or get yourself some better drugs, cause this sh*t your writing doesn't make a lick of sense.
it is all about balance, people!!! she did not know how to balance her vegan diet
You are absolutely correct it is about balance. As a Vegetarian/Vegan for 30 years I can attest that I did not always know what a properly balanced plant based diet consisted of but I took the trouble to find out, and as a result I am an extremely healthy energetic 55 year old with low cholesterol, normal blood pressure, no heart disease, no diabetes, no shingles, and a BMI of under 25. I work at a physically demanding job and my body looks just fine (according to my wife). I have been eating soy for 30 years and I do not have any disease and my thyroid is just fine.
By the way a healthy vegan diet is equal parts whole- fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, and a hand full of nuts several times a week, organic if you can get it. equal parts does not mean exactly every day but perhaps over a several day period try to get the quantities to balance out. You should also eat until you are full this is not a diet and because you are eating healthy food your body was designed to eat you do not have to count calories or carbs. Limit your use of vegetable oils as much as possible as they are high in omega 6 and are caustic to the body unless they are in balance with omega 3's which you should supplement by adding 2 tablespoons of flax or chia seed to your food every day. In addition everyone meat eater or not should be supplementing with a B complex, which includes B12, (no you do not get enough from eating meat, unless you are eating a pound a day) Vitamin D, (no you do not get enough from the sun, unless you work outside in the sun everyday) and Iodine, (unless you include sea vegetables in your diet) There is more to know but these are the basics of good nutritional health.
The fact that there are entire cultures representing millions of people who have lived and thrived for centuries without meat is enough evidence that humans do not "need" it to survive and thrive. In fact, the evidence weighs heavily in the other direction, i.e., the hazards of a meat and dairy diet and the benefits of a vegan diet are well known in the medical and scientific community.
Also, there are hundreds of famous top level athletes -even Olympians- who are vegetarian or vegan. “Olympian of the Century” track star Carl Lewis, tennis champions Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King, cricket star Anil Kumble, Mr. International bodybuilder Andreas Cahling, Heisman trophy winner Desmond Howard, Debbie Lawrence Olympic race-walker, four time Mr. Universe Bill Pearl, 4-time Olympic gold medalist Al Oerter, WBC World Middleweight Champion Keith Holmes, double Olympic Gold medalist in hurdles Edwin Moses, and Dave Scott, six-time Ironman triathlon winner, to name but a few.
And finally, two-time winner of the most grueling race on earth is vegan Scott Jurek. The Badwater Ultra-marathon --the most demanding running race on the planet --covers 135 miles, nonstop, from Badwater in Death Valley to the trailhead of Mount Whitney in the Sierras, the highest mountain in the Lower 48. It crosses three mountain ranges with a combined, cumulative vertical ascent and descent of 17,400 feet, which is like a flight of stairs three miles high. Ultra because this race is five marathons back-to-back with another three miles tacked on to the end. The winner? Vegan competitor Scott Jurek, who also won the Badwater last year.
Scott's bio: "On his own journey towards optimal health, Scott began transitioning to a vegetarian whole foods diet in 1997, while competing in several ultra trail races per year. In 1999, he adopted a vegan diet out of further health and environmental concerns. Scott continues to fuel his body on completely vegan diet while competing in 10-12 ultramarathons per year in addition to his rigorous training schedule. All seven of his consecutive wins at the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run were performed on vegan fuel."
Clearly Angelina Jolie should rethink her misconceptions about vegan diets!
Angelina was on the right diet she needs to get real as we are by
nature frugivorous animals. But, I have seen a horse eat baby chicks
on our farm when I was a kid. And probably if you put a feed bag of
baby chicks under the horses nose every day it would eat them too. But
it would not be long before the horse was fat and bloated with
depression, indigestion, headache’s, autoimmune diseases and arthritis
stumbling around the farm passing gas everywhere it went like Angelina
and 95% of the American public. The horse would live only half of its
life time and die of cancer or a massive coronary somewhere out on the
pasture.
I am just telling the public the truth like the FDA, USDA and HHS
should if they weren’t in the pockets of big agriculture the food
business, pharmaceutical companies and the AMA. Who make nothing but
profit off of feeding us garbage and toxic medications while we get
sicker and sicker from doing just what my horse did.
And of course my being one of those borne again close-minded, arrogant
vegans due to discovering what it takes to beat cancer naturally. With
out the entire load of BS the AMA wants to torture you with till you
are on morphine and kicked out of the hospital so you will die
elsewhere. I will keep on telling everyone who has a mind open enough
to listen what the truth is. That they need to stop accepting the
feedbag full of indigestible crap they are handed because they are
considered suckers by those in the government, the AMA and big
business get real take charge of their life.
Paul
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