The beautiful, the meat-less and what's in the heart

Saw this photo in my Facebook timeline a few weeks ago. Some people posted this to justify why people should NEVER be a vegetarian.

While I love the beautiful Nigellea and her hearty sexy appetite for life, the comparison here is a tad one sided, isn't it?  I am not proposing that your diet can wholly influence how you look, but there are many other beautiful examples we see. Take a look at these celebrities who are vegetarians or vegans and they simply look gorgeous. 

Actress Alicia Silverstone went vegan more than a decade ago. She traded in a steak-and-doughnuts diet for foods like seitan, a wheat-based meat substitute, after watching documentaries about the food industry. In 2009, Silverstone authored The Kind Diet and launched a complementary website that offers tips for a total vegan lifestyle, from recipes to decorating to fashion.

Actress Kristen Bell, PETA's 2006 Celebrity 'Sexiest Vegetarian Alive' Winner. At age 11, Bell became a vegetarian. She stated, "I have always been an animal lover. I had a hard time disassociating the animals I cuddled with—dogs and cats, for example—from the animals on my plate, and I never really cared for the taste of meat".

Natalie Portman, who has been a vegetarian since childhood and became a vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals, is an advocate for animal rights. She does not eat animal products or wear fur, feathers, or leather.  

Like many of her songs, singer Adele's inspiration came from love. She turned vegetarian in an effort to be more healthy and says her pet dog makes her feel guilty whenever she eats. "Whenever I am about to eat meat, I always see my little dog's eyes," she said. Adele feels that cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens, and other animals killed for food feel pain and fear, just as dogs and cats do, and it doesn't make sense to love one yet eat the other. 

There are some handsome celebrities who are vegetarians too, lest you think only the gals are more anal about looking great, sexy and healthy.

Josh Harnett

Tobey Maguire

Joaquin Phoenix

Here is a list of some more famous vegetarian celebrities if you are not convinced. 

And this one takes the cream..... 

Mimi Kirk was voted the Sexiest Vegetarian over 50 a couple of years ago... She's looking better than ever, and she credits this to her vegan lifestyle. She will soon turn 74 but she says she doesn't feel her age at all. She's in perfect health and has what seems like a charmed life. 

Ultimately what your motivation is in going meatless is important. And many have turned to a vegetarian diet with the sole conviction not to harm/kill other living beings and the natural environment. I think that this compassion manifesting from their heart is the most admirable motivation and action. Looking good and younger as a result is a bonus.