Oprah Goes Vegan!
Oprah Winfrey and some of her staff recently took on a challenge… to go vegan for one week!
For seven days, Oprah and her members of staff decided to go without meat, fish, milk, eggs, cheese etc… basically any product or by-product that comes from an animal. The charge was led by New York Times best-selling author Kathy Freston, who has sworn by a vegan lifestyle for seven years now.
She said that “Everyone [at Harpo] was so excited and interested in it. I think knowing that it can be such a game-changer — that it can really affect you in your body and your spirit — I think so many people were just excited to give it a whirl.”
Harpo is a US-based multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey. While many staffers were reluctant to change their food habits, 378 signed up for the one-week challenge!
One of Harpo’s video editors commented how he “usually eats a sausage muffin every day and a huge coffee with five creams and a little ice”. He then went on to say, “So today I decided not to do that. I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to start the day right. We’re going to try this whole vegan thing.’”
Being vegan is slightly different from being vegetarian as you will need to avoid all forms of animal products which include eggs, dairy products and honey. Most of us find it hard to give up normal meat from our meals, let alone dairy products or eggs even for a day.
Kathy Freston explained the benefits and taught them how to choose their diet. It turns out that after 7 days, many of the staff members became healthier, lost weight and even saved money. One of them no longer suffers from daily migraines due to the vegan diet.
Many of the staff wanted to extend their vegan diet to 21 days after experiencing the benefits!!
In order for meat to arrive at our dinner plates, IT HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE. In this case, animals have to be slaughtered and killed. It’s worse when the animal is mistreated right up to the point of death…
We can’t always turn a blind eye to where our meat comes from… it comes from the blood and life of another being that is NOT WILLING to give it up just so that we can pleasure our tastebuds.
Which animal will not squeal or scream for dear life when the butcher grabs them by their legs? To be overpowered, oppressed and then killed by a stronger being after leading a painful life… this is what we are endorsing when we eat meat.
Being vegetarian is a very natural thing to do. If it is not, why do people who try being vegan for a week want to do it for a longer period of time? It must be due to the immense benefits it has towards the body and mind.
For your body, it helps you lose weight, cleans your colon (and keeps it that way), rids your bloodstream of toxins, stops bad breath and body odor.
Mentally, it helps you feel more alert due to the lack of toxins, and gives you a clearer mind since you won’t be overly focused on food. These are just the few benefits of being a vegetarian, or better yet, a vegan.
It makes NO SENSE to derive satisfaction, pleasure or nourishment from the sufferings of others… As the 378 Harpo staff discovered, it is not hard being vegan… It does not mean at all that your diet is restricted to salads and that you will be losing out on nutrition, quite the contrary. In fact, there is even a starter kit to kick things off and to also clear misconceptions.
Start a vegan diet now to help rejuvenate your body. Your body really does need a break from all the toxin buildup over the years… Once you do it for one day… you can try extending it to one week, one month… maybe even a year. It all depends on whether or not you want to do it. If you decide to go vegetarian or even vegan for any period of time, please do let me know as my special offer still stands. You can also sign up for my vegetarian pledge.
Go vegetarian. If not for the animals, for yourself. If not for yourself, for the animals…or for both you and the animals….
Tsem Rinpoche
Oprah Goes Vegan
http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/OprahGoesVegan.flv
Or view the video at Oprah.com:
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Oprah-Goes-Vegan-Video
Harpo Vegan Challenge: The Results
http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/Oprah_results.flv
Or view the video at Oprah.com:
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Harpo-Vegan-Challenge-Results-Video
Struggling with the Vegan Challenge
http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/Oprah_struggling.flv
Or view the video at Oprah.com:
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Struggling-with-the-Vegan-Challenge-Video
Wow! It is so good to know that someone who is benefiting so many people through the media is now vegan. Now, she does not only help people, she would also be helping out animals. There are many people in the world that suffer and there are even more animals that suffer to fill our bellies. I think that more and more people in the world will become vegan as someone like Oprah is one.
For Oprah to do this is great. People look to her as a source of inspiration and beneficial ideas and she is really using that leverage to effect change for humans, animals and the environment.
Which celebrity would you most like to see inspiring others to do the same?
You can also read here about Tibetan Volunteers for Animals (TVA), a non-profit organization run by a group of young Tibetan activists determined to make a difference.
http://semchen.org
Quote by Sir Edwin Arnold
The birds and beasts and creeping things —
’tis writ—
Had sense of Buddha’s vast embracing love,
And took the promise of his piteous speech.
From: Light of Asia, bk. 8
I would most like to see Justin Bieber promote vegetarianism or veganism. He has enormous leverage with teenage girls worldwide and his influence is incalculable. Imagine how effective teenage girls would be at advocating a cause? They have pester power and they can be very stubborn, which can be a good thing if it’s for a true cause!
Hmmm…now that gives me some ideas! Maybe I should write to Justin Bieber, show him the Paul McCartney and Oprah videos and ask him to rise to the occasion and save lives? He would be great.
I would also ask him to write to the Nepalese Prime Minister to ask him to stop animal sacrifices in Nepal.
Seeing them will break your heart…
Please say prayers and dedicate your merits for all animals who live and die in such terrible conditions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYGRTuB_G_4&feature=related
May they quickly be freed from their suffering and may no others ever suffer so unimaginably.
I was surfing the news and came across this story. It’s great to read some good news about animals:
Huge lobster saved from the pot
LONDON (Reuters) – One of the biggest and oldest lobsters ever caught in Britain has been saved from the pot and will live out the rest of its long life in an aquarium.
The massive crustacean measures close to one metre (3 feet) in length and weighs more than 4 kg (9 lb).
“He’s a fantastic specimen and by his size alone he has got to be at least 50 years old,” said Lindsay Holloway of the Blue Reef aquarium in Portsmouth, where the lobster now lives.
“He is an amazing creature and it’s quite an achievement to have reached such an impressive age,” he added.
The lobster was caught in around 14 feet of water by a compassionate angler fishing for sole in Bracklesham Bay, off the coast of West Sussex.
Lobsters are among the planet’s oldest inhabitants with fossil remains found dating back more than 100 million years. They are also extremely long-lived with some reaching ages of over 80 years.
The aquarium said the heaviest recorded crustacean is an Atlantic lobster nicknamed Mike who was caught in 1934 and tipped the scales at an awesome 19 kg. (London newsroom)
http://af.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idAFTRE72E44A20110315
In everything we do, there is positive and negative effects due to the nature of our existence. It is 100% correct you don’t eat meat. HH the Dalai Lama, the highest authority within Tibetan Buddhism recommends we do not eat meat, so that is all we need to remember. Buddha said, we should not lie, or get attached to drinking, singing, dancing, intimacies,entertainments and that we should spend our energies to become enlightened. Are we doing all die and not just the meat part?? People tend to pick what is convenient from the Buddha’s teachings to suit themselves. If we are going to follow Buddha’s teachings or quote, we may ask are you following everything Buddha says? If you are not, then rejoice when others follow the best they can and as much as they can. Since it is the right path for 21st century Buddhists to follow the no meat path, let’s do it. We have so much variety of food. Let’s eat the no meat diet and get on with our practice and basically compassionately go passed the criticisms. It is very simple, do not kill. So hence animals will not die in front of you to eat them…There is no good karma in eating meat..full stop, but definitely there is good karma refraining from eat. Many of the tantras when engaged in the practice prohibit meat as taught by Vajradhara. Many rituals we do in the great Monasteries prohibit meat so the rituals are more effective…..Many who are not monks or not living in the monasteries would never understand that. Reading from books, net or from dharma centres would never be the same as in the monastery. Again, eating meat does not gather good merits for our spiritual practice, avoiding does. Listen to some of wonderful Tenzin Palmo’s views on not eating meat. She is the great yogini who meditated for the longest time in the mountains.TR
Cheers Oprah!! I am sure you will find peace and clam both in your soul and mind.
It is indeed good news that more and more people are getting into vegetarianism. When more celebrities openly talks about vegetarianism, we all hope that it can grow and less animals will have to suffer for us…
Good for Oprah and colleagues to try being a vegan for a week! I should try it sometimes and feel the difference… There are so many good restaurants around that we can eat… Like Kechara Oasis, a vegetarian restaurant for a healthy diet.
Vegetarianism is definitely the way to go. Healthy body, healthy mind.