Oprah Going Vegan for 1 Week (+ 378 Staff Members)

oprah going vegan

I’ve covered Bill Clinton sort of going vegan, Mike Tyson going vegan, and the Old Spice guy going on a vegan diet in the last year. Additionally, about one and a half years ago, I included a list of many notable vegetarians and vegans (including Carl Lewis — vegan, Bryan Adams — vegan, Andre 3000 — vegan, Russel Simmons — vegan, Albert Einstein, Elle Macpherson, Common, Josh Hartnett, Shania Twain, Hank Aaron, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Mary Tyler Moore, and Leonardo Da Vinci) in a post on how to become vegetarian.

Well, our editor, Becky Striepe, sort of decided to deem me the celebrity vegan/vegetarian writer for Eat Drink Better as a result and recently passed the news on to me that Oprah is going vegan for a week (and bringing 378 staff members with here). Couldn’t pass this one up.

The one-week vegan challenge was covered a bit on Oprah’s show today. It featured the likes of notable eco authors Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Kathy Freston and journalist Lisa Ling. Among other things, the show included a journey through a beef processing plant, something sure to make your stomach turn.

I imagine videos of the show are or will soon be floating around the internet (i.e. on YouTube). I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Oprah’s Gone Vegan Before

Surprise to me, but maybe not to you Oprah lovers out there, Oprah went vegan for three weeks back in 2008 (mostly for spiritual/moral reasons). While she said she was craving cheese and eggs during the diet (different from me — see the next page), she was also clear that she got a lot out of the experience.

“I am, for sure, more mindful of my choices. I’m eating a far more plant-based diet,” Oprah said. “Less processed food. Thinking about sugar and fat consumption not in terms of calories but in terms of what happens to my well-being.”

In the end, Oprah decided not to go vegetarian or vegan at the time but hinted at taking steps in such a direction. Maybe this is one more step towards a longer-term effort.

Just a couple weeks ago, she also covered Alicia Silverstone’s lifelong switch to veganism and the many benefits she’s seen from it.

Thoughts on Oprah and her crew’s one-week switch to veganism on Page 2 –>>

Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey