It is the vegan month going on, and for many of our bollywood actors veganism is the healthy way of living life especially when their profession is so challenging and competitive that being fit and healthy at all times becomes a necessity and integral part of life. While on 1st November 2020 it was vegan day, followed by the vegan week now we have 40 international celebrities spread awareness in vegan month.
Not just bollywood, even the Indian television industry also follows veganism where many celebrities have turned themselves into the healthier and greener fit way of life. And from the past few years, the concept of veganism is gaining a lot of momentum and importance in all across the globe and following which, today 40 international celebrities spread awareness in vegan month.
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To help spearhead the vegan moment and spread awareness about the same in the world, internationally renowned globally prominent NGO Million Dollar Vegan recently released a short film for the same which featured 40 international celebrities including influencers, doctors, athletes, and activists from around the world talking about their different ideas and reasons on going vegan.
The film features Grammy award-winning singer Mya, Buddhist Monk and renowned scientist Matthieu Ricard, Angelina Jolie’s breast cancer surgeon Dr. Kristi Funk, Indian businessman Raj Kundra, wellness author Kathy Freston, athlete Dominick Thompson, prominent activist Joey Carbstrong and many others. Watching the film, which covers reasons ranging from personal health to ethics, may leave you wondering what your reason might be for going vegan.
Speaking about the same in detail, Million Dollar Vegan NGO CEO, Naomi Hellum said, “With the world reeling from the devastating impacts of an animal-borne pandemic and the ever-worsening effects of climate change, coupled with the fact that over 80 percent of Amazon deforestation and at least 23 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture, there has perhaps never been a more important time to think about the impact of what we eat”.
With increased importance on why veganism is important, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, of the Centre for Nutritional Studies said, “A whole foods plant-based diet can prevent, perhaps even reverse, the chronic degenerative diseases which make older individuals more susceptible to COVID-19 while simultaneously increasing immunity by inactivating the COVID-19 itself”.
When the entire world got halted because of being badly hit by the deadly COVID 19 pandemic in 2020, At that moment Million Dollar Vegan started providing and giving out healthy and nutritious plant based meals to labourers, essential workers and the undeserved communities around the world settling themselves on a mission to provide atleast one million Meals by the next year 2022 as part of their ongoing initiative to “Take Pandemics Off The Menu.” The initiative, through which the NGO has donated almost 300,000 meals across 15 countries to date, aims to educate people about how changing our diets can benefit our health, our planet, and lower the risk of future pandemics.
On the same, shedding more light, Darshana Muzumdar, Manager of Million Dollar Vegan in India said, “We cannot protect against pandemics while continuing to eat meat. Much attention has been paid to wet markets, but factory farms, specifically poultry and egg farms, are a more important breeding ground for pandemics. If we want to take pandemics off the menu, we really must take meat and dairy off our plates. Not only will humankind benefit if we do this, but our planet and the animals we share it with will benefit too. Moreover veganism is a celebration of our own principles of Ahimsa: of compassion and justice for all the beings we coexist with on our planet”.
Million Dollar Vegan, which operates in ten countries and has inspired over 150,000 people to switch to a plant-based diet this year, is a global non-profit dedicated to educating people about the many benefits of adopting a vegan lifestyle. They are perhaps most famous for teaming up with Sir Paul McCartney, Woody Harrelson and Joaquin Phoenix. Also in the year 2019 they ended up challenging Pope Francis to “Fight Climate Change With Diet Change” by going vegan in return for a $1M donation to the charity of his choice. The Pope declined the challenge but gave the charity His blessing!
Even many Bollywood stars like Shilpa Shetty, Mallika Sherawat, Rakul Preet Singh, Raj Kundra, Esha Gupta and several others have shown their initiative by joining Million Dollar Vegan.