Bestselling author Kathy Freston took to Oprah.com to share her latest research on a plant-based diet and how it relates to disease prevention. In the piece, Freston writes:

“Here’s the bottom line: Animal protein seems to greatly contribute to diseases of nearly every type, including cancer, and a plant-based (vegan) diet is not only good insofar as prevention, but it could also be curative.”

Throughout the piece, Kathy quotes many highly esteemed doctors and sites numerous studies that prove eating lower on the food chain can help prevent (and sometimes even cure) some of today’s most deadly diseases.

Trust me — you definitely want to read this article! Scoot on over to Oprah.com and get your learn on!

Actress Persia White and Dr. Neal Barnard are pictured here celebrating at PCRM’s “Art of Compassion” pre-gala bash.  Other famous faces in attendance included Kathy Freston, Emily Deschanel, Rory Freedman, Jennifer Coolidge, Marilu Henner and many more. The Art of Compassion gala will mark PCRM’s 25th anniversary and will take place on April 10th in California. Wanna know more? Visit PCRM.org/Gala2010 to get your tickets!

Just days ago we brought you news that bestselling author Kathy Freston was seen dining at Candle Cafe. Well, it looks like Kathy liked the meal so much she just had to share it with friends.

One Monday evening, Peter Chernin and Tom Freston along with Kathy, honored Carla Bruni-Sarkozy for her work with Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The fancy midtown bash was attended by Jordan’s Queen Rania and Carla’s husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy.  Also on the guest list was Brian Grazer, Charlie Rose, Christy Turlington and Howard Schultz. And what did the motley crew of do-gooders nosh on all night?  None other than some fine vegan cuisine from Candle.

We’re sure the high profile guests enjoyed each bite, especially Carla who’s recently renounced her fur-wearing ways and is now proudly fur-free.

French Presidents and Queens from Jordan eating vegan food? Talk about a step in the right direction!

via: nypost.com

Every now and then a blogger needs a break, and today I took mine today at Candle Cafe. Eight years ago, Candle was one of the first vegan restaurants I’d ever been to, and today it’s still one of my all-time favorites!

While chowing down on the Tofu Club I spotted Quatum Wellness author and friend of the site, Kathy Freston across the room. Kathy was recently included on Vanity Fair’s Best Dressed List and is constantly representing for all the cruelty-free fashionistas out there.

After a quick chat with Freston, I walked back to my table and noticed David Duchovny dining with friends. I know that David is an animal lover and it’s been whispered that he’s vegan. Wouldn’t that be the best?!

Moral of this story: if you want to see some of your favorite stars, just hang out at veggie restaurants. That’s where all the cool kids on the block go.

So you know you’re a big deal when your book convinces Oprah to give veganism a try. I mean let’s be honest: that’s golden. But landing on Vanity Fair’s 2009 International Best-Dressed List? OK, now you’re officially famous! 

Sharing the honor with stars like Penelope Cruz and Anne Hathaway, Quantum Wellness author Kathy Freston is proving that cruelty-free fashion is the way to be!

Here are some stats that Vanity Fair shared about the rockstar writer: 

Residences: Los Angeles and New York City.
Occupation: Writer.
Personal Style: “Cruelty-free (no fur or leather).”
Style Icon: Grace Kelly.
Favorite Fashion Purchase of 2009: “Four custom-made Peter Soronen shift dresses in gorgeous, happy colors; classically chic.”
Favorite Up-and-Coming Designer: JMary.
Luxury Boutique: Mameg, in Los Angeles.
Shoe Designer: Stella McCartney.
Vintage Store: Frock, in New York City.
Bargain-Hunting Locale: Target.
Watch: Cartier Roadster.
Cause: Animal protection.

Three cheers to Kathy for continuing to represent the cause in a fun, fresh and fashionable way. We think your tops!

-One of our favorite veggie authors Kathy Freston writing about Meatless Mondays on HuffingtonPost.com. It might be worth noting that the Meatless Monday site recently got a fancy new upgrade. Wanna see for yourself? Visit MeatlessMonday.com and then head on over to HuffingtonPost.com to read the rest of Freston’s article.

via: vegetarianstar.com

Kathy Freston is a solider for good health. As one of the wellness movements most outspoken authors, Freston has worked tenaciously to share honest and thoughtful information about diet and health. Pretty frigin rad, right? 

Kathy’s book Quantum Wellness hit shelves last year with outstanding success  – even helping to convince Oprah to go VEG for 21 days!!  Kathy’s newest book, Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Mind, Body and Spirit, takes it one step further by giving an in-depth look at the powers of rebooting your life with a healthy and powerful 21-day cleanse. 

Freston recently took time out of her busy schedule to sit down for an exclusive interview with your favorite green blog. Check it out below!

Ecorazzi: You went from a career as a model and actress to author and wellness expert. How did that journey take place?

Kathy Freston: Sometimes I think the universe does you a big fat favor in allowing you to fail. Because I had a mediocre career as a model (I was never an actress, except in commercials), I was always looking for comfort and upliftment in other ways. Since I never felt I was “enough” in a material way – pretty enough or successful enough – I began looking for meaning in other arenas. I studied with spiritual teachers and did workshops on improving myself; I read books on philosophy and worked on my personal growth in whatever manner I could. It was during this time that I began to look more closely at food, and how my choices and habits were not in line with my deepening awareness of spiritual principles. Once I started delving into how food – meat, chicken, fish, dairy, and eggs – arrived on my plate, I became obsessed with pushing myself to live in a more evolved manner.

You might have thought it would be an easy move, to become vegan, but it wasn’t. I was very attached to the food I had grown up loving. What I learned was that if I “leaned into it”, I had more success at changing my ways. I wanted to write about the process, because I felt that I was probably not so unlike a lot of people – wanting to change, knowing it was the right thing to do, but not being able to get there. This subject matter – eating vegan – has become a passion, because it’s a home run all around: it’s good for our sense of “right living”; it’s good for our bodies to eat a plant based diet; and it’s a way of being an active environmentalist (vegetarian is the new prius!).

E: Your new book is a follow-up to the original Quantum Wellness. What kind of new information does this book have?

KF: Quantum Wellness is a book that speaks to nearly every sector of your life: relationships, addiction, spiritual growth…everything. It’s an all around guide to wellness of body, mind, and spirit. The Quantum Wellness Cleanse is a 21-day guide to assist you through the process of re-booting your life by cleaning out the toxicity in your diet. There is a lot of information on animal protein and what it does to your body (and soul). As well, you get a very succinct overview on how sugar, alcohol, caffeine, and gluten affect your physical health and emotional wellbeing. You can’t imagine how different you can feel when you give your body a short break from the Big Five! Plus, there are 21 days of unbelievably delicious and easy-to-do recipes by the brilliant Tal Ronnen. They are all vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free.

E: In your books you promote a plant-based diet. Do you think the words “vegan” and “vegetarian” still have a stigma in our society?

KF: It’s funny, I’ve seen the change happen extremely recently. More people say now, “Oh I want to eat that way!” or “I know I should be vegetarian…” You see gorgeous and glittery celebrities who proudly proclaim that they are vegan; you have advocacy groups splashing undercover expose’s of horrible slaughterhouse abuses all over the news, and there are more and more peer-reviewed studies that are coming out in favor of a plant-based diet (and strongly against a meat-based one). All of this has pushed the movement into a tremendous momentum, and I believe we are very near a tipping point. We are not there yet, but we are approaching.

E: What do you say is the single most important dietary adjustment one can make for optimal health?

KF: The single best thing you can do for optimal health is to cut way back on animal protein…until you can cut it out completely. Animal protein causes inflammation, among other things; it’s been conclusively shown to cause (and fan the flames of) cancer and heart disease. It burdens your body all around, insofar as circulation, hormonal imbalance, allergies, asthma, etc. But beyond that, optimal health includes a sense of inner wellbeing too. And I think it’s hard to feel really good, to have a sense that you are in synch with the upward thrust of evolution, if you are partaking in something that has become so cruel and unjust. When you eat in a pure way, that is kind and compassionate, an inner transformation happens that is more energizing than any vitamin or exercise regimen could ever be.

E: How does it feel knowing that YOU were the reason Oprah went vegan for 21 days?

KF: Well, Oprah is very much her own person. I’m just happy that our paths crossed when they did!

E: You have a very interesting philosophy about dining. I know you prefer going to non-veg restaurants and having them prepare something delicious and vegan for you. Tell me more about this choice.

KF: I absolutely love vegan restaurants, and look forward to the day when they are the norm rather than the small minority. But I think there is wisdom in bringing the “vegan” word into as many mainstream arenas as possible. If restaurateurs and food servers don’t hear requests (often) for a vegetarian option, they will most likely not make any changes to their menu. I can’t tell you how many times I ask a waiter what they could put together for me since I’m vegan, and he or she just looks at me like I’m an alien. But then after that exchange, they know what vegan is! Or maybe this is the 10th request they’ve gotten that week, and it’s becoming clear that this is a trend that is growing. They tell their manager and chef that there was a request. And when those requests come often enough, options will become more available. And then even people who aren’t vegetarian will see those options on the menu and try them. It always makes for interesting conversation – for the waiters as well as my dinner companions – and the awareness ripples out. I’m always nice about it, never demanding or fussy. I realize this is an extra step for people to take, so I try and be as easygoing as I can be.

E: How do you feel this administration has handled the health crisis in America and what changes would you like to see them make in the future?

KF: A White House garden is a great start; it shows that vegetables are delicious and good for you. If Michelle Obama publicly served their kids veggie burgers or tofu dogs, I think we might have a real food revolution! But as of now, I don’t see much in the way of calling out meat for the danger it is. Rather than trying to stanch the terrible wound of bad nutrition and all its repercussions later in life, it seems that a responsible government would taken it upon itself to teach people how to eat healthy and thus prevent illness (saving money all around!). My suspicion is that animal protein will go the way of tobacco, and it will be at the top of every doctor’s “no no” list; but like tobacco was, animal agriculture is a very powerful and influential sector of the economy. If anyone can straighten out a business that has gone wildly awry, it’s President Obama, so I have hope! It would certainly be a good idea to have the FDA assess foods – dairy, meat, and eggs – without being influenced by the animal industries that serve as advisors. And on a very practical note, I’d love to see school lunches offer a vegetarian option for kids (there is so much obesity in our country!)

E: I always end with the same question for all the famous vegetarians I interview. If you had the chance to meet one person who you’ve found specifically instrumental in the vegetarian community – dead or alive, past or present – who would it be and why?

KF: I’d love to sit at the feet of Socrates, to listen to his sage advice about how to lift ourselves – and society – up to higher ground through ethics. He was the teacher of teachers, and his philosophy has remained true and sound throughout the ages.

A huge thank you to Kathy Freston for taking time out of her super busy schedule to chat with us. Don’t forget – Kathy’s new book Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Mind, Body and Spirit is available now!! You know what I’ll be reading this week!

Kathy Freston

Freston’s new book Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Mind, Body and Spirit recently hit stores and Ecorazzi was at the launch party in NYC to celebrate! 

The event was held at Pure Yoga — a majestic, four story yoga studio on the Upper East Side. My date for the evening was Crazy Sexy Life superstar Kris Carr (Dude — it’s platonic, she’s married, relax!) who helped me chow down on some incredible vegan nosh. 

Of course we also spent time with some of our favorites — like the crew from Candle Cafe and Candle 79, Sarma Melngailis, owner of Pure Food and Wine and animal-loving philanthropists Peter and Mary Max.

As the night came to end and everyone was cooing over their new copy of Quantum Wellness Cleanse, I though to myself, ” We NEED to have Kathy on the site!” And so we are! 

Ecorazzi is pleased to announce that next week we’ll feature an exclusive interview with the author who’s inspiring the world to clean up their diet! 

Make sure you pick up your own copy of Quantum Wellness Cleanse today! 

Question One: Dear Kathy Freston, why have we not met? Question Two: Why are you always so damn right on?

Quantum Wellness author and Oprah 21-day-veganizer Kathy Freston recently shared a shopping secret with W Magazine. Freston revealed she purposely chooses to buy vegan items from non-vegan designers to encourage them to expand their collection. In the article Freston explains it like this:

“It’s just like restaurants. I almost prefer to go to mainstream places because I think it’s good that they get requests for vegetarian and vegan meals. The more they get positive feedback on that, the more items they’ll add to their menus. And I think it’s the same with fashion houses.”

We feel ya!

But what do YOU think? Do you prefer to only support companies that share your ethics? Chime in and share your thoughts!!

via: vegetarianstar.com

Tomorrow on the Ellen show, friend of Ecorazzi and Skinny Bitch author, Rory Freedman, will be on to discuss her two bestselling vegan books. And then to continue Veganmania, on May 28th Ellen will welcome Kathy Freston, author of Quantum Wellness — also known as the book that encouraged Oprah to take the vegan plunge.

Ellen is a huge animal supporter and encourages eating local and organic food, but she still eats meat. Many people have expressed disappointment that Ellen valiantly fights for the animals and then later consumes them with the same passion. Will Ellen follow Oprah and adopt a vegan lifestyle? We will just have to wait and see!

Listen, I know its way dorky that I get excited about this kind of stuff, but I do, and I’m psyched that some really influential people are starting to get excited about it too! So eat that tofu and stay tuned to Ecorazzi for all your daytime talk show vegan news!