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These celebs traded in cheese for a vegan diet: “It makes me feel really good and look better”

Want to go vegan? Here's some celeb inspo.
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It seems everywhere we look, everyone is going vegan.

With climate change and the pursuit of a healthier lifestyle at the top of our minds, many people are looking to stop eating meat, fish and all animal by-products, including milk and cheese, in a bid to eat in a more sustainable way.

If you fit into that camp, or if you’re thinking about going vegan but are feeling a little overwhelmed, there’s a long list of vegan celebrities who could serve as your plant-based inspiration.

These Hollywood A-listers have ditched animal products for a variety of reasons – most cite a concern over the inhumane treatment of animals, as well as the environmental impact of eating meat – but they all say they feel amazing thanks to their new way of eating.

So whether you’re looking for a quick detox like Beyoncé and Jay Z, who famously did a 22-day vegan challenge in 2013, or you’re ready for a full diet overhaul, keep on scrolling for all the inspo you need to go plant-based full-time.

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Gisele

Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen, along with her husband, former US football star Tom Brady have adopted a plant-based diet. “In the beginning he was like, it was a little, you know, different for him,” Gisele has said of her hubby’s transition. “But now he loves it, and he wouldn’t have it any other way, because he feels better.”

(Images: PETA/Getty)

Emily Deschanel

Emily Deschanel is an animal rights activist and says farm animals are her main concern: “Going vegetarian or vegan is certainly a way to lessen your footprint on the Earth.”

(Images: PETA/Getty)

Alicia Silverstone

An avid animal lover, Alicia Silverstone became vegetarian at 12 and vegan at 18. But she talks about how veganism transformed her health: “Once I went vegan, I lost the weight I wanted to lose, my nails were stronger, and my skin was glowing.”

(Images: PETA/Getty)

Casey Affleck

Casey Affleck is a keen animal rights campaigner and vegan whose support stems from a childhood pet: “The first dog I had was owned by an abusive couple.”

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Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway showed her commitment to cruelty-free ethics when she stepped out in a custom-made vegan version of Tom Ford’s gladiator dominatrix boots.

(Images: PETA/Getty)

Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix was raised as a vegan and is an ambassador for PETA. Last year he starred in a PETA commercial urging people to relate to the suffering we cause fish when they’re taken from the water and die by suffocation in which Phoenix simulated drowning.

(Images: Instagram/Getty)

Jay-Z & Beyoncé

Jay-Z and Beyoncé jumped on the 22-day vegan challenge bandwagon, saying it was a “spiritual and physical cleanse”. They got into it, posting plenty of photos of their vegan meals on Instagram, but didn’t stick with it.

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Jennifer Lopez

After completing the 22-day challenge Jennifer Lopez stayed vegan, although she has re-introduced some fish to her diet so technically she’s a pescatarian. Lopez says, “Butter is the one thing I miss! Butter makes everything taste better.”

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Tobey Maguire

Tobey Maguire became a vegetarian in 1992 and vegan in 2009. He has said giving up meat was easy: “I’ve never had any desire to eat meat. In fact, when I was a kid I would have a really difficult time eating meat at all.”

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Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde says: “[Being vegan] is not always easy and accessible. But it’s a way of life and makes me as a person feel really good and physically look better.” She briefly abandoned it during her pregnancy but says she’ll go back to veganism.

(Images: PETA/Getty)

Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams campaigns for Greenpeace and PETA and says: “I’ve made a conscious decision not to be part of the cycle of killing animals because I couldn’t see the point of crusading for Greenpeace and then eating a fish.”

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Petra Nemcova

Czech model Petra Nemcova stopped eating meat and animal products in 2007 after learning about the planet’s rapidly depleting fish stocks.

(Images: Supplied)

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres went vegan in 2008 and tries to spread the joy of cooking and eating plant-based food. She has admitted to eating eggs, saying “We have neighbors who have chickens, and we get our eggs from those chickens because they’re happy.”

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Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen’s wife and actress Portia de Rossi is also committed to a cruelty-free lifestyle: “It feels like such a compassionate choice. We are such animal lovers, why stop short of cows and chickens? It didn’t make any sense.”

(Images: Supplied)

Jared Leto

Actor-turned-rock-star Jared Leto and the rest of his band mates are all strict vegans: “Well, there was a time when we used to sacrifice goats, but then we all became vegans, so we’ve been sacrificing tofu before the shows!”

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Lea Michele

Glee star Lea Michele turned vegan for the health benefits as well as animal rights reasons: “It’s about being good to your body and the planet.”

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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Brad Pitt is said to have been a vegan for years, although Angelina Jolie isn’t any longer, saying: “I was a vegan for a long time, and it nearly killed me. I found I was not getting enough nutrition.”

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Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson is a long-time vegan and advocated for a raw food diet and medicinal herbs. The actor also uses only solar power at his house, making him a bona fide eco-celeb.

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Moby

Legendary dance musician Moby has been consistently vocal about his vegan beliefs, even naming his 1996 album Animal Rights and opening a vegan café called TeaNY in New York.

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Thom Yorke

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke is known as an environmental and animal rights activist but he admits he stopped eating meat for a different reason: “I started going out with this girl and I wanted to impress her so I pretended I’d been vegetarian all along…”

(Image: Supplied)

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton was named PETA’s Person of 2010 after he began promoting the benefits of vegan eating. He changed his own habits for health reasons and thanks to the plant-based diet, has lost a lot of weight.

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