Blame it on logic. When author and wellness guru Kathy Freston first entertained the idea of becoming a vegan, she was playing around with her chihuahua Lhotse. “I was rubbing her belly and I said, ‘Oh, I love this dog so much!'”says Kathy. “I was thinking how happy I felt being around animals and suddenly this little voice inside me said, ‘Well, if you love animals so much, why do you eat them?’ Oh…trapped!”
This was in 2001, when some people would still roll their eyes if you said you didn’t eat meat. (Today, you can join a long list of cool vegans and vegetarians that includes Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt, Anne Hathaway, Carrie Underwood, Chris Martin, Alec Baldwin and Pink.) And growing up a traditional Southern girl, Kathy was used to her milkshakes and burgers. “I didn’t even know where to begin,” she says. “It was pretty foreign to me. But I decided to slowly lean into it by giving up one animal at a time, starting with cows and pigs and then going down the list until I had replaced them all with plant-based food. That way it didn’t feel overwhelming.”
