Natalie Portman Gives Up Vegan Diet

By Sarah Crow Posted Apr 11th 2011 10:00AM

Natalie Portman's pregnancy has brought about some interesting cravings for the health-conscious mom-to-be.

The former self-proclaimed "vegan activist" realized that continuing to live free of all animal products no longer suited her, Us Weekly reports.

Portman, who adopted a vegan diet after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's book, 'Eating Animals,' told Atlanta's Q100 Bert Show, "I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff. I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy and that sort of stuff."

The actress, who recently launched a line of vegan shoes with company Te Casan, said of the switch, "If you're not eating eggs, then you can't have cookies or cake from regular bakeries, which can become a problem when that's all you want to eat."

"I actually wanted eggs at the beginning and then they grossed me out after awhile," she says of her broadened diet. "I know there are people who do stay vegan," she added, "but I think you have to just be careful, watch your iron levels and your B12 levels and supplement those if there are things you might be low in in your diet."

So is the switch permanent? It seems likely that Portman, who is due this summer, may revert to her former diet after giving birth, considering her strong convictions.

"We are capable of considering others' minds and others' pain," she told the Huffington Post of others who favor a vegan lifestyle. "Whereas those who justify eating animals say the same thing: We are not them. They do not merit the same value of being as us. They are not us."

Tags: natalie Portman

Comments

(45)

Monday 11 April

By blochuckles

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

Hey I'm all for eating healthy but a vegan diet is crazy, people are omnivors. Vegan is too restricted. When your pregnant you need to eat right if you want a healthy baby!!!!

By Pema

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

vegan is the best diet if you are pregnant. even milk and eggs are pumped with hormones and antibiotics. thats not healthy for a baby.

By Chrissy

Actually, I just read a news story last week about a baby who died and it was being blamed on the mother's vegan diet. It said that the baby did not get the nutrients that it needed from it's mothers breast milk and eventually got sick and died.

Thursday 14 April

By sarahsotasprings

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Pema - hormones and chemicals are not a concern with organic dairy and meat.

By RMI

Vote down Vote up Report this

My ex was a big supporter of that lifestyle. Like it or not we are omnivores and that is science not belief. Who am I to try and change biology.

By commbot

You change your biology all the time. And thank goodness - Ever had to have surgery? Taken an aspirin?

By mary

we are not omnivores and no, it is not science. educate yourself!!

Hey Mary! YOU need to educate YOURSELF!! Human beings are omnivores - eaters of both animals and vegetation! Look it up!

By Ted

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I've never met a healthy vegan, they always look like death.

By Mary

I know someone on that diet and she looks tired and washed out. Eat everything in moderation is just fine with me.

By leslee

Zooey and Emily Deschanel are both vegans. They look perfectly healthy to me as did Ms. Portman. I know lots of people who eat a regular diet and look like death.

please no fibs. portman was vegan. she got thru black swan as a vegan...pamela anderson is vegan...she doesnt look like death warmed over. i frankly dont think youve met vegans.

By Eric

That's a ridiculous statement. The overweight population of the United States doesn't only LOOK like death, it IS death. It's shocking how many trolls there are on the internet.

Friday 03 June

By Lindsey

Have to seen Alicia Silverstone? Vegan for 9 years. Or Ellen DeGeneres? For someone over 50 she looks amazing.

By Oscar

Good start giving up the vegan diet, now how about giving up the Academy Award to one of the deserving actress's or better yet the real star, the dancer!

By Sally

If the oscar should go to the woman that did the dancing then it went to the right woman - Natalie. She trained for a year to be able to dance in the movie. If you listened to the director out of the 110 shots of dancing in the movie, her stand in only did 10. Remarkable. Natalie deserved the oscar.

The award for best actress is meant for the actress in the movie. Regardless of whether she did her own dancing or not, any body double or dancer who had no speaking parts in the film does not deserve the award just because they dance. Natalie was the person acting in the film with all of the speaking parts for that character. She obviously would be the one deserving the award.

By lita

When did they start giving out Oscars for Dancing. You do understand that she got the Oscar for her acting not her dancing. Right?

By Sue

I suppose all actors and actresses should have given their Oscars to their body doubles, such as Rachel Weisz? Most actors use body doubles in one form or the other.

By KS.

Where's the beef???

Page 1 of 3