Written by PETA
Congratulations, Marisa Serrano! Because this beautiful bride-to-be lost 17 pounds and improved her health by going vegan, she's been named the winner of PETA's first-ever Wedding Dress Weight-Loss Challenge. Marisa will receive a one-of-a-kind vegan wedding dress created by Linda Loudermilk as well as three free fittings with the in-demand designer. And she'll have peace of mind knowing that she won't have to struggle to fit into her custom-made dress on her wedding day.
Marisa told us that she had been vegetarian for two years prior to starting our challenge in July. But like many new vegetarians, she made the mistake of replacing the meat in her diet with cheese—and packed on unwanted pounds as a result. Now that she's stopped eating dairy foods, Marisa's lost weight, and her nasal allergies, sinus infections, and acne have all cleared up.
Brides spend tons of money on weight-loss plans every year when just going vegan could do the trick. If you want to have your (vegan) wedding cake and eat it too on your big day, remove animal-derived foods from your diet now to slim down and stay in shape.
Written by Paula Moore
I don't think this quite qualifies as a work perk: Starting next year, obese government workers in South Carolina will be able to get stomach-shrinking surgery through the state's health insurance plan. Lawmakers created the new "benefit" in order to combat the state's growing obesity epidemic.
While it's great that the government wants to help its employees slim down and live longer, such drastic and expensive—oh, and sometimes dangerous—measures just aren't necessary. The government can best help workers shrink their waistlines—and health care costs—by taking PETA's advice and encouraging employees to go vegan. Wouldn't you rather lose weight by eating great-tasting vegan food than by enduring a painful operation at taxpayers' expense?
Written by Heather Moore
I've caught some fascinating tidbits in media reports about Chelsea Clinton's recent wedding: The bride dropped the ring during the ceremony. She and Marc did a sexy tango during the reception. Chelsea's father, former President Bill Clinton, followed his daughter's lead by going vegan—and he moonwalked during the reception!Wait—Bill Clinton went vegan?That's right: People magazine's Sandra Sobieraj Westfall recently revealed to Today show viewers that, because Chelsea is so concerned about her father's health, Mr. Clinton "went on a vegetarian, no dairy diet, took lots of walks, and he dropped twenty pounds."So, will he stick with heart-healthy, animal-friendly, green cuisine? Considering his heart problems vs. vegan vitality and incredible vegan edibles, I'm optimistic. What do you think?Written by Karin Bennett
You say you care about lonely, neglected dogs who are chained up in all weather extremes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? How far would you go to prove it? Seminole County resident and PETA member Bryan Wilson (right) and a friend went so far as to chain themselves up for eight hours in the blazing Florida heat to call attention to the plight of dogs who spend all day, every day fighting off flies, fleas, and hopelessness.
"Dogs are very social animals," Wilson told a reporter. "By [depriving] them of their human packs, they are essentially reduced from family members to lawn ornaments."
Wilson, who helped draft a proposed law restricting chaining in his county, isn't the only one going to bat for chained dogs. Deborah Linz and Paulette Dean, who are featured in the current issue of PETA's quarterly magazine, Animal Times, were each successful in passing ordinances restricting chaining in Kanawha County, West Virginia, and Danville, Virginia, respectively. More than six states and 120 communities across the country have banned or restricted chaining.
Want to be a hero to dogs by working to pass an anti-chaining ordinance in your community? You'll die happy! To get started, visit HelpingAnimals.com for information on lobbying for anti-chaining laws.
Written by Alisa Mullins
If you're a regular PETA Files reader, you probably already know about the physical and psychological problems that plague specially bred (meaning inbred) dogs. Labrador retrievers commonly suffer from hip dysplasia, cataracts, and retinal degeneration. German shepherds are prone not only to hip dysplasia but also to spinal paralysis, epilepsy, and blood disorders. Bulldogs often develop heart problems and hip disease. (Purebred cats are prone to health problems, too, as I discovered after adopting an adult Siamese cat from a local rescue group and finding out that he has asthma—a condition that affects Siamese kitties more than any other type of cat.)
But a new study shows that breeding is messing with more than dogs' bodies: It's actually changing their brains. The study's researchers found that the brains of many dogs with short snouts, such as mastiffs and pugs, have rotated forward by as much as 15 degrees and that the olfactory bulbs of these animals have drifted downward—possibly affecting their ability to smell! Researchers aren't sure if these changes could also affect behavior, but they may.
This is just one more reason why breeding animals should be nixed—and dogs should be mixed!
Here we go again—another creepy creation. This one was made by artist Jessica Harrison:
I'll give her this: I can see how she might find tiny flies' legs to be reminiscent of human eyelashes, but couldn't she just leave it at that? I mean, my rescued beagle Lulu, R.I.P., had ears that felt just like velvet, but that didn't inspire me to go around hacking off hounds' ears to make a beagle blazer.
Perhaps Harrison thought no one would care if she exploited flies? Wrong. After all, true compassion has no boundaries—besides, there's no good reason to wear animals—or insects.
Written by Karin Bennett
Mississippi chef, restaurateur, and author Robert St. John has revealed that PETA's recent billboard inspired him to go vegetarian for the month of September in an effort to lose weight. In a column for the Laurel Leader-Call, he wrote the following:
There's been a big stink in the news lately. The animal activist group PETA posted a billboard in Florida with a photo of an obese woman in a bikini with the tag line, "Save the Whales, Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian." A lot of overweight people were offended. I'm a fat person, and I thought it was funny. If I had my choice, I'd rather see PETA's scantily clad model campaign, but I don't mind a good chuckle at the expense of a fellow fat person. I wasn't offended, though I was intrigued by the premise. Could I lose the blubber by going veggie? It sounded like a challenge to me, so I'm going to take the challenge.
There's been a big stink in the news lately. The animal activist group PETA posted a billboard in Florida with a photo of an obese woman in a bikini with the tag line, "Save the Whales, Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian." A lot of overweight people were offended. I'm a fat person, and I thought it was funny. If I had my choice, I'd rather see PETA's scantily clad model campaign, but I don't mind a good chuckle at the expense of a fellow fat person.
I wasn't offended, though I was intrigued by the premise. Could I lose the blubber by going veggie? It sounded like a challenge to me, so I'm going to take the challenge.
Yep, for 30 days the meat-loving columnist will forgo the bacon and buffalo wings, which means that some pigs and chickens will be spared from winding up on his plate.
Our advice to Mr. St. John? Stay away from dairy foods too. Seriously, you could gain 2 pounds just by looking at cheese fries.
You probably remember Maureen McCormick as Marcia from The Brady Bunch—as in, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" These days, she's enjoying a renewed sense of celebrity as a result of her appearances on popular reality TV programs, such as Celebrity Fit Club, Gone Country, and its sequel, Outsider's Inn. She's also just released an autobiography, Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, and it's already successful.
Maureen has long been known for her adorability—it's true, she's super cute!—but even after her (winning!) stint on Celebrity Fit Club, she's still been looking to shed a few more pounds. So, being the helpful people we are, we're sending her a copy of PETA's "Vegetarian Starter Kit" and a word of advice—that one of the best, healthiest ways to lose weight is to go vegan!
As we wrote in our letter to Maureen, vegan diets are a great change from the heart-damaging cholesterol that is found in dead flesh. Cutting out dairy also means cutting out a lot of fat—dairy foods are, after all, about as high-fat as you can get.
You can check out our letter to Maureen here. We hope that Maureen can turn over a new dieting leaf, and maybe she'll find her true voice—as a vegetarian!
Written by Amanda Schinke
If you live in California—or even if you don't!—you've probably heard all about Prop 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. Prop 2 concerns a law that would take effect in 2015 to eliminate veal crates, gestation crates, and battery cages in California. In other words, calves, sows, and hens would finally be given enough space to simply turn around, lie down, and stretch their limbs.
Although we at PETA would, of course, prefer that no animals be killed for food whatsoever, lessening the hell that these animals are put through is something that can be accomplished right now—on November 4, in fact, when Californians go to the polls.
Among the many voices clamoring in support of Prop 2 are Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles stars Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker, who have come together with us to help explain why Prop 2 is so important. Enjoy it, spread it around—and vote "Yes!" on Prop 2!
Does anyone remember our sexy "Go Veg, Texas" campaign? Of course you do! Well, this time around, we're traveling a bit south of the border and asking Mexico to do the same thing (minus the bikini).
If you haven't yet heard, Mexico has recently started the "Vamos por un millón de kilos'' campaign to encourage all residents to lose weight. Well, we know a thing or two about lookin' fine and stayin' slim without all the grease and cruelty that meat-based diets offer. Check out our letter to President Calderón and let us know what you think:
His Excellency Felipe CalderónPresident of the Republic of Mexico1 page via fax Dear President Calderón: On behalf of PETA, an international animal rights organization with more than 2 million members and supporters worldwide, I applaud your administration's "Vamos por un millón de kilos" campaign. May we add that the best way to help your citizens lose weight while improving their health would be to encourage them to choose a vegetarian diet? As you might know, consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy products is linked to the major killers in the U.S. and Mexico—heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and strokes.Animal flesh, milk, and cheese are packed with fat, calories, and cholesterol. It's little wonder that as Mexicans move away from a traditional Mexican diet high in healthy vegetables, grains, fruit, and beans and toward the typical U.S. diet, which is laden with fatty animal flesh and devoid of fiber, they are also following their neighbors to the north in packing on the pounds and becoming sick and prematurely incapacitated. Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that vegetarians are far less likely to be overweight than meat-eaters and far more likely to be in better overall health. They live longer and die less painful deaths. The American Dietetic Association—the largest group of nutrition professionals in the U.S.—reviewed hundreds of studies and concluded that vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer than people who eat meat. A healthy vegetarian diet provides all the nutrients that we need to thrive—without the saturated animal fats and cholesterol found in meat that cause weight gain and clogged arteries. In addition, every vegetarian saves hundreds of animals from the horrible cruelty of the meat industry, such as mutilation without any painkillers, intensive confinement, and violent slaughter. To help kick off the "Go Vegetarian, Mexico" campaign, two of PETA's beautiful Lettuce Ladies would like to join you for an event at the National Palace to hand out delicious vegetarian fare—like tasty faux-beef tacos and soy-cheese and mock-chicken quesadillas—along with copies of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit." (The kit can be viewed online at SeaVegetariano.com.) Please let me know when you would like to schedule this exciting event. Thank you for your consideration.Very truly yours, Ingrid E. NewkirkPresident
Written by Christine Doré
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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