21 days plant-powered challenge with Eesha G
Today anchor & actor Eesha G is here to give you the 21-day plant-powered challenge. Watch her talk about her plant-based journey and share tips and insights.
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We thank Eesha for speaking in defense of the millions of animals exploited for meat, eggs, and dairy. Her dedication and compassion are an inspiration!
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Are you ready to take the #21daysplantpoweredchallenge from her? Visit loveveg.in to learn more about how you can help create a compassionate world for all.
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#plantpoweredhero #animalhero #eeshag #plantbaseddiet #govegan #veganrecipes #vegansofindia #veganinterviews
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Transcript (English — en)
hi everyone I'm Isha G I'm an anchor and
actor here in India and I'm very happy
to support animal equality's love veg
campaign as part of this campaign I'm
here to challenge you to try a
plant-based diet for 21 days
I turned vegan about 15 years back and
today I'll be sharing my journey
[Music]
where should I start I've been
passionate about animal rights from a
young age at the age of about five or
six my parents were going through some
old boxes in my grandfather's room he's
the reason we moved to America he was a
senior scientist for NASA so we settled
in Houston but I never met him and we're
going through some of these old
cardboard boxes in his room and there
were some VHS cassette tapes in the
boxes like hundreds of them and they
inserted it in the VHS player and
they ended up being videos of
slaughterhouses in Mexico and America
showing cows hung upside down being beat
to like make the leather more supple
and then skinned alive and then cut and
I'm very grateful to my parents for not
removing me from the room and from
seeing that at such a tender young age
I think children have a very clear moral
compass and as we get older and we get
influenced by the world and society and
other people that moral compass gets a
little bit more blurred so I'm very
grateful to my family for kind of
enhancing or enforcing that moral
compass at such a young age with such
vivid imagery so since then I kind of
was very passionate about being
vegetarian even though my family already
grew up like I grew up vegetarian and so
was my family
in about eighth grade I started
questioning my family as to why they say
eggs are bad and it's basically a
chicken's period and
chickens aren't treated right in the
poultry industry yet they're okay eating
it in cakes and cookies and pastas so
this hypocrisy wasn't sitting well with
me and I started questioning those
things so in about when I was in eight
standard I quit eating eggs in things
and also got my family too and then
around 11th standard I think I was 17 or
so
so my best friend and I would talk about
such things all the time and the
internet had just come about and I would
read about and watch videos about the
animal Industries and I learned at that
time through the internet that the dairy
industry is full of Cruelty I didn't
know what veganism was we're talking
about 15 years back in Texas the meat
and dairy capital of America
and I had never heard of a vegan person
in fact even being vegetarian was taboo
when I would go to a Subway and order a
sandwich without meat sometimes you
would literally get laughed at
so at that time going vegan just seemed
so extreme I'd never heard of it never
met a single person nobody I knew knew
what that was
but my best friend who was Jane at the
time she her community was very much
very much more aware about veganism
being that it's based on non-violence
and she went vegan a couple months
before I did and she was the biggest
junk food eater I knew I mean she would
have Burger King Taco Bell pizza every
day for lunch her parents would bring
her take out from fast food restaurants
and she was able to go vegan and I saw
what she ate and it seemed quite easy
she would just still eat her Oreo
cookies and her Burgers without cheese
Taco Bell without cheese everything that
she loved she was still able to eat for
the most part and once I saw that it is
doable I also decided to go vegan and I
never looked back and to this day it was
the best decision of my life to date
[Music]
I'll be honest so I went vegan for a
week and then I sat down and I had a tub
of ice cream and an entire large piece
of pizza I was a dairy kid my whole life
I'm coming from a Punjabi family so
paneer and Lassie and all Dairy items
are a part of my life in a very big way
and I screamed I had a mad Sweet Tooth I
still do so ice cream cakes cookies all
of that were very essential to my life
especially cheese
so initially it was a challenge
my father
told asked us to take up at the bastia
we were learning about the concept of
tapasi at that time which is basically
any daily deed that you do of
self-discipline to gain control over
your senses
so what that means is basically let's
say I love
uh chocolate cake and I eat it every
single day and I can't live without it
one day when you give up the chocolate
cake initially it's going to be very
hard and you put it in your face if you
smell it you want to eat it if somebody
shows it to you you want to eat it if
you see a picture of it you may you
start drooling but eventually after a
week two weeks three weeks someone can
stick chocolate cake in your face and
you still won't have the physical
craving to want to eat it and so at that
point your mind has gained control over
your senses and now it's more of your
own choice rather than your body
controlling your choices so we were
learning about the basyan my father
encouraged us each to take on at the
busy at that time and for me veganism
was that the Basia so yes it takes a
little bit of drive and sacrifice
especially back then I'm talking about
back then everyone who wants to go vegan
today you guys have it easy
um back then there was no vegan ice
cream vegan butter vegan cheese at least
in Texas
um and so I had to give up a lot of the
things that I love today if I was to go
vegan you wouldn't have to give up a
single thing and that's the beauty of it
um yes it was a challenge for me but
within two months I think it took from
all the Cravings to stop after two
months it was just a daily routine like
anything else it was just like when
people would say how are you vegetarian
it's so hard and I'll be no it's easy so
similarly it became very easy it just
took the initial adjustment period but
so those were the challenges I faced
um
other than that it's been super easy I
am a big foodie I live to eat I don't
eat to live so if I can do it I know
that if you guys can do it especially
when there's so many options available
today
in India I feel like being that
vegetarian is such a known concept for
so long it's so easy to eat vegan
anywhere you go
and if you have people who actually care
about you they won't be judging you for
it in fact you don't even have to say
anything oh I need to eat vegan you can
literally find vegan options everywhere
you go if you're traveling now every
single international flight at least has
a vegan option and you can select it
beforehand I love to travel and I travel
a lot and I've never had any issues with
that airports are full of vegan options
as well so I think in today's day and
age whether you
go out a lot want to be social or travel
a lot being vegan is very doable and
very easy if you want to you can still
carry your snacks with you or your
smoothies with you but honestly you can
find vegan options everywhere
[Music]
I start my day with lemon water or plain
warm water and then after some time I
have two coconuts privileges of living
in Mumbai which I don't get back home
so I have that and then after a few
hours I have a mono fruit meal or at
least I start my day with fruit whether
it's a mono fruit meal or sometimes a
juice or smoothie
um and I try to eat mostly raw this
wasn't always how I ate more since I
entered this industry and for my fitness
and my looks I feel that raw food is the
cleanest way to eat so I eat mostly raw
and I have one cooked meal in the day
and because like I said I live to eat
and I love food I kind of let that that
part of my meal or my day go and I eat
whatever I feel like eating as long as
it's not too oily or too crazy so yeah
so I consume a lot of fruit and raw
fruits and veggies soaked nuts and seeds
throughout the day and then I have one
cooked meal in the evening and that's
usually whatever I want to eat
so I travel a lot for work and for
personal reasons I've traveled all over
India as well as internationally and
it's like I said it's never been too
difficult for me I book my flight
choices for meals in advance when I'm
traveling I don't be completely mostly
Raw One cooked meal a day like I am
while I'm in Mumbai or home
but I do try to start my day with fruit
still food is available anywhere you go
and juices or smoothies are usually
available as well I recently traveled to
Bali as well which to my surprise
although there are mostly Hindu country
they had a lot of
meat and non-vegan options
but I was still able to find vegan food
everywhere I went I ate a lot of fruit a
lot of local tropical fruits while I'm
in India the safest thing for me
whenever I'm not sure if something's
vegan or I'm not sure what to eat or
where to eat is South Indian food even
if you're in a tiny small town you can
usually find it and South Indian Food
Vegetarian South Indian food is mostly
vegan somber
Dosa coconut chutney all day every day I
could eat it for breakfast lunch and
dinner honestly so that's usually what I
eat when I'm traveling in India and when
I'm traveling abroad it's a lot of
whatever local fruits they have and then
again eating out and finding I enjoy
finding vegan restaurants and vegetarian
restaurants whenever I travel so that
becomes a fun part of every travel or
every destination that I go to
thank you
as far as protein it's a very common
misconception that you need x amount of
protein to be fit
or that being vegan makes you lose too
much weight I know a lot of my male
friends struggle with this issue that
they don't want to lose muscle or lose
weight they're trying to gain and I
actually gained 36 pounds my second year
being vegan without trying I was working
out I was eating and so veganism is a
healthy diet I hope this inspires you to
join hands with me to save animals our
health and the environment are you ready
to take the 21 days plant power
challenge take the pledge at animal
equality's loveveg dot in for the plant
power Challenge and receive a whole lot
of recipes tips and information on
plant-based alternatives to meat Dairy
and eggs
[Music]