In celebration of his 44th birthday, rap mogul Jay Z has decided to go vegan. He made the announcement in a post on his Life + Times blog on Tuesday. He started this 22 day challenge the day before his birthday and it will end on Christmas Day.
Not only is Mr. Carter starting a plant-based diet, so is his wife Beyoncé. Both artists are currently on tour and have already been spotted in different vegan restaurants. Yesterday the couple was seen in Real Food Daily, a premiere organic vegan restaurant in West Hollywood. They went to the restaurant before Beyoncé’s performance at the Staples center last night. He felt this was the right time for him to try being vegan because of the “serendipity” behind the number, a 22 day challenge for his 44th birthday and that it ended on Christmas Day.
Although being vegan has been popular for some time, it remains controversial. One of the reasons it remains controversial is because some people can experience negative repercussions from removing all animal products from their diet. In a scientific study published in the Annuals of Nutrition and Metabolism, it found that 92 percent of vegans are deficient in Vitamin B12, a nutrient vital for brain function and blood cell formation. Other deficiencies that can cause problems for some vegans are DHA, protein, and carnosine.
In his blog post he revealed that a few months back a good friend of his, who was a vegan, encouraged him to start eating a plant-based breakfast every day. Switching to not eating meat for breakfast wasn’t as hard as he thought. He also explained that this experience will be a spiritual and physical cleanse for himself. Throughout this process, he will be posting updates on his blog and he will be asking vegans restaurant tips.
Some other prominent people who eat plant-based diets are Betty White, Denzel Washington, and Alec Baldwin. Other celebrities who have become vegan more recently include Ne-Yo, Ben Stiller, and Mike Tyson. According to a Gallup Poll, 2 percent of Americans identify themselves as vegans, which is more than 6 million people.
Would you try this 22-day vegan challenge?
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Real Food Daily is right down the street from me and I LOVE their food! Would have died to see Lady B and Jay-Z there!
More power to them. I wish I could go vegan, but that’s such a big commitment.