Alicia Silverstone hopes to provide assistance to fellow vegan moms who are struggling to feed their newborns breast milk.

We’ve heard of car sharing, bike sharing, and other collaborative consumption efforts, but what about sharing breast milk? Your initial reaction might be shock, but it’s actually not uncommon for women to supplement their own milk production in times of emergency or physical inability. There are both formal “milk banks” and informal sharing circles.

Now, actress, author, and vegan activist, Alicia Silverstone, has launched her own peer-to-peer breast milk sharing program, called “Kind Mama Milk Share.” The program is intended to provide an alternative for those mothers who have made the decision to be vegan, and want to raise their newborns in the same way.

On her blog, The Kind Life, Silverstone recounts the experience that inspired her to start the milk share.

A couple weeks ago, another mama I know gave birth to a son…because of a breast reduction surgery, she found she wouldn’t be able to make enough milk for him, no matter how much precious boobie time they spent together. She tried reaching out in her community for donor milk, but it was almost impossible to figure out what kind of lifestyle choices the donors had made.”

Vegan mothers who find themselves in similar situations are often forced to turn to formulas in order to ensure proper caloric intake. Yes, there are vegan formulas, but just like the dairy-based version, it’s a poor substitute for mother’s milk.

In a move that clearly plans to mobilize Silverstone’s significant online following, she’s encouraging vegan mothers who need milk to connect with those who have extra milk by commenting on her website. There are already more than 100 comments offering or requesting milk on the post, though it’s unclear whether Silverstone will be creating a dedicated page for “Kind Mama Milk Share”.

Would you participate in a sharing program of this nature or encourage your friends to do so? Share your thoughts in a comment. 

Image: maessive

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Alicia Silverstone is offering up free dating advice for vegans, and those looking for other plant-based lovers.

Silverstone says you don’t necessarily have to find someone who is already a vegan. It’s important to be open minded. On her website, The Kind Life, she says, “The jist [sic] is not to limit yourself to finding someone who is already a vegan. Be open to the person who is right for you.”

When the actress and vegan starting dating her husband neither were vegan, but here’s her advice if she was currently dating. “I’d like to think that I would be able to just be looking for a really amazing person, and then trust that that amazing person – once given all the wonderful information that we have to offer, about health and the planet and animals – that that person would be so compassionate and so intelligent and so brilliant that they’d want to jump on board, as much as they possibly could.”

She says do not show up on a first date and declare “I’m vegan. You need to be vegan too!” If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. Remember, people can always change.

For those looking to meet people that are already vegan, Silverstone recommends taking a yoga class, going to a farmers market, volunteering at animal organizations and attending environmental events – to name a few.

The point is, be open minded to who you’re looking to meet and who you’re dating.

Here are some further tips from Silverstone about how to meet a veg partner; if you want to introduce your partner to a kind diet; and how not to turn them off from a kind lifestyle.

Silverstone also wants to hear from you! As vegans, she wants to know about your dating and relationship experiences. She’s created a short survey, so give Silverstone a helping hand.

Ecorazzi covers news and gossip on celebrities and notables in support of the environment and humanitarian causes. You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Image: bigbirdz

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Is Alicia Silverstone just another Hollywood pretty face? As if! This adorable, animal rights “Betty” is anything but Clueless. Ever since the release of her best-selling book, The Kind Diet, the vegetarian celebrity’s become a leading voice for the green foodie movement, advocating the benefits of a plant-based diet to the mainstream.

Covering everything from the benefits of buying second-hand, to cruelty-free fashion and garden composting tips, her blog now boasts 15,000 subscribers. Supporting sustainable businesses and experimenting with earth-friendly practices, she doesn’t just talk the talk, but also walks the walk!

So what can we learn from Alicia’s Kind Life movement for Earth Day?

1. Transitioning to a veg-friendly diet is one of the best things we can do for the planet.

“Despite all of our recycling, energy saving, and water conservation,” explains Alicia, “most people still don’t know they can have the greatest impact on Earth adopting a plant-based diet.”

We hear so much about carbon and global warming, and yet methane emitted by livestock accounts for 19 percent of total global emissions. If everyone in the U.S. gave up meat, we would reduce U.S. emissions by six percent overnight. We’re supporting billions of livestock in factory farms that take up precious resources like water, grains, and land. It takes 11 times the energy to create animal protein than grain protein.

Finally, you might have heard: just reducing our meat intake by 20 percent creates the same energy savings as switching a standard car for a Prius.

Doesn’t have to be hard, just check out Meatless Monday for inspiration and make the start of the week meat-free.

2. Buy less material goods

We waste so much energy on materialistic goods, when much of what we buy travels thousands of miles from where it’s made to only end up collecting dust on our shelves. I love that instead of promoting ecologically-void brands, Alicia shops on Craigslist, uses freecycle.org and helps spread the anti-consumerist Story of Stuff. She’s big on giving handmade gifts from Etsy too. Consider all these great sources before buying your next toy.

3. Consume less water

Having started a Take Back the Tap Facebook Campaign, I was impressed how much great information Alicia provided during this year’s World Water Week – including how to make your own low-flush toilet. Flushing less water can save hundreds of gallons of water a month as well as taking shorter showers. So Alicia says, “Don’t flush unless you have to!” She also goes as far as recommending waterless car washes in auto-obsessed L.A., how awesome is that?

I respect that Alicia raves about the movie “Flow” to grasp the world water crisis, and unlike other female stars, she’s savvy enough to stay clear of bottled water marketing.

But like many vegetarians, for Alicia “eating kindly” is the ultimate water conservation method. She explains that one 16 ounce steak uses the amount of water needed for six months worth of showers!

4. Get your hands dirty and know thy food

So you’re already shopping at the farmer’s market. Why not take the leap and start to grow your own veggies? Learn the principles of organic gardening in permaculture. If necessary, start with herbs like basil and mint in individual pots or a simple raised bed for lettuces. Alternatively, support your local CSA and get some beautiful produce delivered to your door. Check out what’s in season and eat accordingly.

Then get a worm-friendly compost bin to save food waste from going in landfills.

5. Buy eco-friendly products

Now more than ever, we get to vote with our dollars. We can rant or rave about products through social networking tools and word-of-mouth marketing. So Alicia says choose wisely! Her blog provides lots of links to “living well” resources like earth-friendly make-up and home design.

Ultimately, Alicia’s Kind Diet celebrates Earth Day everyday. But whether you become a flirt or Superhero, these tips for Earth Day will contribute towards a greener planet.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post courtesy of Vera Churilov. Vera is a health educator and writer on sustainable food and plant-based living. You can read more of Vera’s work at Nourish the Spirit.

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Eco-Fashion Superhero?

Alicia Silverstone’s recent bestseller, “The Kind Diet,” tempts its readers to embrace a healthy, vegan lifestyle that will have them “feeling great, losing weight, and saving the planet.” Silverstone divides the diet into three levels: flirting, going vegan, and superhero. Offering up three non-judgmental pathways appealed to me as a great reference point for how to buy eco-fashion. As we get more conscious about how the production of our clothing impacts the environment, more women are turning to eco-labels for their latest fashion purchases. Most of us are flirting, checking out what is available in the eco fashion world and perhaps buying the occasional eco-friendly piece. Then there are the superheroes – we salute you! – who are buying everything in green – from their lingerie to their workout wear.

I find myself going eco at midlevel. For the last few years, I’ve been shopping in my closet, thrifting, rummaging around vintage stores, buying from local eco designers, skipping by fast-fashion, and generally keeping my clothing wantonness in check. But, the point at which I get a little stuck is wardrobe basics. I’m talking about the basic tees, leggings and simple knitwear like a black turtleneck, V-neck or long cardigan. These pieces are indispensable stalwarts in my wardrobe working hard to anchor my more adventurous attempts at flair.

As someone on a tiny clothing budget, my strategy used to be saving money for the more exciting stuff by skimping on the basics. When I heard Sally Singer, the features editor of Vogue, agree it’s best to save your money for the wild purple chubby and buy your basics at Club Monaco or H&M, I figured I was on the right track.

That was before I committed to a low-impact lifestyle and declared that my look should be elevated by this new focus. So, no more cheap basics for me. Not surprisingly, I found myself frenziedly flicking through a fast-fashion outlet’s sale rack today.  Hoping to find long black cardigans and plain white tees to get me thru until summer. Before long, I caught myself and remembered my pledge to sustainable fashion. While it’s true that there are far greater eco-friendly clothing lines than ever before, they just can’t compete with fast-fashion prices. Isn’t this getting down to the nitty-gritty of the green consumer dilemma?

In a recent study, despite economic woes, 35 percent of survey respondents say they would pay more for “˜environmentally-friendly’ products. But is paying $2 more for laundry detergent the same as justifying a plain black tee priced $30-50 more than the one in H&M. Or, the leggings you can buy at express for $26 for two pairs? It’s in this sticky, uncomfortable place that you find your defining moment as an ecologist.

Thanks to people like Annie Leonard, who invites us to trace the true cost of our belongings, we now know the true price of something made unbelievable cheap – hello H&M seven buck tees – is paid for quite literally by the environment, by the low paid worker tolling in bad conditions and the third world countries forever struggling to get on their knees.

The path to committing to the environment is a process that doesn’t have to take superhero strength, but perhaps, small acts over and over again. Luckily the leading edge of the industry is giving the green light too. What’s hot now is dressing with integrity in belief and action. While the eco design community produces pieces that have to be more expensive there are positive trade-offs to turning conventional wardrobe strategies on their head. Eco-basics are artfully designed and generally crafted better, making them cost-efficient because they won’t fall apart as fast. Think “Investment Basics.” Not just investments for your wardrobe, but for the planet too.

Check out my Investment Basics picks

Soft supple tees and leggings from SUST-their Disco tops are cut oh so flattering.

Edun’s plain and patterned leggings are cut in fabric that is long wearing and has great appearance retention (no sagging!)

Loomstate for simple knitwear such as hoodies and long cardigans.

Image: Bernhard Willhelm spring and summer 2006 by Christopher Moore

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Meat: It isn’t what’s for dinner if you want to be thinner – on and off the red carpet. Yes, a rigid diet is a great way to feel in control, and it shows up in vegetarian lifestyles just like all others.

The most disciplined in our culture are Hollywood celebs du jour like Kristen Bell, who swears by vegetarian diets (and daily workouts) to get that perfect body. It is not just a lifestyle for this segment, but a career. A one-time vegan, Bell says she reaches for a spoonful of peanut butter or a few Morningstar Farms veggie sausages for that protein fix.

She is among a growing cast of leading ladies (Demi Moore, Alicia Silverstone, Natalie Portman) and regular weight-conscious folk who have become mindful eaters not only for environmental and moral reasons, but to achieve that flat, bikini belly and 3-inch gap between the upper thighs. It works quite well but isn’t the vegetarian ideal.

Fountain-of-youth finder Moore says she is lucky she prefers iron rich, leafy spinach to chocolate, explaining why she looks 20 when she is approaching 50. But for most women, a focus on a strict veggie diet to reduce calories rather than to maintain good health has its pitfalls in terms of getting adequate daily nutrition.

“There is a caloric intake everyone needs, usually around 1200 to 1800 – depending on the height to weight ratio and if someone isn’t hitting that amount they are suffering from a caloric deficit and cannot function properly on a daily basis,” says Reese Dimacali, CPT/NCSF, a Bay Area trainer and nutrition consultant. “To be healthy you need everything, fiber, carbs and protein, which are fuel sources for our bodies and you are causing trauma to the body without that balance.”

Dimacali finds the healthiest vegetarians are not the new crop of green beings trying to look like models and rock stars but well rounded people who take it seriously. They research what their body might be lacking by giving up animal proteins and fats, and supplement their diets with protein shakes, whole grains, legumes, nuts, fish oil, pills, bars, rice and beans, soy and rice milks or other nutrition to boost energy and vitality.

“I studied at U.C. Santa Cruz and there were always rail thin vegetarians lying on the beach, not working out,” says the trainer. “I never saw them going on runs. You don’t have to work out to stay thin if you are only eating salads and spinach because losing weight is 80 percent eating, not exercising. It takes a lot of greens and cabbage soup to get the calories up to what is needed, and that is why they are usually so lethargic.”

In other words, if you aren’t a conscious vegetarian, you aren’t inclined to move your body the same way as the vegan with a cause. As Diets in Review points out, the way of the vegan and vegetarian is not a diet, but a lifestyle, one that requires awareness and responsibility. The site also links this choice to a deeper respect of the environment, saying “while there is a not a link to Veganism and activity, Vegans generally tend to eschew fossil fuels, and this translates into increased walking or utilizing public transportation methods, which in turn increases physical activity.”

Today, there is a cornucopia of websites, such as Vegan Nutrionista, which can walk you through the food pyramid for maintaining good a good intake of grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and oils  – and staying fit as a result. When we talk to teens about their bodies, we focus on health and not weight to prevent eating disorders. We do this for a reason.

Vegan Nutrionista’s Food Pyramid:

With adults going vegetarian, as well, we need to emphasize the prolonging of life and lifting of spirits that often comes with avoiding sweet, salty, preserved processed foods and chemicals found in much of the animal kingdom. A muscular, buff body is sure to follow – ask any wise yogi! Very few of the masters clean their digestive systems to look hot in skinny jeans; but they still do. And so will you, as long as you feed your carnivore-designed system with what it requires.

Images: Celebrity Diets, Examiner

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