Bride Wins Wedding Gown by Going Vegan

A young woman named Marisa Serrano won a $6,000 wedding dress created by Los Angeles-based designer Linda Loudermilk. Ms. Serrano, a resident of Palm Springs, won PETA’s Wedding Dress Weight-Loss Challenge by losing seventeen pounds when she switched to a vegan diet. She said, “Since my transition was from vegetarian to vegan, the biggest thing I cut out was dairy—what a difference! For starters, no more nasal allergies, no more sinus infections, and my acne has mostly disappeared. Had I known about these side benefits, I would’ve gone vegan years ago.” (Source: peta.org)

PETA says brides spend a lot money before their weddings trying to lose weight, but if they go vegan they can save money, lose weight and improve their health. When she gave up meat for a vegetarian diet, Serrano was still eating cheese and drinking milk. Quitting dairy products reportedly eliminated both her sinus problems and acne. The weight loss, however, did not result only from going vegan, because she also started a six-day-a-week exercise program. Originally she changed to a vegetarian diet because she wanted to reduce her impact on the animal world. PETA says making that switch can result in 100 fewer animals per year being killed for consumption.

They also say the average cholesterol measurement for vegans is 133, compared to 210 for the average meat eater, and that vegetarians are 1/9th as likely to be obese as meat eaters. Vegetarians and vegans also have lower rates of heart disease, which is one of the top killers in the United States. A vegetarian diet also tends to be cheaper than a meat-based one, especially if you factor in the cost of medical procedures that are much less likely to be required. Even the mainstream MSN Money has an article about the cost savings of vegetarianism: “Years of poor nutrition habits can lead to chronic disease.” These chronic diseases can have tremendous costs leading into old age. A bypass surgery or angioplasty procedure can cost nearly $60,000,” said Ryan Andrews, a dietitian and exercise physiologist.

So Ms. Serrano didn’t just lose weight for her wedding, she is establishing a lifestyle that if maintained, is likely to skirt some severe health issues when she is older, and those choices will save her money and reduce physical and mental suffering. Discovery Planet has written an article about the benefits of going vegetarian in which they say it can reduce one’s food bill by twenty percent.

You can browse Linda Loudermilk’s ecologically-sensitive designs on her website.

Image Credit: rusvaplauke

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Jennifer C.

6:21AM PDT on Aug 15, 2011

Great article. Thanks.

send a green star

Past Member .

6:15PM PDT on May 22, 2011

Woohoo!

Andrea K.

1:06PM PST on Jan 25, 2011

Thanks for the article. It reminds me of that myth saying that meat eaters are healthier than veggies because of the proteine in meat and other things. I think there are many people who still think so and that myth gets still published in magazines and books about healthy nourishment or medicine. The example of the bride in the text shows that being a vegan can actually be much more healthier...

Danuta W.

4:59AM PST on Jan 24, 2011

Thanks for the article.

Zoe M.

6:52AM PST on Jan 13, 2011

I'm a vegetarian. I've always been so intimidated when it came to vegan-ism. When I'm at home I don't even eat dairy sometimes, but going out is hard enough being a vegetarian. I might try going vegan for a week or two. Should be interesting!

beverly g.

1:05PM PST on Jan 12, 2011

thks

Linus S.

11:29AM PST on Jan 9, 2011

wow, that is cool

Teresa W.

8:43AM PST on Jan 8, 2011

Congratulations!

Raluca A.

10:50AM PST on Jan 4, 2011

interesting