On Wednesday Travis Barker gave his first interview since surviving a plane crash that killed four out of six of the people on the plane. In it, Travis mentioned that after 25 years as a vegetarian he has started to eat meat again, saying that his doctors told him he needs the food protein to heal.

Ironically today PETA released a statement that Travis’ ex-wife Shanna Moakler has become a vegetarian and recorded a commercial for the animal rights organization. Though Travis and Shanna have had a very acrimonious relationship, she has been by his side throughout his entire hospitalization.

“There are so many good reasons not to eat meat, but for me, the well-being of my children is the most important,” says Moakler, who has also appeared in several films and on many TV shows, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Dancing With the Stars. “I want them to be healthy and also to understand that when they say ‘No!’ to meat, they’re saying ‘No!’ to animal cruelty. We talk about our pets, and I say, ‘You wouldn’t eat Biscuit, would you? Well, then let’s not eat any animal, O.K.?’”

Although Moakler originally went vegetarian out of concern for animals, the health benefits came as a pleasant surprise. “I don’t think I really realized what I was putting into my body and the actual effects that it was having on me, so now I feel so much healthier, and I have so much more energy, and foods taste better!”

The compassion for animals that Moakler is imparting to her children goes beyond the dinner table. She’s an ardent fur foe–she won several fur coats in various pageants but now plans to donate them to PETA to use in its campaign to educate the public about the cruelty of the fur industry.

[From PETA.org]

The timing sure is suspicious. However PETA doesn’t give any indication of when Moakler shot the ad, and I seriously doubt she’s had time to do it since Travis’ plane crash. What I find especially interesting is Shanna’s statement that she feels healthier and has more energy. Of his decision to start eating meat again, Barker said, “‘I don’t regret it at all, I feel so much better.’” I guess it goes to show everyone’s body needs something different.

My first instinct when I saw this was, “Uh oh, they’re feuding again.” But I think the timing is just coincidental. It seems like Shanna and Travis have been getting along really well lately – not only has she been with him the entire time he’s been in the hospital, but she took a bus back to L.A. with him because he was too afraid to fly. I’m hoping they avoided any arguments and just ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Protein-filled and totally awesome.

Here’s Travis and Shanna at the T-Mobile Sidekick LX Launch Party in Los Feliz, California in October 2007. Images thanks to Bauer-Griffin.

Longtime vegetarian Sir Paul McCartney is urging a boycott of the behemoth fast food chain McDonalds after a branch in Liverpool, England displayed a photo of him with his former Beatle bandmates. The Beatles hail from Liverpool, where all the original bandmates first met in the late 1950s. Instead of being flattered that he was being honored, or quietly asking the chain to remove the photo, McCartney’s rep has called for fans to boycott McDonald’s.

The singer, who has been a vocal advocate of vegetarianism for 30 years was said to be furious after discovering pictures of the Beatles had been placed prominently in a restaurant in his home town.

His image appeared alongside former band mates John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.

Geoff Baker, a spokesman for Sir Paul said: “What sort of morons do McDonald’s think Beatles’ fans are.

“It’s ridiculous and insulting to use images to peddle hamburgers. Fans should boycott Mcdonald’s, and not just in Liverpool.”

Sir Paul is a staunch supporter of animal rights, president of the Vegetarian Society of Great Britain and an ambassador for People for the Ethical treatment of Animals (PETA). His late wife Linda had her own range of vegetarian foods.

A PETA spokeswoman said: “He became a vegetarian after watching lambs play in a field outside his home and surely would not want anyone to use his likeness to help promote meat.

“We hope anyone who sees his picture on the wall will be reminded that he’s a vegetarian and skip the Big Mac for a veggie burger.”

A McDonald’s spokeswoman said the pictures were to “acknowledge the outstanding contribution the Beatles made to both local and global culture.”

[From Telegraph.co.uk via ONTD]

I get the McDonald’s hatred - they get a lot of well deserved flack for many reasons. (I was kind of floored by Fast Food Nation, and here are reminders of the legitimate concerns people have about McDonalds. I still eat there occasionally though.) There are surely plenty of Beatles photos hanging in other restaurants that serve meat, though, particularly those brick a brack-decorated establishments like TGI Fridays and Applebees. Why focus on just McDonalds? It’s also kind of strange that he would be so offended by a McDonalds in his hometown displaying his image in homage to the birthplace of the Beatles. It wasn’t meant as an endorsement or anything, just an acknowledgment of the town’s place in music history.

Paul McCartney is shown at Paris Fashion Week on 10/2/08. Credit: WENN

Incensed over a t-shirt the country singer wore that read “Real Girls Eat Meat,” longtime animal rights activist and vegetarian Pamela Anderson, 40, let loose on Jessica Simpson in a name-calling tirade. Anderson didn’t go for the obvious criticism and call Simpson “stupid” or “misguided,” adjectives that have been aimed at Anderson on many occasions, and she didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt about wearing a shirt with a slogan many vegetarians find offensive. Anderson called Simpson a “bitch and a whore,” but then backtracked a little, suggesting it’s ok to eat man meat, just not animal meat:

Jessica upset Pammi and all her vegetarian chums by wearing a T-shirt proclaiming: “Real girls eat meat.”

But now the former Baywatch babe has hit back with a spectacular insult.

Speaking on radio in Australia – where she’s waiting to go into the Big Brother house – the star slammed her rival buxom blonde.

Pammi blasted: “I think she is a bitch and whore.

“Actually, I don’t know if she was talking about food or men.”

She added that she is proud of not eating meat, saying: “I think it’s healthy, good for your body and good for the environment.”

[From The Sun]

I know I’ve seen video of Anderson eating uh, the other kind of meat, and she does so with relish. Our advertiser Deceiver points out that Pamela Anderson might urge us to boycott KFC for their cruel practices and give up meat, but that she has a giant leather Hermes bag that retails for around $10,000. Is it worse to advertise that you eat meat or carry around a leather purse? At least the cow was made into luxury goods and wasn’t eaten, right? It’s not like you buy a new purse worth the price of a used car a few times a week, either, so you’re limiting your cow consumption to the amount you can afford.

Hopefully this will turn into a war of the words between these two intellectually challenged blonds known more for their tabloid personalities than their haphazard careers. Maybe Simpson will shoot back something like “Well she’s a nasty has-been. Is that cow or pig, that bag she’s carrying? Both are tasty.”

Jessica Simpson is shown after her appearance on The View in Las Vegas on 6/25/08. Pamela Anderson is shown at a celebrity memorabilia auction at Planet Hollywood on 6/21/08 where she auctioned off her car - A Dodge Viper with leather seats - to raise money for PETA. They were both in Vegas around the same time, they should have hung out. It strikes me that they would have a lot in common despite their differences over eating meat. Thanks to WENN for these photos.

Paul McCartney has proposed a sensible plan for helping people reduce their meat consumption and do their part for the environment. He says that people in the UK and presumably around the world can eat vegetarian dishes on Mondays.

Sir Paul McCartney has urged the UK to hold “meat-free Mondays” to reduce carbon emissions.

McCartney told The Grocer that the scheme would alert consumers to the environmental impact of meat production.

He said: “A lot of people go to the gym on a Monday. With meat-free Mondays, it’s a bit like going to the gym but with the added advantage of protecting the planet.”

McCartney noted that a similar policy had proven successful in Australia.

He added: “One of the most significant conclusions of the recent report on climate change was that we should eat less meat. This is not the Vegetarian Society that said that. It’s the UN.”

[From Digital Spy via Gossip Rocks]

A meat-based diet requires more resources and produces more waste than a plant and grain based diet and many vegetarians say that conservation is their main concern. Here’s a link to a description of the UN study on climate change that McCartney mentioned.

It’s a little too late for our family today as we’ve already had turkey for dinner, but this is something I’ve mentioned to my husband before. Food is getting so expensive that along with probably having less calories it would have the added benefit of saving us some money if we stopped centering every meal around a meat dish. We’re mostly white meat eaters here, but my father is a vegetarian, and I’ve considered giving up some types of meat. It’s really up to me as the person who prepares most of the meals for the family and I’ll just have to get more creative. Here are vegetarian recipes from AllRecipes.com that you can make from variations of just 20 main ingredients.

McCartney had another reason to speak to the industry magazine The Grocer and to advocate for vegetarian meals - he’s promoting the Linda McCartney frozen food line, which was started by his departed first wife in 1991. They’re launching a new line that will be offered at British grocery chain Sainsbury’s starting in August. If you’re buying pre-made frozen food it’s probably not much cheaper to go vegetarian.

This is a heated topic so please be respectful of both sides in the comments.

Carrie Underwood has slimmed down considerably since her days as an American Idol contestant. Carrie has admitted that she was aware of some of the negative things people said about her weight on the internet, and that she made the choice to slim down as a result.

Carrie Underwood recently shared some of her secrets for staying fit with People magazine: everything in moderation (except maybe cheese) with a lot of cardio. Carrie says when some American Idol viewers were candid in their online postings about her weight, she decided to slim down but didn’t change her diet or fitness routine radically to do so.

“I do work out, but not with a trainer,” she says. “I just do lots of cardio.” And yet, after a whirlwind year (which included lots of awards and a second CD, Carnival Ride), Carrie is in better shape than ever. A longtime vegetarian, she says she watches what she eats but also admits to a weakness for cheese. “I can eat a pound of it,” she says. “It’s a real problem.”

Carrie says she also keeps a snack tucked in her red carpet bags at all times. “I carry [whole-grain] Kashi bars everywhere.”

[From Great American Country]

Underwood also told people that she’s a bit obsessive when it comes to watching what she eats. The way she phrases it (using the word “obsessive) makes it sound like she has some food issues, however when she says she’s “obsessive” she’s referring to writing down everything she eats. Food journaling is a cornerstone of many well-regarded diet plans like Weight Watchers. It serves to remind you what you’ve eaten.

American Idol winner and US chart topper Carrie Underwood’s apparently has a great diet tip - and it involves a pen and paper! “I’m slightly obsessive-compulsive about what I eat, more than I should be. I write down everything I eat,” the 24-year-old singer tells Glamour magazine in its January issue. “I started doing it last year. And the last year is when I’ve gotten more healthy and lost weight.”

[From This Is Nottingham]

To be honest I’d never noticed anything about Carrie’s weight on American Idol. They’ve had a wide variety of body styles over the years, which has been refreshing to see. Simon Cowell’s nasty remarks about contestant’s weight weren’t so great, but it’s good that people of all shapes and sizes were succeeding on the show. There have been some rumblings that Underwood has gotten too thin. Compared to some of the shrinking stars we’ve seen in the last few years, she seems alright. Like anything, the issue is knowing when to stop. She seems to have maintained her current weight for a while now, and is definitely drop-dead gorgeous.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Carrie at the 2005 Country Music Festival about three weeks after she won American Idol. I’m not sure what people were talking about in terms of her weight at the time, though she is definitely much thinner now. Header image at the Conde Nast Media Group Presents “2007 Movie Rocks” on December 2nd. Images thanks to PR Photos.

You have to hand it to the PETA people. They know the best way to getting attention for the cruelty of fur and their belief that meat eating is unnecessary is to get a naked starlet to talk about it. We all pay attention to naked people, especially if they’re famous. Maybe they should team up with that photographer who takes pictures of hoards of nude people in public.

In a PSA for the PETA promoting vegetarianism, Alicia Silverstone emerges naked from a pool with sexy music playing in the background. Her arm and leg are strategically placed to ensure a PG rating, but the idea is that not eating meat makes you hot and desirable if you’re a woman, and able to land hot chicks if you’re a guy. At least that’s what I got out of it.

She says in the ad that being vegetarian makes her feel so much better. In a statement on PETA’s website for vegetarianism, GoVeg, she talks about the cute little lambs and cows that she no longer has to feel guilty about eating:

Like most people, I wasn’t always a vegetarian, but I’ve always loved animals. If you ever have a chance to meet a cow, pig, turkey, or goat, you will see that they are just as cute and funny as your dogs and cats and that they, too, want to live and feel love. They don’t like pain. Now when I see a steak, it makes me feel sad and sick because right away, I see my dog or the amazing cows I met at a sanctuary. I’ve been vegan for 10 years, and it’s the single-most important and helpful decision I have ever made. Physically, the effect has been amazing. Once I went vegan, I lost the weight I wanted to lose, my nails were stronger, and my skin was glowing. I feel great, and I look better now than I did 11 years ago.

[From GoVeg.com via The Sun]

I’m a meat eater and I always feel guilty when I see little animals from species I’ve eaten, that’s true. We like lamb at my place, and my family and I were at a farm and I just thought how cute the little lambs were and felt sad for eating them for a moment. It’s like that episode of the Simpsons where the lamb on Lisa’s plate gets up and says “Lee-eehsa, don’t eat me.”

Going vegetarian not only has health benefits, it’s also much better for the environment. My parents are vegetarian because they know that meat production is unsustainable and uses much more water and fossil fuels than grain production, especially with factory farming.

Although I have a lot of respect for vegetarianism it’s not something that I think is right for me, and I don’t believe it should be anything more than a personal choice. PETA oversteps their boundaries a lot, in my opinion, and I don’t like how they made it their business to tell Victoria Beckham, a vegetarian, that she was unknowingly sharing her land with free-roaming sheep owned by a chef that were meant for slaughter. It’s not like the sheep were mistreated or anything, they had tons of space. They also bashed Michael Moore for eating meat and being heavy when he was promoting Sicko.

PETA does know how to get attention, and there’s nothing like a hot naked chick to make vegetarianism seem sexy. There are sexy meat eaters too, though.

All opinions are respected here, and many of you have quite intelligent and well-researched things to say about this issue. Past posts about vegetarianism vs. meat eating have resulted in some flame wars, so please don’t bash people for opinions that you don’t agree with. We are kind to each other here.

Update: Thanks to Best Week Ever for linking the video, which wasn’t available earlier when the post was first published: