āGood for you. Thatās really wonderful,ā she said.
Hello, validation from Shania Twain for my almost-vegetarianism.
Shania, who begins a new run at Caesars Colosseum on Wednesday, is a vegetarian who eats cheese but not eggs. We discovered neither of us is a proselytizer.
āItās a personal thing. I would never preach vegetarianism,ā she said.
āItās such a personal choice. Itās got to suit you, and be right for you: emotionally, spiritually and physically. If itās working for you, thatās really great,ā she said.
Vegetarianism has unexpected side benefits for us. For me, I no longer get acid reflux or stomachaches, and my eye circles arenāt as dark. For Twain, she has the look of eternal beauty.
A few months ago, the readers of Country Weekly voted Shania, 48, the Most Beautiful Woman of 2013.
āI definitely think there are some benefits. I know a lot of people that have had cancer, for example, and theyāll make a point of telling me, āThe first thing my doctor told me to do was stop eating meat during this process,āā she said.
āI think itās interesting a doctor would suggest a vegetarian diet when youāre already sick.ā
You might think vegetarianism would make you as skinny as a yoga teacher. I lost 10 pounds immediately. But my metabolism rebooted after a few months and I put the weight back on.
āYou can also eat very poorly as a vegetarian,ā Shania told me.
I know, I know, Shania, but I canāt quit chips and ice cream.
āYouāve got to eat healthy. I stick to a mixture of real raw, whole-food items every day. I make sure Iām eating greens every day, and nuts, and food thatās not processed.
āI do that every day. If you end up eating breads and rice and pasta to satisfy yourself,ā she said, āthen youāre probably not necessarily eating healthier. You might be sparing yourself some of the downsides of eating meat. But youāre not necessarily benefiting yourself by eating the starch.ā
You know whatās extra endearing about Shania: She comes across as a very humble human being ā until I ask her about her cooking skills, and then sheās off to the races.
āI put on a feast at Christmastime. My gravy is really a tasty, savory gravy. I use a morel mushroom rue and a nutritional yeast base for the gravy, and it is so delicious.
āIt tastes like a turkey gravy, basically, but it has no animal, and itās really yummy. Everybody loves my brown gravy at Christmas.ā
She said people would never be able to tell her ākiller stuffing and killer gravyā doesnāt come cooked with a turkey.
āI think Iām going to do a cookbook to help people. Iāve eaten a lot of other peopleās vegetarian food, and it takes a lot of hours in the kitchen getting it right. Iāve spent a lot of time experimenting, getting it to where it would satisfy a meat eater.ā
I donāt doubt it, Most Beautiful Woman of 2013.
Doug Elfmanās column appears on Page 3A in the main section on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He also writes for Neon on Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/columns-blogs/doug-elfman/vegetarian-not-about-preachify
