Clued In: The Complete Interview with Alicia Silverstone

In a world where image often trumps integrity, 33-year-old Alicia Silverstone is a breath of fresh air. The actress, best known for her starring role in Clueless, is a devoted vegan, environmentalist, and animal-rights activist—and has been for 11 years. Alicia is so passionate about clean living that she recently wrote The Kind Diet (Rodale, 2009) [[hyperlink to the recipes story]] to tell the rest of the world how a plant-based diet can drastically change your health—and life. In Natural Solutions’ April 2010 issue, she talked about why being vegan is so important. Here, she shares more of her secrets on holistic health, easy ways to go vegan, shopping for inexpensive eco-fashion, and more.

On what shapes her everyday life
I try to be environmentally responsible in everything I do and everything I bring into my life. Every time I make a decision, I think, “How is this going to affect the environment?” So if I need mouthwash, I’m not going to buy a huge plastic bottle filled with toxins—I’m going to look for a brand that uses clean ingredients and comes in a recycled bottle. I do the same thing when I make other decisions about my health, home, and food. I really think hard about what is the most responsible choice.

On why she went vegan
I became a vegan 11 years ago because I love animals. There’s a reason slaughterhouses aren’t in our cities, and there’s a reason no one can see them. I saw it, and I was hysterical. I came home, looked at my dog and thought, “How am I able to love and cuddle you when I let other animals be tortured to death?” After awhile on the diet, I started experiencing incredible health. My nails grew strong, my eyes got really white, and my hair got long and thick. I started to thin down, and my asthma and allergies went away. I saw these amazing effects, and at the time, I thought it was just good karma. But then I started doing research, and I realized that it wasn’t karma. There’s a ton of research and hard medical proof behind a plant-based diet—people are using it to cure cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. I started to wonder, with all these incredible results, why isn’t everyone on a plant-based diet?

On why it’s and easy to be vegan
I don’t think maintaining a vegan diet is any different than maintaining any diet. Everyone has to make time to find food, and it doesn’t add any extra time to find vegan food. It’s about prioritizing your life and figuring out what is important to you. I don’t care about new clothes, new cars, or fancy jewelry. I don’t go out and spend money on alcohol. Most people spend a lot of money on stuff: coffee, cigarettes, medication, or liquor. But when you stop spending money on stuff and start spending money on living well, it’s amazing what can happen to you.

On why she decided to write The Kind Diet
I wanted to give people the tools to live their best lives, free of illness and full of vibrancy. You don’t have to care about animals or the planet to be vegan—you may only care about looking your best. The reason I called it The Kind Diet is because it’s about being kind to yourself and gifting yourself with beautiful and glowing skin, mental clarity, and great fits of joy. It’s a bonus that the diet also happens to be good for the environment. I’ve learned that what you put into yourself is an investment. Because I eat right, I don’t go to the doctor, I don’t take any medication, and I don’t drink coffee—I don’t need it.

On how she handles the pressure to be thin
Whenever I got a little chubby in the past, my only options were starving myself or going on some dumb diet. You never know what will work, and that’s the fear, pain, and suffering in the diet cycle. But now I don’t worry about my weight because I know exactly what to do if my jeans don’t fit: I fix it by eating macrobiotic veggies and whole grains. Weight’s not an issue anymore—and that’s freedom. I know my body will always look beautiful.

On her dreams for the fashion world
A lot of my clothes are completely green, either from thrift stores or eco-clothing companies, shop thrift stores first, then buy new stuff from sustainable designers before I resort to clothes that aren’t organic. My dream is that more big-name fashion designers start using natural, clean fabrics—then people will see that eco-clothing can have style.

On how to save money on eco-fashion
Eco-clothing is not more expensive for anyone who already buys those horrible, ridiculously expensive designer clothes—and there are a lot of people who do. I don’t think that eco is more expensive than stores like J. Crew when you compare prices. But I don’t feel good about spending money on clothes, either, so my biggest recommendation for people who don’t want to spend the money is to do what I do—go to used-clothes stores. Everything is so beautiful and unique, and if I buy a dress for $40 and don’t like it a year later, I don’t feel so bad about it.

On her passions
I can get incredibly passionate about green issues and, of course, disappointed by the choices other people make. But I don’t want to judge anyone; I just want people to make better choices. I don’t expect everyone to care about the environment as much as I do. The environment is in my bones, my heart. And any step someone else is willing to take, I think, Thank God, come on board.

On making a green home
I live in an old house that I bought when I was 19. I’ve made some renovations to it, and I’ve tried to be as responsible as possible with these renovations. I have solar panels, which is a really easy thing to do, and my air conditioning and heating units are made out of fiberglass. Every decision I make for my house is made with the environment in mind. And it’s little stuff, too: My husband [Christopher Jarecki] has been bugging me about getting new sheets because the ones we have are all torn and ripped, but I haven’t done it yet because I want to make sure we get ones that are good for the environment.

On her yard
I really wanted a laundry line for our house, so my husband bought me one for my 30th birthday. I love it. I don’t have to use the dryer—I can just hang our clothes like people use to do before machines that used all this energy. I feel like I’m living in Italy. It’s beautiful.
Another thing I’ve really gotten into is my garden. My gardening choices in the past were completely non-conscientious—I would just a pick a plant, use all this water on it, and move away. Now when I pick a plant, I think, “If you can survive in my garden without all this water, you can live here.” I’m very interested in permaculture and using grey water to feed plants. These are the things I’m really excited about—they’ve been dreams I’ve had for a long time, and it’s so exciting to finally be making them happen.

On making compromises
You have to make some compromises, and it’s about trying to make the best decisions for the environment whenever you can. Right now, I’m living in New York, and I have to buy plastic gallon water bottles because the water in my apartment is coming out brown, and I can’t filter it. I feel bad about wasting all this plastic, but I know I’m making as many of the right choices as I can. And any right choice anyone makes is a step in the right direction.

On her advice for the government
I just wish the government would say, Enough, we’re not allowing people to produce pesticide-laden cotton. It should be illegal. How can it be legal to produce all these pesticides that kill the environment? But that’s just me being innocent. That’s my idealistic side. That’s my dream.

On her favorite foods
I love soups and fresh produce and good whole grains. In New York, I’ve been on a food orgy, walking around trying all the great restaurants, stores, and vendors. I can get a warm bagel with vegan cream cheese on almost every corner. The vegan cheese plate and vegan mint ice cream sundae at Pure Food and Wine [a raw-foods, vegan restaurant in Gramercy Park]? Oh my God, it’s so good. And there are falafels everywhere—I love falafels. When I don’t eat well, I get tired, I get circles under my eyes, and I start to get grumpy. When you’re used to feeling amazing because you eat great food, anything less than that is not acceptable. You immediately want to get back on because you want the great feeling again.

On holistic health
I don’t need to do acupuncture, take supplements, or go to a naturopath—I use food. If I get a little sick, I know exactly what made me sick. When I get sick, I think, “What did I eat?” Maybe I had too much sugar or maybe I ate some dairy. I think people on the standard American diet take supplements because they’re eating terribly and leaching minerals out of their body. I know I don’t have any nutritional deficiencies, and I love my body now. I feel really good; I feel really comfortable in my skin. We eat three times a day, so you have a choice three times a day whether to poison yourself or to nourish your organs and spirit.

—Interview by Sarah Toland

For recipes from The Kind Diet, click here.