Richa Chadha Opens Up About Her Vegan Journey

Richa Chadha isn’t your average Bollywood star - she’s way more. She doesn’t shy away from unconventional roles and she’s known for speaking her mind and taking a stand. A vegetarian-turned vegan, she’s been vocal about her eating disorders and her switch to a plant-based diet. We spoke to the actress about her journey and why she believes a vegan diet is a smarter choice for everyone.

You’re a Delhi girl who’s grown up with paranthas and rich gajar ka halwa around you– how did veganism happen for you?

I’ve always been vegetarian and I was slowly getting sick of dairy because I realized the dairy industry functions very differently from when our parents were consuming dairy and poultry products – in terms of mass production and numbers – so I decided to give that up altogether. So the transition from being vegetarian to vegan was not very difficult for me.

How did you get to know about the reality of the dairy industry?

By being aware…looking around, watching documentaries, doing my own research. It’s one of the leading causes of pollution in the world, vast areas of forest land are being cleared to make room for more grazing land for cattle. Flatulence from cattle is destroying the atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change. For this reason, I decided to give it up.

How did you make the switch from dairy and what was the toughest part?

The toughest thing for me was to give up things like butter and cheese… it becomes very difficult especially while travelling. But my health has improved overall – skin texture, hair texture…so I feel if everybody makes the switch, it’s much lighter on your system.

When did you make a full transition?

Two years ago.

Do you consume any plant-based milks or cheeses, or eliminate them altogether?

Sometimes I have soy milk and almond milk, but I don’t really miss milk. The only time I use any kind of milk is in my tea, because I love chai and I tend to miss it… so I use coconut milk.

What about flights and stuff? How do you manage when you travelling so much?

It’s not that hard when I’m on a flight, because I can always have rice, bread and veggies. One just has to be a little more prepared and aware that the options will be lesser as compared to what’s on offer for people who eat everything.

What about when you’re shooting?

When I’m shooting, (right now I’m in Georgia), I have to manage my food consciously. I carried nuts, I carried lots of supplements, I carried protein bars – because I know that it’s a meat-eating country, it’s a cold country, I have to be careful, because everything that’s vegetarian has cheese in it. So I just have to plan ahead.

When you first transitioned, did you get any “gyaan” or advice about protein and supplements from fitness coaches or anyone else?

Not really… most trainers don’t have a problem with me being vegan and they don’t want me to eat meat and eggs for protein.

But I think it’s such a myth – you can easily get good protein from vegetarian food. No one really knows that a boiled potato has more protein than a boiled egg. There’s even protein in things one wouldn’t normally associate with protein – like spinach. I live on sprouts and tofu and the like. It’s been pretty easy for me.

We know you have a little organic garden in Mumbai – what’s growing right now?

Apart from flowers like lavender and honeycomb and fragrant roses, I grow a lot of my own herbs like ajwain, pudina, dhaniya, kari patta, tej patta and palak and iceberg lettuce. Mostly herbs and greens but I also have pomegranate, guava, and litchi growing in my balcony.

If you were to give a tip to somebody to go vegan – especially Indians – what would be your suggestion or tip?

The only suggestion I have is for people to use logic! We are human beings – we are not meant to consume milk from another mammal. We are not built to digest something that’s so heavy on the body. And with growing research, we notice that today so many people are lactose intolerant.

So my only suggestion is, try it (vegan diet). I think it works… it’s very difficult to convince your moms and dads that ghee, butter and paneer have to go - but once you choose that option and see how light it is on your system, I don’t think there’ll be any going back! 

It’ll also be better for your health in the long run. It’s a myth that you won’t get calcium if you don’t drink milk. We don’t even know the quality of the dairy products we are consuming today – because cattle are pumped with steroids and hormones to keep them pregnant and lactating. These are things one MUST know. We end up consuming all kinds of chemicals and steroids for the sake of having milk. It’s part of the package, because it’s already in the cow’s body.

There are a lot of Indian vegan women who face pressure when they are pregnant to consume milk even though vegan pregnancies are successful. Do you have any advice for them?

I have no reference point for pregnancy so I don’t think I can comment on it, but veganism, in general, has proved to be a healthier option so I guess by logic it would be a healthier option for expecting mothers, too.

As an actor, you are probably offered ads for brands or products that contain animal derivatives or use animal products. How difficult is it to monitor what comes in?

That’s challenging for actors. We don’t know if the makeup that we’re using is cruelty-free, if someone’s putting a hair product on us that’s been tested on animals or whether it contains gelatin.

I don’t believe in extremes but in practising what you believe in. I feel that each year, I’m getting better at it and I’m able to put my foot down and say no to certain things. And anyway, there are alternatives available today for leather and fur and silk – you don’t need to hurt animals or harm nature.

Great! Lastly, do you have any message for us as a magazine?

There are very few vegans in India – last I checked there were only 15 or 20k vegans – that makes us a real minority! But I think without punishing yourself if you can manage to stay true to the cause and stay dairy-free in the long run, it has amazing health benefits.

But did you know the vegan community is growing – there are 50k vegans on the Vegan First platform alone! Plus there’s so much activism happening…vegan businesses are growing, so we hope to see a huge change soon!

I hope so too… because we need to act fast to save the planet and we can start by focusing on what we eat!