Vegan Interview ( they are trying to make sense of me ) all about being a vegan and how it affects my life/art

At 21, Jillian Ann Durgin is already a self-proclaimed web icon with a huge Internet following, a musician, an actress, an accomplished model with thousands of photos, an artist, a writer and a vegan. A few days ago, in her online journal, she wrote that she doesn't want to be labeled with any particular profession anymore.
"I was getting stuck. I was bringing to base my worth by being a musician. I lost me, so then I lost music to find me. I am nothing, therefore I can be anything."
Her creativity and energy is overwhelming. Her beliefs are inspiring to many of her many fans. In this interview, Jillian explains how her food choices affect her art and life.
You've been a vegan for a couple of years. What influenced your decision?

As a model, I always had to be thin. Growing up in Middle America, eating French fries and ice cream during my early and teen years, made it difficult for me to remain thin, so I stopped eating. Needless to say, I was one of those very unhealthy models who had bad habits, like consuming massive amounts of coffee and sugar without eating enough real food and doing other things models do to try to remain thin.
One day I woke up feeling ill. I had no energy and my skin was a mess so I made a decision to find out the truth. I knew there had to be a way to reach the optimal level of health. I also had serious mood swings. I damaged my body, due to a lack of food or from eating the wrong kinds of food and it was taking a toll on my life. I knew, that in order to continue to move forward in life and with my career, I had to find peace and balance physically. I knew if I didn't change, I would burn out faster and age faster. Food was controlling me, so I started my research when I was 18.
Being raised by a mother who made me learn everything on my own, I hit the bookstore, the library and the gym. I devoured books. I started by listening to the media, tried the Atkins Diet, lost weight and then put it back on. Then, I did the "all carbs" one, Slimfast, diet pills, you name it. I did everything, tried every trick, and was still ill. So then I read a book that talked about being a vegetarian and it seemed more logical than anything else. It's simple concept was that fruit and vegetables are created with all the vitamins and minerals we need. Of course, they aren't going to educate the masses about that, because of the massive amount of money made by the industry that in many ways is keeping most of America overweight, depressed and hooked on sugar and fat, pills and medication.

Was becoming a vegan a sudden transformation for you or did you do it gradually?

I did it slowly. I started by not eating meat. Then I learned the truth about dairy, so then I stopped dairy. As I ate more fruit and vegetables, I found that I had more energy and clarity. I slept better. I wasn't hungry. My skin cleared up. The more natural foods I ate, the better I felt. Each day I would wake up with energy and keep it all day long. The better I felt, the better I looked and the more I wanted not to go back to eating junk food.
For the first time in my life, I wasn't controlled by cravings and binging. So, yes, it happened over time, but it was a smooth progression. Every now and then I would eat something that had cheese or meat and the next day I would feel it. Needless to say, once you clean your body out, you feel it if you hurt it.
I first read the book "The Idiot's Guide to Being a Vegetarian" and went vegetarian. I noticed that the more fruits and vegetables I ate that were raw or steamed, the better I felt. Then I was in Miami still struggling and the a booker from Elite told me about the books "FIT FOR LIFE 1&2" by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. I went out and bought it. Needless to say, the seven dollars I spent changed my life.
The book taught me how my body reacts to food. It taught me that if you mixed a complex carbohydrate as well as a protein, your body can't break it down, so it sits there and rots inside. It also taught me that fruits and vegetables contain all the vitamins and minerals we need, so I started only eating fruit in the morning and then, in the afternoon and evening, I would eat a variation of fruit, vegetables, grains, tofu, anything that was natural. I made a rule that if God didn't make it and it doesn't come from the ground and/or a tree or the water, if something was put in a cage or died for it, I don't want to eat it or feed that energy.
Over time, as I learned more about the truth of the chemicals and the damage it does, I went more and more into the vegan world. Then, as I learned about how cooking our food kills most of the good things, I started only steaming my vegetables and eating mostly raw food. Eating mostly raw food completely changed me. I can sleep less, work more and almost never get sick. My skin cleared up and now only breaks out if I go away from the raw natural vegan diet. Of course, sometimes I can't say no to candy or sugar.

You are a musician, a writer, an actress and a model. Does being a vegan
have an impact on your art?

Yes, it does for many reasons. In the past, my moods, my ups and downs, my lack of being able to figure out how to stay healthy and thin, kept me from being able to focus on work. I spent a huge amount of time depressed, unhappy, worried, or feeling fat and ugly. Being a vegan has in many ways helped me become more clear, focused and balanced, which has helped me heal from my past bad habits. It has also given me back a huge amount of time that before was spent on trying to stay healthy and thin. It also gives me a certain spiritual clarity. By removing the toxins, the energy can move freely throughout my body. It has also caused me to be more sensitive to the world I live in, and to what is around me.

How exactly do you think your food choices affect your creativity?

l believe we are the most creative, the most inspired, the most open to inspiration and creative ideas if we are not controlled by addictions. Food addictions, drug addictions, and so on. Many artists rise and fall so quickly, because they fuel their art with addictions, sugar, drugs, achohol. The problem with fueling your creativity with that energy, is that it will destroy you some day. In order to be able to create from the soul, I try to keep the mind, body, soul, connection as open as possible. Yoga, meditation, exercise and a diet of natural or mostly raw foods allows me to focus and transfer the creative energy from my soul through my body and out into my art

Describe your typical day.

I have no typical days. I wake up somewhere between 6 am and 11 am, depending on how late I was up the night before. I usually write three pages in my journal first thing in the morning, which clears my head for the day. Then, I usually meditate for a bit. Some days I go for a walk or do my stretching. Some days I can't, because of time constraints. For breakfast, I usually have fruit, and Yerba Mate tea, or green tea. I alternate all day between writing music, writing, researching, practicing and playing piano, working on vocals, reading. I also have meetings during the day with my lawyers, my assistant and my therapist. I usually eat here and there all day, munching on fruit, shakes, juices and teas and lots of water. In the evenings, I either am working with other artists creatively, going to concerts, events, or performing out in New York or spending time with my boyfriend or other friends.
Some evenings I don't stop doing music and some days I don't leave my studio for at all while I work on music. I tend to take at least three long walks each week. I like to walk from one end of the city to the other or from one side of Brooklyn to the other. I tend to walk late at night or really early in the morning before all the cars fill the air with pollution. I don't have typical days because my work is so complex and covers so many things at once. You can read my journal, which I keep updated almost every day.

What is your favorite food? Any recipes for us to try at home?

I am really a fruit and veggies girl. I eat out a lot or I eat a lot of huge salads. I make huge salads with veggies, nuts, seeds, and usually a little olive oil with lemon juice and miso sauce. I tend to use the blender a lot. I consume a lot of bananas too. I mix them with a little water and a lemon. Bananas are an amazing replacement for milk. My refrigerator is filled with fruit -- bananas, apples, oranges, lemons, strawberries, melons, pears, peaches. Sometimes I get dates and figs. Sometimes there is so much and I never get bored. Vegetables include lettuce, spinach, carrots, kale, seaweed, eggplant, sweet potatos, tomatos, ginger, soy milk, rice milk, nuts and seeds, olive oil, tofu, lemon juice, flax seed. Also I like Spiru-tein and Emergen-C.

Do you have any guilty pleasures (food-wise?)

Coffee, and Vegan cookies, vegan desserts, sugar
Can't be perfect. We are all human.

What are your favorite restaurants?

Quintessence- 263 10th street ,NYC

The Sanctuary- 25 First Ave, NYC

Souen- 28 East 13 th Street, NYC

Bliss - 191 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NYC

Zen Palate--663 9th Avenue, NYC and at 14th Street in Union Square

Dojo----14 west---4th street, NYC

Sacred Chow--522 Hudson Street,NYC

Souen-- 210 6th Avenue at Prince street, NYC

Angelica's Kitchen----300 e 12 th Street At Second Avenue, NYC

Caravan of Dreams ----405 East 6th Street, NYC

Kate's Joint-- 58 Avenue B, NYC

What are your plans and aspirations for the future?

To use art, music, technology, fashion, dance, and writing to help inspire, educate and unite humanity. I want to create to help inspire and educate, to create to give. Releasing lots of music, lots of papers, lots of books, making lots of photos, some films, playing out live and touring as well as trying to connect the dots and bring people together. I want to do this through the Web as well as through my involvement with several organizations to offer youths as well as the creative types an alternative to destruction and harmful habits. I want to bring the alternative ways to light. The alternative is to try to get people to return to their natural state by removing the addictions that take up all their energy and take their dreams away.

FOR MORE ABOUT JILLIAN ANN DURGIN, PLEASE VISIT www.jillianann.com - her personal website

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