Is Bill Clinton Vegan?

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton has switched to a mostly plant-based diet, lost weight, and now advocates a diet free of meat, eggs and dairy for everyone. While Clinton is not vegan - he regularly eats eggs and fish - he's often described as "vegan" and is seen as a vegan advocate. Formerly known for his love of fast food, the 42nd president now talks about how a plant-based diet helps his own health, the environment, and the country's current health care crisis.

What is Veganism?

Veganism is not a diet, but a way of life that minimizes our use and oppression of animals. Being vegan includes not only refraining from animal products (meat, eggs, dairy, honey, etc.) in one's diet, but also boycotting other forms of animal use and oppression, including zoos, circuses, products tested on animals, wool, leather and silk.

Furthermore, when describing a person, the word "vegan" has evolved to mean a person who follows a vegan lifestyle for animal rights reasons. While a restaurant, a cookie or a meal might be called "vegan" and refer only to the absence of animal products and not anyone's motives, a person usually is not called "vegan" unless they are vegan for the animals. Someone whose diet is free of animal products for health reasons is usually said to be following a "plant-based diet."

Clinton's Diet

Clinton's new diet first became widely known when he lost 30 pounds for his daughter Chelsea Clinton's wedding in July of 2010. In 2011, Sanjay Gupta of CNN asked Clinton if he was vegan, and the former president replied, "Well I suppose I am if I don't eat dairy or meat or fish." In the same interview, he reveals that he eats one bite of turkey at Thanksgiving.

In a more recent interview, Clinton said that he eats eggs or salmon once a week. For the most part, Clinton's diet is a low-fat, whole foods, plant-based diet, but it cannot be called "vegan."

Why Clinton Changed His Diet

When Clinton first came onto the national scene with his 1992 presidential campaign, his penchant for unhealthful fast food was well-known and a source of humor in the media, including an SNL skit. Even Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign made fun of her husband's appetite for cheeseburgers. But after a quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 and an angioplasty in February of 2010, Clinton received an email from renowned diet doctor Dean Ornish, who advocates a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet. Ornish was an old friend, having helped White House chefs develop a healthier menu in 1993, at Hillary Clinton's request. Bill Clinton also read books by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the subjects of the "Forks Over Knives" documentary, and consulted with Esselstyn. In an AARP interview, Clinton explained, ""I just decided that I was the high-risk person, and I didn't want to fool with this anymore. And I wanted to live to be a grandfather . . . So I decided to pick the diet that I thought would maximize my chances of long-term survival." He lost 30 pounds in time for his daughter's wedding that summer and said, "All my blood tests are good, and my vital signs are good, and I feel good, and I also have, believe it or not, more energy."

Clinton's Advocacy

Although Clinton's main reason for improving his diet was his own health, he also extols the environmental benefits of a plant-based diet, noting the connection between animal agriculture and climate change. Clinton also notes that a plant-based diet would benefit public health and the healthcare crisis. With so many Americans suffering from preventable diseases and straining our healthcare system, convincing people to switch to a plant-based diet would help the nation's finances. One of the Clinton Foundation's campaigns is Health and Wellness, including fighting obesity and making school lunches healthier.

He does not discuss animal welfare or animal rights when talking about his new diet.

Why Not Just Call Clinton "Vegan"?

Calling Clinton "vegan" would simplify things and it might increase awareness of the word "vegan," so why not just call him vegan? Calling him "vegan" is inaccurate and would create confusion. Vegans already have trouble with friends, family and restaurants not understanding what the word "vegan" means. There are already problems with people who think it must be OK for a vegan to have a small amount of cream in their soup, or egg wash on their bread. Or a bite of turkey at Thanksgiving. Telling the world that Clinton is vegan would exacerbate the problem, because it sends a message that vegans will sometimes eat eggs, fish and turkey.

Nevertheless, with so much knee-jerk criticism of veganism and plant-based diets, Clinton has generated a great deal of positive exposure for a healthier, more eco-friendly way to live. Although he is not vegan, the benefits of veganism are not all-or-nothing. Eating animal products once a week instead of two or three times a day helps the animals, human health and the environment.