EXCLUSIVE: Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh open up on adapting to a vegan lifestyle

There are several Bollywood celebs who are vegans. The latest celebs to follow are celebrity couple Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh. On the occasion of World Vegan Day on November 1, they got into an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Bubble where they spoke about turning vegan and adopting that lifestyle, being judged by people for it and coming up with their plant-based meat brand.

On turning vegan, Genelia said, “We had turned vegetarian almost five years ago and during Covid, we started not enjoying milk that much. We were still eating cheese but we were vegetarian. During Covid, we felt that let’s try going off dairy and anything with animal protein whether it was egg, mill or cheese. While we started trying it, we started enjoying it and we started feeling extremely energetic and extremely light; not lethargic and tired. Every time we had by mistake had milk, we started feeling bloating. So, we saw a vast difference and we said let’s try and make it a lifestyle. Initially, Riteish and I did it together and got our kids involved too.”

The actress added, “I had done my nutrition course and Riteish was extremely supportive. So, as parents we took that decision.”

She further said people think that there’s not enough protein in vegan diet. The diva added, “There is not enough protein if you don’t plan your meals. India is a gold mine for food and from chole bhature to idli sambhar, every thing has a good amount of protien but there is extra and there is also higher carbs. With vegetarian food you have to play it right. Right now we are on a diet and we are on lower carb intake. But I promise that it’s not difficult. People have made it a bad word and goes straight into activism”.

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Riteish added that they have seen changes in their body. He said, “Anyone who wants to try to go vegan, it’s not going to happen in one day or week that you will find changes. But give yourself a good to three months. We have gone through it and we did a blood test before going and we were vegan for about five six months and then again we went through blood test. Our doctors were shocked to say that, ‘Your blood reports are 6-7 years younger than your earlier reports.'”

When asked how their kids got accustomed to the vegan lifestyle, Genelia said, “In the beginning it was a bit tough because you are used to a certain lifestyle. Today, if you give my kids cheese for example, they have vegan cheese and now there’s a substitute for everything.”

Watch the full interview of Riteish Dekhmukh and Genelia Deshmukh here.