2016 was a brilliant London Vegfest and this year was better than before as I invited some vegan animal advocates to present the official VegFest film alongside me.
I was joined by actor Dan Richardson, known for some pretty impressive film roles, including the current Disney Channel’s TV show ‘The Lodge’. Dan has been presenting alongside me for GreenWorldTV now for a few weeks and is also one of my Angels for the Innocent Ambassadors. Newly vegan, Dan is in a great position to share with others his transition to veganism and how it is helping him with his life, as he has a strong following of fans and has a natural ability to talk warmly on internet forums which means most of his animal welfare posts are spread hundreds of times.
I was also joined by beautiful young vegan model Daryna, who again, is an Angels for the Innocent ambassador, as well as one of PETA’s most popular models fronting their UK and some international campaigns. She is unafraid to stand up for animals and is naturally beautiful, so breaks the stereotype that many non vegans procure on us vegans.
Finally, Paul Kerton, aka ‘Hench Herbivore’ joined us making our team 4. Paul is a brilliant vegan YouTuber and a personal trainer, which made him perfect to bash those ‘protein myth’ jibes right on the head. Hugely popular, Paul helps guide many new vegans throughout training regimes which not only improve their health but are kind towards animals.
This festival was the Vegan Athletes Summit and this meant loads of extremely fit and healthy vegan role models to interview from Olympic Gold medallists to body builders and marathon runners. Everyone was top of their game and all achieving highly on a vegan diet.
Our film guests included the very handsome body builders Nimai Delgado and Ste Cootes who were happy to talk about how easy body building is on an 100% vegan diet. Olympic Paralympic Gold Medallist Dave Smith MBE spoke to us about how not only has he achieved some pretty amazing wins as a vegan athlete, but also as a cancer fighter.
Free-running champion Tim Shieff was on hand to talk about how veganism has not only improved his sport, but how it can make the mind clearer as well. Tim’s interview is accompanied by some pretty impressive free running footage. World Champion Triathlete Kate Strong was at VegFest undertaking a new Guinness World Record on site by cycling 24 hours though the night non stop on an 100% vegan diet. We were privileged to speak to her and watch her start on her challenge.
World Champion Vegan Bodybuilder Karl Bruder explained to us why he is the largest he has ever been on his vegan diet, but why prejudice in the world of bodybuilding meant it is hard for him to tell fellow bodybuilders about his diet plan. Super husband and wife team ‘The Transformers’ met with us and shared how they train both body and mind and that most of the problem with changing your lifestyle and habits comes from not allowing your mind to accept change. Their philosophy follows not only vegan training and boot-camps but mental training also.
Finally ‘Granny’ power lifter Pat Reeves, chatted to us about how she has broken all manner of stereotypes with her power lifting, but how she also recovered from cancer with her vegan juicing plan and motivational speaker and bodybuilder Robert Cheeke let us in with a few tips regarding his diet plan and how to motivate yourself to be healthy.
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