Pamela Anderson Reveals The Incredible Secret to Replace Fish With Vegetables In Your Diet

Pamela Anderson was just a child when she encountered a jarring sight one day. Just behind the pump house where her cats gave birth to kittens, she flung open the door and there it was, a dead deer hanging upside down, its head chopped off and droplets of its blood trickling down. The harrowing moment became so etched in her memory that she vowed not to eat meat, if that’s what meat was. Today, The Last Showgirl actress calls herself a “naughty vegan.” Despite growing up near the coast, her love for animals prompted her to ditch her childhood favorite food: fish, and replace it with veggies. Veggies turned out to be just as scrumptious as the fish with one brilliant hack, as she shared in a post for The Open Journal, her email newsletter, according to VegNews.

"I'm an island girl, so seafood had been a staple in our house growing up. We had a smoker in our backyard, where my dad candied salmon—I think I crave it,” Anderson explained in the post. She reflected that even though the “ocean is in [her] blood,” she found that “cast iron cooking on an open fire with veggies has been just as satisfying and delicious—it just takes some thought. Eventually, she fell in love with vegetables more than anything else.

"Vegetables sustain me. I understand the challenge of getting rid of old habits and replacing that go-to board of charcuteries with an earthy mezzo platter or crudités. I've been there. I love to entertain, and it's my goal to serve enough dishes that people don't miss the classic meat and cheese," the 57-year-old actress said at that time. This fish-free solution wasn’t Anderson's only step towards transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle. She also cultivated an entire tea garden so she could reduce her daily intake of coffee, even though her “strong cortado drink” is her morning weakness.

The drink is equal parts espresso and steamed milk. "I'm trying to drink less coffee and more tea. I love my glass teapot and blends of rose and chamomile. Still, it's a work in progress. I have planted a 'tea garden' this season, and can't wait to prepare my own concoctions," she explained. Known for her portrayal of lifeguard C.J. Parker in Baywatch, Anderson shared that she was also planning to cut butter from her diet. "Baking without butter seemed impossible a few decades ago, but my croissants are just as good, while I've learned a few tricks of the trade," she said.

Anderson, who starred in the Fox sitcom Stacked, revealed that turning to a vegan lifestyle also helped her develop a passion for cooking. “Cooking didn’t always come so naturally to me, but I have always loved to cook. I love to write recipes. I prefer not to measure and I resort to ‘eyeballing’ mostly, and it gets the best of me, especially in baking, we must have patience—it is a virtue and the only road to success,” described the actress. Ever since, she has become a vocal advocate for animal activism. In association with PETA, she helped design plant-based menus for prisoners and personally sent messages to high-profile individuals, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, inspiring them to lead the change with animal welfare.