In the final part of Celebrity Veggies Dawn Mellowship grills US actor Lisa Edelstein, who is currently starring in the FOX hit series HOUSE opposite Hugh Laurie. Lisa devotes a great deal of time to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in their efforts to re-home rescued animals and pets.

Why veggie? When I was a teenager I had food poisoning from a bagel because the bagel was made on a grill with meat and I could taste the meat on the bagel. I got really sick. Then I started having these nightmares about meat, they were creepy like this dream where I sat watching myself eating chicken for half an hour, ripping off the meat and sucking on the cartilage, snapping the veins and knawing on the bone as you do. By the end of the dream I realised that I was actually eating miniature human legs and arms. That just shifted my understanding of things and I became a vegetarian and it suited me.

In part III of Celebrity Veggies Dawn interviews ‘Living Doll’ Cindy Jackson, famous for having had the most plastic surgery operations of anyone worldwide. She is also the lead singer of UK rock band The Dollz and has penned books about cosmetic surgery and anti-ageing. Cindy supports various charities including PETA and the RSPCA.

Why veggie? As a teenager I found cruelty to animals abhorrent. I grew up in a farming community which doesn’t give you much chance to separate the fact that you are eating an animal from it just being food. People who live in the cities go to the shops and they see it plastic wrapped and they don’t equate that with the animal. I saw it when it was alive so I made the connection that I was eating a living, sentient being. I instinctively found that disgusting.

In part II of Celebrity Veggies Dawn chats to Jenny Seagrove, an English actress whose credits include: A Woman of Substance, A Local Hero, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart and the BBC drama Judge John Deed. Jenny is also a campaigner for deregulation of the nutritional remedy industry.

Why veggie? It was a slow build up. I have always been passionate about animals and when I was much younger I married an Indian who at that time was vegetarian. We ate a lot of South Indian vegetarian food which was absolutely delicious so that was what got me into it as well as becoming aware of the plight of the animals. That is what keeps me vegan.

Celebrity diet trends come and go in a heartbeat but some famous folks are pursuing long term lifestyle choices such as vegetarianism and veganism. In a four part series Dawn Mellowship grills four celebs on their nutritional beliefs.

Alexandra Paul has starred in over 50 feature films and television programmes, Most notably Alexandra did a five year stint in Baywatch.

Why veggie? When I was 14 I read a book called Diet for a small planet by Frances Moore and she cited all the environmental reasons so I stopped eating meat and fish. Then I read a book called Animal Liberation by Peter Singer when I was 15 and I started to become aware of animal rights. When I was in my 20s I dated a man who was an animal rights activist and I gave up leather and stopped having products in my house that were tested on animals.

Vegetarians and vegans may not yet be passé but freegans are hot on their heels encouraging a less consumer driven, more community orientated society. The Macmillan English Dictionary defines a freegan as

'a person who consumes food that has been thrown away, especially someone who wants to protect the environment by reducing waste.'

Whilst this defines a minute aspect of freegan activities it leaves out the core principles and many other freegan practises. A US freegan representative, Adam Weissman, sheds some light on the matter.

“Similar to vegans, freegans share a concern about world consumption. However, we extend the argument to realise that under an economic model where profit is the only overriding consideration for anyone in business, we as consumers are complicit in a form of exploitation. Every product we buy is implicated in various forms of exploitation from worker abuse, to environmental destruction, to cruelty to animals.

The best ideas are the simple ones, and this clever new recycling site has homed in on one of the most basic: ditch the stuff you don't want and get stuff you do want in return. Unlike Freecycle, chanceXchange discourages freeloading, since users must offer something before they can receive. It's mostly CDs, DVDs and books being traded, but I can see it growing into a big, sprawling (free) online junkshop.

I spoke to chanceXchange founder, Chris Timms, to discover more about the ideas behind his recycling revolution...