Gabriela Schenkenbach - successful vegetarian model

Gabriel Schenkenbach - Photos by: Maurizio Montani

Austrian born Gabriela Schenkenbach, 45 -year-old successful model and business woman tells 'EV' readers about her vegetarian life.

Gabriela went to school in Switzerland, studied at the university of Montreal and worked as a successful interior designer in Florida. In Florida she came to know the world of fashion and her second assignment already was with 'Chanel'. Back in Switzerland she posed for magazines like 'Madame' and 'Vogue' where she could be seen as cover girl.

Ten years ago she started her own agency (Show International Service) in Altstätten/St. Gallen and arranges between 300 and 400 assignments for artists every year. She is married to the Austrian radio collaborator Hannes Schenkenbach who also runs a model's agency. Still very attractive, Gabriela can be admired in several publications like promoting natural cosmetics for 'Biokosma'.

Gabriela, are you a vegetarian or a vegan?
I have been a vegetarian for 22 years and since the EVU Congress in Widnau on I live 70% vegan. I don't buy any leather cloths anymore and eat eggs, cheese and dairy products as little as possible.

How did you become a vegetarian?
At the beginning it was for health reasons: After a fasting period with Dr. Bauer in Arosa I was able to avoid an operation to remove a cyst that was big as a man's fist. The cyst had been diagnosed in my abdomen. It was the first time that I contemplated a connection between nutrition and health. Suddenly my ethical consciousness was aware of just how we exploit and torture animals. I remember crying after seeing a film about the transportation of animals for slaughter and thought: Crying is not enough, I have to stop eating meat, fish and all kinds of sausage.

What are your favourite foods? Are you afraid of malnutrition and do you take food supplements?
I love all kinds of raw fruit and vegetables. I do not believe, rather I know that a vegetarian nutrition is sufficient if it is raw. I tried it and found I was healthier and full of energy, but during the winter months I was negligent and ate too much cooked food. I felt that I needed a warm meal in my stomach. That's when I took some supplements.

Where do you get your energy and power for all your work?
Unfortunately I was never very energetic everything I do I have to work very hard for. Not only do I try to eat raw and organic foods daily but I do the 5 Tibetan exercises as well. As I have to sit many hours in my office I also do some exercises for my back. I jog 30-40 minutes every day, following Dr. Strunz's advice with a pulse not higher than 140. I also walk daily with my two little dogs. I shower twice a day, first hot and then cold. This improves my circulation. If my energy is very low I give myself REIKI. With 'normal' food I was always exhausted, tired and limp, already as a young woman. Through my changed diet I have the impression that my energy increases daily.

How do your family members, your friends react to your lifestyle? Do you have any difficulties?
Most of my family members have become vegetarians themselves. My husband eats only a little chicken or fish sometimes at his Mum's house. I never have any difficulties, but people always talk to me about it, especially if I am invited.

How do you behave if invited at meat-eaters?
Most of them know that I don't eat meat, otherwise I'll phone or I eat only the vegetarian starters. With strangers, it can create sometimes very embarrassing situations because they eat meat and I have the impression that they think I spoiled their meal. I used to find this unpleasant because everybody has the right to eat what he or she wants. Now I think it isn't my problem if others have a problem.

What are your experiences when you travel, especially in Europe?
To travel as a vegetarian is still troublesome. There are still too many restaurants that offer nothing but a plate of spaghetti or overcooked vegetables with a bit of brown butter. I often think cooks are convinced that vegetarians are people that anyway 'don't want or cannot enjoy their meal' . That's completely wrong, because we even are interested to know how poisoned the food is we eat.

Are you an activist, do you support someone or a group for example animal protection or vegetarian societies?
I am only active in my private circles for example when people come and ask for more information. Financially we support Dr. E. Kessler and his 'Verein gegen Tierfabriken' (Association against animal factories) as well as an animal protection group in Austria, whose name I can't remember because it is permanent pay order.

You look very good, do you think that your nutrition has an influence?
My nutrition has a very great influence on my appearance. My skin is much better and rosier if I eat for a longer time only raw food. My life in general has, consciously or unconsciously, profited by this influence. Those people, who don't respect animals, cannot love people either. I don't assume to criticise people. It would be better to show them that the other way is possible. I know through experience that people are not bad, more so that the famous light has not yet been lit.

Your husband isn't a 100% vegetarian, how do you cope with it?
As I mentioned already my husband eats 100% vegetarian at home and sometimes a bit of meat but with a bad conscience. I couldn't live with a man anymore who eats meat regularly. Not only because he has different body odours but also because such a person could never feel the same love for animals as I do.

Do you think mankind will once live completely vegetarian?br> This is a dream and through this many other problems would disappear from this planet. As we are still an under-developed planet it will probably need some time. But to hope is worth the wait.

Many well-known people have declared themselves vegetarians: Gandhi, Paul McCartney, Martina Navratilova, Whitney Houston, Carl Lewis, Richard Gere). Do you think this could have an influence on the general public and especially the young generation?
It certainly helps if celebrities make people aware. Unfortunately, many people do what they learned from their mothers who say, 'Eat meat, that will give you power and strength'. They don't want to betray or hurt their mother by refusing. What they don't realise is, that they continue to live a pattern . If people are made aware of this through their idols that say: Stop eating animals. Stop being responsible for animal suffering! Then they understand that by eating meat they support the whole industry. It happened to me in a similar way. Nothing changes quickly, but well-known people may make people wake up and change old habits.

Through your work you come in contact with a lot of famous artists. It is said that in these circles many vegetarians are to be met. Is it true and could you name a few?
Artists, dancers and models are more and more vegetarian. They need strength and stamina and have to always look good. They can't afford to weaken or poison their body by eating spiced up animal corps full of hormones and antibiotics. More and more say: 'No thanks'! From Tina Turner to Brian Adams there are many even less known. I heard recently that racing driver Micheal Schuhmacher also should eat more and more fruit.

Could you imagine to ever eating meat again?
No, not even when nothing else is available, could I image it. I have lived on only water for a fortnight and after a fasting with Dr. Bauer, I know that you don't die easily, even if you don't eat anything at all. I hope that God prevents me from coming into such a situation again, where I have to do it for an emergency. Most of the people try to be modern: newest car, cloths, colours, and forms. It is time that people who are sitting in an office the whole day, start to adapt their nutrition and become enlightened in this way too.

From the ethical point of view it is neither chic nor modern to eat spiced pieces of dead animals. We can easily live on wonderful foods like fruit, vegetables, pulses, legumes and all the other delicious things without suffering, or to starve or to fall ill.