Recently, Hollywood A-lister Anne Hathway made news when she admitted that she had quit being a vegan after a decade of following a meat-free diet.

Hathaway, age 36, is an actress known for her appearance in films such as “Les Miserables,” “Dark Knight Rises” and “The Princess Diaries.” Her vegan diet helped her lose weight for roles, which she admitted in an interview wasn’t a “good long-term thing for her health.”

While traveling on assignment with fellow actor Matt Damon, she was encouraged to try the fish.

“So I had a piece of salmon and my brain felt like a computer rebooting,” she said, in an interview with People magazine.

Hathaway admitted that her vegan diet didn’t make her feel good, healthy or strong, and that with meat in her diet she “just felt better.”

Hathaway joins a slew of vegan influencers who in recent weeks have proclaimed that they are eating meat once again after years of being meat free and secretly struggling with their health.

In vegan circles, popular vegan influencers including Bonny Rebecca, Rawvana, Tim Shieff, Raw Alignment, Stella Rae, KasumiKriss, the Minimalist Baker have all admitted to eating meat and eggs to restore their health.

As you can imagine, the vegan community is in a total and utter meltdown.

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After all, and I’m generalizing here, but many of these vegan influencers have made grand sweeping claims that going raw vegan will lead to glowing skin, rock hard abs, an abundance of energy and the knowledge that you’re living on the ethical high ground.

Veganism isn’t sold as just a diet, but as a moral standard, where animals have equal or more value as humans and where no animals must die in order for you to thrive.

These influencers, who have made their living on social media by touting these benefits, are now facing cyber bullying and death threats for leaving the cult in order to save their health.

And while many may be able to live on a vegan diet, with the help of expensive supplements and very close counting and tracking of macros and nutrients, too many are sacrificing their health in order to “save animals.”

I’m thankful for consumer choice. It’s great we have options for every type of consumers, and yes, that includes vegan options.

However, it’s alarming that an entire food group like animal products has been so demonized while plants are widely celebrated, and these plant-based proponents often ignore that a completely meat-free lifestyle hurts people, animals and the planet.

For starters, animal fats and proteins fuel our bodies and our brains. Nothing compares to the nutrient-density of meat, dairy and eggs. Beef is absolutely a superfood that provides 11 essential nutrients including protein, B-vitamins and absorbable heme iron.

Related:How vegans got it wrong on cattle & climate change

Second, beef production is a critical component of our ecosystem. Cattle grazing promotes biodiversity of the soil, captures carbon, provides habitat for bees, bugs and wildlife, reduces the spread of wildfires and prevents desertification of the soil.

And third, cattle provide not only nourishing beef but life-enriching byproducts, too. Yes, an animal must die to offer human life these benefits. However, even a lettuce salad causes death. Plowing rangeland in order to plant more fruits and vegetables leaves animals like deer, mice, rabbits and foxes homeless.

So when vegans say animals have the same or equal value as people, do they only mean cows and pigs? They seem to forget the other animals that are impacted by food production.

Suffice all this to say, the vegan agenda seems to be more about taking advantage of people and their emotions in order to increase followers and line pocketbooks. It isn’t based on truth or reality.

Cheers to folks like Hathaway who are willing to get death threats and hate mail for simply admitting that meat makes them feel good. Glamorizing an incomplete diet like veganism is dangerous, and I’m glad more folks are realizing the benefits of animal fats and proteins as part of a healthy, sustainable diet.

The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Farm Progress.