In honour of World Vegetarian Week (19 to 25 May), PETA is releasing a tantalizing ad featuring Pamela Anderson and the tagline "Turn Over a New Leaf. Try Vegetarian". Pamela, who has been a vegetarian since she was 16, believes that "going vegetarian is the best – and easiest – method of staying slim and sexy".

When she was a little girl growing up in British Columbia, Canada, Pamela raised such a ruckus when her father brought home a deer he had killed that he never hunted again. Then Pamela learned about the cruelty endured by animals raised for food, went vegetarian and joined PETA US. Years later, as the special guest of Prince Albert of Monaco, she held up a well-attended midnight dinner until the chef furnished her with a vegetarian meal.

Pam and PETA challenge everyone to take the Pledge to Be Vegetarian to stay trim, lighten their consciences about the suffering endured by animals raised and killed for food, avoid life-threatening illnesses and even spice up their sex lives without popping pills.

Eating meat clogs the arteries to all the body's vital organs, which can lead to impotence. Vegetarians also live longer. Eating meat causes heart disease – the world's leading killer. Vegetarians are also 40 per cent less likely than meat-eaters to develop cancer.

And every vegetarian saves more than 80 animals each year! You can start the exciting journey towards a vegetarian lifestyle simply by taking the Pledge to Be Veg today!

If you are already vegetarian, you can still help animals by becoming a "pledge recruiter". Click here to ask your friends and family to take the pledge to be veg!