Carrie Underwood doesn’t eat meat, but she doesn’t mind if you do.

“My parents have cows,” she says. “They have cattle that put me through college so I respect the industry. It’s why I don’t preach, but I also don’t expect people to preach to me. Every once in a while, someone will come up and say, ‘You’re from Oklahoma, you need to blah, blah, blah,’ and it’s like, ‘Nope. My body, my money.’ I buy the food I want and put it into my body. I’m not going to tell you what you can or can’t buy and put into your body. I don’t defend myself. I just tell them to buzz off.”

Underwood quit eating beef when she was about 13 years old and gave up fish a few years later. She never liked pork and dropped chicken and turkey from her diet about three years ago. For breakfast, she may prepare organic, cage-free egg whites with vegetarian bacon or vegetarian sausage; she’s also a fan of yogurt and toast, as well as Kashi waffles without syrup. After snuggling with her dog, Ace, for a few minutes after waking up, she likes to work up a sweat on the elliptical machine or go for a run/walk.

For people who are considering going vegetarian, Underwood believes it’s not such an obstacle.

“Everybody thinks, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so hard. That sounds like it’s so hard.’ It’s really, really not. It’s just a way of life and I don’t preach at all. If people ask me questions like, ‘What do you eat?’ or ‘How do you do this?’ I’ll answer questions, but I don’t like, ‘Oh my gosh, you eat meat? That’s so gross! I can’t believe it. You can’t eat within five feet of me.’ That’s stupid. It’s a personal decision. It’s just not as hard as you think it is.”