An interesting article is in today’s Wall Street Journal that profiles several vegan athletes. Excerpt is below, full article may require registration.
The 247 lb. Vegan NFL star Tony Gonzalez is out to answer a question: Can a football player live entirely on plants? By REED ALBERGOTTI January 25, 2008; Page W1
The protein-rich bounty of the football training table is supposed to grow the biggest and strongest athletes in professional sports. Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Tony Gonzalez was afraid it was going to kill him. “It’s the Catch-22,” says Mr. Gonzalez, 31. “Am I going to be unhealthy and play football? Or be healthy and get out of the league?” IKansas City Chiefs tight-end Tony Gonzalez
So last year, on the eve of the biggest season of his career, Mr. Gonzalez embarked on a diet resolution that smacked head-on with gridiron gospel as old as the leather helmet. He decided to try going vegan.
Living solely on plant food, a combination of nuts, fruits, vegetables, grains and the like, has long been the fringe diet of young rebels and aging nonconformists. Even the government recommends regular helpings of meat, fish and dairy. Vegans of late have gotten more hip with such best sellers as the brash “Skinny Bitch,” and its more scholarly cousin, “The China Study.” Both books argue vegans can live longer.
But could an all-star National Football League player, all 6-foot, 5-inches and 247 pounds of him, live on a vegan diet and still excel in one of the most punishing jobs in sports?
If its legal would post the article here I wasn’t able to find the article on the Wall Street journal so I am guessing I need to pay for which I am not interested in. But thanks for posting this piece at least.
I would like to know if anyone on this forum has tried going Vegan or at least Vegetarian and what their results were; both health-wise and in performance. Missed the article but thank you for posting. Very, very interesting…
Other than being much lower in cholestrol and and animal fats, you could eat exactly the same percentages of protein, carbos, and fat on a vegan diet. It is just harder to to do. I think some of the reason vegefolks are so dietary healthy isn’t exactly the diet, but their knowledge and understanding about nutrition in general. You can still go for the coconut/palm oil and sugarcane on a vegan diet and not eat too healthy. It is just bit harder to get all the nutrition balanced out by not eating meat,eggs and dairy. It can be done, but requires more thinking. My vegan friends all claim a learning curve the first couple years. I have a bigger problem with no wool and leather products.
I’m vegetarian and have been for > 6 years. I don’t really know how it’s affected my training (since I started training well after giving up meat) but it doesn’t seem any harder for me to get what feels like a normal/healthy/balanced diet.
Especially if you live somewhere that’s in and of itself vegetarian friendly (like not in the Midwest), it’s super easy to stay vegetarian and not feel terribly limited in food choices. I couldn’t imagine going back…
I went vegetarian 2 years ago (not vegan). Best move I ever did personally from a health standpoint. Feel a lot better, and don’t really miss meat at all. Protein hasn’t proven to be an issue, and I consume close to 150 grams a day most days. It is much harder to plan your meals however. Most of the protein comes from soy, whey protein supplements, and dairy.
I did 2 half-Ironmans prior to becoming a vegetarian, 3 half-Ironmans and a full Ironman after being a vegetarian and training for my second right now. I saw no difference from a performance aspect other then I generally felt better as a vegetarian. As far as weight, I am at about 205 lbs and an avid weight lifter, so it isn’t like I am a little twig or even a typical distance athlete. I did probably lose 5 lbs total, but I am not sure it had anything to do with being a vegetarian. I kind of learned to get healthy nutritionally in stages in life. First I cut out all fried food, and man did I feel a lot better after that. Then I started minimizing simple sugars when possible, felt even better Then I dropped meat, and that seemed to complete it. Dairy doesn’t bother me, and I do also eat eggs. I believe they call this **Lacto-ovo-vegetarian. ** I still eat stuff like pizza, and a lot of cereal etc.
I didn’t lose/gain any weight when I switched. I was like 21 at the time and had been at 160 lbs for the previous 4 years and lasted another 2 or so before hitting grad school and gaining 15-20 lbs. Now I’m trying to get that weight back off but it’s slow…
I’m a pretty novice triathlete but did a HIM last year and am training hard to go sub-5 at the HIM distance this year. No fulls in the near future…
I’ve been vegetarian for 12 years. One of the things it does for me is make me pay attention to my diet. I started doing it because my parents were both very overweight and I didn’t want to go out like that. Today I do it because its just a part of me. I have been working on becoming vegan for about a year and a half or so. Its been a slow transition like becoming a vegetarian was. I just cut out things slowly like cheese, whey protein, etc. Now I am mostly vegan I only buy vegan food but sometimes if something is in front of me with some dairy in it I will eat it.
I do long distances alot. I am actually turning 30 on the 3rd and will be running 50 miles that day. I’m sure I could have done it without being vegan/vegetarian but I noticed the more I stayed on track with a vegan diet that faster my recovery was. On weekends were I did 30 mile runs back to back when I really ate “clean” I woke up Sunday and did another 30 with alot less difficulty. I’ve also done a half ironman and a bunch of other tris. You can lose weight as a vegetarian but you can just as easily gain weight because alot of people try it and eat worse then they did before. You have to be smart and eat a wide variety of whole plant foods. Veggie burgers, processed soy products, and all that stuff won’t really help much. But smoothies, legumes, spinach, potatoes, whole wheat pasta, fruit, and vegetables lots of vegetables are a good start. Read up on it Try the China Study and then keep reading. Being informed is the only way to go.
Thank you. Very insightful and inspiring information. I generally eat very well but can’t help to wonder what if… And that what if is what happens if I slowly make the switch. I am ordering the book as I type…
That’s pretty similar to how I went vegetarian - at least the process. I stopped buying meat several months before quitting entirely and would only eat meat occasionally when I was out and about. At my birthday dinner I had a big venison steak that was wonderful, and then I decided that that was it. No more meat. And that was that…
So yeah, tapering off is a pretty good strategy. I still love my dairy though and can’t imagine living without cheese…
IKansas City Chiefs tight-end Tony Gonzalez