Vegan Athletes

This weekend I was helping out at the Langley Herbivore’s booth in the Langley International Festival. We were providing information about plant-based diets to those that looked somehow interested. I found that, generally, people have this stereotype about vegans, and I say this because some of them made comments like “I will starve” or “I won’t have enough energy to exercise” or “I need to build muscle and meat is the best way to help your body build muscle.” Every time someone made a comment like this I was kind of shocked about how misinformed people are about the vegan diet.

I am far from being an elite athlete but nonetheless I am an athlete. I train hard, I train every day and I demand a lot from my body. Because I am vegan my body can perform at its best, and the healing process after training is way faster than that one of a meat eater. Lack of energy is not a problem; actually we have more energy than the usual meat eater because our bodies don’t have to exhaust themselves trying to digest heavy, acidic foods. Our digestion is fast and efficient so our bodies are always ready for more. And last but not least, I wonder if people have actually seen pictures or videos of the strongest animals in nature: gorillas, buffalos, elephants, horses, zebras, hippopotamus and the biggest dinosaurs were all vegan. Something that I also find amazing is that none of these animals are naturally aggressive. They are strong and they are also nice fellows (yes, like me!).

A month ago I was reading about a group of 15 vegan body builders that won the Naturally Fit Supershow Bodybuilding competition in Austin, TX. They competed against hundreds of bodybuilders with traditional omnivorous, heavy meat, dairy, and egg based diets. The strong and nice vegans won 5 out of 7 categories, and in those that they did not win, they ended up in 2nd and 3rd place!

So, we vegans are proving that we can also be strong (sometimes stronger). We are proving that we can be fast (check out vegan marathon runner, holder of three world records, Fiona Oaks). We are proving that we can be healthy (not anemic like some people think! actually far from that). We are proving that we can eat amazing food but at the same time we can be compassionate with our fellow earthlings. We are proving that there is a better way (like it or not, there is).

Some (just a few) vegan athletes:

Vicki Cosio – Winner of the Washington State Open National Senior tennis title.

Fiona Oaks – Vegan marathon runner. She holds five marathon course records.

Jim Morries -- Known for possessing an outstanding physique in his later years. At 75 he still trains hard and releases
bodybuilding photos.

Mac Danzig -- Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competitor. In 2005 he won the King Of The Cage Lightweight Championship which he successfully defended four times, and has also won the Ultimate Fighter 6 competition.

Rich Roll -- He is a regular ultraman competitior which involves a 10km swim, cycling over 200 miles and running a double marathon.

Carl Lewis -- Voted World Athlete of the decade (1980s) and Olympic Athlete of the Century (1900s), and winner of nine Olympic gold medals. Carl also excelled in long jump and achieved one of athletics' longest unbeaten runs.

Seba Johnson -- Slalom skier who has represented her country at the Winter Olympics. She has been vegan since birth and has been ground-breaking in her sport as one of the youngest ever to compete in her sport at the highest levels.

Laura Kline – Cyclist. She has achieved world titles at tough endurance events.

Brendan Brazier -- Has achieved national titles in triathlons and ultra-marathons and has set course records.

And it goes on……