- It’s one thing to thrive on a plant-based diet as a skinny endurance athlete. But what about sports that place a premium on size, speed, agility, power, quickness and just plain brute force?
Is it possible to compete at the highest level of the NFL not as a punt returner, not as a quarterback or even a running back, but as a defensive lineman – a position where only the absolute biggest, baddest, strongest and fastest survive?
I wouldn't doubt it. Archaeologists and anthropologists are discovering that ancient Gladiators used to adhere to a similar plant based diet, and had "tea" made with plant ash which likely elevated their strontium levels to promote healing.
I've only heard of strontium in relation to bone health, is it often thought to be otherwise related to healing or injury recovery?
I listened to the podcast. It's really good to hear an athlete at the top of his game expressing his vegan perspective.
"THE NFL’S DAVID CARTER ON HOW A PLANT-BASED DIET MADE HIM A BETTER PLAYER & A BETTER HUMAN" Wow, ain't he full of himself. That's vegans for ya. But seriously though, I don't know if it's Carter or the website that's a bit... biased, but they really push the Ubermensch Vegan bit. I'm not saying it made him healthier - but they push it like "Now he's a real man because no animal suffers" Seriously - it's like they're ignoring the years of farming science that allows them to provide, most of the time, pain-free meat. (Plus I really like the taste of meat)
The idea that you need any animal products to be healthy or strong is a myth propagated by the milk and meat industries. The biggest land mammals hypos, elephants, giraffes are herbivores. Plants are loaded with amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Pulses in particular have around 20% protein and the average human needs only about 40 grams of protein per day. We are opportunistic omnivores, we can digest meat for survival but we don't have to in an age when we're well past the survival stage. As for skinny vegans, no diet is healthy by default if it's not balanced and you don't pay attention to the nutritional needs of the human body. I highly recommend that you research vegan nutrition if you're considering veganism. Vegans who eat a varied diet of whole foods such as plants, fruits, nuts, seeds, algae and fungi are healthy. Ethical vegans, who become vegan purely from an animal cruelty perspective, tend to be careless about their own health and end up eating a bunch of processed shit giving all vegans a bad stereotype. There are way more sick omnivores, the top omnivore causes of death are due to ingestion of animal products, but hey let's focus on the skinny vegans. There are plenty of examples of healthy and strong vegans competing at the highest levels. Here's a few: Patrik Baboumian the world strongman champion
Tim Shieff the world freerunning champion
Richard (aka Vegan Gains) body builder
Sam aka the vegan gardener
Look up on youtube "vegan body builders" for more.