Vegan athletes

[Konstantin]

Thanks Wannalift, but the Bryan Danielson's already there, section 3. But keep all the suggestions coming.

I should have specified it was an update for him. Winning one of the championships takes his status much higher, at least in terms of a pro wrestler

D'oh! Sorry, missed that completely!! Thanks, I will update him.

[hardcore iv]

Venus (due to illness) and Serena Williams have become raw vegans according to the daily mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079539/Sjogrens-Syndrome-Venus-Williams-opens-incurable-disease.html#ixzz1i4Ptk0mb

[Konstantin]

That's interesting but I'm not ready to add them yet, it sounds as if they are eating some vegan food rather than being completely vegan. Any updates appreciated.

Meanwhile Tiffany Croker has been removed, she has never been vegan.

[Konstantin]

Can I have your opinions please?

I was thinking we should not continue to update this site because the new standalone site will be the place for all news and new athletes. If that's the case, should we even bother with this thread? Should we replace it with a link to www.greatveganathletes.com?

Let me know what's wanted.

[captain caveman III]

Is Jack McClelland on this list? He was an accomplished swimmer, cyclist and runner, and also a champion wrestler. Not sure how many years he was vegan though, but i believe it may have been for a considerable amount of time. He died in 1996.

[Konstantin]

No, he's not on the list. This list is likely to be removed at some point as we now have www.greatveganathletes.com, but certainly we'll consider adding him. If you have any good links or other sources, please let me know.

Thanks.

[hardcore iv]

Billy Simmonds (2009 Natural Mr Universe) has been a vegan for the last few years and lacto-ovo for a fair while before that. He's got a vegan bodybuilding page on facebook http://www.facebook.com/Vegan.Bodybuilding?sk=info and I, and many of the Melbourne crew, met him when he came to melbourne for a vegan bodybuilding/strength show that Hannibal organised recently. He was also on a melbourne based AR radio show talking about veganism http://pod.3cr.org.au/pod/3CRCast-2012-02-19-61879.mp3

[irenebl]

Tim Ferris is awesome to, he is not strictly vegan but he has great vegan diets which he has to followed...he is by far one of the most impressive athletes out there!

[hardcore iv]

Tim Ferris is awesome to, he is not strictly vegan but he has great vegan diets which he has to followed...he is by far one of the most impressive athletes out there!

Well, he is not really a high-level athlete and most certainly not a vegan, so has no place on the list. I did enjoy parts of 4-hour body though.

[knackers]

Billy Simmonds (2009 Natural Mr Universe) has been a vegan for the last few years and lacto-ovo for a fair while before that. He's got a vegan bodybuilding page on facebook http://www.facebook.com/Vegan.Bodybuilding?sk=info and I, and many of the Melbourne crew, met him when he came to melbourne for a vegan bodybuilding/strength show that Hannibal organised recently. He was also on a melbourne based AR radio show talking about veganism http://pod.3cr.org.au/pod/3CRCast-2012-02-19-61879.mp3

Thanks for posting man, interesting stuff.

+1 to get Billy on the vegan athletes site

Was good to meet him, top bloke, very good speaker aswell.

billy, joel and hannibal all put on a really good show at the festival.

[VeganGraham]

Are you still looking for updates via this thread ?
There's a few names on http://engine2diet.com/about_e2/FAQ that aren't on this list. I don't know how accurate the information is.

Q- Can I Be a Competitive Athlete on a Plant-based Diet?

A- Just ask Tony Gonzalez, the 247-pound tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs football team. For health reasons, Tony changed his diet after signing a five-year contract extension, making him the league’s highest paid tight end, and went on to break the NFL record for receptions by a tight end in 2008. His teammates have nicknamed him "China Study" after T. Colin Campbell’s book by the same name, which Gonzalez studied before changing his diet. Check out the China Study book for yourself!

Or ask that question to Ruth Heidrich, who in 1982 was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and cured herself by eating a low-fat, plant-strong diet. She has since won more than one thousand triathlons.
Or ask Salim Stoudamire, the plant-eating point guard for the NBA Atlanta Hawks, who says that by the fourth quarter, when most players are starting to fade, he’s picking it up a notch. Martina Navratilova, the world’s winningest tennis player, who serves up plant-based foods exclusively could give you some insight on how to eat plant-strong and still compete as an athlete. Or ask plant-devourer Dave Scott, my hero and six-time winner of the famed Hawaii Ironman triathlon.

[Konstantin]

Are you still looking for updates via this thread ?
There's a few names on http://engine2diet.com/about_e2/FAQ that aren't on this list. I don't know how accurate the information is.

Yes of course, thanks for any leads.


Tony Gonzalez eats mainly plants but also eats wild salmon. Not vegan by a small but definite margin.
Ruth Heidrich is on the list.
Salim Stoudamire is there. Somehow he doesn't seem to be playing these days, shame because he was an incredible shooter.
Martina Navratilova gave it up when her nutritionist had no experience of it, and ate meat in 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here'.
Dave Scott is veggie but I've never nailed him down as vegan - but would love to.

Not trying to be negative BGW, please keep any more coming.

[VeganGraham]

No offence taken, I was hoping you wouldn't mind me simply providing a link then expecting you to do the research.
You've got Ruth Heidrich down for competing in 60 marathons. That link says she has won 1000 triathlons, which is pretty impressive and worth adding to her description if it's accurate.

[Konstantin]

Good point, I have her email so will check out that impressive figure first.

And yes, send the link, I'm happy to do research.

[wannalift]

Are you still looking for updates via this thread ?
There's a few names on http://engine2diet.com/about_e2/FAQ that aren't on this list. I don't know how accurate the information is.

Yes of course, thanks for any leads.


Tony Gonzalez eats mainly plants but also eats wild salmon. Not vegan by a small but definite margin.
Ruth Heidrich is on the list.
Salim Stoudamire is there. Somehow he doesn't seem to be playing these days, shame because he was an incredible shooter.
Martina Navratilova gave it up when her nutritionist had no experience of it, and ate meat in 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here'.
Dave Scott is veggie but I've never nailed him down as vegan - but would love to.

Not trying to be negative BGW, please keep any more coming.

I don't think Dave Scott is even vegetarian anymore. Here is a passage and quote from the book 4 Hour Body:

Even Dave “The Man” Scott, six-time winner of the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon and famed
vegetarian athlete, returned to eating meat after competing for years on a 99% PPBD. Though
he hasn’t eaten red meat in 33 years, he now consumes fish, chicken, and turkey.

“The irony of the whole situation is that when I switched back to chicken and fish, I was
far leaner and felt more powerful. I mean, I was in better shape in my 40’s as a meat eater
than I ever was on a strictly plant-based diet.… When I did Ironman in ’94, I felt like my
strength, recovery, and muscle endurance was better than ever.”

This seems to be a common theme with a lot of ex-vegans who start eating a lot of meat - they improve their body composition off of the diet. Tony Gonzalez and Frank Mir have made similar statements. The question is whether there was some magic ingredient in meat that made them hold less body fat, or did they adapt more favorable macro-nutrient ratios (less carbs, more protein & fat) by default when they switched back to meat and reaped the benefits. The answer seems obvious to me. In my opinion, the athletic vegan community, specifically the segment focused on strength sports, needs to take these sentiments more seriously and come up with a better answer. Otherwise, every ex-vegan who goes paleo is going to be bragging about how much leaner and stronger they are while ignoring the fact that they dropped their carbs by almost half and upped the protein/fat.