One of my former graduate students sent me this story about WSJ Tony Gonzales, one of the prime athletes in the NFL and his experiment with veganism.
I suppose this can work. The three athletes mentioned have only been doing this a year. It will not improve their performance or their longevity. The article makes it sound like NFL athletes eat an unhealthful, almost disgusting, diet. That is no longer true, though at certain positions, like defensive linemen, they do carry far too much weight as fat. Even then they typically are leaner than non-athletes. When Forbes did his famous stufy of NFL players he found they had a high BMI because they were muscular, not because they were fat.
The author is playing games when he reports:
Professional athletes, especially NFL players, need thousands of calories a day. Many enjoy a high-protein, high-fat smorgasbord of steaks, chops, burgers, pizza, ice cream and beer.
It is too soon to tell how this will work for Gonzales or for the other pro athletes mentioned. Only successful athletes are in the sample. It takes years to deplete the B complex vitamins stored in the body or to have the soy alter hormones and for the phytates to compromise mineral metabolism.
Still, all these can be dealt with if one has the right advice and takes great care. But, there is little need to go to extremes to achieve excellent nutrition and health.
One of my former graduate students sent me this story about WSJ Tony Gonzales, one of the prime athletes in the NFL and his experiment with veganism.
I suppose this can work. The three athletes mentioned have only been doing this a year. It will not improve their performance or their longevity. The article makes it sound like NFL athletes eat an unhealthful, almost disgusting, diet. That is no longer true, though at certain positions, like defensive linemen, they do carry far too much weight as fat. Even then they typically are leaner than non-athletes. When Forbes did his famous stufy of NFL players he found they had a high BMI because they were muscular, not because they were fat.
The author is playing games when he reports:
It is too soon to tell how this will work for Gonzales or for the other pro athletes mentioned. Only successful athletes are in the sample. It takes years to deplete the B complex vitamins stored in the body or to have the soy alter hormones and for the phytates to compromise mineral metabolism.
Still, all these can be dealt with if one has the right advice and takes great care. But, there is little need to go to extremes to achieve excellent nutrition and health.