Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet?

January 27, 2008

Thanks to my colleague Fred Tripp for forwarding this item from the Wall Street Journal about Tony Gonzalez, the 247-pound Kansas City Chiefs’ football player who has switched to a vegan diet to the shock of his family, fellow players, and, I guess, the world. Why anyone is surprised that people can do well on vegetarian and vegan diets is beyond me. Plant foods have plenty of protein and calories if you eat enough of them. If he is following a strict vegan diet–no animal products at all–he will need to find a source of vitamin B12 (it’s made by bacteria and incorporated into animal tissues), but supplements work just fine. I just don’t see this as any big deal. Many different dietary patterns promote health and this one can too. I suppose people will attribute any missed block or dropped pass to his diet, but cheeseburgers are not essential nutrients.


17 Comments

  1. […] continues at Marion brought to you by diet.medtrials.info and […]

    Pingback by   Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet? by diet.MEDtrials.info — January 27, 2008 @ 11:29 am

  2. […] Marion wrote a fantastic post today on “Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet?”Here’s ONLY a quick extractThanks to my colleague Fred Tripp for forwarding this item from the Wall Street Journal about Tony Gonzalez, the 247-pound Kansas City Chiefs’ football player who has switched to a vegan diet to the shock of his family, fellow players, … […]

    Pingback by Football » Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet? — January 27, 2008 @ 11:41 am

  3. […] Original post here […]

    Pingback by Football News Aggregator » Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet? — January 27, 2008 @ 12:12 pm

  4. Why anyone is surprised that people can do well on vegetarian and vegan diets is beyond me.

    Well, this isn’t anyone, it’s Pro Football player. And, well, anyone who follows sports would be shocked; we’ve all read/heard tales about the incredible amount of food (such as 48oz steaks) that football players consume.

    Comment by Jack at Fork & Bottle — January 27, 2008 @ 1:00 pm

  5. […] Here’s another interesting post I read today by What to Eat […]

    Pingback by Animal Health » Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet? — January 27, 2008 @ 1:21 pm

  6. That is great!
    Eating less meat (or no meat) is a great thing. I’m sure his Dietitian has him eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds!

    I’m sure there are more, but here are some elite athletes that are public about their plant-based eating:
    from: http://goveg.com/vegetarian_athletes.asp

    “Meat-free mavericks include Sports Illustrated “Olympian of the Century” Carl Lewis, top ultra-marathon runner Scott Jurek, tennis legend Chris Evert, football star Ricky Williams, Ultimate Fighting champ Mac Danzig, NBA standouts Raja Bell and Salim Stoudamire, and boxing champion Keith Holmes.”

    Comment by Daniel Ithaca,NY — January 27, 2008 @ 2:29 pm

  7. […] douglain wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThanks to my colleague Fred Tripp for forwarding this item from the Wall Street Journal about Tony Gonzalez, the 247-pound Kansas City Chiefs’ football player who has switched to a vegan diet to the shock of his family, fellow players, … […]

    Pingback by Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet? — News For Colon Detox Diets — January 27, 2008 @ 11:19 pm

  8. As Daniel already pointed out, some of the world’s best athletes in various sports are vegans. If a vegan diet can support the six time winner of the Western States 100 mile endurance race (Scott Jurek), recent UFC champ Mac Danzig, ironman triathelete Brendan Brazier, and now Tony Gonzalez among thousands of others, it is ridiculous to argue that a vegan diet is in any way deficient. I have personally run two marathons as a vegan, one of which being my 3:01 PR and continue to maintain a 70+ mile week training load on a vegan diet. It’s a shame the media falls all over itself to portray vegans as misanthropes or freaks instead of taking a self-reflective look at what being vegan means in our meat centered culture.

    Comment by Sean — January 28, 2008 @ 8:00 am

  9. […] Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet? […]

    Pingback by Vegan Health — January 28, 2008 @ 12:57 pm

  10. Obviously, I am nowhere near this guy’s level, but I played football in high school and rugby in college as a vegetarian. I am not a small fellow.

    I am always called upon to defend my diet from skeptical people–who are often overweight, I might ad. I have to wonder why the burden of proof isn’t on the other foot…

    Comment by Fentry — January 28, 2008 @ 1:55 pm

  11. This is a fascinating article.. but he’s not entirely vegan. He eats a protein shake that contains animal protein and he supplements his food intake with wild salmon and organic chicken. Please read the article though, it’s very interesting even if you are not interested in sports.

    Comment by Susan — January 28, 2008 @ 8:31 pm

  12. From what I read he wanted to go completely vegan but his trainers and nutritionists won’t let him hence the fish oil and chicken. The media should not be reporting this as a vegan diet since it isn’t. Too bad that because of his job he can’t be on a healthy diet and one that he chooses. It’s great that he is eating more whole foods but ironic that he is controlled by his profession so much that he can’t even follow the diet that he wants.

    Comment by Kari — January 28, 2008 @ 9:40 pm

  13. […] James D. Brausch wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThanks to my colleague Fred Tripp for forwarding this item from the Wall Street Journal about Tony Gonzalez, the 247-pound Kansas City Chiefs’ football player who has switched to a vegan diet to the shock of his family, fellow players, … […]

    Pingback by Diet News » Blog Archive » Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet? — January 30, 2008 @ 5:53 pm

  14. […] Can a big guy play football on a vegan diet? […]

    Pingback by Vegan Diet — February 2, 2008 @ 8:12 pm

  15. “I am always called upon to defend my diet from skeptical people–who are often overweight, I might ad. I have to wonder why the burden of proof isn’t on the other foot.” -Comment by Fentry

    Nice work there! I would like to see people come up with a good argument of why eating meat (including fish) and/or dairy/eggs is better for their health only (no mention as to the health of the environment, and the impact eating meat has on all others who live on earth).

    Comment by Daniel Ithaca,NY — February 3, 2008 @ 2:01 pm

  16. Marion, the message from your books, videos, etc. seems to be eat more whole organic plant foods and much less animal foods like meat, dairy, eggs, and less sugar. The only reason to include those in my diet seems to be intense pressure from industries dependent on those commodities and maybe cultural and taste preference. I can’t see any health reasons and certainly no environmental reasons.

    This leaves me a bit confused. Why does this seem to be the only post I can find from you where you seem to say anything positive about a vegan diet? It seems that something like a whole food, locally grown vegan diet would be just about ideal nutritionally and environmentally as long as you get a bit of sun, maybe a little flax, and eat something with smidgen of B-12.

    What am I missing?

    Comment by Stan — May 31, 2008 @ 5:31 am

  17. […] writes of a previous post: “Why does this seem to be the only post I can find from you where you seem to say anything positive about a vegan diet? It seems that something like a whole […]

    Pingback by What to Eat » Today’s question: vegan diets — June 3, 2008 @ 6:37 am

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