Football Player Tony Gonzales’ Road To Veganism
An article in the Wall Street Journal describes male vegan athletes. No, not endurance athletes like runners and swimmers, strength athletes like football players and boxers. The article begins:
“The protein-rich bounty of the football training table is supposed to grow the biggest and strongest athletes in professional sports. Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Tony Gonzalez was afraid it was going to kill him.” [...]
“So last year, on the eve of the biggest season of his career, Mr. Gonzalez embarked on a diet resolution that smacked head-on with gridiron gospel as old as the leather helmet. He decided to try going vegan. Living solely on plant food, a combination of nuts, fruits, vegetables, grains and the like, has long been the fringe diet of young rebels and aging nonconformists.” [...]
“Mr. Gonzalez [...] was the first pro-football superstar to try.”
And then the article explains how Gonzalez’s first attempt at veganism wasn’t very successful because he didn’t know how to choose and shop for nutritious foods. But after he learned, he was a convert.
“[H]e called Mr. Campbell [author of The China Study], who put him in touch with Jon Hinds, himself a vegan and the former strength coach for the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. Mr. Hinds suggested plant foods with more protein.” [...]
“[H]e accompanied Mr. Hinds to learn a skill he believed as important as blocking techniques: how to shop for groceries.” [...]
“Mr. Gonzalez managed to stick to his diet and hold onto the football. He broke the touchdown record before midseason [...]. ‘I was like, OK, this is working,’ he says. ‘I have so much more energy when I’m out there.’”[...]
“Mr. Gonzalez entered the final game against the New York Jets needing four catches to surpass the [career reception] record held by former tight-end Shannon Sharpe. [...] With 2 minutes and 29 seconds left in the third quarter, Chiefs quarterback Brodie Croyle was fleeing defenders when he threw a 9-yard pass to Mr. Gonzalez, who scampered for a first down and a spot in the NFL record book.”
Go read the whole article and see the pictures of these buff vegan athletes >>
(There’s even a video to watch Gonzales make a healthy breakfast shake.)
One caveat: looks like Gonzales eats fish, so he’s not a true vegan. But he’s almost there!
I was annoyed that they called him vegan. He’s not.
They should have interviewed a real vegan athlete. But its good publicity for vegans even still.
Yeah he’s not there, in a way he’s not close…
But the motication is right and if we can encourage more people in these ways I think we can succeed soon enough.