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Thread: US Olympic Judo Medal Winner Goes Vegan!

  1. #1
    wildcatstrike's Avatar
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    Default US Olympic Judo Medal Winner Goes Vegan!

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...081303517.html

    Snippet from the article...

    A few minutes after Ronda Rousey became the first U.S. woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo, she was asked what she would do next.

    "What am I gonna do?" she repeated after capturing a bronze medal. "As of right now I am a vegan. I put that off until after I was done with this tournament."


    WoOo!

  2. #2
    seitan
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    does it mean she wnet vegan, or, she was vegan, stopped being vegan for olympics, and thwen went vegan again after?

    im a bit confused by this.

  3. #3
    nomad Orange-powered's Avatar
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    That's cool. Always good when athletes turn vegan, although even cooler if she had won it while being a vegan! I wonder what imitation crab meat is
    "On the dance-floor I am a world class freak... Its the beat"

  4. #4
    Abe Froman Risker's Avatar
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    Wonder why she put it off until after the tournament? Not enough protein perhaps???
    "I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth

  5. #5

    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    Perhaps EPO isn't vegan..
    ..but what would they do with all the cows?..

  6. #6

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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    "I mean, we're tough but we don't kill our opponents and eat them," she said.
    Love it.

  7. #7
    Mahk
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    Quote horselesspaul View Post
    Perhaps EPO isn't vegan..
    EPO? What's that? A TLA I would surmise.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Olympians are under enormous pressure from their coaches to eat, sleep, drink, work out exactly as they're told. Considering there is a 99% chance her coach is not vegan, and a perhaps a 90% chance s/he is not well educated on the nutritional benefits and adequacy of protein in our diets, it wouldn't surprise me if she was "strongly urged" to eat what she was told to.

  8. #8

    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    Quote Mahk View Post
    Olympians are under enormous pressure from their coaches to eat, sleep, drink, work out exactly as they're told. Considering there is a 99% chance her coach is not vegan, and a perhaps a 90% chance s/he is not well educated on the nutritional benefits and adequacy of protein in our diets, it wouldn't surprise me if she was "strongly urged" to eat what she was told to.
    My guess is a combination of this and simply that she recently had the notion, but felt she just couldn't afford the time and energy to change her lifestyle while she was training.

    When I went vegan, I had to do a lot of research and think about how my body was feeling for the first month or so, before I could really do it without thinking very much about it. Now I barely even realize that I have an unusual diet, as the animal products have practically disappeared from my mind. I feel like I don't even see them when I shop or eat out, which means I can dedicate myself 100% to other things while happening to be consistently vegan in all things.

  9. #9

    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    Quote Mahk View Post
    EPO? What's that? A TLA I would surmise.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    It's Erythropoietin. It's a popular banned performance enhancing drug that speeds injury recovery.

    ..but what would they do with all the cows?..

  10. #10
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    John Robbins about world records (from Diet for a New America):
    World Records

    The achievement of vegetarian athletes are particularly noteworthy considering the relatively small percentage of vegetarian entrant. Athletes, after all, are not immune from the cultural conditioning that meat alone gives the required strength and stamina. Yet some have adopted vegetarian diets and the results invite scrutiny.

    Dave Scott, of Davis, California is universally recognized as the greatest triathlete in the world. He has won Hawaii's legendary Ironman Triathlon a record four times, including three years in a row, while no one else has ever done it more than once. The event consists, in succession, of a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile cycle, and then a 26.2-mile run.

    Dave calls the idea that people, and especially athletes, need animal protein a "ridiculous fallacy." There are many people who consider Dave Scott the fittest man who ever lived. Dave Scott is a vegetarian.

    I don't know how you might determine the world's fittest man. But if it isn't Dave Scott it might well be Sixto Linares. This remarkable fellow tells of the time:

    "when I became a vegetarian in high school, my parents were very very upset that I wouldn't eat meat... After fourteen years, they are finally accepting that it's good for me. They know it's not going to kill me."
    During the fourteen years that Sixto's parents begrudgingly came to accept that his diet wasn't killing him, they watched their son set the world's record for the longest single-day triathlon, and display his astounding endurance, speed, and strength in benefits for the American Hearth Association, United Way, the Special Children's Charity, the Leukemia Society of America, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. So deeply ingrained, however, is the prejudice against vegetarianism that even as their son was showing himself possibly to be the fittest human being alive, his parents only reluctantly came to accept his diet. Sixto says he experimented for awhile with a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet (no meat, but some dairy products and eggs), but now eats no eggs or dairy products and feels better for it.

    It doesn't seem to be weakening him too much. In June 1985, at a benefit for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Sixto broke the world record for the one-day triathlon by swimming 4.8 miles, cycling 185 miles, and then running 52.4 miles.

    Then there's Edwin Moses. No man in sports history has ever dominated an event as Edwin Moses has dominated the 400-meter hurdles. The Olympic Gold Medalist went eight years without losing a race, and when Sports Illustrated gave him their 1984 "Sportsman of the Year" award, the magazine said, "No athlete in any sport is so respected by his peers as Moses is in track and field." Edwin Moses is a vegetarian.

    Paavo Nurmi, the "Flying Finn," set twenty world records in distance running, and won nine Olympic medals. He was a vegetarian.

    Bill Pickering of Great Britain set the world record for swimming the English Channel, but that performance of his pales beside the fact that at the age of 48 he set a new world record for swimming the Bristol Channel. Bill Pickering is a vegetarian.

    Murray Rose was only 17 when he won three gold medals in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. Four years later, at the 1960 Olympiad, he became the first man in history to retain his 400 meter freestyle title, and he later broke both his 400 meter and 1500 meter freestyle world records. Considered by many to be the greatest swimmer of all time, Rose has been a vegetarian since he was two.

    You might not expect to find a vegetarian in world championship body-building competitions. But Andreas Cahling, the Swedish body builder who won the 1980 Mr. International title, is a vegetarian, as has been for over ten years of highest level international competition. One magazine reported that Cahling's "showings at the Mr. Universe competitions, and at the professional body-building world championships, give insiders the feeling he may be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger."

    Another fellow who is not exactly a weakling is Stan Price. He holds the world record for the bench press in his weight class. Stan Price is a vegetarian. Roy Hilligan is another gentleman in whose face you probably wouldn't want to kick sand. Among his many titles is the coveted Mr. America crown. Roy Hilligan is a vegetarian.

  11. #11
    Mahk
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    How can John Robbins overlook Carl Lewis? Maybe his book was published before Lewis's 9 gold medals?

  12. #12
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    ... 9 gold medals?
    ...and 10 World Championships medals, of which 8 were golds.

    Lewis had won 'only' 4 Olympic Gold medals (all in 1984). AFAIK the book was first published in 1987, and Lewis "credits his outstanding 1991 results in part to the vegan diet he adopted in 1990" according to this source.


    Excerpt from Carl Lewis introduction to Very Vegetarian by Jannequin Bennett:

    Carl Lewis on Being Vegan
    Excerpt from Carl Lewis’ introduction to Very Vegetarian,
    by Jannequin Bennett

    Can a world-class athlete get enough protein from a vegetarian diet to compete? I’ve found that a person does not need protein from meat to be a successful athlete. In fact, my best year of track competition was the first year I ate a vegan diet. Moreover, by continuing to eat a vegan diet, my weight is under control, I like the way I look. (I know that sounds vain, but all of us want to like the way we look.) I enjoy eating more, and I feel great. Here’s my story.

    When I grew up in New Jersey, I always enjoyed eating vegetables and was influenced by my mother, who believed in the importance of a healthy diet even though we ate meat regularly because my father wanted it. At the University of Houston I ate meat and tried to control my weight the wrong way–by skipping meals. Frequently I would skip breakfast, eat a light lunch, and then have my fill at dinner–just before I went to bed. Not only is skipping meals the wrong way to diet, but the way I did it is the worst way because your body needs four hours to digest its food before you go to sleep.

    In May of 1990 I decided to change the way I ate when I realized that controlling my weight by skipping meals was not good for me. Within the space of a few weeks, I met two men who changed my way of thinking and eating. The first was Jay Cordich, the Juice Man, whom I met at the Houston radio station where I worked in the early morning. He was there to talk about his juicer, which makes fresh juice from fruits and vegetables. He said that drinking at least sixteen ounces of freshly squeezed juice each day will increase a person’s energy, strengthen the immune system, and reduce the risk of disease. A few weeks later while doing publicity for a meet in Minneapolis, I met Dr. John McDougall, a medical doctor who teaches about the link between good nutrition and good health and was promoting his latest book. Dr. McDougall challenged me to make a commitment to eating a vegetarian diet and then to just do it.

    I remember vividly making the decision in July of 1990 to become a vegan. I was competing in Europe and ate a meal of Spanish sausage on a Saturday and on the following Monday started eating vegan. The hardest thing for me was changing my eating habits from skipping meals to eating throughout the day–which is much healthier. I also missed salt and so substituted lemon juice for flavor.

    In the spring of 1991 – eight months after beginning to eat vegan – I was feeling listless and thought I might need to add protein from meat to my diet. Dr. McDougall, however, explained that my listlessness was due to my needing more calories because I was training so many hours each day, not because I needed more animal-based protein. When I increased my calorie intake, I regained my energy. I was drinking 24 to 32 ounces of juice a day. I ate no dairy products. And I had my best year as an athlete ever!

    You have total control over what you put in your body. No one can force you to eat what you don’t want to eat. I know that many people think that eating a vegetarian diet - and especially a vegan diet – will require sacrifice and denial. Jannequin Bennett demonstrates in this book that eating vegan does not have to be tasteless and boring. As she says, “vegan eating is a truly indulgent way of life, as vegans regularly partake of the very best foods that nature has to offer.” Here are recipes that will excite your taste buds. By the way, a few of my own recipes are included.

    Keep in mind that eating vegan does require a commitment to being good to your body and to acting responsibly toward the world around you. Most of us are not aware of how much damage we do to our bodies and to our world by the way we eat. I challenge you to write down everything you eat and drink for one week. You will probably be amazed at the amount of snacks you eat, the different ways in which milk and cheese are a part of your diet, and–worst of all–how much fast food you consume.

    Most snacks such as cookies, chips, candy, French fries, or soft drinks are highly processed foods that have lost many of their useful nutrients. Worse still, most of these foods are loaded with fat, salt, and chemicals. For instance, a 1.5-ounce bag of barbecue potato chips has the same number of calories as a medium baked potato, but 70 times the amount of fat and 20 times the amount of salt.

    Cheese and other dairy products are loaded with artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol. Most cheeses get 70 to 80 percent of their calories from fat.

    You have to be especially careful when you eat in fast food restaurants. As the consumption of unhealthy fast food has increased, so has obesity, which is now second only to smoking as a cause of death in the U.S. Eric Schlosser reported in Fast Food Nation that the rate of obesity among American children is twice as high today as it was twenty-five years ago. Moreover, it seems that wherever people eat unhealthy fast food, waistlines start to expand. Between 1984 and 1993, for instance, the number of fast food restaurants in Great Britain roughly doubled. And so did the obesity rate among adults. Overweight people were once a rarity in Japan. Fast food restaurants arrived there thirty years ago, and today one-third of all Japanese men in their thirties are overweight.

    Your body is your temple. If you nourish it properly, it will be good to you and you will increase its longevity.

  13. #13
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    Vegetarian Athletes: 10 Olympic Champions:

    It's a myth that muscles, strength and endurance require the consumption of large quantities of animal-based foods. This myth began before anyone even talked about protein. During the Olympics, it's a good time to take a look at some amazing athletes who are champions and vegetarians:

    Charlene Wong is a champion figure skater who represented Canada in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. She began competing at the age of 6 and in 1980 was named to the Canadian Team and represented Canada in the Junior World Championships. She was highlighted in The Vegetarian Sports Nutrition Guide by Lisa Dorfman.
    Paavo Nurmi, a Finnish runner, was a vegetarian since the age of 12. He is often considered the greatest track and field athlete of all time. A long-distance runner, he competed in the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Olympics, winning 12 Olympic medals.
    Chris Campbell, wrestler, trained for the 1980 Olympics but did not compete as the American team boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. At age 37, he began training again and secured a place on the US team, winning a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics, becoming the oldest American to medal in Olympic wrestling. He says, "I take care of my body. I don't eat meat, and I do yoga every day. It makes a difference."
    Carl Lewis, vegan athlete, won 10 Olympic medals, including 9 golds, in a career that spanned from 1979 to 1996, competing for the US. He said, "most athletes have the worst diet in the world, and they compete in spite of it."
    Surya Bonaly, professional figure skater, represented France in the Olympics of 1992, 1994, and 1998. She is also now a US citizen. A vegetarian, she has appeared in PETA ads protesting Canada's baby seal hunt and English and French fur trade.
    Debbie Lawrence, vegetarian racewalker, has been a three-time Olympian (1992, 1996, and 2000) and is the world record holder for the women's 5K racewalk event. She attributes her success to hard work and a vegetarian diet.
    Murray Rose, a vegetarian since birth, has six Olympic medals. He was born in 1939 in Nairn, Scotland, but he moved to Australia with his family at an early age. He was an Olympic champion at age seventeen. He was known for his vegetarianism during his career, earning him the nickname, "The Seaweed Streak." He competed in the Olympics from 1956 through 1960, winning six medals.
    Al Oerter, discus thrower, won four Olympic gold medals for the US - in 1956, 1960, 1964. He was also an abstract painter.
    Edwin Moses, hurdler for the US, is a gold medalist who went eight years without losing the 400-meter hurdle. Over his career, he won two Olympic gold medals. After retirement from track, he in completed in a 1990 World Cup bobsled race in Germany and won the two-man bronze medal with US Olympian Brian Shimer. Edwin Moses is a vegetarian.
    Leroy Burrell, sprinter, twice set the world record for the 100 meter sprint. He won a gold medal for the US in 1992 in Barcelona. He is a vegetarian.
    As stated in "Vegetarian Diets" by the International Center for Sports Nutrition, Olympic Coach Magazine, Winter 1997:

    "If care is taken to include a wide variety of foods, vegetarian diets can be nutritionally adequate to support athletic performance."

    "Whether an individual is a recreational or world-class athlete, being a vegetarian does not diminish natural talent or athletic performance. As far back as the Ancient Games, Greek athletes trained on vegetarian diets and displayed amazing ability in competitive athletics."

    Looking at these 10 vegetarian Olympic athletes, it's clear that the need to eat meat to be strong and a champion is a myth. A whole foods, plant-based diet will give an athlete all the excellent nutrition he or she needs to be a winner.

  14. #14
    Mahk
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    Default Re: US Olympic Judo Medal Winnder Goes Vegan!

    My understanding is Carl Lewis wasn't a vegan then his diet was vegan. I think he probably had leather track shoes for example. I also think he later added fish(?) or egg whites later after he won all these medals.

    Which brings up an interesting concept. Say it is impossible to find non-leather shoes that are required for your profession (they simply aren't made)? Take for example a baseball glove, say there are no such things as pleather/canvas ones. Can a vegan invoke the "practical and possible clause" or must they leave that profession?

    Lisa Edelstein who plays Dr. Lisa Cuddy on TV's House is vegan except for her shoes I understand. Let's say Stella McCartney is the only maker of vegan shoes that are camera ready and she only makes 5 designs but Lisa's director insists she rotates between 7. What is poor Lisa to do?

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