number of world class vegan athletes is rising

A recent example of this trend is professional rock climber Alex Honnold, subject of Free Solo (Oscar winner for documentary this year). Now I may be biased a little (ya think?:), but it seems to me we are in the early stages of this trend, what I was calling the tipping point in this blog about a year ago.

So what's the big deal? Well at the very least it demonstrates meat is not needed in the diet for even highest possible levels of performance. And we're not just talking physical performance, we're also talking about the levels of focus, determination, skill and intelligence needed to rise to world class athletic performance.

We've long thought we needed meat to be strong and healthy. If that is not true, what are the mechanisms that might prove it?

Nutrition: on a per calorie basis, nutrition (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants) in a well designed whole food plant diet is higher than the same calories from good quality animal foods.

Conversion Efficiency: this is what MPG for a car is to a human, lets call it MPC (miles per calorie). The average adult probably needs about 2500 calories per day...how much work can be performed on those calories? Digestion of foods burns a lot of calories. On a per calorie basis quality whole plant foods require less "work" to convert to energy than do animal products. In an empty stomach, fruit digests the most quickly, vegetables are next, and meat takes longest. Complex meals with several types of food also makes digestion longer and less efficient.

Recovery From Training: athletes who go vegan tend to worry performance is going to suffer in a variety of ways. The first thing they are typically surprised with is how much more quickly they recover from heavy training. This gives the option to train the same with less pain, or train more as capacity for training increases. Other things equal, training more = better performance.

What might explain faster recovery? Less toxic input from plants than animals. Energy previously expended on detoxification can be diverted to tissue repair and building new muscle, speeding recovery.

If we are in the early stages of a new trend "competitive edge" will be a significant factor. As athletes see their teammates and competitors increase performance with a whole plant food diet, they will want that "edge" also.

At world class levels athletic performance tends to be pretty stable. An athlete's "personal best" will be difficult for him/her to surpass. Use of stimulants and steroids (performance enhancing drugs) can push a mature athlete thru previous limits. These have the downside of decreasing lifespan however (not to mention heavy fines and being barred from competition). Many world class athletes have reported similar performance increases by going to (totally legal:) plant based diets, with the upside of increased lifespan.

If we are at the early stages of a trend, it can only continue going up, flatten, or reverse and go down again.

We will see what happens.