The Unorthodox Body-Builder
VeganBodyBuilding.com:
Yes, it exists, and no, it does not disappoint.
The homepage promotes a two and a half minute inspirational video
featuring a bodybuilder pumping iron in a vegan bodybuilding muscle-shirt, and
drinking a protein shake from a bottle with a vegan logo. The accompanying music is a tough-girl rock
song titled “Dare to Be Different”—a title that mirrors a prominent theme
throughout the website. Under the
website heading “Why Vegan?”, bodybuilder Derek Tresize claims that animal
rights and improved health are only some of the draws of a vegan diet. He writes, “By taking your diet in an
entirely new and unorthodox direction you set yourself apart from the pack,
showing that you are an independent thinker capable of achieving success
without following the well-beaten path of every other athlete before you.”
In order to successfully choose the path less travelled by, the website has
abundant advice about how to get enough protein and iron as a vegan
athlete. There are links to recipes,
weekly eating suggestions, health columns, and even a link to a website called veganproteins.com
where you can purchase protein-rich, vegan foods. This wealth of information begs the question:
can an average college athlete with minimal knowledge about nutrition eat a
vegan (or vegetarian) diet and still receive enough protein to fuel long
workouts, particularly on top of sleep-less block plan weeknights?
This is
a question that took on particular importance to CC athletes last spring when, in
collaboration with the CCSGA Student Concerns Committee, Bon Appetite made the shift
to weekly Meatless Monday dinners in Rastall as part of the global Meatless
Monday campaign. Started in 2003 in
association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the
campaign is simple: one day per week, cut out meat. The first city to officially declare Mondays
as meatless was Ghent, Belgium. Since
then, vegetarian activist and former Beatles’ member, Paul McCartney, has
encouraged the same movement in the UK, and cities such as San Francisco in the
US have followed suit. In early 2011,
Aspen, Colo. declared Mondays as meatless, nearly two years after the Aspen
school district made the shift. Animal
welfare is a concept that is entirely absent from the campaign; advocates are
much more concerned about the environmental impacts of the meat industry.
The Environmental Impact of Meat
In 2006, the Food and Agriculture
Association of the United Nations published a document titled “Livestock’s Long
Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options.”
At the time, livestock accounted for 30 percent of the total land
surface, and was the leading growing sector, especially in areas of Latin
America where, for example, over 70 percent of the Amazon Rainforest has been
deforested for grazing and feed crops.
This land is subject to detrimental degradation, including overgrazing
and erosion. In 2006, the livestock
sector was responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions as measured
in CO2, which is greater than the contributions of the transport
sector. The livestock sector contributes
65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, a chemical with 296 times the Global
Warming Potential of CO2.
Perhaps surprisingly, manure is responsible for the majority of this
nitrous oxide.
Meatless Monday advocates believe
that by merely giving up meat for one day a week, the population can reduce the
carbon footprint while simultaneously reducing cancer risk and heart disease,
and curbing obesity. The American Dietetic
Association agrees with these health claims, stating that appropriately planned
vegetarian diets are beneficial to health and nutritionally adequate. The statement goes on to say that vegetarian
diets have been shown to reverse severe coronary artery disease, lower risk of
hypertension, and lower incidence of lung and colorectal cancer. Nevertheless, the key words to the ADA’s
statement are “appropriately planned”, and the question remains: can a college
student plan a vegetarian meal appropriately—even one meal a week—in order to
best benefit a young athlete’s body?
Hard Facts of Nutritional Value
Use of an online nutritional value
counter confirms the often-cited discrepancies between meat and vegetarian
protein foods. One serving of skinless
chicken breast has 16 grams of protein.
To match this amount, a vegetarian would need to eat 62 almonds. It’s worth noting that one serving of chicken
has 78 calories, while the 62 almonds contain a whopping 430. In order to attain the equivalent amount of
protein as a Chili’s Oldtimer burger, one would need to eat an entire cup of
tofu—a prospect that sounds manageable to a tofu fan, but is likely to have
some non-vegetarians’ stomachs turning.
On the other hand, a Chili’s burger contains over double the fat of that
in the cup of tofu. Comparing the
nutritional value of vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods does not stop at
proteins, calories, and fats. It becomes
increasingly complicated as more nutrients and food qualities are entered into
the equation.
Fortunately for CC, our own Good Food
Club is responding to the concerns of the on campus athletes with an
educational panel discussion on Monday, Feb. 6 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in McHugh Commons. The evening features a panel of experts, from
Marion Hourdequin, Professor of Environmental Ethics, to Lucas Farnham, the
original founder of CC’s beloved Carnivore Club.
Regardless of whether you feel a
calling towards vegan bodybuilding, the debate about meat and vegetarianism is
one that is affecting our campus, our bodies, and our planet. Accordingly, as not only a member of the CC
community, but also as an individual whose actions have the potential for
irreversible impacts on the planet, one should feel obligated to become
informed about the food we do and do not choose to eat.
This article was previously published in The Catalyst, a publication of the Colorado College in the 2011-2012 school year
This article was previously published in The Catalyst, a publication of the Colorado College in the 2011-2012 school year
