Think eating vegan hinders athletic performance?
Think again.
Okay I should probably bring in an actual athlete.
Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Today’s video is
the first in the new vegan athlete series wherein I’ll be interviewing various vegan
athletes in a series.
Which I suppose is apparent in the title.
The stereotype of the weak pale vegan is quite tired, though strangely persists especially when it comes
to fitness. The idea that meat and animal byproducts are necessary for strength and
performance remains prominent. For some who may want to go vegan for the animals but are
competitive athletes, the concern over being able to still perform can be a hindrance to making the switch.
So I thought it would be ideal to hear from a long-time competitive athlete with experience
performing as both a non-vegan and a vegan. Anne-Marie Campbell is a black belt in Tai
Kwon Do and the founder of Meat Free Athlete. The popular vegan fitness blog. She’s got
20 years experience as a competitive athlete with the last 4 as a vegan. And…
...she's got killer abs....yeah!
So let’s hear from Anne-Marie about eating vegan for athletic performance.
Well Anne-Marie, I just want to thank you so much for taking the time out of your
busy schedule to be on the channel and to kind of share your experience as a vegan athlete.
Thank you for having me, looking forward to it.
So can you just kind of give people a little idea of who you are and what you do and a
little bit about Meat-Free Athlete.
I’ve been a competitive athlete for over 20 years and a vegan athlete for
over 4 years now. And then I started Meat-Free Athlete basically just as a way for me to just
show by example how I’m doing that and just my journey as a vegan athlete, and what’s
working for me, and just showing the success I’m having athletically.
So, being a competitive athlete and making that switch what were your main concerns
with how being vegan was going to affect your performance as an athlete?
I don't know, first I don’t think I actually didn’t have that conscious
concern at first, I was so into the whole wow about what was happening to the animals
and I was just really concerned about not contributing to that. And I’m an athlete
so I am thinking eat healthy, so I just basically veganized a lot of the ways that
I ate, and still just try to keep a healthy mindset. But then right away energy skyrocketed,
my recovery is faster. And I’d been a competitive athlete for so many years so I thought
I was doing the right thing. I thought I was eating right, fueling my body properly,
but once I became vegan; so much more energy, I can train longer, my recovery is a lot faster
I mean looking at a, kind of, a vegan diet or eating vegan for athletic performance,
what would you recommend to athletes who are considering making this switch. You know,
as far as like, are there particular foods to eat more for endurance versus for strength or
different macros to have? Or any of those kind of concerns? What advice would you give
to someone looking into it?
Okay yeah, my first advice would be to know the difference between performance and dieting, right?
So, if you want to be an athlete you’re going have to consume yourself with your performance.
I don’t restrict my calories, I don’t restrict my portions. I’m a big believer
just listening to my body. I just give it what it wants, and I only aim for lots
of colors. So for me...because that tells me I’m getting a good variety. And then
in general, If I have to kind of label how I’m eating, it’s very high carb, low fat, moderate to high protein.
A lot of people when they think of veganism, of course the main thing they think
of is the protein issue. Being a vegan athlete, how often do you get this question and how
do you kind of respond to it?
I get the question a lot, and I actually, like I said, I don’t mind receiving
that question because I find that a lot of people that are asking me about protein are
generally...they are curious. And I don’t want to just shut them down as like “oh,
another person is asking me” because then I might be turning away someone that really
is open, and they can make the connection, and I could’ve just turned away a potential
future vegan who is just wanting to know, right? So absolutely, I don’t mind answering
that question at all. It's a...in our society we put a highway on protein and so, we have this
big concern over it. It’s a little bit blown up, I don’t think we need as much protein
as we’re being told we need, but nonetheless it’s a concern people have so, absolutely
I don’t mind talking about it at all. So, it’s just a matter of breaking it down as
well to let people know that protein isn’t just one definitive thing, right? It’s amino
acids and those amino acids are in all the things we’re eating right? So, it’s just
that nine essential amino acids that we need to get from food. And though they’re in
such a variety of food, and getting protein from a vegan diet is so easy, it is so so easy.
What is been the biggest advantage that you’ve seen of switching to a plant based diet?
Just the energy level right? Just in general for training as well; I’m usually
the only female in the class. There’s not too many females that are at my belt, at the
school that I’m at right now, cause I’m a black belt so...usually not as many people,
or people my size to train with, I’m not that big. So, competing with bigger, stronger
guys you want to have that energy to withstand, basically taking hits and keep going to continuing
so it's an endurance thing as well. And, I would go an entire class, I would train a second
class that including sparring, full training, everything and I still have energy. And that’s
incredible because before, by the end of the first training class I just be so tired, I’ll
be ready to just start doing my warm down stretches, and just trying to finish the session
for the day. And then now I find myself, even after sparring I’m just like ready to, I’ll
just stay and do the next class, and continue. Huge difference and then also the recovery.
I’m able to train more because I’m not as sore longer. I do get injuries a lot because
of the combat, combat sports right? So, I’m always getting people “oh, what happened
this time?”, “oh, okay I broke my foot”, “okay, what happened now?”, “three dislocated ribs".
It happens a lot but I recover so much more fast from those now. So, very clear
advantage I think athletically for people, if they just switched over to just eating
vegan for performance for sure. What an advantage, like I never expected such an advantage because
I did, like I said I went for the animals. So, as soon as I...but I made the switch,
then I was like “wow, this is awesome!”. It’s like this added bonus right? All of a sudden
you’re just like, this is incredible. You’re tapping into all of this energy in performance
that all these years I could’ve been tapping into, but we learn when we do, so.
So for people who want to be able to find you, connect with you and what you’re
doing, where can they find you?
www.meatfreeathlete.com is my website; it’s a blog. I also have featured
contributors on there. We have recipes. You can be featured yourself as an athlete.
If you’re anybody, it doesn’t matter what your skill level is or what sport you’re
in, just as long as you’re vegan. Just there to help inspire and motivate other people.
And then I’m on social networks so, instagram mostly, and twitter, instagram and twitter
@MeatFreeAthlete, and then also on Facebook. YouTube as well...Meat Free Athlete.
My channel is pretty much just getting started though, but I’m very accesible on social. So, if
you reach out to me, you’ll find that I will respond, I’ll chat with you, if you
have any questions. If I can help in any way, if I have any kind of advice that might help
you out, excellent. I love to be able to discuss and then I get motivated by hearing from people’s
stories right, so it’s kind of a give and take there.
Well, thank you again so much for spending time and sharing kind of your wisdom of your
years of being a competitive athlete with us.
Thank you for having me, it was great.
I hope you enjoyed hearing from Anne-Marie. You can’t argue with results and it’s
evident that removing animal products made a profound impact on her experience as an athlete.
Now, I’d love to hear from you on this. What is your impression of veganism and athleticism.
If you’re an athlete and vegan, did you see a change in your performance with a
change in diet? If you’re a non-vegan athlete, have the stereotypical concerns stopped you
from making the switch? Let me know in the comments.
If you enjoyed this atypically athletic nugget, please give this video a big thumbs up and share it around
to show just how advantageous eating vegan can be for athletes as much as the animals.
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Now go live vegan, get your workout in, and I’ll see you soon!
[inspirational music]
[loud noise of effort]
You know, you are a workout and a half!
You are just a big kettle bell with legs!
That's what you are.
Just a kettle bell with legs!
Wow! [laughs]