Vegetarian Star

We hope everyone is enjoying the Olympics. Or maybe you are just waiting for them to finish so all of your other television programs can return to normal. Whatever your personal case is, you have to at least enjoy our little history lesson on former Olympic athletes who were vegetarian and vegan.

There have been many Olympic athletes who didn’t use meat to get there, including sprinter Leroy Burrell, hurdler Edwin Moses, figure skater Charlene Wong, wrestler Chris Campbell, runner Paavo Nurmi, figure skater Surya Bonaly, race walker Debbie Lawrence, discus thrower Al Oerter, and sprinting champion Carl Lewis. Lewis won 10 Olympic medals in his career from 1979-1996, 9 of which were gold.

Lewis’ inspiration to become vegan was partially from a meet and greet with famous veggie doctor, Dr. John McDougall.

“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.”

From Very Vegetarian by Jannequin Bennett via Earthsave

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