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• Z

lard in the beans). There’s a

pretty wide range of things to

get protein.”

Chris Paul’s diet on a

typical day

(As told by his chef, Seong

Hwang)

zBreakfast: Oatmeal,

plant-based milk, nut but-

ters

zLunch: Pasta or some

brown rice, Beyond Meat

sausage, grilled vegetables,

maybe curry sauce

Chef Seong:“The main

thing is, we try to keep it as

light and clean as possible

for his normal routine, with

organic ingredients, any-

thing that can minimize body

inflammation. Chris is al-

ways worrying about what

he can and can’t eat.”

zSnack option 1: Fruit,

nuts

zSnack option 2:Tacos

with Beyond crumbled meat

Chef Seong:“The flavor of

the plant-based meat lends

itself really well to Mexican

spices.”

zDinner option 1:Fish,

perhaps a heavy soup

zDinner option 2:His fa-

vorite dish — the Hawaiian

Loco moco, made with Be-

yond burger on top

Chef Seong: “We’ll be on

the phone several times a

day when he’s on the road,

determining what he can eat

off the hotel menu.”

Paul’s weak spots —ac-

cording to Chef Seong:

“When I first met Chris he

had a large sugar consump-

tion. Sprite was his go-to.

He’s slowly weaned off that.

Now he’s constantly trying to

educate himself about how

one food affects his body.”

Postgame meal: “After

every game, Chris will have a

Beyond Burger. Athletes are

starving after they get done

playing and that’s when

they’re most susceptible to

eat something they’ll regret

the next day.”

Pro athletes have turned

to plant-based diets in the

peak and latter stages of

their careers and experi-

enced benefits that include

quicker recovery from work-

outs, injury prevention and

overall energy.

USA TODAY Sports

caught up with U.S. women’s

soccer star Alex Morgan,

who is vegan, and NBA guard

Chris Paul, who maintains a

mostly plant-based diet

about every-day diets.

Alex Morgan’s diet on a

typical day

(*Aims for 90 grams of

protein)

zBreakfast: Oatmeal

with nut butter, berries

Morgan: “That was the

hardest thing for me to

change because a lot of the

things I love like pancakes

and French toast had dairy

and eggs.”

zPre-Workout:Smooth-

ie with plant protein

Morgan: “I’ve found that

usually sustains me until

lunch even with a pretty hard

training workout in the

morning.”

zLunch: Rice with some

quinoa, veggies and maybe

black beans.

Morgan: “I try to stay

away from pasta because it

can be too heavy.”

zExtra: Plant-based pro-

tein shake, almond milk or

soy milk

zDinner option 1:Chick-

pea Thai curry/anything

Mediterranean with rice,

zucchini

zDinner option 2: The

Impossible (plant-based)

Burger with veggies

zDinner option 3:Mexi-

can bean and sautéed veggie

burrito, guacamole

Morgan:“Mexican is nat-

urally pretty vegan-friendly

(as long as there isn’t pork

Chris Paul has invested in Beyond Meat and goes plant-

based to stay lean at 34.STEPHEN R. SYLVANIE/USA TODAY SPORTS

Plant diets: What

Morgan, CP3 eat

Scott Gleeson

USA TODAY

Alex Morgan remembers
athletes sporting milk mus-
taches in ads when she was a
kid, reinforcing the idea she
needed protein from animal
and dairy products to be
strong.
“I never thought it was pos-
sible I could be playing at an
elite level as a professional ath-
lete with a plant-based diet,”
the U.S. women’s soccer star
told USA TODAY Sports. “Then
I realized it wasn’t detrimental
at all. What I learned growing
up wasn’t all that true.”
When Morgan’s Orlando
Pride teammates and the MLS
teammates of her husband,
Servando Carrasco, showed
they could thrive while eating
vegan, the stigma was erased
and Morgan was ready to try a
new diet. She became vegetar-
ian in August 2017 and then
took on a mostly vegan lifestyle
at the beginning of 2018.
“If anything, it makes me
stronger and helps with fatigue
and recovery,” said Morgan,
who had the U.S. women team’s
chef, Teren Green, prepare veg-
an meals during the World Cup.
Veganism is on the rise in
the United States — the plant-
based market increased 17% in
dollar sales this last year, ac-
cording to The Good Food Insti-
tute — and more athletes are
turning to the diet, particularly
at the peak and latter stages of
their careers.
New England Patriots quar-
terback Tom Brady is the most
prominent athlete to embrace
veganism, crediting his mostly
plant-based diet for allowing
him to play at an MVP level into
his 40s. He made the change
starting in 2014 and detailed
his approach in his 2017 book,
“The TB12 Method.”
Athletes have been exposed
to plant-based diets for a varie-
ty of reasons. NBA guard Chris
Paul said his children’s nanny
was vegan. Recovering from a
shoulder injury, Carolina Pan-
thers quarterback Cam Newton
said in April he’s gone vegan to
aid his stamina and rehab. Ten-
nis star Venus Williams adopt-
ed a vegan diet in 2011 after she
was diagnosed with an autoim-
mune disease. A gluten allergy
led Wimbledon champion No-
vak Djokovic to go plant-based,
and in 2016 he opened up a
Monte Carlo vegan restaurant.
While most nutrition ex-
perts are in agreement that
veganism aids recovery and
promotes good health, others
raise questions about its effec-
tiveness and see the no-meat
philosophy as limiting.
Yet athletes are among the
biggest advocates for vegan-
ism. Morgan and Brooklyn Nets
guard Kyrie Irving were named
“Most Beautiful Vegan Celebri-
ties” by PETA this summer.
“The rules aren’t as strict as
everyone thinks,” Irving said.
“I’m an example of someone
who ate really unhealthy — fast
food or a quick TV dinner in the
microwave — without educat-
ing myself on what I was put-
ting into my body. Now I feel
like I understand the truth —
how certain chemicals in meat
affect your body, and that now
there are alternatives bridging
the gap available.”
Those alternatives start
with plant-based meat compa-
nies such as Beyond Meat,
which has attracted Paul, Ir-
ving and Houston Texans wide
receiver DeAndre Hopkins as
investors. “You’ve got to be
open-minded,” Paul said. “I
was someone who was like, ‘I
don’t want that fake chicken or
fake burger.’ But it tastes simi-
lar and it really makes a huge
difference in how I feel.”
James Loomis, who prac-
tices internal medicine at Bar-
nard Medical Center in Wash-
ington, D.C., said he believes a
vegan diet is a natural fit for
athletes: It “leads to quicker re-
covery from workouts and bet-

ter injury prevention. The food

pyramid is misleading, and

that’s stayed with us from a

young age.

“The standard American

diet leads to low-grade inflam-

mation so when athletes are ex-

ercising it’s like putting Diesel

fuel into a regular car.”

Meat and plants:

What’s really healthy?

However, veganism is not

fully embraced by athletes or

experts.

Cate Shanahan, a nutrition

consultant for the Lakers, Yan-

kees and Packers, says plant-

based meat is “toxic” and ar-

gues the recovery boost ath-

letes experience from thediets

comes from removing “chips

and soda, like any good diet.”

Shanahan instead believes

animal meat on the bone and

animal bone broth can bolster

digestive health and relieve

joint pain. She sees the keto

diet — what Tim Tebow cur-

rently follows — as a healthy

option because of its emphasis

on using natural fats from but-

ter and coconut as opposed to

vegetable oils. She contends

that a plant-based diet or the

largely meat-based paleo diet

are “limited.”

Several high-profile athletes

tried vegan lifestyles before

opting out. Portland Trail Blaz-

ers guard Damian Lillard gave

up his vegan diet because he

lost too much weight.

“Veganism doesn’t pay at-

tention to the culinary tradition

of the world’s healthiest cui-

sines that kept our ancestors

disease-free,” Shanahan said.

“The healthiest diet comes

from four natural pillars —

fresh food, fermented and

sprouted food, meat cooked on

the bone, and organ meats.”

Loomis disagrees, and has

data to prove it. He collaborat-

ed with experts for a 2019 study

that outlined evidence of plant-

based diets benefiting endur-

ance athletes in heart health,

overall performance and recov-

ery.

“It’s a factual myth that we

have to have animal protein to

perform at a high level,” he said.

“With plants, food becomes

more like medicine.”

Loomis is one of the doctors

featured on “Game Changers,”

a documentary set to debut in

September that features MMA

fighter James Wilks exploring

the differences between pro-

tein from plant-based and

meat-based diets.

“If you go into locker rooms

and look at the pregame meal,

it’s usually steak or chicken or

pasta, and there’s lots of Whey

Protein powder,” said Loomis,

the former team internist for

the St. Louis Rams and Cardi-

nals. “That’s then amplified

commercially with marketing,

basically saying, ‘You’re not a

man unless you eat meat.’ ”

One example: NBA Hall of

Famer Charles Barkley ranted

on a Turner Sports broadcast

this spring, “They’ve got a

name for people who don’t eat

meat: Damn fools.”

The vegan stigma

Paul’s personal chef, Seong

Hwang, prepared a postgame

meal for the Houston Rockets

last season.He didn’t tell play-

ers until afterward that it was

made with Beyond Meat.

“The players, the staff, they

all loved it solely based on the

taste,” Seong said. “No one

wants to give up taste. Chris is a

big foodie. If what I was making

him didn’t taste good, he

wouldn’t stick with it. Whenev-

er you hear veganism, you

think you have to give up some-

thing or eat tofu to survive.

That’s really not the case.”

The vegan perception can be

damning, though. According to

a 2017 report by NBC Sports Bay

Area, NFL teams were dissuad-

ed by Colin Kaepernick’s then-

vegan diet, calling it a red flag

when considering signing the

free agent quarterback.

“There’s a weird connota-

tion that comes with vegan-

ism,” said Loomis, who moved

his practice to Washington,

D.C., from the St. Louis area be-

cause colleagues in the Mid-

west thought his approach was

“crazy.”

Morgan says the stigma can

go both ways.

“It took me a while to feel

comfortable with my lifestyle

and not being a super-strict

vegan,” said Morgan, who also

supports veganism because of

ethical concerns around ani-

mal rights. “The vegan commu-

nity can be very unforgiving at

times, and I don’t want to sit

here and say I’ve never eaten

dairy or worn leather. But I

haven’t eaten meat in two years

and do the best I can.

“I just want to feel good

about why I’m doing this. I

don’t think our country is there

yet, in terms of being able to

adopt a fully vegan lifestyle.

We’re getting there.”

Athletes turning to

vegan to gain edge

Scott Gleeson
USA TODAY

Alex Morgan gestures during a

World Cup win. She became

vegan in early 2018 and main-

tains a mostly plant-based

diet.RICHARD MARTIN/USA TODAY