Olympic Weightlifter - A Vegan! - International Prose

Olympic Weightlifter - A Vegan!
by Caroline Praderio via gail - Business Insider Friday, Aug 12 2016, 10:27pm
international / prose / post

You’d think that an Olympic athlete who can lift nearly 800 pounds goes home from the gym every night and gobbles up some high-protein meat.

Not Kendrick Farris.

This three-time Olympian has been a vegan since the birth of his second son in 2014 — and since eliminating animal products from his diet, he’s actually become stronger.

Farris, 30, told Sports Illustrated that the dietary switch was motivated by a desire to return to “the purest form of our life, our being, and it started with the food.”

Whatever the motivation, the diet seems to be working for him: Farris won first place at the Pan-American games in 2015 and 2016.

Farris’ wife Katrina told the Huffington Post that her husband used to eat animal-based foods with gusto.

“He loved burgers and all the things you think of when you think of Olympic athletes. Meat!” she said. “So I didn’t think he was going to stick with it. But two years later, I think it’s made him better.”

For Farris, a typical breakfast consists of oatmeal or pancakes, followed by a midday snack of a plant-based protein shake, HuffPost reports. For lunch, he has avocado quesadillas before his workout.

He snacks on guacamole and black bean chips, and often has a dinner of black bean quesadillas. And, if he’s still hungry before bed, he’ll sip on another protein shake. (That’s a fry cry from gymnast Simone Biles’ post-workout meal: Pepperoni pizza.)

“I want to tell people, ‘Start paying attention to what you’re putting into your body,'” Farris told Sports Illustrated. “These things will help you have not just a clearer mind and a longer life, but, man, you will have a greater quality of life.”

Farris placed eighth in his weight division at the Beijing games and tenth in the London games. But maybe his new plant-powered diet will propel him to the podium in Rio. Find out when he competes on Saturday, August 13.

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[Editorial note:

Veganism is an extreme form of vegetarianism and may not suit many people, however, a balanced vegetarian diet eliminating all meats is relatively easy to follow and would of course reap huge benefits. Try it, we have numerous vegetarian contributors to this site, all of which look and feel at least ten years younger than their chronological age. After the initial lassitude from toxin and mucous elimination from the system, one's vigour and general health improves remarkably. We highly recommend a meatless diet for everyone.]