
NFL players' surprising performance hack: going vegan - sethbannon
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/07/nfl-players-are-going-vegan.html
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dxhdr
The article claims that "there's a new performance hack taking hold in the NFL
— going vegan," mentioning Tom Brady as an example. Article later clarifies
that "though not vegan, his personal diet is reportedly 80 percent plant-
based." So the performance hack is just eating healthy food?

~~~
DiabloD3
Which easily means that he does LCHF Paleo or an exceptionally clean Keto,
maybe combined with OMAD, which is what I personally recommend for both
physical and mental performance reasons.

I'm not saying it'll turn an everyman into a Tom Brady, but it could explain
why Tom Brady performs so well against his peers (which is _just enough_ of a
gap to near-consistently win; and all of these people, even on the Browns, are
all absolutely amazing athletes at the top of their field).

~~~
risaacs99
I can't see how an 80% plant based diet could lead to a low carb, high fat
outcome. It in no way implies to me a one meal a day diet.

It sounds more to me like the DASH diet, or Mediterranean.

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gralx
I looked seriously at veganism after reading a WHO report that attributes 13%
of world greenhouse gas emissions to animal farming. [Strike that. The figure
is 18%, and the source is a 2006 FAO study sponsored by the World Bank and the
European Union, among others.] I built a database from the USDA's and whatever
credible recommendations for daily micronutrition I could find, and then I
built a diet around that database. All recommended micronutrients can be had
from non-meat, non-dairy foods except two: it is not possible to be a healthy
vegan without also taking choline and vitamin B12 supplements.

An athlete would face extra challenges. Tudor Bompa cites research showing
athletes tend to be deficient in important micronutrients compared to the
general population, likely because of the stresses of training. And though the
position paper on sports nutrition published by the world's most important
scientific journal on nutrition recommends that athletes consume up to 1.4g of
protein per 1kg of body mass per day, for a vegan athlete this means consuming
approximately 1kg to 2kg of beans a day, or even more if the food is less
protein-dense than beans. It's hard to eat that many beans.

Sources:

 _Livestock 's Long Shadow: Environmental issues and options_, p.112, Food and
Agriculture Organization, 2006

United States Department of Agriculture Food Composition Databases

Tudor S. Bompa, _Periodic Training for Sports_ , 2015

"Nutrition and Athletic Performance", Dietitians of Canada, the Academy of
Nutrition and Dietetics, the American College of Sports Medicine, December
2016

~~~
yesenadam
I didn't remember hearing about choline before.. I'm vegan so I looked into
it.[0] "Humans make a small amount of choline in the liver. ..no reports of
choline deficiency in the general population... the choline made by the body
(assuming a dietary intake of zero) may be enough" There are many plant
sources. So not sure why you're saying choline can't be gotten from vegan
sources. That seems both untrue and misleading (It seems nobody may need to
get choline from food sources)

B12 is a different matter, but as it seems a standard additive to soy milk,
which I often have on breakfast cereal, I've never worried about that either.

No supplements needed. (Anecdata: I've been going strong for almost 30 years
of vegan diet)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline#Dietary_sources_of_cho...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline#Dietary_sources_of_choline)

~~~
dfee
> Humans make a small amount of choline in the liver.

I thought old “Element 17” was made by fusion in stars.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis)

<Oops: choline not chlorine!>

~~~
gphilip
It's "choline", not "chlorine".

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline)

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was_boring
I'm glad this is getting attention. I was vegan for a while, but couldn't
handle the constant social pressures. However, I'm now mostly a home cook with
basic non-processed ingredients, lots of veggies, and low fat protein -- I've
taken this to the point where I make my own breads.

I find if I eat too many processed foods my chronic depression comes back. So
eating simply and regular exercise is how I stay off antidepressants and
perform better at every aspect of my life.

~~~
Exuma
Social pressures? You put other people's opinions over your own health?
Honestly man, scuse my french but tell them to fuck off. I don't care if it's
your own family, your wife, do whatever you want. Hearing stuff like that
makes me sick, because you're basically saying you value other people more
than you and you are who is most important. It's liberating to just not care.

~~~
sokoloff
There are overt pressures and subtle social inconveniences to anyone on a non-
mainstream or non-omnivore diet.

"Hey wanna come over to a BBQ at our place on Saturday?" might be awkward for
a vegan to respond to, just as "Hey, wanna come over for spaghetti night?"
would be for someone on a low-carb diet without any specific disrespect or
disapproval from the host about the particular diet. I'm assuming you wouldn't
recommend telling someone to "fuck off" for inviting you to a BBQ.

~~~
arbitrary_name
I just show up with mushrooms, vegetable skewers, salad and high quality
sourdough to share. Even at company picnics and other events. Rarely is there
an issue and very often people are very complementary of my food. Don't make
it other people's problem and they won't make it yours.

~~~
monksy
This is the correct answer right here. The only deviation of this is cooking
services. When I did a cookout 2 weeks ago, I just told the vegan that she
should be aware that the grill is heavily seasoned by meat. She used the stove
and no one cared.

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acconrad
I'm a competitive athlete (powerlifting) and I've been experimenting with a
flexitarian-style diet where the vast majority of my calories are from plant-
based foods but I "supplement" with sardines and eggs to fill in the
deficiencies.

With vegan diets, the most commonly deficient nutrients are: protein, calcium,
choline, selenium, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, and zinc.

2 cans of sardines can provide almost all of the vitamin D, selenium, and B12
you need in a day, and a majority of calcium and protein, with a serious dent
in your choline RDA as well. Not only that, they are among the most
sustainably-caught and lowest-mercury fish you can eat.

Add in 3 pasture-raised, farm-fresh eggs and you've hit your RDA for choline
(via the yolks) and protein.

The rest of your nutrients can be covered with vegan foods...for the remaining
common deficiencies, a few scoops of vegan pea protein to finish up your RDA
for iron with that athlete boost I need of additional protein.

Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, lentils, garbanzo beans, cashews, and quinoa are
all excellent sources of protein and zinc.

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toasterlovin
I would seriously advise ignoring diet advice gleaned from elite athletes. A
huge part of being an elite athlete is having good genetics for whatever sport
you play. And when you’re a genetic freak, you can get away with doing a lot
of sub-optimal stuff.

~~~
mlinksva
Is it true that one can get away with doing a lot of stuff that's sub-optimal
for short term performance in an extremely competitive league like the NFL?
There's someone almost as freakishly good waiting to replace you.

On that note, is there any measure of how closely clustered top athletes are
in different sports? Are there some in which the best are more separated from
the rest than in others, so that the best in those sports can get away more
sub-optimal stuff?

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toasterlovin
> Is it true that one can get away with doing a lot of stuff that's sub-
> optimal for short term performance in an extremely competitive league like
> the NFL?

You should read up on the training regimen of Usain Bolt. Fastest guy who ever
lived. His training regime is basically that he doesn’t train. I can’t imagine
that his dietary adherence is any better. Short of malnutrition or massive
sugar consumption, there’s probably not much he could do to screw himself up.
Clearly his genes want to build a very specific phenotype.

~~~
mlinksva
OK, I googled it and "basically that he doesn't train" is a gross
exaggeration. Same regarding diet. One link briefly covering both:
[https://www.gq.com/story/runner-usain-bolt-training-
secrets-...](https://www.gq.com/story/runner-usain-bolt-training-secrets-and-
diet)

Same link also says Bolt has a freakishly long stride. I wonder if sprinting
is one sport in which the very best are further from the rest relative to
other sports due to sprinting involving exactly one activity? I'm not much of
a sports fan but I can't recall another accounting of a great in my lifetime
that didn't involve intense training.

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toasterlovin
That link refers to a 90 minute daily workout. For a point of comparison, 90
minutes per day would not be considered abnormal for a "fit" amateur (as in,
the person in your office who is training for a marathon, iron man, crossfit
games, etc.). It is not at all what most athletes would consider serious
training.

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brandonmenc
Brady has survived for so long because he gets rid of the ball quickly and
knows how to fall down without getting hurt. His diet and all the other snake
oil he subscribes to has nothing to do with it.

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reese_john
Another cool "performance hack" by NFL players': liberal doses of hGH and
testosterone

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Exuma
It's about time I have a link to send people that make super played out vegan
jokes. I love teasing and having a laugh at the expense of myself, but it's
super old to see vegetarian-hating jokes equating it to being weak.

~~~
teach
This is one of my favorites:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIKN5LNxFiQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIKN5LNxFiQ)

(My wife is a registered dietitian with a PhD in nutrition, so obviously we
tend toward veganism.)

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keithnz
I got no real problem with going meat free, and most of my diet is meatless,
my partner was super keen to do this and she started making a lot of meat
alternative type meals, and for the most, it's pretty good. Not as bad as I
thought. Comes down to the flavors you use mostly.

however going dairy free is a whole other ball game, We've tried some
alternatives, and things like banana ice cream is a pretty good ice cream
alternative, but cheese alternatives are not so good.

~~~
ianleeclark
This ultimately puts your taste preferences over the life of a sentient
animal.

The core reason that many ethical vegans are vegans is that they decide not to
put their taste preferences over an animal.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
I wonder if "super-tasters" are under represented in vegetarian/vegan
populations (or vice-versa)?

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toomanybeersies
Anecdotally, after moving to a plant based diet, I feel a lot healthier and
have a lot more energy.

I think that the main reason is less that meat itself is unhealthy though, but
that I used to basically eat meat and carbs with little in the way of
vegetables. Steak and chips isn't a very nutritionally complete meal.

Of course it's possible to eat shit food while still being a vegan. Oreos and
fries are vegan.

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lostlogin
Oreos aren’t vegan and many fries aren’t either, including from some big
chains. [http://www.oreo.co.uk/faq](http://www.oreo.co.uk/faq)

~~~
firethief
> No, Oreo have milk as cross contact and therefore they are not suitable for
> vegans.

That's definitely a minority view. The point is to avoid creating demand for
animal products, so most vegans don't worry about cross-contamination as if it
were an allergy.

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smudgymcscmudge
Non-amp link: [https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/07/nfl-players-are-going-
vegan....](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/07/nfl-players-are-going-vegan.html)

~~~
dang
Thanks. Changed to that from [https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/09/07/nfl-players-
are-going-ve...](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/09/07/nfl-players-are-going-
vegan.html).

