Grosjean: Vegan diet 'negative' for endurance athletes
- Published on 18 Sep 2019 10:04
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Haas driver Romain Grosjean says a vegan diet has a negative effect on endurance athletes.
Lewis Hamilton has been open in recent years talking about his veganism, and recently launched a new vegan burger chain in London.
For the 2019 season, regulations changed to allow the driver to be weighed separately from the car, as the previous rule was a disadvantage to heavier drivers.
Grosjean says that he is still careful with the foods that he eats, but enjoys being able to carry more weight for the benefit of his health.
"I don't eat as much as I will when I retire. The new rules have been very welcome in terms of health and weight, putting a bit of weight on for your benefit and health.
"I am careful with some of the food that I take, you won't see me eating fish and chips, stuff like that, and drinking beers the day before a race."
Vegan diet 'not an option' for Grosjean
However, Grosjean says that a vegan diet is "not an option" for him, as he states that it has a negative effect on athletes and their performance.
"I'm not vegan or vegetarian. It's not an option. If you're an athlete, veganism is actually negative. From what I know, there were examples from many endurance athletes going vegan.
"And they had to stop their vegan diet because they didn't have enough nutrition for high demand exercises. It's not a secret that I love triathlons, I love cycling and long sessions.
"I do need to eat as much as I can, not quantity-wise, but from a various range. I fully respect vegan, it tastes quite good."
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Replies (17)
Login to replymotorthread
Posts: 33
I think the world champion might disagree with you on that point. He seems to be doing just fine.
xoya
Posts: 583
Hamilton is not an endurance athlete.
motorthread
Posts: 33
F1 is treated as an endurance sport. The drivers have a fitness regime that mimics endurance athletes. In terms of diet there are power athletes and endurance athletes and F1 drivers are categorically in the endurance side.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Lets not get ahead of ourselves and call “World champion” where less than 10% of countries actively participate in this “sport”.
Kean
Posts: 692
He has yet to se Game Changers... Brendan Brazier, Rich Roll etc, etc would disagree.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Even skipping the diary and its bi-products is not a great idea especially during the young age. I wish and hope Hamilton understands its influence on the teens and kids. But, then again, if its a good business, who would care.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
As with many things with Lewis, it's a fad that he can use to promote himself as a humanitarian and better fit in with the Hollywood types. Don't get me wrong, I a sure that Lewis' diet is as complete as that of a meat eater. But Lewis also has the benefit of personal trainers and nutrition specialists helping him tailor a diet that makes sense. Veganism is an extreme diet, as extreme in it's own right as Keto is on the other end of the spectrum. That being said, I am no too worried about what Lewis' eating habits will do to influence teens and kids. If that influence amounts to get some youth to eat some damn vegetables I'll cal it a win. I doubt he will persuade youth to be vegan.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Don't knock it if you haven't tried it for a few years. How else can you really come to that conclusion? I know many kids who are now in their 20s and have had no health problems at all especially compared to people who believe they have to feed their kids meat and dairy and their kids are having all kinds of health problems. Meat and dairy is huge business and those marketing it don't give a crap about anyone's health or the impact on the planet and only care about profits regardless of the lies they promote.
Dert38
Posts: 376
meat is just toxic, time to admit that
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Lol here we go
xoya
Posts: 583
Yeah, no.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
The masses have been brainwashed to think it is necessary to eat animals. Some humans are carnivores, some omnivores and some herbivores. To each his/her own. Most meat these days is toxic and a major cause of the western world's health problems. Believe it or not, it makes no difference to me, but don't knock it until you've tried a healthy nutritional diet with minimal meat. Most people will experience tremendous health benefits unless they are eating processed foods with a list of 10-20 chemicals in the food that aren't meant for human consumption.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
He does have a point. There are a few benefits from a less meat intense diet, but there are some nutrients in meat that is much harder to get in decent amounts from a strictly vegan diet. Iron, B12 and folate are all best aquired from meat.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
It's really not correct for him to speak in such generalities. There are many endurance athletes that do very well on vegan or vegetarian diets. A good example of that is long distance runners from some African countries who are reported to eat very little meat. There have also been quite a few studies about how a meatless diet can be very good for endurance. I had some pretty severe health problems when I was in my late 20s and I was not eating any meat but did eat dairy and eggs at that time. My problems stemmed mostly from food allergies rather than not eating meat. But the important principle that I was introduced to and learned quite a bit about is a concept called biochemical individuality. Simply put what is good for one is not necessarily good for another. It largely comes down to genetics, chemical processes in the body, and quality of proteins, carbs, and other vital nutrients one is putting into their body, and not whether one gets those nutrients from meat or not. In the US most of the meat is very poor quality and creates a lot of health problems for many people such as heart disease, high cholesterol related diseases, obesity, and even arthritis. I have a friend who had debilitating arthritis for decades and it went away when she stopped eating meat. It's true in other countries as well to varying degrees. Some of the best quality and least tainted meat products I have ever had was when I was living in France, so maybe he gets better quality nutrients from meat there. Still, I don't agree with the generalization and many people have proven that what he says isn't true. Hamilton sure seems to be in the best shape of his life and I challenge anyone to drive 50 or 60 laps in a race car or even a go cart for that matter and say it's not an endurance sport. Biochemical individuality is real and everyone needs to get in tune with what works best for keeping their own body healthy and performing optimally. To each his own. In India they have a saying that life feeds on life, whether it is plant or animal, life is sustained by consuming some other form of life, so do what works for you but it's kind of not cool to say because it doesn't work for you that it doesn't work for everyone else. I eat very little meat these days, mostly fresh seafood and eggs with the occasional chicken and red meat products, but my body doesn't feel good when I go that way with the heavy meat products, and it's terrible for human digestion in general taking several days to pass through the body as opposed to hours with plant based foods. But again, you can't knock genetics. I'm sure we've all heard stories of old men and women living well into or past their 90s eating meat 2-3 times a day and drinking vodka and smoking cigars or cigarettes their entire life. Native people in the Arctic have been living largely on animal blubber for how many thousands of years? Nuff said, and more than I've ever posted about this topic on any public forum. For what it's worth.
motorthread
Posts: 33
I can’t believe that an article about what Hamilton eats has generated so many comments!
It is a pretty sad state of affairs that the diet of the World Champion is more controversial than the stewards recent questionable judgements and the farce that was Q3 at Monza.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Really? I'm not surprised. Meat eaters are always going to react strongly if you tell them they should stop eating burgers or bacon or sausages or whatever their favorite meat is, and you'll always get a strong reaction from non-meat eaters if you tell them their diet is no good and they have to eat meat in order to perform at the highest level. Very few things in this world will get a stronger reaction than telling people what they can or cannot eat. Trump can say any damn lie he likes and people do nothing, so I'm just waiting for the day he says, "let them eat cake." Maybe that's when he'll get his just deserts. Can't believe I went there, but it's an old thread so nobody will probably read it anyway.
motorthread
Posts: 33
I find the whole subject absolutely fascinating.