The days are long gone when vegans were perceived as weak. It was a common narrative in the gutter press not all that many moons ago. But even though athletes like Patrik Baboumian have turned the establishment on its head, people still ask: “do vegans have weaker muscles?” Today, we’ll put this bogus claim to bed …
Do Vegans Have Weaker Muscles?
No, vegans do not have weaker muscles because it’s easy to get all the complete protein you need on a plant based diet, contrary to what you may have heard. A diet with a balanced amino acid profile is perfectly achievable for vegans and you should pay little mind to those claiming otherwise.
Watch: Nimai Delgado on effective plant based bodybuilding.
(Nimai has never eaten meat his whole life – and look at him! Living proof vegans can be just as ripped as meat eaters)
Plant-Based: The Big Game-Changer
Have you seen The Game Changers documentary? If not, I highly recommend you schedule that one into your busy life.
This 2018 groundbreaking doco utterly blows the lid off any suggestion that vegans are weaker than meat-eaters.
Yes, it’s mostly anecdotal but the anecdotes are hugely convincing … especially the ‘battle ropes’. I won’t spoil it for you but yeah … give it a watch.
The film certainly ruffled some feathers in the carnist community and many self-proclaimed experts have attempted to ‘debunk’ the claims made.
I read a few of these supposed debunks before writing this article and came away thinking that most of them are just an excuse to go vegan-bashing.
The overriding criticism of the film seems to be the fact that the contributors are all invested in the vegan way of life, with products to sell. So what?
Does that invalidate the content? Certainly not.
It’s All About Protein, Protein, Protein
You might think, after more than 80 years of modern veganism being ‘a thing’, we’d have moved past the plant-based protein debate.
I mean, how much evidence do you need to convince you that athletes can be just as effective on a plant-based diet as they are on a meat-based one.
It doesn’t matter where you get your protein from as long as you’re getting all the essential amino acids in your diet. The protein building blocks.
… and yes, despite what you may have been told, it’s easy to eat plant-based and maintain a balanced amino acid profile.
Now, I’m not going to claim that plant-based is better than meat when it comes to protein.
I fully accept that because high quality meat is nutrient dense, meat eaters don’t really need to think about it when it comes to essential amino acids.
Vegans do need to be more nutritionally educated. But that’s a good thing.
When the vegan protein debate rears its ugly head I always respond with “where do you think animals get their protein from?”
Yep … from plants. Case closed.
Related: Does All Protein Come From Plants?
Veganism Challenges The Status Quo
These negative narratives exist because many meat-eaters are threatened by the idea that vegans might be just as able as them when it comes to high performance sport.
It obviously extends beyond sport and into day to day life as well.
Furthermore, the meat and dairy industries are continually seeing their market share diminish due to veganism … and they don’t like it.
Plant-based eating is becoming very popular and it’s cutting into their bottom line.
The meat and dairy barons pedalling their death foods employ tried and tested marketing methods.
The tactics used are straight out of the tobacco giant’s play books. Strong parallels are clear to see.
Their goal is to discredit veganism and sow the seeds of doubt in people’s minds.
… and to some degree, it’s working.
The Masses Are Easily Manipulated
For the longest time vegans were perceived as malnourished weaklings. We’d be the ones having sand kicked in our faces on the beach!
Then someone like Mike Freemont comes along and turns the established ‘wisdom’ on its head.
Mike still runs marathons at 100 years old. He cites his whole food, plant-based diet as the single biggest reason he is able to continue competing.
Mike is not alone. He is not the exception that proves the rule.
There are many other top-class vegan athletes who are proof positive that plant-based eating can not only be as good as a meat based diet, but actually superior.
But even with this ever-growing body of evidence showing that plant-based diets are more than adequate, we have the naysayers doubling down on the ‘weakling’ narrative.
Driven by the rise of social media and people like Shawn Baker (who some may label a quack), the meat marketing men (and women) are still able to inject their particularly rancid discourse into the minds of the masses.
… and so the ‘vegan protein’ debate rages on!
Don’t Believe The Hype!
In the immortal words of hip hop stars, Public Enemy: “As an equal, can I get this through to you?”
Stay with me 🙂
Many people don’t understand that veganism is about equality. We believe all sentient life has an equal right to exist on this planet.
We believe humans do not have a god-given right to take the life of another conscious being.
Intelligent, non-human life-forms who will fight like hell to survive, just like you and I.
The perception of ‘weak vegans’ persists and it is borne out of ignorance. What we don’t understand often scares us.
The animal agriculture marketing machines latch on to this fear and reinforce it by assuring us we must eat meat and drink milk to remain strong.
No-one wants to be the skinny man on the beach having sand kicked in his face!
We’ve Come a Long Way Baby
I seem to be channelling references to popular culture today!
There’s no doubt veganism has come a long way since its inception back in the forties. Compassion can be the only way!
Ignore the haters and those with an agenda to sell their weird ‘carnivore crisps’ or whatever the hell it is.
Many of these self-proclaimed ‘experts’ have been subconsciously moulded into the reactionary bigots they are today. They fully believe their own lies at this point.
Regardless, vegans don’t have weaker muscles. It’s now proven beyond any doubt by all the top class vegan body builders out there.
One of the guys I follow on Twitter is ‘Lifting Vegan Logic’ … yet more proof (if you needed it) that vegans can perform just as well as non-vegans.
You simply need to educate yourself on human nutrition and with the internet, it’s never been easier to do so.
Stay rational. Stay woke and don’t let the rabid anti-vegan brigade poison your mind with their hate-filled propaganda.
There’s usually an agenda.
I hope you enjoyed my article today and it has helped you answer your question. I’d love to know what you think. Share your experience in the comments below and use the social buttons to spread the word … it all helps 🙂
Thanks for reading and have a compassionate day!
Rohan.