Plant-based athletes are demolishing worn stereotypes by showing that men can be exceedingly strong and healthy without animal protein.
LOLA OLVERA: Meat is aggressively marketed to heterosexual men, through both subtle and not-so-subtle references to masculinity or sex… Images speak volumes; with these ads, food companies reinforce the idea that meat-eating is essential to masculinity… Partly as a result of these targeted marketing efforts, men consume protein, and meat in particular, at alarming rates—far more than women. According to a 2015 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, young boys and adult men consume an astounding 57 percent more meat than women…
The connection between meat consumption and masculinity is not new. What is new is the increasing influence of prominent vegan men who speak up about the benefits of their diets. At the start of 2020, Men’s Health UK published a complete guide to eating a plant-based diet. The Game Changers, a documentary comparing the health and fitness effects of eating meat versus only plants, was released late last year. The film, in making the case for a plant-based diet, features scientists explaining how meat consumption negatively affects the body and conveys stories by famous vegan or near-vegan athletes, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger…
In The Game Changers, Patrik Baboumian, a world-record-holding strongman who proudly flaunts his “Vegan Badass” t-shirt, reflects on the common presumptions about his meat-free diet. “Someone asked me, ‘How could you get as strong as an ox without eating any meat?’” he says. “And my answer was, ‘Have you ever seen an ox eating meat?’” Dr. James Looms, a former football team physician also featured in the documentary, explains simply: “All that protein that you get when you eat a steak or a hamburger…it came from the plants that the cow ate.”
Yet the correlation between meat consumption and masculinity persists. Only 21 percent of U.S. vegans are men. Myths related to soy consumption—false claims that soy increases risks of cancer, harms thyroid function, and feminizes men—may be contributing to men’s reticence to adopt plant-based diets. Falsehoods about soy are often spread by organizations with vested interests in the meat industry, in efforts to curb rising rates of veganism…
The ubiquity of plant-based foods in developed countries is sparking discussions among humans of all genders about healthier ways to consume protein. Plant-based athletes such as Schwarzenegger and Baboumian are demolishing worn stereotypes by showing that humans can be exceedingly strong and healthy without animal protein. SOURCE…
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