loved this part
"With 16 years in the NFL, Gonzalez is the league's elder statesman when it comes to vegetarianism. When Foster was considering his dietary switch, he called Gonzalez, who told him: "Get enough protein or you'll lose strength." Gonzalez first went vegan in 2007 after reading
The China Study, which outlines the link between animal protein and the Western world's rise in diseases like cancer and heart disease, and he was concerned about his health. He quickly slimmed down on the diet. "I lost a lot of weight, 10 pounds down to 235," he says. "I looked good, I felt great." But at training camp the next season, he could feel the loss of strength. "I can usually handle 100-pound dumbbells pretty easily," he says. "But I was just crushed by them. I was like, 'I can't do this.' I felt the best I ever felt in my career, as far as energy and endurance, but there's no way I could go out there and do my job. I've got to block 290-pound charging linemen. For my position, I need to be more bulky."
"Rather than risk performance, Gonzalez started adding some meat back to his food plan. Today, he eats a largely vegetarian diet, with small amounts of fish or chicken and large quantities of vegan protein powder. He maintains what nutritionists call an 80/20 approach – 80 percent plant-based foods and 20 percent animal protein, mostly fish. "I hardly eat red meat," he says.
