NBA Star Damian Lillard Goes Vegan

How does an NBA All-Star prep for the upcoming season? A vegan diet, of course. Damian Lillard, who plays basketball for the Portland Trail Blazers, is trying to get down to 190 pounds (his rookie weight, according to NBA.com) to get ready for the upcoming season that begins on Oct. 17. No problem on a healthy vegan diet—which can lead to twice as much weight-loss as other diets! The same plant-based foods will also provide him with all the protein and nutrients that keep vegan bodybuilders strong.

Lillard joins a growing number of professional athletes who know that plant-based diets improve performance, including fellow NBA player Jahlil Okafor, the NFL’s Trent Williams, David Johnson, and Griff Whalen, tennis stars Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic, and dancer Derek Hough.

And just this week, longtime vegan and my good friend Rich Roll competed in the Ötillö Swimrun World Championship, an adventure race in which athletes swim and run 46 miles across 26 islands of the Stockholm Archipelago.

Want to improve your athletic performance with a vegan diet? Check out Nutrition for Athletes.