Vegan Olympics: Plant-Based Gold

The best athletes on the planet are descending on the city for two weeks of intense competition following years of grueling training. Among them is vegan figure skater Meagan Duhamel! The defending silver medalist has a leg up on her rivals thanks to a strict plant-based diet. She joins “The Weight Loss Champion” Chuck Carroll to chronicle the extreme lengths she’s going to maintain a perfect vegan diet while competing.

Vegan Figure Skater: Meagan Duhamel Skypes into the show just before flying off to South Korea to defend her silver medal in the pairs figure skating competition. The Canadian skater tells Chuck it was the unexpected discovery of a “skinny” book that led her to adopt a plant-based diet. She’s now thriving as a vegan and ready to face the world at the Olympics. She says ridding her body of meat and dairy enables her to stay lean, mean, and tiny on the ice. That latter is critically important given her skating partner needs to lift her time and again during their routine!

So how does she manage to stay vegan at the Olympics? It wasn’t easy four years ago when McDonald’s was the primary food source for athletes — even during competition! So she’s planning ahead and sending a ton of food over to ensure she has what she needs. She’s also been scouting grocery stores in the area.

Meagan also reveals her favorite dish to make at home. You can check her famous Unknown Chickpea Casserole at LutzOfGreens.com. Yes, that is the actual name of the dish! Also check out her morning staple, quinoa breakfast parfait.

She’s also one of our celebrity chefs for the 21-day Vegan Kickstart.

Vegan Diet for the Ultra Athlete: What does the menu of a world-class ultra-athlete look like? It’s 4,500 calories of plant-based nutrition to fuel a body that’s burning a ton of energy every day in training. Barnard Medical Center dietitian Susan Levin, R.D., has put together a meal plan that is mind blowing. Please note, if you are not an ultra-athlete you should not follow this plan yourself.