kjs Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Here's a big article in today's Wall Street Journal about Tony Gonzalez, who has been about 80% vegan the past year. A major difference vs. the typical football player's diet. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120122116182915297.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_weekendjournal It has a full page spread, so it's nice to see it getting attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjs Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 A couple more links that were in the articles: A picture showing the differences in foods for Tony vs a typical NFL player http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/info-enlargePic07.html?project=imageShell07&bigImage=Vegan_WSJ012408.jpg&h=1503&w=555&title=WSJ.COM&thePubDate=20070202 A article on Training Q&A. This one, seems very questionable, but it's a part of the article so here it is. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120118808355913521.html?mod=At-Leisure-Main Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damdaman Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Interesting article, thanks for posting it. I hope that Gonzalez will go completely vegan sooner or later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjs Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 Seems like he maybe will after he is done with football. But in any case, a nfl player even considering it, is a big step forward. This may help many young people that would not give it a second thought. I like how his nickname is "China Study" now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I was one of the first people interviewed for this story by the Wall Street Journal and it was Brendan Brazier who gave Reed (the reporter) the info about Tony Gonzalez (because he drinks Vega) and the strength coach John Hinds. I first told him about the China Study and Brendan reinforced it. Too bad Brendan didn't get mention since he provided so much of the material but the reporter got what he wanted (a really big name person to write about, much bigger name than Brendan or myself) and someone who is one of the top athletes in the world. I think they chose a great subject to write about! I'll be down in L.A. in a few weeks, maybe I'll check out the vegan cafe in Huntington Beach that Tony goes to. Thanks for posting the link, I was wondering how this story was coming along. I was weeks ago that I talked to the reporter for about an hour on the phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronco Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I may well be a pessimist, but I fail to see how a story about an athlete who tries a vegan diet, loses a lot of strength and then goes back to a non-vegan diet can be a positive thing.The question and answer section was also pretty crap in some parts, I mean:WSJ.com: Can you go on a vegan diet while training without the advice of a nutritionist? Ms. Dorfman: Absolutely not. [...] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I see you point, and I was worried about that aspect too, but the fact that he is one of the best football players in the world and one of the most famous as well, and the fact that he follows a mostly vegan diet, I think is positive. NFL football is HUGE in America. He is watched by tens of millions of people every week and this article will be read by millions of people as well so I think the idea that Tony Gonzalez wants to be vegan for a variety of very rational and logical reasons, is a good thing for the non-vegan audience who adores him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjs Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 Great point Robert and thanks for yours and Brendan's contribution to helping the article get made. It already is a very popular article of the week on WSJ. Off topic, Jon Hinds seems pretty interesting as well. Maybe you can have some guest articles from him as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Great post, #2 emailed WSJ article today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offense74 Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I may well be a pessimist, but I fail to see how a story about an athlete who tries a vegan diet, loses a lot of strength and then goes back to a non-vegan diet can be a positive thing.The question and answer section was also pretty crap in some parts, I mean:WSJ.com: Can you go on a vegan diet while training without the advice of a nutritionist? Ms. Dorfman: Absolutely not. [...] I think he's just playing it safe incase someone who's intelligence is below average tries it and dies because of whatever. It's the US, they sue restaurants because the coffee is hot, so he would probably get 93 lifetimes for this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronco Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I think he's just playing it safe incase someone who's intelligence is below average tries it and dies because of whatever. It's the US, they sue restaurants because the coffee is hot, so he would probably get 93 lifetimes for this...You are probably right, but it still make it sound like going on a vegan diet is a very risky business . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Brendan and I just talked for a while about this article. Brendan was the person who gave him the info about Tony Gonzalez, Jon Hinds, Dr. Campbell, and more info that wasn't in the story. Likewise, Brendan and I were both interviewed for an hour each over the phone by the reporter from the Wall Street Journal, but weren't included. I think it is important to notice who the audience is. This is one of the most read newspapers in America, millions of readers in total. We're a society of reading headlines. Sure the article is a bit misleading since Tony Gonzalez isn't totally vegan (as the title of the article states) but remember who the audience is and what they may get out of it, just by reading the headline. Imagine the reaction that millions of people must have a had today when they saw the Headline or title of the article talking about a VEGAN who is one of the Best NFL football players as well. That speaks volumes for veganism in the title alone, and most people just read the title. Sure, the article could have been more inclusive about other vegan athletes and could have been a bit more accurate (from our standpoint, those who know Tony's relationship to veganism - Brendan knows him personally, etc.), but the bottom line is he is a high profile athlete that millions of people can relate to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 I think this article is BS. There's probably NFL football players that live on potato chips and dip...chips vegan...dip not. They may also be eating 80% vegetable based foods. That means nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Veganism Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 I think this article is BS. There's probably NFL football players that live on potato chips and dip...chips vegan...dip not. They may also be eating 80% vegetable based foods. That means nothing.I thought salsa and bean dip were vegan ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjs Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Brendan and I just talked for a while about this article. Brendan was the person who gave him the info about Tony Gonzalez, Jon Hinds, Dr. Campbell, and more info that wasn't in the story. Likewise, Brendan and I were both interviewed for an hour each over the phone by the reporter from the Wall Street Journal, but weren't included. I wouldn't take it too personally... it seems to me like the reporter kinda gave up about half way through the story. It started off well enough but then started jumping around. I wasn't impressed with the lack of details or inclusion of strange generalizations. For example, did he really switch from cheeseburgers to pasta with tomato sauce en mass? The article makes it sound that way, if he really did something that stupid duh he's going to lose weight. Plus it sounds like the nutritionists he worked with tried more to turn him away from veganism rather than attempting to make it work. But, as I said, the article is too light on details, too little to back up the "And first to fail" statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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