QOTW: It is perhaps without irony that you ended up putting out last week’s podcast on nutrition in the same week as I happened to see the Netflix documentary “Game Changers.”  I loved your show, but also found myself pretty blown away with Game Changers. They seem to do a good job making veganism sound compelling — particularly around high performance.  It was the first time I had seen a plant-based diet pitched less about ‘it is possible’ and more on the lens of ‘it is critical if you seek great performance.’ I would love to hear your thoughts on the show if you have seen it, as well as plant-based diets globally.

You are not the first to ask about this, so it is certainly worthy of discussion.  I remember writing a piece for the Purple Patch athletes exactly a year ago and mentioning that the coming trend of performance nutrition was sure to be veganism.  The trends come in waves, and we couldn’t hear anything but keto for two years, but I felt that plant-based eating was the next emerging trend of eating. The signs were there and this documentary certainly has delivered an injection into the ‘movement.’   Let me mention a couple of important things first:

• I have nothing against plant-based diets or any diet that helps someone transition toward more focused and healthy eating habits.
• The standard western diet has too much focus on processed foods, sugar and starchy carbohydrates, and other ‘pack-fillers.’
• It is absolutely possible to be a high performing athlete on a plant-based diet, and many excel in doing so.  It just takes more planning and focus.

For me, the classic case of performance improvements with many of the magical diets often comes from a transition away from a lack of awareness toward globally more healthy eating habits.  Who wouldn’t benefit from consistently piling on a much greater load of fruits and vegetables instead of croissants and candy? Many of the leading diets benefit from the changes in energy and performance that come from.. well… simply doing something to change!  

With all this said, whether it might be an ethical lens or a performance lens, if you would like to shift to a plant-based diet then go for it.  If you plan and commit, then you are going to feel great and maintain the platform of performance you aim for. Just don’t make this shift because of the documentary ‘Game Changers.’  In fact, why listen to me? Here is a wonderful piece that outlines a reasoned scientific review of the film

https://www.mysportscience.com/single-post/2019/11/06/Is-game-changers-game-changing-or-is-it-sensationalism

This piece comes from a well known and respected performance nutritionist who has no ‘horse in the game’.  He is reasoned and balanced, but I feel does a super job of highlighting many of the flaws in the film. It falls into pseudoscience and evangelism and automatically leads me to tune out and look for more logical reasoning on the ever-evolving and complex world of performance nutrition.

I hope that helps.

Matt