A Vegan Cyclist in the Tour de France

As the Wall Streen Journal puts it, American cyclist David Zabriskie will be “riding the Tour De Vegetable”. The challenge of competing in a race that can burn 8,000 calories a day without eating meat, eggs and dairy makes this a historic undertaking.

Zabriskie will not be fully vegan, he does eat small amounts of salmon two days each week to help with iron absorption. But the rest of his diet consists of things like oatmeal with flax seeds and coconut butter for breakfast, vegan Clif bars as snacks while riding and a mix of grains, vegetables, protein shakes and fruit for the rest of the day.

Many people have been skeptical of how well a vegan can perform under such grueling physical conditions, despite the success of vegan ulramarathoner Scott Jurek. But after nine months on his vegan diet Zabriskie says he was feeling better: more focused, he said his vision had improved and various small ailments disappeared.

"This is definitely the ultimate test of the vegan diet," Zabriskie’s team director told the Journal. "If it works here, no one can ever say you can't do X,Y,Z as a vegan."

Story: Treehugger.com

Image: DaveZabriskie.com