Which physical culturists were vegetarian?

[peter yates]

Doug Hepburn became vegetarian later in life when he started exploring Eastern religions. My feeling is that Bill Pearl began vegetarianism around the same time he started to follow Shri Chinmoy.Chinmoy was a controversial character in the weightlifting community due to his claims of hoisting stupendous poundage.This maybe why Pearl claimed his change of diet was for health reasons and not religious in nature. I would have to check the timeline for this though and as such is just supposition.
Regards,Peter.

From what I have read online Doug Hepburn was struggling with obesity and alcohol problems and this is why he converted to vegetarianism. It's hard to find reliable sources on this so I will have to do some more research. I have not seen any religious link for these guys vegetarianism.

Daryll, in Hepburn's book,Strongman, he talks about being lost in his early 50s and feeling and emptiness and began searching for an answer.He came across a book,Philosophy of the Masters by Hurzur Maharaj Singh, which he describes as being "more spiritual than religious" which led him to meditation, doing good deeds for others and vegetarianism. He mentions that at he was able to put the improved levels of concentration into his training and at 54 started to break records in his age group.As you say online "It's hard to find reliable sources." The internet is full of experts who copy what others have written without any verification.
Regards,Peter

[peter yates]

Larry Scott was never a vegetarian but some people I saw on Twitter have mistakenly claimed he was.

Scott was fond of whole milk and 1965 commented “Basically I eat a lot of meat, cheese and eggs,” coupled with protein supplements, he said in an interview with Iron Man magazine in 1965.

http://biglee-murali.blogspot.com/2009/ ... scott.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/spor ... at-75.html

Daryll, while i do not know this, it is perfectly reasonable that Larry stopped eating meat sometime in his career and used only dairy and eggs as his main source of protein.Many others have done the same.
Regards,Peter.

[peter yates]

Daryll, what some people may be confusing is that for a time Reeves and George Eiferman lived in a guest house near Muscle Beach that was run by a lady who was vegetarian and only served the guests vegetarian fare. I am going by memory here but i seem to remember Reeves writing that is suited him fine but George world sneak out and get a steak at times.I should go back and check Steve's books,there may be something in there. Now in the article a familiar name came up, Gayelord Hauser, someone who's books i read as a young man and obtained much useful information.He was attacked by the medical profession but promoted ideas that eventually became mainstream.
Regards,Peter.

[psychologist]

Daryll, what some people may be confusing is that for a time Reeves and George Eiferman lived in a guest house near Muscle Beach that was run by a lady who was vegetarian and only served the guests vegetarian fare. I am going by memory here but i seem to remember Reeves writing that is suited him fine but George world sneak out and get a steak at times.I should go back and check Steve's books,there may be something in there. Now in the article a familiar name came up, Gayelord Hauser, someone who's books i read as a young man and obtained much useful information.He was attacked by the medical profession but promoted ideas that eventually became mainstream.
Regards,Peter.

Thanks for the info. You are entirely correct about this, I found some reliable books which mention the guest house they stayed at.

Gayelord Hauser popularized skimmed milk or adding skimmed milk to ordinary milk for extra protein. He also was fond of yoghurt and brewers yeast. Armand Tanny also took interest in Hauser's ideas.

Armand Tanny was very rare because he was on a raw food diet. I have not been able to find any raw vegetarian or vegan bodybuilders.

[psychologist]

Doug Hepburn became vegetarian later in life when he started exploring Eastern religions. My feeling is that Bill Pearl began vegetarianism around the same time he started to follow Shri Chinmoy.Chinmoy was a controversial character in the weightlifting community due to his claims of hoisting stupendous poundage.This maybe why Pearl claimed his change of diet was for health reasons and not religious in nature. I would have to check the timeline for this though and as such is just supposition.
Regards,Peter.

From what I have read online Doug Hepburn was struggling with obesity and alcohol problems and this is why he converted to vegetarianism. It's hard to find reliable sources on this so I will have to do some more research. I have not seen any religious link for these guys vegetarianism.

Daryll, in Hepburn's book,Strongman, he talks about being lost in his early 50s and feeling and emptiness and began searching for an answer.He came across a book,Philosophy of the Masters by Hurzur Maharaj Singh, which he describes as being "more spiritual than religious" which led him to meditation, doing good deeds for others and vegetarianism. He mentions that at he was able to put the improved levels of concentration into his training and at 54 started to break records in his age group.As you say online "It's hard to find reliable sources." The internet is full of experts who copy what others have written without any verification.
Regards,Peter

Do you know if Doug Hepburn's conversion to vegetarianism was successful and what year did he convert? I have had a look online, he looked dangerously overweight during his prime career but he looks well in the 90s. There is a good interview here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyqEhbjBdqU it is a shame he died age 74

[psychologist]

Vince Gironda on vegetarianism:

THE LACTO-VEGETARIAN DIET
This is the most comfortable diet I have ever tried. It is composed of nonconcentrated carbohydrates. It enables you to eat all you want and provides a sense of satisfaction you can never get from a high protein diet. I formerly used this diet on excessively obese people who could not lose weight on any high protein diet without a single failure. This diet produces a cleansing and detoxifying action from the roughage consumed. It also produces a detoxifying action by eliminating animal tissue proteins (over-proteinization). See Food is your Best Medicine by Henry G. Bieler, M.D. This diet plan consists of as many fertile eggs as you can comfortably digest, mixed in certified half and half (milk and cream) for breakfast. Mix the eggs with the half and half by using a fork. Blending in a machine of any kind breaks down the fat to minute suspension and the body is unable to digest it. The main body of this diet is the raw mixed green salad.

https://mavidano.files.wordpress.com/20 ... -pages.pdf

[psychologist]

I noticed there was an old thread on this forum on veganism and vegetarianism

https://davidgentle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=470

One name mentioned there was Albert Beckles. Beckles describes himself as a "pollo-vegetarian" which means he eats poultry but no fish or red meat. You could call this a "semi-vegetarian diet" but not a vegetarian diet. So I exclude him from my list.

[Vegan bodybuilder]

I have been a vegan for 20 years and it has worked for me, I do not take any soy. You do not need dairy or meat to be strong that is a common myth. I recommend the you-tube channel Hence Herbivore he does a lot of good videos on vegan diet and how to gain muscle.

One reason that it may be hard to find physical culturists that were vegan is because the word vegan was not coined until 1944. I suspect throughout history there have been vegan bodybuilders or strongmen but they are not wider known.

VB.

[psychologist]

I have been a vegan for 20 years and it has worked for me, I do not take any soy. You do not need dairy or meat to be strong that is a common myth. I recommend the you-tube channel Hence Herbivore he does a lot of good videos on vegan diet and how to gain muscle.

One reason that it may be hard to find physical culturists that were vegan is because the word vegan was not coined until 1944. I suspect throughout history there have been vegan bodybuilders or strongmen but they are not wider known.

VB.

Welcome,

I have not come across any oldtime vegan strongmen so far. I have found quite a few strongmen that were vegetarian, i.e. they abstained from meat but consumed eggs or milk and these were very strong men. It's very difficult to find a full blown vegan physical culturist from 100 years ago. It seems these vegetarians were living on eggs to bulk up back then.

Vegan diets are now easier to maintain as nutritional research has increased so people know what to eat and how to plan their diet, and marketing (especially online) exists. These days vegans can just order all their foods online and there are many fortified vegan foods which did not exist back then. I would say its a lot easier now to be on a vegan diet then it was back then. I will keep searching for vegetarian or vegan strongmen from the past. Let me know if you have any we have not mentioned. Cheers!

[psychologist]

Here is some information on Roy Hilligenn a vegetarian and 1951 Mr. America

Roy credits diet for a large part of his amazing strength and vitality. "I believe being a vegetarian all my life is a secret to [my] youthful countenance and longevity and perfect health." Roy says he has "never" eaten, turkey, fish, chicken or red meat. "I truly believe," says Roy, "that fruit is the body's cleanser, vegetables are the bodies healer, and meat is the bodies premature aging agent."

https://www.cbass.com/Hilligenn.htm