Which physical culturists were vegetarian?

[psychologist]

I was reading through the hopc library about earle lidermann and in his mail order course he tells the trainee to adopt a vegetarian diet with plenty of milk.

Did he also follow that advice?

Hi Tom,

Do you have the birth and death dates for Earl E. Liederman? I would be interested in seeing how long he lived.

Liederman was not a vegetarian himself but seemed to support vegetarianism in his writings. For example here he wrote:

I am a firm believer in fruit juices for the benefit of the stomach. Anyone who has experienced drinking orange juice has found that considerable energy is derived from such a drink. It has been proven that vegetarians and those who eat plenty of fruit have more energy and endurance than meat eaters. The proper diet will keep the bowels in condition, and if their elimination process is functioning properly one will have greater powers of endurance that one would have if one were troubled with constipation or gases in the intestines or other disturbances resulting from defective elimination or other digestive disorders. In a following chapter I will present a further discussion of diet.

https://www.naturalstrength.com/2008/10 ... uthor.html

[psychologist]

Peter Yates do you know anything about Andreas Cahling? Like have you met or communicated with him etc? I noticed you mentioned him before on this forum in 2015 viewtopic.php?t=137

For those who don't know it seems Cahling is a bodybuilding legend who looks a bit like Bruce Willis. My only concern is that it looks like he is on steroids now.

There is a video here where Cahling describes his diet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghkz4tDz9rM

And an interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0HfZjEBr1g

In the 80s and 90s Andreas Cahling was promoted as a "vegetarian bodybuilder", and his body looked very impressive. Indeed he was one of the few vegetarian bodybuilders back then. There are photographs of Cahling in the Vegetarian Times magazine (April, 1985).

Cahling was never a vegan. He ate lots of dairy products and eggs (ovo-lacto vegetarianism) but in other interviews he said he experimented with fish. He says he has tried many different diets which I respect.

In the first video where he is eating pancakes, eggs and plenty of butter which I linked above he basically admits he is no longer on a vegetation diet as he occasionally eats meat. He is on a flexitarian diet.

BTW Cahling did not have a stroke. The side of his face is paralyzed because he had a rare facial nerve tumour removed.

[psychologist]

I am going to add Amos Alonzo Stagg to this list. He was an American football coach but he took an interest in physical culture and from reports he was a vegetarian. He lived to be 102.

[peter yates]

Daryll,nice to hear from you again and also to know you have been looking at older posts.I do not know much about Andreas other than what has been reported and his own videos.He did have very well balanced physique when he was competing and he may well be on steroids now,but i do not have any proof of that. As i have mentioned many times, health is the number one reason for training as far as i am concerned.After that strength, ability to perform a wide range of activity and last of all appearance.
Regards,Peter.

[psychologist]

Hi Peter,

I think I have exhausted my research on this topic for now. I cannot find anymore vegan or vegetarian physical culturists. I have exchanged emails with some historians and they have thanked me for some of the names even they did not know.

However I did find a pescatarian with an interest in veganism. His name is Clarence Bass

He wrote an interesting FAQ here

https://www.cbass.com/FAQ(10).htm

I will come back to this thread in about 6 months if I have any new research or updates. Have a good Christmas.

[peter yates]

Hi Daryll,
well you certainly have done a good amount of research on this topic and added something of value to the role of nutrition among various strength athletes of the past.I have been following Clarence for many years now and he is a great example of what an active life can yield.I was recently in contact with a well known strength writer, who for the past 3 years has ate solely plant based material as an experiment.He has now gone back to eating grass fed beef,pasture raised eggs and wild Salmon.He says there were good and not so good points from his experiment,but as soon as he ate some salmon for the first time he felt really good.The only way we can decode what will work for us personally is to try it,then an honest evaluation can occur.Once again though thanks for your contributions to the forum and i hope you will join in with other topics.
Regards,Peter.