1
- I'm a champion
- I'm a killer, I'm a savage
been that way
since the beginnin'
me and twizzy
really spitters
why the hell
is ya'll pretendin'
we just youngins on the loose
ain't no need for apprehendin'
and we never
second guessed it
'cause we've always had
a vision
I'm a beast, I'm a dog
tell me what's the plan
of action
when I tell you
that I want it
pull 'em out
like Janet Jackson
put your name on the boat
but you know
I'm still the captain
when the liquor's in my system
baby anything can happen
got the west side
in this...
girl I stress out
for this...
got that cold blood
in my veins
like a reptile in this...
gotta make room for my team
don't get exiled in this...
tryna find Mr. Right
and get you left out
of this... Yeah!
I've been tryna find
my way back home
I've been ridin' down
this road too long
yeah, mama I'm comin'
ima keep runnin
and runnin, I'm a champion
- ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh
- I'm a champion
- ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh
- I'm a champion
- ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh
- I'm a champion
I'ma keep runnin' and runnin'
I'm a champion
So he stabs,
I step in in the same way.
Now my hand slides down.
And where are we at?
I've been teaching
fighting techniques
To government agencies
for more than 15 years.
Including the U.S. Marines,
U.S. Marshals,
U.S. Swat teams,
and U.S. Navy seals.
He's gonna stab me.
I go here and then I go here.
And then I could go here,
or here.
Nearly, all the techniques
I teach
Are banned in the sport
of mixed martial arts.
I can control the direction
Of the muzzle.
You guys see that?
These are some
of the most effective
And damaging moves
you could use
In a real life situation.
Be it in self-defense...
If I'm here.
- ...On the street...
- I twist you round
And I, then I knee.
...Or in war.
Straight into the trachea.
Now you're gonna knee.
Step back and then rip.
And the gun comes out.
Good.
This is life or death
for these guys.
And I'm honored
to share this knowledge.
let's see your muscles,
James. Let's see your muscles.
- oh, yes!
- go on, do it again.
- And again! That's right.
that's it. Power.
James,
he was a very lively child.
Quite hard to control.
James!
his teacher said to us,
I'm finding it difficult to cope
with him
Because he is so, um,
not aggressive,
He is so...
- Lively, really.
- ...Lively. Yes.
I think that's probably
the better word.
So I took him to one
of the training sessions
Of kyokushinkai,
Which is a very hard style
of karate.
It's a bit more controlled
and structured.
It calmed him down.
From then on,
he took the karate to heart.
Bruce lee was his hero
as a child.
And he had big posters
in his bedroom.
Like a lot of boys,
I dreamed about becoming
a kung fu master
Who could fight off bad guys
in any situation.
but when I was a teenager,
I got attacked on the street
and beaten up,
Coming face to face
with the reality
That all those choreographed
karate routines
I'd spent years practicing,
were completely useless.
Then I found out
that the same thing
Happened to Bruce lee
when he was my age,
Launching him on a quest,
the search for truth in combat.
Lee went on to study
a wide range of martial arts,
Taking only the best parts
of each discipline.
His philosophy was simple.
Research your own experience,
Absorb what is useful,
reject what is useless,
Add what is
specifically your own.
armed with this philosophy,
I vowed to follow
in lee's footsteps.
Fifteen years
and five black belts later,
I was given the opportunity
to put my training to the test.
- oh, good combination by Wilks!
- -good combination!
Johnson trying
to fight back though!
Nice knees by Wilks!
- Johnson is in trouble early.
- -Wilks is attacking.
One hook in
and he's got the choke.
He's got one arm across.
- The hand!
- he's up and around now.
- He's gonna tap!
- It's all over!
- It's unbelievable.
- James Wilks
Is the ultimate fighter.
With seconds to go!
Outstanding performance
by James Wilks!
James Wilks
from Leicester, England
Is the ultimate fighter.
Then, I got injured.
I was sparring with a future
heavyweight champion
And tore ligaments
in both of my knees.
Unable to teach or train
for at least six months,
I spent more
than a thousand hours
Studying peer reviewed science
on recovery and nutrition.
Looking for any advantage
I could find
To get back on track
as quickly as possible.
That's when I stumbled across
a study
About the roman gladiators.
the gladiator graveyard
From Ephesus is the only one
With a significant number
of individuals buried there.
Archaeologists recovered
The remains
of at least 68 gladiators.
There have been
more than 5,000 bones
Analyzed for the study.
We found in the cross section
of the bone,
Very high bone mineral density,
Which indicated intense training
and high quality diet
To build up strong muscles
and strong bones.
This diet gave the gladiators
a nickname, hordearii,
Which means beans
and barley muncher.
We know different food sources
give different amounts
Of strontium in the bones.
High strontium levels
in vegetarians.
Low strontium levels
in carnivores.
If there is low strontium
in the sample
The flame will stay blue.
If there is high strontium
levels,
It will change from blue to red.
The gladiators
were predominantly vegetarian.
This totally blew
my mind.
The gladiators
were highly prized fighters
Who got
the most advanced training
And medical care
in the roman empire.
To think that the original
professional fighters
Ate mainly plants went
against everything
I'd been taught about nutrition.
and now,
ladies and gentlemen,
The one and only, superman.
James,
does superman eat meat?
- Yes.
- He does?
- Yeah.
- Oh.
Could you tell us
what sort of foods you eat
At teatime when you come home?
Nearly the same as dinner
but egg and...
Lamb chop.
Do you think
all the other children
Should eat those sort of foods?
Yes!
- In order to get strong.
- Hmm.
"the notorious" Conor McGregor.
Even in the UFC,
This idea,
that meat makes you tough
Had become a focal point
For one
of the most anticipated fights
In the history of the sport
between Conor McGregor,
The world champion
in two different weight classes
And Nate Diaz,
Who accepted the fight
with only 11 days' notice,
After McGregor's
original opponent pulled out.
McGregor was a big meat eater.
It's steaks every day
for me. Steaks for breakfast,
Steaks for lunch,
steaks for brunch.
Grass fed, massaged beef,
all day long.
Diaz was on a plant based diet.
eat your vegetables.
And McGregor
had a field day with it.
This man, let's see, let's see,
can he fight.
I'm a lion in there.
Your little gazelle friends
are gonna be staring
Through the cage
looking at your carcass
Getting eaten alive.
McGregor was just
feeding off a stereotype
That was pretty much universal.
You hit like a vegetarian.
I was curious
to find out
If there were any
other elite athletes following
A plant-based diet.
The first I found
was Scott Jurek,
One of the greatest
ultra-runners of all time.
Scott built his career
running extreme distances
Over brutal terrain,
Conquering the sport's
most prestigious races,
Including
the badwater ultra-marathon,
A 135 miles through California's
Death Valley,
With temperatures reaching
a 130 degrees.
I was training
for the western states
One hundred mile race
The super bowl
of ultra marathon racing.
And that's
when I was transitioning
To a plant-based diet.
I remember doubting myself,
Even up to a week
before the race, like,
"maybe I should have
eaten meat."
But I led that race from start
to finish,
And won it for seven years
in a row,
And there was no question
That the plant-based diet
was fueling my victories.
When I met Scott,
he was gearing up
For the greatest challenge
of his career.
- ...Inviting me over.
- When I'm moving,
I'm definitely gonna be eating.
Having already mastered
single-day endurance events,
Scott was now trying to become
the fastest person ever
To run
the entire Appalachian trail
A distance of 2200 miles.
my goal
is to break the record.
Forty-six days, 11 hours.
Let's go to Maine.
Two marathons a day
over technical terrain.
Average of 11,000 feet
of climbing,
And 11,000 feet
of descent every day,
Back to back to back to back,
It's completely beyond anything
I've done before.
As Scott hit the trail,
I was confused
about how his meat-free diet
Could possibly give him
enough energy.
so I reached out
to Dr. James Loomis,
A team physician who was part
of two championships,
A world series and a super bowl.
What I found
in the locker room was...
Some pretty outdated ideas
about nutrition.
You would go
to a pre-game dinner
With the football team
and you would see this spread.
There would be steak
and chicken.
Very much protein oriented
because their perception was
That the protein
is what sustains their energy.
But, in fact,
that's not the case.
The actual energy for exercise
comes mainly from carbohydrates
In the form of glycogen
that we store in our muscles.
And when we sacrifice
those carbohydrate calories
For protein calories
in our diet,
What ends up happening is,
you will develop
Really chronic carbohydrate
or glycogen depletion.
And what does that lead to?
Well,
It leads to chronic fatigue
and loss of stamina.
I wanted to know
how this whole
"meat gives you energy" thing
got started,
And traced it back
to the 1800s,
When a famous German chemist
hypothesized
That muscular energy came
from animal protein,
And that vegetarians
were incapable
Of prolonged exercise.
Liebig's beliefs
were so widely accepted
That they even inspired
The USDA's
first protein recommendations.
By the time science proved
his theory false
With the discovery
that hard-working muscles
Run primarily
on the carbohydrates
Found in plants,
it was too late.
People all around the world
Had already bought
into liebig's ideas
About meat and energy.
But not everyone was convinced.
As early as 1908,
Plant-based athletes
were starting to claim
Their first Olympic golds.
are you still sticking
to your vegetarian diet, Murray?
Very rigidly, yes.
and do you find
that's of benefit
- To you, do you?
- Greatly, or I wouldn't do it.
Edwin Moses
winning the gold medal!
Lewis gets it!
And it's a new world record
as well!
I changed my diet
to a vegan diet and I set
All of my personal bests
at 30 years old.
The oldest man, ever,
To win a world
or Olympic men's final.
and there
were current Olympians, too.
Morgan Mitchell
Is the two-time
Australian 400 meter champion.
here comes Morgan Mitchell.
This is very, very fast.
It's tough, the 400,
I won't lie.
- The first 200
is pure speed
And then the last 200,
It shows who's got
that speed endurance training
In their legs.
And obviously the last 50,
You've just gotta pray
because lactic is hitting hard.
You need to be able to hold
that endurance.
She also represented Australia
At the 2016 summer Olympics.
a lot of people
had doubted me
When I first became vegan,
But my energy levels increased
incredibly
And my iron, my b12,
Everything that people said
would become deficient,
Were amazing.
I thought, I'm gonna make sure
I'm beating them all
on the track.
I mean, we're all friends,
but it was pretty cool to finish
My Australian domestic season
undefeated.
And to win the nationals
was obviously
That little cherry on top.
Morgan Mitchell
is tearing away from the field.
There was also Dotsie Bausch,
An eight time
USA national cycling champion,
And two time
pan-American gold medalist.
my event
in track cycling
Requires a massive amount
of explosive power.
- Go. Let's go, ladies.
Go! Go!
- go!
First of all,
we have got to get off the line
And we're starting
from a dead start with one gear.
We have to be able to move
that mass,
That weight off the line
and get it up to speed
Within three quarters
of the length of the track.
My training regimen
involves six days a week,
Climbing mountains
Up and down for at least four
and five hours a day.
Hard track sessions,
And then big gym sessions.
I grew up in Kentucky
so that's the land of casseroles
And barbecue and meat.
So when I transitioned over
to an entirely plant-based diet,
I wasn't sure
if I was gonna survive.
And I actually
became like a machine.
I got up from being able to move
about 300 pounds
On the inverted leg sled,
To moving 585 pounds,
60 reps times five sets.
To move
that kind of weight,
You need more than just energy,
you also need strength.
In other words, protein.
I just couldn't believe
that Dotsie,
Or anyone for that matter,
could get enough protein
Eating only plants.
I think one
of the biggest misconceptions
In sports nutrition
Is that we have
to have animal protein,
In a particular meat,
to get big and strong
And perform at a high level.
That's just clearly not true.
All that protein that you get
When you eat a steak
or a hamburger,
Where did it come from? It came
From the plants
that the cow ate.
I was surprised to learn
That all protein originates
in plants.
Cows, pigs
and chickens it turns out,
Are just the middlemen.
In fact, the largest study
to compare the nutrient intake
Of meat eaters
with plant eaters,
Showed
that the average plant-eater
Not only gets enough protein,
But 70 percent more
than they need.
Even meat-eaters like me
Get roughly half
of their protein from plants.
But athletes need more protein
than most people do.
So I crunched the numbers
from the study
And realized that based
on the amount of calories
I was eating
I'd still be getting
More than enough protein
to build and maintain muscle.
For example,
one cup of cooked lentils
Or a peanut butter sandwich
Has about as much protein
as three ounces of beef
Or three large eggs.
But what about the quality
of the protein? I'd always heard
That plant-based protein
was inferior.
Proteins are strings
of amino acids
And there's some amino acids
our bodies can't make.
Those are the essential
amino acids,
So we have to get them
from food.
And one of the arguments
about animal based proteins
Being superior
is that plant based proteins
Aren't complete, so you're not
gonna get all the amino acids.
And that's a fallacy as well.
Again, I was surprised
to discover
That every single plant contains
all the essential amino acids
In varying proportions.
And when it comes
to gaining strength
And muscle mass,
Research comparing plant
and animal protein
Has shown that as long
as the proper amount
Of amino acids are consumed,
the source is irrelevant.
This all sounded great
in theory,
But all the athletes
I'd met so far were pretty lean.
If getting lots of protein
without animal foods
Really wasn't an issue,
where were all the big guys?
Kendrick Farris
was the only male weightlifter
To represent the united states
at the 2012
And 2016 Olympic games.
Olympic style
weightlifting is going
From the ground to overhead
In one
or two explosive movements.
The most explosive movements
that can be done.
When I made the switch
to a plant based diet,
People, they were like,
"I don't know
How you're gonna lift
that much weight."
And, "you're not gonna be
eating anything",
You're just gonna eat grass.
Like, how you gonna be strong?"
I qualified
for my third Olympic team,
You know what I'm saying?
I broke two American records.
I won at the pan-am games.
I was like, "man."
Like, "I think, I should've
done this a long while ago."
Like, "why didn't I research
this before?"
and Kendrick wasn't alone.
Five thousand miles away,
I found another strength athlete
Named Patrik Baboumian.
Patrik is one
of the strongest men
On the planet,
with multiple world records
Including the front hold,
the keg lift...
And the log lift.
- How could one of the world's...
- Yeah!
...Strongest men be so powerful,
Eating only plants?
No meat. No milk. No eggs.
...Patrik Baboumian!
Most of the training
I do at home
Because
it's just more practical...
Someone asked me,
"how could you get as strong
as an ox
Without eating any meat?"
and my answer was,
"have you ever seen
an ox eating meat?"
I stopped eating meat in 2005.
Up to that time I was 105 kilo.
And now I'm 130 kilos.
Also at the same time
I set, like, four world records.
So when I stopped eating meat,
I got stronger and bigger.
- Okay. So I just go under here.
- Okay. Yeah.
Really take care of--
Your-- your back
should really be straight.
Pick it up.
Get up.
At 700 pounds,
I could not move
The yoke at all.
- It didn't move.
- It felt like
It was bolted to the ground.
and that was just
his warm-up weight.
It's hard to fathom
how strong Patrik really is.
It's almost super human.
when I met Patrik,
He was training
to break the world record
For the heaviest weight
ever carried by a human being.
to break that record,
Patrik would have
to carry 1224 pounds,
That's the weight of a horse,
a distance of 33 feet.
the thing
with the yoke is,
If you really, really go insane
with the weight,
When you do a step
And all the weight
is on one leg,
It sometimes feels
like your bones
Could just break.
It's probably one of the most
terrifying things
That we do at strongman events.
Here we go!
When Nate Diaz
stepped into the cage
To face Conor McGregor,
The Vegas odds makers had Diaz
as the four to one underdog.
he caught him again
with a right hook.
And another left!
And again
with a combination!
Diaz trying to finish
with a submission.
He's got it!
That's it!
- He's got the choke!
- Nate Diaz!
- He's got it, man.
- he has done it!
Nate Diaz beats Conor McGregor!
Oh, my goodness!
Nate Diaz,
you just shook up the world.
How does that feel?
Aye,
I'm not surprised motherfuckers.
It's a bitter,
bitter pill to swallow. Um,
It was simply a...
Battle of energy in there
and I--
And he got the better
of that, so.
Nine days out from the fight,
I started eating two steaks
a day
And it just came back to bite me
on the ass, you know.
This was the greatest upset
In UFC history,
and it turned out, Nate wasn't
The only plant-based fighter
out there.
I stopped eating meat
Probably like around the end
of 2012.
I grew up not even knowing
About half
of these other vegetables.
Asparagus to me just came out
like five years ago.
You know what I'm saying?
That's just like, as a kid,
I was like, "asparagus.
We ain't never see that."
I'm like, "what's that?"
Bryant Jennings
is a heavyweight title contender
Best known
for going the distance
With Wladimir Klitschko,
One of the greatest
boxing champions of all time.
my early years
growing up in Philly,
The only thing we knew
was spinach in a can,
Collard greens and Popeye's,
KFC, everybody frying chicken.
Most people say, "oh,
where do you get your protein?"
As if everybody that's in KFC
Is looking at the back
of a bucket.
Like, "yeah, how much protein
is--" y'all don't know.
So, y'all really don't know
what y'all eating.
I'd never really thought
about it like that before.
What else was in the food
I was eating?
An experiment to help answer
that question
Was being conducted
by Dr. Robert Vogel,
Co-chair
of the NFL's sub committee
On cardiovascular health.
What you eat immediately
before an athletic endeavor
Really can have major impact
on how you perform.
There's a direct correlation
between a meal
And endothelial function.
The endothelium is a lining
of blood vessels.
It regulates blood flow
throughout the body.
It knows
that a particular muscle group
Or organ needs more blood flow,
and it dilates, it opens up.
When the endothelium
is impaired, it cannot open up.
It cannot allow blood flow
to increase as much.
And therefore,
impairs athletic performance.
The test subjects
were three football players
From the Miami dolphins.
Defensive back, Michael Thomas.
And wide receivers,
Griff Whalen,
- And Kenny stills.
- caught for the touchdown!
Kenny stills!
Today, we're going
to be feeding them
Three burrito breakfasts
with a lot of protein.
Two of them have sources
of animal-based protein and fat.
One is from beef,
one is from chicken.
The third is
a plant-based burrito
Which has beans in it,
So the protein and the fat came
from a plant based source.
Tomorrow, we're gonna feed them
all bean burritos.
We're looking at the impact
of eating a different meal
- On the same people.
- All right. Here's the beef.
- Thank you.
- chicken here.
- And the plant based one here.
- Thank you.
Griff has been
plant based for four years,
So he got bean burritos
on both days.
On away games, we always eat
fried chicken, we eat Popeye's.
I love fried chicken
and I love Popeye's.
And I'm gonna eat Popeye's
every time.
Two hours after each meal,
The players had
their blood drawn
And put into a centrifuge.
The red blood cells sink
to the bottom.
An amber colored fluid
called plasma, rises to the top.
If the plasma is see-through,
It means there's not much fat
in the blood
And the endothelium
is likely functioning well.
Michael.
Today's blood,
and yesterday's blood.
This is a plant burrito.
This is a meat burrito.
Look at the difference it makes
in what circulates
In your bloodstream.
- Cloudy.
- cloudy.
And that on top
is the fat circulating
In your blood
from the meat burrito.
- Gotcha.
- Griff, you're the vegan.
Here's your blood from today
and your blood from yesterday.
- Nice and clear, both of them.
- So the fat from the avocado
Doesn't have
that kind of effect?
That's right. Kenny.
You're the fried chicken guy.
You wanna see
your chicken? There it is.
Yeah, it's pretty gross to see.
Sources of animal-based protein
And fat have a tremendous impact
on endothelial function
That lasts for six
or seven hours after you eat.
So if you have bacon
and eggs for breakfast,
A hamburger for lunch
and a steak for dinner,
This is going on all day long.
Your blood is always cloudy.
And the ability to operate
at your best is always impaired.
Damn.
I guess I won't be eating
my fried chicken no more.
Dr. Vogel's experiment
Was backed up
by numerous studies
Measuring
how a single animal-based meal
Can impair blood flow.
I also found a large body
of research
Showing that plants
have the opposite effect,
Improving endothelial function
and increasing blood flow.
Controlled studies show
that simply drinking beet juice
Before training allows subjects
to cycle 22 percent longer,
And bench press 19 percent
more total weight.
I've seen races
where it has come down
To the one thousandth
of a second.
Sometimes, you have to do things
that you know your competitors
Aren't doing.
Getting every single advantage
you can.
Knowing I could get
enough energy and protein
Was one thing, but seeing
what a single animal-based meal
Could do to an athlete's blood
sealed the deal.
It was time to give
this plant-based thing a try.
But there was only one meal
I could think of.
Could I get two bean burritos,
please?
Bean.
Thank you.
When I went plant-based,
I thought that it would be
a longer transition,
But I just immediately
started feeling
Like I could go kick ass
And not need the recovery
in between.
It-- it was mind blowing
to my teammates.
They were tired of me saying,
Like, "let's go again
and again."
Recovery
is the most essential element
Of an elite athlete's existence.
It's damage, repair, damage,
repair
And you do that over
and over again.
Because if you can do more work
and more repair,
You're gonna be
the better athlete.
Dotsie was right.
Bouncing back quickly
between workouts
Is a huge advantage
for any athlete.
But the idea that food
could be the secret weapon,
I had to find out more.
Dr. Scott Stoll
is a former Olympian
And a team physician
for the USA Olympic team.
I work
with professional athletes
That are very interested
in protein.
Protein's important,
But which package
is your protein coming in,
Is the better question
to answer.
The plant based protein
versus the animal protein,
Which package is going to help
the body overcome inflammation
And help the body to recover.
In animal products,
You're getting protein packaged
with inflammatory molecules
Like neu5gc, endotoxins
and heme iron.
When we consume animal products,
it also changes the microbiome,
The bacteria that live
in our gut.
And the bacterial species
That have been shown
to promote inflammation overgrow
And begin to produce
inflammatory mediators
Like tmao.
The study that showed
that a single hamburger
Impairs blood flow also showed
That it can increase measures
of inflammation by 70 percent.
In the arteries,
inflammation reduces blood flow.
In muscles and joints,
it can increase soreness
And delay recovery.
In plant-based protein,
you're getting protein
That's packaged
with antioxidants,
Phytochemicals, minerals,
and vitamins
That are gonna reduce
inflammation,
Optimize the microbiome,
optimize blood supply,
And optimize
your body's performance.
The antioxidants
Dr. Stoll was talking about
Are found almost entirely
in plants,
Which have, on average,
64 times
The antioxidant content
of animal foods.
Even iceberg lettuce
has more antioxidants
Than salmon or eggs.
As a result, switching
to a plant-based diet
Can help reduce measures
of inflammation
By 29 percent
in just three weeks.
I was about ready
to retire, as I should've been,
Because I'm like 35
at that time.
But I just kept getting better,
And so...
...They had to take me
to the Olympics.
We were complete underdogs
as team USA.
In our semi-final ride
against Australia,
We were down by 1.7 seconds.
No one's ever come back
in team pursuit
From a deficit that large.
And we beat them on the line
By eight one-hundredths
of a second.
I was 39 and a half years old
When I stood
on the Olympic podium.
I'm still the oldest person,
male or female,
To even go to the Olympic games
in my event.
My diet
was the most powerful aspect
To me being able to perform
and produce for the us team
At the Olympic games.
All of these athletes
and their stories
Were impressive,
but my goal from the beginning,
Was to recover
from actual injuries,
Like the damage I'd done
to my knees.
and he's down
at the line of scrimmage,
In the arms of derrick Morgan.
Derrick Morgan had been
on a similar journey.
In the NFL, the injury rate
is a 100 percent.
It's a violent game.
He's hit hard
and goes down there.
And so, how you respond
to injury
And how quickly you heal
from injury
Is important because
if you're not on the field,
You're not helping the team.
I was reading the research
And seeing
that a plant-based diet
Could be beneficial,
specifically for recovery.
And so
I started incorporating it
And I started seeing
really good results with it.
I was recovering better.
I wasn't getting as sore.
I was a lot less swollen.
Basically, to confirm
what I was feeling,
I got my blood tested.
Six months
after being on the diet,
All of my markers were down,
My blood pressure,
my cholesterol.
But the main thing
I was looking at
Was the inflammation marker
in your blood and mine was...
Almost obsolete.
It wasn't there anymore.
A whole food,
plant-based diet
Is gonna optimize the growth
of blood vessels
Into damaged tissue,
It's gonna lay down new tissue
in tendons and muscles,
It's gonna stimulate
their immune system
To fight off infections.
So almost at every level,
Eating the right foods
Is going to accelerate
the healing process.
Six weeks
into my personal
Plant based experiment,
I went to the gym to see
if I could notice a difference.
I wasn't able to spar
or wrestle yet,
So I decided
to hit the battling ropes.
At my gym, lasting ten minutes
on the ropes,
Gets your name on the wall.
Only a few people
had ever hit 20 minutes.
Even at the peak
of my conditioning,
The most I'd ever got
was eight minutes.
- James, keep it going.
- but on this day,
I hit ten minutes easily.
Then I hit 20...
- Thirty.
- you're at 45 minutes.
I thought, "holy shit,
I'm gonna do an hour."
I went past the hour mark
By about one minute
and just thought,
"all right, that'll do."
I can't believe
you just did that, man.
The only thing
that had changed was my diet.
I could have kept going.
That's way over
the record right?
Yeah. A freaking hour.
When I was growing up
The toughest guy in the world
to me was my dad.
He taught me the value
of self-defense,
And was always there to help me
when I got into trouble.
But now, he was the one
who needed help.
- You had a heart attack?
- Correct.
Had you had much in the way
of symptoms prior
- To this episode?
- No, never before, the first...
after my dad got out
of the hospital
Following emergency
heart surgery,
We got on a Skype call
with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn,
An internationally renowned
heart disease researcher
From the Cleveland clinic.
...Uh, always been, I think,
very fit.
So somewhat of a surprise.
Well, no, not a surprise.
In all of western civilization,
there is nothing more common
Than coronary artery
heart disease,
And that is because of the foods
that most people eat every day.
Do you happen to recall
Into which of your arteries
that they placed the stent?
Was it into the left anterior
descending
- Or the right coronary...
- after seeing how much
A single animal-based meal
Can affect
healthy young athletes,
I couldn't help but wonder
what a lifetime of these foods
Might have done
to my father's heart.
In all of our studies,
we found the same thing...
These same biological mechanisms
That affect performance
also affect our health.
Chronic inflammation,
oxidative stress
- And endothelial function.
- When you eat animal products,
You start to form plaques
in the coronary arteries.
Plaque formation in the arteries
Doesn't just limit the function
of the arteries,
It can also block
the blood flow,
And that's when the heart starts
to have some real problems
Keeping up with the demands
of the body.
In terms of heart disease,
oftentimes there is confusion.
People think that "well",
I don't eat red meat,
so I'm okay."
We know that
it's more complicated than that.
It's not just red meat.
It's not just the fat.
For nearly 50 years,
we were told
That the primary cause
of heart disease
Was saturated fat
and cholesterol,
And that leaner meats,
lower fat dairy products,
And egg whites
were the solution.
But the research now shows
That the other inflammatory
compounds in animal foods,
Like those that
can impair athletic recovery,
Also play a significant role
In the development
of heart disease.
We're going
to do a whole lot better
By just getting rid
of the animal products
And there are really good
biochemical reasons for that.
Heme iron is one of them,
for example.
Heme iron
is from an animal source, right?
So, uh, most commonly
you think red meat,
Even though poultry have it,
fish has it.
They did a meta-analysis
Looking over six prospective
dietary studies
Over a 130,000 patients
And they came to the conclusion
that one milligram a day
Of heme iron is associated
with a 27 percent increase
In risk
of coronary heart disease.
To put that in perspective,
an average hamburger patty...
Has about two
to three milligrams.
And it isn't just
the iron in animal foods
That can cause problems.
It's actually
the animal protein itself.
It's not just red meat,
Not just chicken, not just eggs,
not just milk.
It's the ingestion
of any animal protein.
At that moment in time,
a process begins
At a chemical level
inside the body.
When the protein found
in animal foods is cooked,
Preserved, or even just digested
by our gut bacteria,
Highly inflammatory compounds
are formed
That corrode
our cardiovascular system.
This helps explain why people
who get all of their protein
From plants reduce their risk
of heart disease by 55 percent.
It would also help explain
Why the only diet
that has ever been shown
To actually reverse
heart disease
Is a plant-based one.
What we found is that
in the first month,
There was improvement
in blood flow
And the heart began
to pump blood more normally.
After a year,
even severely clogged
Coronary arteries
became measurably less clogged,
And even more improvement
after five years.
But in the randomized
control group, who were doing
Just what their doctors
told them to do at the time,
You know, less red meat,
more fish and chicken,
Little exercise and so on,
Their arteries got more clogged
after one year
And even more clogged
after five years.
Humpty dumpty sat
on the wall...
while all
of this sounded promising,
My dad didn't just need
to get better,
He needed to get better fast.
The stents in his heart
were only a temporary solution.
He could have
another heart attack
At any moment.
I found some hope at a firehouse
in Brooklyn,
Where Dr. Esselstyn's son, rip,
A former firefighter
and professional triathlete
Was launching some
of new york's bravest
On a powerful new program.
What's the number one killer
of firefighters
In the line of duty?
Heart attacks.
Sixty-seven percent
of firefighters
Who perish in the line of duty
die of heart attacks.
So this, right here,
that is what we call
A healthy artery.
The blood can flow through
this huge opening here.
And this is what happens
After decades on the meat
and dairy diet.
Okay.
If you guys have been eating
this way,
I want you to take
the seven-day rescue challenge.
We bought you guys
plant-based groceries.
I want you to give yourselves
the chance to see
What your internal biochemistry
does in just seven days.
I know
that my cholesterol is elevated.
My ldl's are always very high.
The same job that I was doing
like ten years ago
- Without an effort...
- Yeah.
- ...Is now taking an effort.
- Despite working out all week,
Playing sports,
my cholesterol is high
And growing by
about ten, fifteen points
Every year for the last five
or six years.
I realized a couple salads
a week,
- It doesn't really cut it.
- I got two kids, you know, so...
Hopefully I'll feel better,
have more energy and...
Add some years to my life.
I went to see
if I could get my dad
To make these same changes
to his diet
As soon as possible.
well,
what are you suggesting?
- Well, let's do the shopping.
- -tomatoes...
...Cucumber,
We have hummus dips,
blueberries, raspberries...
but my dad
can be a little stubborn.
...Soya yogurt
and that's about it, I think.
So I wasn't feeling
that hopeful.
we'll just drink tea.
I come from a town
called Melton Mowbray,
Known in England
as the "rural capital of food".
It's the home of Stilton cheese
and the world famous
Melton Mowbray pork pie.
the pace of change here
is very slow.
tick 20, tick 22, tick 25...
and my dad,
like most of us,
Is a product
of where he grew up.
I just couldn't imagine
Someone as set in his ways
as my father
Making such a big switch...
On the top there, that's worth
another 20 quid.
Give us 50 quid, the lot.
...Until I got home
and went back to the gym.
You push me? Go here.
I've spent years working out
with Lucious Smith.
He was a cornerback in the NFL,
has a black belt in jujitsu...
And was my strength
and conditioning coach.
That's it, that's it, that's it.
More arms. More arms.
I told Lou
about the research
I'd been doing
and what happened to my dad,
And he'd never mentioned
this before and he said,
"I've been on a plant-based diet
- For almost ten years."
- okay, rotate.
Lou is 60-years-old,
not far off my father's age.
most guys my age
Can't keep up
with their grandchildren.
My grandchildren can't keep up
with me.
When I went
from an animal-based diet
To a plant-based diet,
my blood pressure went down
To, like, 110 over 70.
My heart rate sometimes
has been under 50, like, 48, 47.
I'm more focused,
I'm more relaxed
And I notice
that I have a lot more energy
Because of the plant-based diet.
Come on, come on! Oh, man,
come on, come on, come on!
People in their 20s,
they come in here,
We do a workout,
I sustain the workout
a lot easier than they do.
We can come in here and do 800,
listen to what I just said.
Eight hundred kettlebell swings
and snatches in one workout.
They can't make it!
I'm not kidding you.
They can't hang, man,
I'm telling you.
They can't hang.
There was another guy
my dad's age,
Who had also made a big change.
I ate a lot of meat.
I ate my ten, 15 eggs a day
And, you know,
I had my 250 grams
of protein a day,
Because I weighed 250 pounds.
The one
and only Arnold Schwarzenegger!
But as I got older
and as I started
Reading up on it,
I recognized the fact
That you really don't have
to get your protein from meat
Or from animals,
as far as that goes.
So we started going more
in a direction of the vegetarian
Kind of a diet.
Now with doing it the right way,
With the right spices,
all of a sudden,
I love it much more
than the meat.
And, you know,
the cholesterol went down
To around 109. It was the lowest
That it ever was
in my entire life.
At almost 69.
What we eat has a major impact
on our health and our well being
In every way we can measure.
People who eat a diet
that's high in animal protein
Have a 75 percent increased risk
Of premature death
from all causes,
And a four
to five hundred percent
Increased risk of death
from most forms of cancer,
Prostate, breast, colon cancer,
as well as type two diabetes.
The amino acids
that come from animal sources
Tend to make our cells rev up
and multiply faster.
For example,
there is accumulating evidence
That high consumption
of proteins from dairy sources
Is related to a higher risk
of prostate cancer.
That chain of cancer causation
actually seems pretty clear.
Cancer has been linked
to other animal foods as well.
Research funded
by the national cancer institute
Found that vegetarians
who add one or more servings
Per week of white meat,
like chicken or fish
More than triple
their risk of colon cancer.
So it's not one set
of dietary guidelines
For improving your performance
as an athlete,
Another one
for reversing heart disease,
A different one
for reversing diabetes,
A different one
for reversing prostate cancer.
It's the same for all of them.
As groundbreaking as Al
of this nutritional science was,
I also found it
really confusing.
How could meat be so bad for us
If that's what our ancestors
were supposedly built to eat?
when we think
about the diet of early humans,
We're often drawn
to thinking about meat,
But plant foods
were more important
Than the archaeological record
gives credit for.
The food that could be relied on
wherever you were
Was the plant food.
The popular perception
of what early humans ate
Dates back to the 1930's
to 1940's,
When there was
some amazing finds
Of early human ancestors,
animal bones and tools
That very much looked like
they may have been used
To butcher and maim
those animals.
So very early on,
we had this notion
That meat had
a disproportionately larger role
In the diet
of early human ancestors
Than it actually did.
The bias
in the archeological record
Towards stone
and bone preservation
Over things like plants
has led to a very skewed view.
If we look at deep time,
Bones and stone tools preserve
very well,
But plants decay very rapidly.
What's exciting though,
is in the last decade
We've started to realize
Microscopic fossils of plants
do preserve quite well
And so we're revisiting
Some of these earlier
paleolithic sites
And finding abundant evidence
of plants.
Advanced technologies
Like those used
to analyze the gladiator bones,
Have allowed scientists
to take a closer look
At the tools, bones and teeth
of our ancestors,
Leading to the discovery
that early humans
Ate mostly plants.
And the reason for this
is actually quite simple.
Humans do not have
any specialized genetic,
Anatomical,
or physiological adaptations
To meat consumption.
By contrast,
We have many adaptations
to plant consumption.
We have longer digestive tracts
than do carnivores,
And this allows humans
to digest plants and fibers
That require
longer processing time.
We also lack the ability
to produce our own vitamin C.
Vitamin C is found in plants,
So the fact
that we cannot make our own,
Indicates just how reliant
upon plants we actually are.
This is why
we have trichromatic vision.
This is very different
from carnivores,
Which have dichromatic vision.
We can see more colors
and this is very important,
Especially if you need
to find fresh, ripe fruit.
We have a brain that just
is desperate for glucose.
Is a-- I mean,
it's such a fussy organ.
That's the only thing
it really takes in for energy.
Well,
meat's not a very good source
Of glucose.
To have a big brain like this,
You need
to eat something different,
And the most efficient way
to get glucose
Is to eat carbohydrates.
But what about our teeth?
Aren't they proof
that we're built to eat meat?
In primates,
You might think canine teeth
are associated
With a diet of meat,
but they're not.
In gorillas, when males want
to intimidate other males,
They will show the length
of their formidable canines.
On the other hand, carnivores
have distinctive teeth
And they're shaped
like scissor blades.
They simply shred the meat off
and they swallow.
Compare that to the teeth
of a human being,
Square and low-cusped,
For crushing and grinding
tough plant tissues.
Right there in your own mouth
is the best evidence we have
For a diet
that could not have been meat.
If you just got placed
in some ancestral environment,
The best thing
you could be equipped with
Is not a very sharp spear.
The most important thing
you could be equipped with
Is knowledge of which plants
you can eat.
Suddenly,
it all made sense.
The reason an animal based diet
isn't good for us
Is because our bodies
aren't built for it.
It's simply the wrong type
of fuel.
The only thing
that really didn't fit was b12,
An important vitamin
that everyone kept warning me
You could only get
from animal foods.
It turns out that b12
isn't made by animals after all.
It's made by bacteria
That these animals consume
in the soil and water.
Just like with protein,
animals are only the middlemen.
Before industrial farming,
Farm animals and humans
could get b12
By eating traces of dirt
on plant foods
Or by drinking water
from rivers or streams.
But now, because pesticides,
antibiotics and chlorine
Kill the bacteria
that produce this vitamin,
Even farm animals have
to be given b12 supplements.
And up to 39 percent
of people tested,
Including meat eaters,
are low in b12.
As a result, the best way
for humans to get enough b12,
Whether they eat animal foods
or not,
Is simply to take a supplement.
When I caught up with Scott
a full month
Into his 2200 mile trek,
He had fallen well
behind record pace.
not even a week
into the journey,
I'd developed a quadricep tear.
I had to start thinking,
"okay, how am I going
To get through this?"
There are no rest days
when you're setting
A speed record
on the Appalachian trail.
Let's do this!
I needed to recover
While I was still pushing
my body to the brink,
Waking up the next day,
and the next day after that
And doing the same thing.
I really had to trust
in my training
And trust in my nutrition
to help me get up each morning
At 4:30
and put another 50 miles in.
With only 12 days left
to break the record,
Scott still had 550 miles left
to go.
they were experiencing
record rainfall in Vermont
When I went through.
And there was just no way
That I could be prepared for it.
I was trying to make up
all the ground
That I had lost with the injury.
Trying to get back
on record pace,
Getting two to three hours
of sleep, or less,
Night after night, after night.
Going over some
of the most remote stretches,
I put in 26 hours straight.
But the Appalachian trail
keeps throwing
More and more mountains at you,
it never really lets up.
And by the time I actually got
to new Hampshire,
The white mountains just...
Obliterated me.
With less
than two weeks remaining,
Patrik continued training
for his world record attempt,
To carry more weight
than anyone in history.
I started lifting weights
When I was 14 years old,
Because I was kind of wimpy
And small...
...In that time.
And I wanted
to be some kind of hero,
Able to help
if something happened.
This is my mom and dad.
When I was four years old,
My dad, my mom
and my little sister,
She was six months old,
they were in a car accident.
And...
Only my mom survived
the accident.
So when I was young,
I had these fantasies
Of, uh, being super-strong,
and if someone got trapped,
Being able to help them get out.
For any guy watching
that day,
It wasn't just a car
patrik had crushed.
It was a myth they'd been fed
their entire lives.
steak.
That's what a man eats.
made from stuff guys need.
eat like a man, man.
There is no one that can relate
to that better than I do
Because I've lived
in that world.
Steak... Is for men.
- Go meat!
- Go meat!
They show
these commercials, burgers,
- George foreman with the grill.
- Yeah!
And the big sandwiches
and all that stuff.
Eat like a man
and be full like a man.
This is great, great marketing
by the meat industry.
Serious man food.
Selling that idea
that real men eat meat.
You'll look like more
of a man
With a quarter pounder
in your hand.
But you've got to understand,
that's marketing.
That's not based on reality.
Okay, I'm gonna take you down
to the exam room.
When I think of a manly man,
I think of somebody
Who has strength, endurance,
Sexual prowess and fertility.
In fact,
What the scientific studies
are showing
Is that the more meat men eat,
The more quickly
they lose their manly manhood.
The blood test
with the Miami dolphins
Measured how a single meal
could affect blood flow
Throughout the entire body.
I asked Dr. Spitz
If he could conduct
an experiment
With three collegiate athletes,
but this time,
On a more specific part
of the male anatomy.
So...
...Here's a model of the penis.
Dr. Spitz
is the lead delegate of urology
For the American
medical association.
When it comes to the penis,
he literally wrote the book.
Now, you're gonna be putting
this device on yourself.
One ring goes on the base
of the penis,
And the other ring goes on
at the tip of the penis,
Just behind the head
of the penis.
It knows how tight to squeeze
to know
When an erection's starting,
because when it squeezes
It'll determine, "oh, it's now
of a larger circumference."
Something's happening."
What we're going
to look at is what effect
The meal you have
has on your erections that night
And you're gonna be eating
two different kinds of meals.
For this study,
on the first night,
We gave the guys burritos
that had meat.
Beef, chicken, pork.
But really high quality meats,
grass-fed, organic.
On the second night,
We gave them
very similar burritos
But we swapped out
the animal portions
- For a plant-based protein.
- This is really good.
I thought
this was gonna be nasty,
I'm not gonna lie.
I didn't think we were gonna eat
a burrito.
I thought we were gonna get
a salad.
This study
is gonna take advantage
Of a natural function
That occurs
in men when they sleep.
Men's bodies create erections,
and this occurs
Throughout the night
while the subject is asleep.
And once an erection happens,
this device can sense it
And a printout is generated
of how firm the erection was,
How long it lasted and how many
of them there were,
To see if we can see
a physical effect
On erections as a result
Of what they just ate
for dinner.
This is where we take a look
at the results.
So, mason, I'm gonna give you
your results first.
- Cool.
- -let you take those out.
- All right.
- okay?
The bigger the circumference,
the harder the erection,
And so you'll notice
That that first circle,
which is the-- the meat meal...
- mm-hmm.
- ...Is not as big
A circle is not as hard
an erection,
As that second circle,
the vegan meal.
Now, let's look
at the second sheet.
- The second sheet is a-- a...
- oh, my god.
...Accumulation
of how many erections
And for how long you had
over the course of the night.
So that first stubby graph...
...Is really-- it's not the size
- Of your penis.
- I'm so dead. I'm struggling.
It's not the size
of your penis, it's how--
How many minutes
throughout the night
- You had erections.
- Wow.
Blake, let's take a look
at your results.
- Oh, no.
- Okay.
Hold composure. I'm ready.
- And, look, again...
- Yup.
...Like mason, uh,
you were more erect
After the plant-based diet
than the meat-based diet.
Okay, how about how often
you had erections.
- Oh-oh.
- Wow!
That's almost
a 500 percent difference.
Dang, man. That's crazy.
Blake, are you ready
for yours?
- Give me the dossier.
- All right, here you go.
You had
about a 13 percent change
In the hardness
of your erections.
Okay, let's look at...
How many or how long
you had erections for.
Bro. oh, fuck!
- Show it, dang it!
- yeah.
Don't hold out. Oh!
Bro, that's an hour, bro.
So you guys all had
a very similar response
To the meat meal
- Versus the plant meal.
- that's crazy.
Yeah, like, growing up, if I saw
some big dude at a restaurant
Eating a big old steak
and it's all, like, "oh, I--"
I need to be like that."
and then, like, I see,
Like, a guy ordering a salad
off the menu, I'm, like...
- He's soft, right?
- Yeah, I'm like, "oh, that guy."
- "What's he doing?"
- yeah, he's soft.
But really at the end of night,
I think the guy eating
the big steak is soft,
And then the other guy is hard.
So, when you take your date out
on valentine's day,
Where are you gonna take them
to eat?
- To the veggie grill, son.
- okay,
- The veggie grill.
- Yeah, I was just thinking
about that.
Now,
this is not a scientifically
Validated study,
But the results
that we're seeing
Are very exciting.
I think this is going
to wake a lot of people up.
I think it's gonna
wake up people who have penises,
And I think it's gonna
wake up people who like people
Who have penises.
While all this talk
about erections was interesting,
It also made me wonder
about hormones.
Specifically, testosterone.
I've never eaten a piece
of meat in my entire life,
And I've never had an issue
with testosterone.
I've gotten blood tests
and all my levels
Are right where they need to be.
And clearly, I don't have
any trouble building muscle.
Studies comparing men
who eat animal foods,
With men who don't,
have consistently demonstrated
No difference
in testosterone levels.
I found this hard to believe,
Since plant-based diets
often include soy products,
Which I'd always been told
were loaded with estrogen.
I post a lot of my food
And if it includes any type
of soy products,
Out of a hundred comments,
You've got 20 to 30
of them saying,
"hey, well, I heard that soy
raises estrogen levels."
Well, that's not the case.
Soy, it turns out,
contains phytoestrogens.
Compounds that look
like estrogens
But can actually have
the opposite effect,
Blocking some of our bodies'
estrogen receptors
And preventing
real dietary sources of estrogen
From taking hold.
The foods
that contain real estrogens
Are animal foods, like chicken,
eggs, and dairy,
Which can have
a significant impact
On our hormone levels.
Simply drinking cow's milk
Can increase
a man's estrogen levels
By 26 percent in just one hour,
While dropping
their testosterone levels
By 18 percent.
Another hormone
strongly connected to diet
Is cortisol, a stress hormone
linked to reduced muscle mass
And increased body fat.
Research has shown that people
who replace animal foods
With high carbohydrate
plant foods
Experience an average drop
in cortisol levels
Of 27 percent.
this is what
I always heard, like,
You can't go lean,
you can't go shredded, vegan.
Because you have so much carbs.
But I'm standing here
in the best shape of my life.
Easy.
I already knew
that processed carbs
Like white flour and sugar
can lead to weight gain,
But what I didn't realize is
That unprocessed carbohydrates
like oats,
Bananas and sweet potatoes
Are associated
with decreased body fat.
An eight-week
weight-training trial also found
That those consuming
a normal amount of carbs
Gained 2.9 pounds
of muscle mass,
While those
in the low-carb group
Actually lost muscle.
a typical bodybuilding diet
Is a very low carb diet,
So these guys that haven't had
a carb in two weeks,
They're walking around
like zombies.
I'm backstage eating
all the carbs that I want.
They're like, "how are you"
Eating that right now
and you look this shredded?"
back in Nashville,
Derrick introduced me
to his wife charity,
A professional chef
Who had helped inspire
a big transformation.
- hey...
- Nice to meet you.
When I started cooking
plant-based,
Whatever I made for dinner,
I made a bunch of it
And would send it over
To the facility for derrick
to eat for lunch.
Because I knew he had no options
other than a side salad.
You've seen derrick.
Do you think a side salad
Is gonna fill him up?
Yeah, I love to eat.
In the beginning I was like,
I gotta psych myself out
To say I don't care
about flavor anymore.
It wasn't really a sacrifice.
She was still cooking, you know,
Mac and cheese
and chicken wings.
Just plant based.
It's taking that love
that you have for food
And just changing it over
to better ingredients.
And so I brought it
into the cafeteria
And I had teammates coming up
to me.
Guys were taking jabs
and cracking their jokes.
At the end of the day,
The reason why I was doing it
was to become a better player,
Which inevitably is gonna help
the team.
Players started looking over,
like, "okay, that smells good."
They were like, "whatever
you send derrick, send me."
And I was like,
"all right, good."
It started with five guys,
And now, middle of season,
13 players.
I never intended this
to be a business at all.
But the last 15 years,
we haven't been to the playoffs.
So I'm gonna do anything
that I could do
- To help this team.
- There she go. How you doing?
How you doing?
Hopefully you're hungry.
Oh, definitely.
Sundays are good.
After the game, me and--
and the guys
Are always looking forward
to meal time.
- How you doing?
- Hey, how you doing?
- You come with an empty stomach?
- Yeah.
There's some
good times in this kitchen.
These are plant based burgers.
Grill up, smell,
and taste like beef.
And I'm making
truffle mac and cheese,
Buffalo wings,
Kale Caesar salad,
Crispy Brussels sprouts
with a smoked sauce reduction,
And we'll finish off
with a peanut butter cheesecake.
- Mm.
- mm.
- Oh, yeah...
- yeah.
- Thank you, babe.
- thank you.
So you guys have
all eaten charity's meal plan
- That she's done?
- mm-hmm.
And before
what was your perception?
Well, I actually
talked bad about y'all
For like, a couple weeks.
Did you think you needed meat
to be like, strong and athletic?
Right, that's exactly
what I thought.
I told him, I feel like,
my whole childhood life
Was a lie.
I definitely thought
I was gonna miss it.
And honestly, I haven't even
thought about it again.
I feel more energized,
Feel stronger.
It was pretty dope.
And what about the taste?
- It tastes really good.
- the meals
Were always looking good,
and I found myself sitting
In the locker staring at
what they eating.
So, you know, I tried it
And honestly, I mean,
I felt a difference.
And, you know, I was just able
to just perform consistently.
Yeah, you caught
your first touchdown
after you switched over, right?
Yeah.
Six months
into my new diet,
My strength,
endurance and recovery
Were better than ever.
My dad's health was on the mend.
Even my wife
and kids were on board.
But I was also pissed off.
Why didn't everyone know
about this?
And then, I remembered
my grandfather,
Who died of heart failure
at the age of 63
After more than four decades
of smoking.
A paratrooper in world war ii,
he got hooked on cigarettes
During a time when young people
like him
Were being sold the idea
That smoking was actually good
for you.
babe Ruth,
idol of millions...
to sell this idea,
The tobacco industry turned
to famous athletes,
The ultimate symbols of fitness
and health.
after a game,
Carl Furillo of the Dodgers,
Looks for a mild cigarette.
A camel, of course.
but right around the time
Babe Ruth died
from throat cancer
In his early 50's,
The scientific evidence
was starting stack up,
So, a new marketing plan
was required.
according
to this nationwide survey,
More doctors smoke camels
than any other cigarette.
For years,
the tobacco industry said
That their cigarettes
did not cause cancer.
And they trotted out
their own paid researchers
To come out with statements
to confuse the issue.
Despite their efforts...
- brought to you
- By Marlboro...
- ...Cigarette ads
Were eventually banned
from sports broadcasting.
Just in time
for another big industry
To step up to the plate
and start playing the same game.
- What's in the bag?
- Big mac.
Play you for it.
With a new generation
of athletes.
- Including me.
but it wasn't long
before the evidence
Against animal foods
started stacking up as well.
Now, that playbook is being used
by the food industry.
She's
from the national cattlemen's
Beef association.
They're gonna hire
their so-called experts...
Well, I'm first of all,
a registered dietitian
And nutrition scientist
and I'm a mom.
...To create
just enough confusion.
Are you saying
with processed meat
That it is not, in your view,
carcinogenic?
I don't say that it supports
a sufficient relationship.
and they make it seem
As though there's doubt
about what we're talking about.
This is not a link,
a causal link
Between red and processed meat
and any type of cancer.
But would you recommend
reducing meat intake?
- No, not at all.
- How on earth is the viewer
Supposed to make sense
of all of this?
With overwhelming
scientific evidence
Connecting animal foods
To many of
the most common deadly disease
I discovered that the meat,
dairy and egg industries
Have engaged
in a covert response,
Funding studies
that deny this evidence
While burying their involvement
in the fine print.
One of the hired guns paid
to conduct these studies
Is exponent incorporated,
A company whose research
was used by the tobacco industry
To deny the connection
between secondhand smoke
And cancer.
For more than 50 years,
exponent has generated studies
That challenge the health risks
of everything from asbestos,
Arsenic, and mercury,
to animal foods.
The formula works beautifully
for people selling food.
It works beautifully for people
selling drugs
To treat the diseases
that bad food causes.
And, it works beautifully
for the media,
Which can give us a new story
about diet every day.
Here we go again.
New guidelines are muddled
and confusing
And not by accident.
- Eggs are in.
- So happy about the eggs.
I know, I'm happy
about the eggs.
- Eating bacon is okay.
- absolutely!
- Okay. Butter?
- Butter. Butter is back.
But despite
the appearance in our media
Of confusion,
There is massive
global consensus
About the fundamentals
of a health promoting diet
And it's a diet that every time,
No matter whether it's high
in fat or low in fat,
Higher in carbs, lower in carbs,
In every population,
every kind of research,
It's a plant food
predominant diet, every time.
Just when I thought
I'd uncovered every dark secret
Of the animal foods industry,
I got invited to train
a paramilitary group in Zimbabwe
With a special mission.
Yeah, so just be very careful,
guys. Stay on the--
Stay on the rocks.
Yeah.
So these guys
are now listed
As critically endangered.
There's only about 5,000
of them left on the planet.
They've basically been hunted
to extinction
Because of the value
of their horn.
Around 40,000 dollars a pound.
Damien Mander
is a retired
Special operations sniper
Who completed 12 tours of duty
in Iraq.
He's also the founder
Of the international
anti-poaching foundation.
the poacher will maybe
have an ax or a knife,
- So we're trying to disarm them.
- yeah, yeah.
So he's gonna thrust
with the knife.
Here.
We are the seal team six
of conservation.
We're the guys that go in
and stop the hemorrhaging.
- Okay?
- Yeah. I'll stick to my AK-47...
- Yeah.
- ...You stick to that.
I lived every young boys' dream,
jumping out of choppers,
Blowing shit up.
Stuff that most kids, uh,
Can only dream of doing
on a PlayStation.
I came to Africa
because I was looking
For the next six month
adventure.
I saw a bull elephant
that had had its face cut off,
Tusks that had been taken.
The whole elephant
sitting there dead
Because some guy wants to have
a tusk on his desk.
What sort of ambush
is this called?
- Linear.
- Linear ambush. Very...
I had money and I had skills
that could help these rangers.
...Using the minimum amount
Of force required
to get the job done.
And I made the choice
to dedicate my life...
To helping these guys protect
these animals.
After making that choice,
though, I started to realize
That every day,
I was going out on patrol
And protecting one animal,
and coming home at night
And putting another animal
on the fire.
And I knew I was...
I knew I was full of shit.
I created this flexible morality
That was convenient for me,
because if you don't eat meat,
You're some sort of vegan
that shrivels up
Into a string bean.
In my mind I justified it,
there's enough cows
On the planet.
They're not gonna go extinct.
But the longer I thought
about it,
The more I started to accept
what I already knew.
The easiest way
to protect other animals
Is just not to put them
in your mouth.
This whole fantasy
that we need meat
To get our protein,
it's actually bullshit.
I mean, look at a gorilla.
A gorilla will fuck you up
in two seconds.
What does a gorilla eat?
I just do the same things
As these big gray things
out here
That we're trying to protect,
elephant and rhino.
I just, uh, stick to plants.
The rangers that we support
Patrol five million acres
of wilderness
Protecting
these endangered species.
But the actual biggest threat
we have is the meat industry,
And the land that
they are continually taking away
From what we have left
of these natural...
Wilderness areas.
Inch by inch, yard by yard,
mile by mile.
About three-quarters
of all the agricultural land
In the world, is used
for livestock production,
And it imposes a huge cost
on biodiversity.
And what is the single
biggest source
Of habitat destruction?
It's the livestock sector.
Meat, dairy, egg
and fish farming
Use 83 percent
of the world's farmland,
Yet provide only 18 percent
of the world's calories.
The reason livestock require
so much land is because,
Once again, animals are just
the middlemen,
Consuming on average,
Six times more protein
than they produce.
With more
than 70 billion animals
Consumed globally each year,
Growing animal feed
requires vast amounts of land,
Making it one
of the leading drivers
Of deforestation.
It also requires huge amounts
of water.
Meat plays
a disproportionately large role
In causing this overuse
of freshwater.
Twenty-five percent
of the rivers in the world
No longer reach the ocean,
because we're taking out
So much water
to produce animal feed.
Water has been fed
into the grain
That's been fed to the cattle.
The cattle's been made
into beef.
One hamburger is 2400 liters
of embedded water.
That's a heck of a lot of water.
All told,
more than a quarter
Of humanity's
fresh water consumption goes
To produce animal foods.
And it's not just
water depletion that's an issue,
It's also water pollution.
In the united states,
for example,
Farm animals produce nearly
50 times more waste per year
Than its entire
human population,
Polluting rivers, lakes
and groundwater
All across the country.
The livestock sector
is responsible
For 15 percent
of global man-made emissions.
So to put that in perspective,
That's about the same
as all the emissions
From all the forms of transport
in the world, all the planes,
Trains, cars, vans,
and ships all added up.
Agriculture is not only
the biggest culprit
Threatening the future
for humanity on earth,
It is also the biggest
And most important silver bullet
to a solution.
In the us,
where meat consumption
Is three times
the global average,
Shifting away
from an animal-based diet
Would reduce
agricultural emissions
By up to 73 percent
And save one million liters
of water per person, per year.
Globally, this shift
would free up a total area
Of land the size of Africa,
Taking pressure off many
of the world's
Most endangered ecosystems
and species.
The message is overwhelming,
both for public health
And environmental reasons.
The more plants you can eat
And the less meat and dairy
you can consume, the better.
After learning
how much is at stake
If we don't change the way
we eat,
I went back to Brooklyn
to find some hope.
- How are you doing
with the weight?
- It's good.
It's good.
- One-thirty over 80.
- Yeah, see?
Did you do it right
- The whole seven days?
- Yeah, the entire time.
- You did? Good for you.
- Yeah.
After eating a meal,
I didn't feel like,
"oh, I gotta go find a couch
to sit on or lay down."
- Like, that I actually
felt energized...
- Right. Right.
...And I could jump
on the bicycle
Or go on the treadmill
- Or something.
- Or fight a fire.
She said
it was down 11.
- Eleven pounds?
- Yeah.
Your cholesterol was 262.
- Right.
- All right? Which is elevated,
- Much higher than we wanna be.
- Right. Mm-hmm.
- Today? A 176.
- Wow! Almost a 100 points, huh?
- That's fantastic!
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
- on your blood pressure,
You dropped 16.
- Wow. That's really good.
- on your systolic,
And two on your diastolic,
so you're now 130 over 82
As opposed to 146 over 84.
- Fantastic. Little bump there.
- Yeah!
Your cholesterol was 276.
I mean, you know that
that's super-elevated, right?
- Yeah, they were freaking out.
- They were freaking out?
- At the doctor's office.
- Well, you know what?
They should be freaking out now,
because today was 169.
Whoa! Now you're talking!
- One-sixty-nine?
- You dropped 107 points, my man.
That's amazing.
Here's what we got.
After seven days,
the cholesterol average drop
Was 21 points.
The average weight loss
was 6.12 pounds.
You guys,
instead of having arteries
That looked
like this here, right?
You guys are on the road
to having arteries
That look like this here.
And we know
that the number one killer
Of in the line
of duty firefighters
Is heart attacks.
This is a food created disease
And you guys don't have to be
another statistic.
My doctor wanted to put me
on a statin,
And I kind of looked at it
like that was...
Like cheating,
like an easy way out
And there has to be a healthier,
more long term alternative.
And then, when this opportunity
presented itself...
I took it.
When you eat
a healthy, whole foods,
Plant-based diet, it changes
the expression of your genes.
It turns on the good genes,
turns off the bad genes.
Your genes are a predisposition,
But your genes
are not your fate.
And even if your mother
and your father
And aunts and uncles
all died of diabetes,
Cancer, even heart disease,
It doesn't mean
that you need to.
Once I get to here,
I'm gonna come up,
And I'm gonna drop my head
on his face.
With help from my new diet,
I fully recovered
from my injuries,
And I'm back
to teaching self-defense.
Or I could chop here
and start to come here.
But with a critical
new component...
- internal defense.
You can get improved blood flow.
That allows more oxygen,
More nutrients to the muscles.
And it's not just the...
Armed with the truth
in nutrition,
I now have the tools
to help protect more lives
Than ever before.
- It's good. Yeah.
- Is it?
Anybody else got
a fiver now?
Anybody else got a fiver now?
James! Good to see you.
How are you feeling now?
Very good.
The figure that I read,
it was 85 percent likelihood
Of your first attack...
And that kills you.
That's a high percentage...
Which makes me feel...
Very blessed.
Happy birthday
dear pops
happy birthday to you
Thank you.
We've gone down
the vegan route.
And we now have soy milk.
Marsha makes sure
I have my vegetables,
Insists on it now.
- How old are you?
- seventy-one.
- Seventy-one.
- mm.
- I'm one!
- And glad to be here.
What's up,
what's good with ya?
Bruce lee understood
that the quest for truth
Is only useful
If you're prepared
to take action on what you find.
It's best to lead
by example.
Most people say,
"oh, I just can't become vegan."
I said, "you're right.
It's a process to it."
I'll give you guys
some vegan chocolates.
People have this idea
in their head
That if they're gonna
do something,
It's an all or nothing approach
and that's not the case at all.
If you go to people and say,
"you must stop eating meat."
They'll say, "fuck you."
Who the fuck are you
to tell me how to eat?"
But if you explain it and say,
"hey, why don't you try
Once a week,
just chill it with the meat."
Fifty years ago,
no one talked about, "hey",
Maybe you should just get
your protein from vegetables."
But now, there is many,
many athletes,
Professional athletes
in all kinds
Of different sports,
that have done extremely well,
Staying away from animals foods.
Lewis Hamilton
wins the German grand prix!
We all wanna feel great.
We all wanna look great,
have more energy.
The most important thing
is about having the right fuel
In your body.
I can't remember feeling
this great
In my whole 32 years of my life.
At the 20,
comes back to the 15,
And Matthews goes,
Opening play touchdown
for the titans!
And I don't ever remember
A comeback like this.
This is unreal!
This was our best season
in the last 15 years.
Sacked
by Orakpo and Derrick Morgan.
And we had about 14 guys
on plant-based diets.
Jurrell Casey. Brian Orakpo!
Bright spot in this game
Was this titans defense.
Oh, my goodness!
Double digit sacks
For derrick Morgan.
He had his best season
of his career.
Titans
on their way to the playoffs.
We did it, baby!
And the playoff win
on my birthday was, probably,
The pinnacle of my career
so far.
Everybody's talked
about the defensive line
And this diet.
It was the burritos.
It was the breakfast burritos.
That's what it was.
That'll get you to the playoffs.
By the time
Scott reached Mount Katahdin,
Word of his perseverance
Was bringing people out
in droves.
But after 46 days
and nearly 2200 miles,
Scott had only a few hours left
to break the record.
this will be the heaviest weight
that anyone has ever carried
On their shoulders. Patrik
will be attempting 555 kilos,
Which is 1,224 pounds.
This is an official
Guinness world record.
The potential
of the human body is immense.
You can come out
of some of the deepest,
Darkest holes
if you keep pressing forward.
I'm gonna do this. Whoa!
Here we go!
World record attempt!
Scott Jurek is one
of the world's
Most accomplished
ultra marathoners.
His latest quest,
the Appalachian trail.
It takes most hikers five
to seven months.
- Jurek did it in 46 days...
...Eight hours
and seven minutes.
three hours faster
than the previous record.
Yeah!
Vegan power!
Yeah!
I did it!
It's not about being
the strongest and the biggest.
It's really about
What are you going to do
with your strength,
And what are you going to do
with the power that you have.
Ah
ah
ah
I'm in it just
to re-write history
'cause I'm in the mood
to label us
the leaders of the leaders
of the new school
this ain't for the radio
can't find this on Youtube
this the type of killing
that these critics
ain't use to
victorious
victorious
I basically start my day
With a big, big, big smoothie.
Some greens in it, like, kale
or spinach, some beet protein.
Pancakes really
at the top
'cause I like breakfast food,
anytime.
Like, there's no wrong time
to have it.
I love my toast
with peanut butter.
Lunch, I would make
a veggie burger.
Avocados
are really big one for me.
I'm addicted.
A big salad
with veggies,
Quinoa rice,
I call it the trough bowl.
And then at dinner, anything
from Japanese to Mexican.
I love Indian food,
and also Thai curry.
Really just--
I like pizza.
If I'm about to just chow down,
like really get it,
- Man, a lasagna.
- If you like chicken nuggets,
Okay, they have vegan nuggets.
If you like meatballs,
They got vegan meatballs.
A lot of pizza, pasta
and burgers.
Sometimes even at the same time.
- I was born to be
- victorious
- most definitely
- victorious
- I'm destined to be
- victorious
avoided by the statistics
occasionally would quit it
paid reality visits
but it was too hard to live in
build up my confidence
and delivered
now I be burning
these critics
guess they ain't know
they was walking across
- when burning they bridges
- Ola
man, who ever thought
I'd be rapping?
the family ain't never think
that can happen
matter fact, only person
that ever pushed me
to get out was my mother
and her only reason was
'cause her contractions
heard that karma's the chick
that you put a ring on
and by the looks of your life
guess she's a cling on
it's all me, dudes
had the lead on the board
but games change overtime
so I'll even the score
young man sped it up
learned how to set it up
recipe chef it up
set it up
city they repped enough
giving the rest to us
going off, so
of course envy was shown
one thrown it off, treating it
like it's an and one
they're playing me foul
but I've still got
my point across
man this the gospel
for the black sheep
I know it got a banging ring
to it
choir of triumph
with a rap lead
so all of you mother...
Can sing to it
- I was born to be
- victorious
- most definitely
- victorious
- I'm destined to be
- victorious
through all the hate
they displayed
we remained warriors
- I was born to be
- victorious
- most definitely
- victorious
- I'm destined to be
- victorious
through all the hate
they displayed
we remained warriors
tried to overlook a rival
all eyes on me
'cause I got no competition
now looking at an idol
you're doe ain't long enough
to pay for my attention
tried to overlook a rival
all eyes on me
'cause I got no competition
now looking at an idol
you're doe ain't long enough
to pay for my attention
- I was born to be
- victorious
- most definitely
- victorious
- I'm destined to be
- victorious
through all the hate
they displayed
we remained warriors
- I was born to be
- victorious
- most definitely
- victorious
- I'm destined to be
- victorious
through all the hate
they displayed
we remained warriors