I don’t drink milk anymore. I can really feel my body doesn’t perform well with milk products. I went all out with that and that’s basically how I started my new vegan diet. I’ve been on it for 5 months so far. 4 weeks ago I was back in Denmark and I tried some milk again because I didn’t have any plant-based milk with me. I also did it as an experiment to see what my body would do after 5 months without it and my stomach was really messed up. It showed what I am doing is working in my body.
Racing in Europe makes it hard to go all in on a vegan diet. When you’re at the races, you just have to eat what’s available. The hotel usually only has pasta, tomato sauce and chicken. In the races you need protein, so you have to eat. I like chicken as an option because it’s not so heavy for the body but I have to eat the pasta and rice for the carbohydrates.
When I’m home in Girona, I try to have a completely vegan diet but I do love fish. I haven’t had a steak in 6 months.
I really like to cook so this diet works for me. My father is a professional chef and I’ve always watched him. Now that I’m living in Girona away from home, I try to cook really good food with a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit. After training there is a lot of free time so I like to go to the market and find good produce.
I want to show that it’s possible to live like this as a professional. Everyone thinks you need a lot of meat to get protein but you can get it from other sources.
Since changing my diet, I feel fresher in the body and feel much lighter. My body doesn’t have to work so hard to digest heavy foods after dinner. This has worked for me. I can’t say that a diet like this will necessarily work for other riders but when I’m home and I have friends over from the pro peloton, I try to cook good vegan food for them so they can see it’s an option. They like it when I’m cooking. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s possible to be 100% vegan as a professional rider but I’m hoping that one day we can work towards it.
Tags: astana, Jonas Gregaard, veganism Last modified: Jan 19, 2020
