From the Ground Up (2017) - full transcript

[soft music]

[Santino] They say life
is a series of choices.

Some seemingly small
and insignificant.

Others agonizing

and life-altering.

Yet somehow

the choices that
seem the smallest

are often the greatest.

The choice to go for
an extra inch,

for an extra rep.

The choice to eat this



instead of that.

The choice to fight,

to forget the noise,

and believe in yourself.

The choice to empathize,

to love,

to make right when wrong.

The choice to protect
what is sacred.

The choice to think deeper,
faster, to self-examine,

to rise above the politics
and demand the truth.

The choice to risk it all,

to admit failure when it comes

because it will.

The choice to stand
back up or not,



to bend, not break.

When encountering these choices,

the roots always determine
the strength.

These roots are the parts inside

that web, cross,
connect and weave

in ways no one can see,

that are built in the dark,

in the dirt, in the heat,
in solitude,

in the lowest of places.

Only with these strong roots

can a series of choices
lead to great heights.

Only then is it possible
to look out upon the world

with love and pride
in how it has grown

from the ground up.

[soft upbeat music]

[heartbeats]

[Santino] My name is
Santino Panico,

most of my life
I've been an athlete.

[crowd shouting]

[Santino] In fact, at one time,

all I wanted to be was
a football player.

[crowd shouting and cheering]

[Santino] I dedicated every
waking moment to the game.

[Santino] I ate, slept
and breathed it.

It was my first love
and I was willing to run

through a brick wall
to achieve my goals.

[whistle blowing]

Football was important to him
because he wanted to make

something out of himself
and accomplish something.

It was a goal he set for himself

that he was not gonna
be denied of.

[commentator]
There were 15 Jackson's pass
completed to number 30,

Santino Panico, for a touchdown.

But whatever he did,
he always did it with passion,

determination
and left everything on
the field when he was out there.

[players shouting]

Santino and I would battle a lot
with the subject of his changes,

because, I, as a mother,
wanted him to partake more

in the things
that other children were doing.

I didn't understand why
football had to be a 24/7 goal.

[Santino] My mom was
concerned not only because
I was training non-stop,

but also because I was
eating non-stop,

consuming around
7,500 calories a day.

All day it was prot-- "I have to
get protein, protein, protein."

And to be honest with you,
I didn't even know what foods

gave him all the protein. All
I just kept cooking was meat.

[Santino]
In three short years
and without a growth spurt,

I gained 125 pounds
eating mostly eggs,

chicken, dairy and steak.

My commitment
to the game paid off.

By the end of my senior season, I was named to every
Illinois All-State team

and awarded the Gatorade
Illinois Football Player
of the Year.

I was also named U.S.
Army All-American,

one of the top 78 high school football players in the country.

[sportscaster] ...back into
quarterback.

-[crowd shouting and cheering]
-[whistle blowing]

[sportscaster 1] And Miller
can't hold on to the pass.
Got hit hard.

[sportscaster 2] It was Santino Panico. He's the ball player of his time.

67 people flied from Chicago
down here to see him play,

and he's the Gatorade Player of the Year of state of Illinois.

[Santino] But nothing compared
to being offered a full
scholarship

to play at a powerhouse football school like the University
of Nebraska.

[sportscaster] ...pressure.
Gives it a ride.

[Santino] his was
everything I worked for.

My dreams were coming true.

Here I was starting
as a true freshman for one

of the most storied
college football programs.

[sportscaster] It gets
in the way. Good shape,
Santino Panico has the--

[Santino] Unfortunately,
my career was anything
but a storybook.

Statistically speaking,
I was the worst punt returner

in the history
of Nebraska football.

[sportscaster] ...20 and the
ball popped lose.

Nebraska may be
around it though...

[Santino] Just like that,
my football dreams were over.

What took a lifetime to build,
was destroyed in one season.

Failing at football
was tough to swallow.

But even worse than the
embarrassment in Nebraska,

I didn't feel well.

My body was breaking down.

Almost daily, I experienced
migraines, indigestion,
and fatigue.

With no conclusive answers
from doctors

and after what felt
like hundreds of appointments,

I decided to research
the impacts of diet on health.

The studies I looked at
revealed that Western diets

with large amounts of meat
and animal products,

were linked to some of the most common and often fatal diseases.

Although the information was
frightening,

these studies offered
a potential solution
to my symptoms:

A plant-based diet.

I had two options:
vegetarian or vegan.

Vegetarians eat primarily
plant foods and sometimes
dairy and eggs,

whereas vegans
eat only plant foods.

With all the dairy and eggs
I'd consumed in my life,

I figured, "To hell with it,
I'm going vegan."

And I started to feel better.

With my health back,
I became active again,

and felt in love with running.

[calm guitar music]

Running clears my head.
It keeps me focused.

It allows me to be competitive, and my competitive side wants
to know

if I can push my physical
limits on a vegan diet.

So I'm going to run
the New York City Marathon.

While I'm training for this race I want to learn

about the lead vegetarian
and vegan athletes.

Why would they choose to go
against the status quo

and eat plant-based?

[calm guitar music]

When I played football,
my coaches, trainers
and nutritionists

championed animal products
is the best fuel to become
stronger, faster and bigger.

Where does this dominant idea
come from?

Ancient writings reveal that
throughout many of the first
Olympic Games

athletes trained and competed
primarily on a vegetarian diet

consisting of leafy vegetables, fruits, cheese and wheat.

Then came Milo of Croton,
a six-time Olympic
wrestling champion.

According to legend,
Milo gained the strength by
lifting full-grown bulls,

wrestling with lions and eating 20 pounds of meat each day.

Some experts believe
Milo's myth in part,

inspired athletes to eat
meat for performance
enhancement.

Besides eating large quantities of bull and goat meat,

Olympic competitors began eating lion heart and deer liver

in hopes that consumption would provide bravery, speed,
strength and power.

Over 2500 years later,
athletes still believe

that meat will improve
their performance

and fear the effects
of not eating it.

[cheerful string music]

[traffic noises]

[horn honking]

When I first started a vegan
diet, it wasn't too difficult
to stick with.

But after a few weeks
I began craving Italian food.

With a name like Santino Panico, I'm full-blooded Italian.

And when one thinks of Italians, usually food comes to mind.

Italians love to cook
and love to eat.

And Italian dishes are
loaded with animal protein.

[cheerful Italian music]

My family owns a traditional
Italian restaurant

where my grandmother
worked until her late 80s.

[her speech is drowned
by the narration]

Throughout my entire life,
I was able to eat homemade

Italian dishes
anytime that I wanted

and the majority of those dishes had some form of animal protein.

I'm talking sausage
and peppers, chicken marsala,

and an assortment
of cheeses and fish.

We Italians love our cheese
and we love our fish.

When I became vegan, essentially

I was going against everything
that I came to love
in my culture.

And my family was
a little perplexed.

When he approached us
with the fact that he was
now going to eat vegan,

I had absolutely
no clue what that meant.

We were very
shocked and surprised.

We were wondering what this was
all about because he loved
his meat.

You know, he loved to eat like
us Italians do. So, yeah,
we were shocked.

Grandma didn't understand
what it was all about.

So, you know, it was hard for us
to explain, "He's not gonna eat
any more meat.

Ma, forget about it,
there's no more meat."

[chuckles]

[laughter in background]

-I'd like to tell you what
I really thought.
-[interviewer] Tell us.

What I really thought was, "What
the [beep] is a vegan diet?"

[laughter]

I had no clue at all what he was
even talking about, vegan.

I thought a vegan was
a guy named vegetables,

I didn't know what else he did.

He explained it to me
and I said, "Are you
sure you wanna do that?"

And he got into all this stuff
I didn't understand
and that was it.

[Santino] Okay, eating meat
and being Italian
go hand-in-hand.

So it makes sense
that my family was confused.

But they weren't the only ones. I got all sorts of questions.

But one sticks
out in particular,

especially in relation
to plant-based athletes.

I mean, I think the most common
question, of course is, where
do you get your protein.

How do you get enough protein?

Where do I get my protein?

Where do you get your protein?

How do you get enough protein?

How do you get enough protein?

How do you get your protein?

Where do you get your protein?

Where do you get your protein?

Where do you get your protein?

Where do I get my protein?

Where do you get your protein?

Where do you get your protein?

Where I get my protein.

Where do you get your protein?

Where do I get my protein?

So the first response,
you know, I wanna have is,

"Do I look like I'm not getting
protein? I mean, really?" And--

But my true answer is,
"Oh, I get my protein

from the same
place that the animal
that you eat gets his."

[Santino] So what is protein?

What role does it play
in the body?

And how much does the body
really need?

So protein is one of
the three macronutrients.

There's carbohydrates, there's
fat, and there's protein.

And we need all three of them.

Protein is composed
of different amino acids.

Those are the little
building blocks that we use
to make a protein.

And we need protein because it's
involved in numerous physiologic
activities in the body.

So, you know, maintaining cells,
cellular function, uh, hormones,

enzymes, bones,
muscles and blood.

So we need protein for-- for all
of those things, it's important.

I think there's this perception
that by taking an excess protein
you're gonna build more muscle.

And by definition, it's excess.
You don't need it.

Once you have excess protein,
it's either going to turn
into fat,

which is what often happens,

or it's gonna get broken down
by your kidneys and your liver

often at some stress
to those organs.

We're in this Western society
where we believe
that more is better.

And I use this analogy,
it's kind of like

you're building a house and you
need a certain amount of bricks.

And you put these bricks in your
front yard and you take them

and you put them in the house
and you build the house.

Then you got the house
finished and you keep

putting bricks
into the front yard.

And that's the problem.
Your body can't utilize
those bricks anymore

and the build-up can have really
negative effects in your body.

[Santino] With all the emphasis
on protein consumption,

let's take a look at how much
a person needs in their day.

In nutritional sciences,
it is generally accepted

that the average person needs
about 0.8 grams of protein
per kilogram of body weight.

What this means is
that if you are the average--

an average 70-kilogram man,
which is about 154 pounds,

that means that you need
about 56 grams of protein.

[Santino] For an athlete, protein consumption can increase

to between 1.4 and 1.8 grams
per kilogram of body weight.

Take me, for example.

I'm a 180-pound man
training for a marathon,

therefore, I need about
148 grams of protein per day.

So where will I
get this protein?

Here are some comparisons
between the foods that I ate

when I played football
and the foods that I eat now.

Three eggs contain
18 grams of protein,

whereas one cup of oats
contains 26 grams of protein.

Two ounces of chicken breasts
contain 18 grams of protein,

whereas one cup of lentils
contains 18 grams of protein.

One cup of cow's milk
contains 8 grams of protein,

whereas one cup of soy milk
contains 8 grams of protein.

Everything you eat
has protein in it.

Even fruits have
amino acids in it.

So it turns out that,
yes, protein is important,

but, yes, nature
provides for us in surplus

through all the different
fruits, vegetables, nuts,
beans and seeds.

[music fades out]

[clock ticking]

[upbeat music]

[footsteps thumping]

[indistinct chatter]

[Santino] After a hard track
workout it's crucial that
my body recovers.

Lucky for me, today is
taco bowl Tuesday.

I get an excellent source of fat from avocados and guacamole,

high protein from tofu

and good carbs from brown rice
and black beans,

This meal will definitely help me get stronger for my next run.

You know, if experienced
a lot of men who joke

about vegans not being
capable of strength.

Not alone toughness
or masculinity.

[clattering]

[calm music]

[Santino] Athletes who compete
in sports like boxing...

[groaning]

...mixed martial arts

or collegiate
in Olympic wrestling,

are pretty damn tough.

They better be, or they're not
going to last very long.

But to be tough, do athletes
need to be compromised?

Does being strong require
a lack of empathy?

When I competed, I never
associated what I ate

with my toughness
or masculinity.

When I went vegan,
I was caught off guard
by the amount of people

who questioned my masculinity
because of my diet.

It was during this time
that I realized

there is a pervasive believe
in society

that only real men eat meat.

[quiet guitar music]

So I grew up hunting
and fishing. And bringing home

wild game is kind of
a masculine thing.

It's this idea that
you're putting food
on the table. And...

We've been
entrenched in this idea
that males are providers.

And I think our food is
a big part of that.

And a big part of the meal
is centered around meat.

So I think there's that link
that you have to be a provider,

you have to be
strong and you have to be
this male dominant figure.

And meat goes
hand in hand with that.

To me it's such a

Neanderthal sort of caveman idea

that that's what...

[growling]

...we would find tough.

You know? If it is just
reduced down to me kill animal,

me strong, get pussy?

You know, it's like that,
that's what we're talking about?

You know, that's that simple?

But look at the world
that we live in, you know.

You got people watching
American Idol

and, and getting their food
from like Starbucks and,
and McDonald's.

There's nothing
masculine about eating meat.

It's the most ridiculous
notion I've ever heard.

And I think anyone that buys
into that shit is a moron.

[Santino] What's with
the sexual politics of meat?

And why are meat
and masculinity connected?

[Carol] So the sexual politics
of meat looks at
the cultural assumptions

that say men need to eat meat

and examines

why we hold on to this myth:

Meat gives masculinity.

When we talk about masculinity
and meat consumption,

um, we're really looking at
his-- a historical phenomena

particularly and in some ways
unique to North America. Um--

This, this is a country that
has a long frontier tradition
of, you, you know,

people from Europe, er,
settling, creating
a dominant culture.

And what that required
was not so much hunting,

which we tend to think of when
we think of masculinity
and, and meat eating,

I mean hunting sort of pops into
mind. But historically it was
domesticating animals.

One of the quickest and easiest
ways for a man in particular

to assert his authority
was to domesticate animals.

If you had
to hunt for, for your food,

you were somehow perceived to be
um, less manly, less in control.

By domesticating animals,
by controlling them, you
kind of asserted your manhood.

You said I can
control this animal,
I'm in charge of myself,

I'm in charge of my family,
I can feed my family,

I don't have
to duck into the woods
to chase down animals to shoot

because that's a waste of time,
it's inefficient and shows
a lack of control.

So, I mean from the start,
you have this emphasis on
controlling animals

as essential to rugged
individualism and manhood.

When it came
to the United States,

more people could eat meat
because there was enough land.

So we-- we Americans
redefined meat eating.

It became something associated
with an inalienable right.

But this inalienable right
was very male-defined.

So this notion of
who had the right to meat,

even as it became embedded
within a sort of
democratic notion

of this is a natural thing
for us to eat meat in
the United States,

had implicit
male identification.

Men are supposed
to eat meat for strength,

for protein, for male privilege.

If men are the ones who
have the right to eat meat,

to not eat meat is to give up
your male privilege. Why would
you do that?

[Santino] These outdated ideas
about meat and masculinity

are reinforced today
through marketing campaigns.

Just look at a magazine rack,
walk down the street or sit
in a train station

and there one can find some advertisement trying to convince

consumers meat is inherently
tied to one's masculinity.

[Carol] This recurrent claim
that to eat meat mans up,

man up for two times the bacon,
and the interesting thing here

is that as mystique
eats the burger

truly has manned up.

Why is masculinity so unstable
that it's got to be
constantly renewed?

My library card lasts
for 15 years, 20 years.

[Santino]
Considering the belief
that meat gives masculinity,

it's no surprise that
in the sports world,

the stereotype
of a vegetarian and vegan

is a slender and non-threatening endurance athlete.

But take a look at the world
of mixed martial arts.

These modern day warriors fit
the male conception of
traditional masculinity.

Their sport requires strength,
power, aggression

and unmatched intensity as crucial to ultimate performance.

-[exhaling]
-[thump noises]

[Santino] Yet many fighters
are switching

to plant-based diets.

Is this a contradiction?

Why have they made this choice?

[crowd cheering]

Can a vegetarian or vegan be

as masculine and tough
as a meat-eater?

To find out,
I went straight to the source.

[commentator] Judges score this
contest 30-27 on all cards

for a unanimous decision for
the winner, Aaron "A-Train"...

I've been vegetarian for
a little over five years now.

And I dip into being vegan
as much as possible.

I was definitely vegan when
I went into training camps

in, in the later, um, years
of my, of my training
and in my career.

So I've known Aaron
for a long time now,

obviously in both stages of his,
uh, nutrition.

You know, uh, when he became
plant-based, yeah, you know,

you saw the transformation
in his body.

He had no fat on him,
he was ripped, you know.

And, and looking at his UFC
fights, he was going in there,
he was in better shape.

Although I do eat meat, I cut it
way back and I-- I definitely--

you know, my intake of green
leafy vegetables and everything,

kale shakes and
across the board,

I incorporated that a lot more
into my diet because of him.

[Aaron] The primary reason for
me cutting meat, animal
products out of my diet

was solely
a compassionate choice.

I could no longer justify
eating animals and, and--

and contributing to,
you know, the slaughter,

taking animals' lives just
for my own greed, in my opinion.

I felt like it was something
that wasn't explained to me
as a kid.

I didn't realize that I could
live this way and definitely as
an athlete.

I was sold this myth that,

in order for me to be
a, a high-level athlete,
I have to eat meat.

I must eat animal protein,
I need that in my diet

several times throughout the day
and that was gonna help me,

you know, reach my goals
of being one of the best.

[panting]

Once I realized
that I didn't need that,

once I saw there were
some other athletes out there

that were competing
at a high level and winning,

then it made more sense to me
and I was able to make
that transition over

and cut meat out of my diet.

My wife Kendra was a vegetarian
since college and she knew
my love for animals.

But made a decision then too
that I was not going to...

bother him about it and make him
you know, kind of be nagging.

And hoping that
in the back of my mind,

he would slowly kind of see
my way as the right way.

With eating meat and killing,
I feel like that's
a learned habit.

And it's-- And with our kids,
they, they were

very kind and compassionate
from the get-go.

So it just made sense to them
when we started teaching them

about why we don't eat meat.

We wanted them, you know,
to be okay in their skin
and understand

that, that we don't kill animals
for a reason and that we love
animals and we love

everyone, we're just-- we just
wanted to be kind to everybody.

[Santino] Erin is one of the
most gentle and compassionate
people I have ever met.

He is also clearly masculine.
His diet hasn't changed that.

But who says men are the only
ones who can be fierce,
strong and tough?

[audience cheering]

[commentator] Ooh...

I am Hurricane Heather Jo Clark
and I'm a UFC Straw weight.

If I were
to describe the way I eat,
it would be mostly vegetarian,

but there are occasions
that I go full vegan.

And those times are
usually during fight camps.

I think because of Heather
Jo Clark's unique diet

I think she probably pays
more attention actually

to the specific nutritional
needs that she needs
in her diet.

And I think she comes in here
and performs just as well as
anybody else.

So I support her
completely in her decision

and I totally understand
why she wants to do it.

[Heather] Yeah.

I don't agree
with how they treat animals.

You know,
I'm a big animal lover.

God boy.

It makes me wanna cry.

Like, it really,
really hurts me.

I think the attributes
that make Heather, uh,
a good fighter

is that she's tenacious as hell
and she always wants to learn.

She's never satisfied.

[crowd shouting & cheering]

It speaks for itself.
I'm strong, I'm powerful.

I've been, you know,
a fighter for eight years,

and I'm doing great.
I have knockouts.

[crowd shouting & cheering]

Look at all the other
vegetarian/vegan athletes
out there.

I think we're all proven
to everybody

you don't need to eat meat
to be all those things.

[crowd shouting & cheering]

[Santino] Heather definitely
doesn't need meat to be tough.

But is it needed to be dominant?

[announcer] Jake Shields!

I'm Jake Shields.
I'm a professional
mixed martial arts fighter.

I've held multiple world titles
including Strikeforce, Shooto,

Rumble on the Rock and
number one ranked UFC fighter.

And I'm currently fighting
for World Series of Fighting.

[announcer] He stands
six feet tall.

Also weighs 170 pounds,

fights out of San Francisco,
California

by way of Mountain Ranch,
California.

Presenting Jake Shields!

[Jake] I was raised vegetarian.
My parents became vegetarian,
uh, in the early 70s.

So, for me, I was just
born and raised this way.

I always grew up liking animals
and so as I got older

and started be able
to make choices for myself,

I just, uh, you know,
I liked animals

and it seemed kind of
gross eating meat.

And then when I started
looking into it more

and seeing how they
actually treated the animals

at the factory farming,
how disgusting it was

and what a cruel policy it was,

I decided it was something
I wanted just to, to stick with.

[shouting]

[Jake] You know, yeah,
being young growing up,
everyone always told me,

"If you want to be strong
and be the best, you gotta
eat meat to be strong."

But it's just something I never
had a problem with. I've always
felt very strong.

Everyone that trains with me
always, you know, mentions

how strong I am.
I never feel overpowered.

[clanking noise]

[crowd shouting and cheering]

[referee] Stop, stop, stop.

[commentator] And that was
smart. And this was--

[commentator] ...and I was
there when he took on GSPN--

[commentator] That's it!
That is all in Vegas.

[commentator] We've seen
this so many times now.

[commentator] Bas Rutten,
you cannot follow the cobra

down the snake hole when that cobra is Jake Shields

because he will make you pay.

[commentator] Oh, oh,
this time it's indeed.

[man] Jake, Jake, Jake!

[commentator] That's it.
That is it!

It is all over[indistinct]

[commentator] Welcome to
the World Series of Fighting,
Jake Shields.

[announcer] Jake Shields!

[Jake] It's just great to prove
that wrong, you know. I wanna be

an example to show you don't
have to eat meat to be strong.

[Santino] It was once said
that when Jake gets a hold of
his opponents,

he's a cement blanket,
almost impossible to overcome.

Good luck challenging
his masculinity.

But fighting, although masculine to some, is artistry to others.

[grunting and groaning]

My name is Alex Caceres

and I am a mixed martial artist.

I would be doing this
whether it was in backyards,

whether it was
on the streets, wherever.

To me, it truly is
an art of self-expression.

[calm guitar music]

[Alex] To really see who you are

when you are in
these certain situations,

because that's
when the truth comes out.

[Santino] Cheers.
What do you do with it?

[motor humming]

Well, everything--

I, I don't like to waste
anything.

So all the stuff that I juice,

all the-- all the remains
from the juicing,

they're gonna go into
my soil pile and compost pile,

so that they can break down
and turn into new soil.

[glasses clinking]

And I use this and I just
dump it into my soil bucket.

I don't like the terminology.
I don't like titles too much.

I don't even like
the title "plant-based."

I don't even
like the title "vegan."

I just like to say,
"I eat plants

and I only eat plants."

[calm guitar music]

[Alex] You have to build
yourself from the ground up

and building yourself
from the ground up,

it's a discipline
in all of your life.

When it comes to training,
when it comes to
the things you do,

think, and especially
through the things you eat,

diet and nutrition plays
a very important role.

Ever since I've been
on a plant-based diet,

I have never felt stronger.

[Alex] These animals all
hit a wall, especially
the way they're raised

and slaughtered
and butchered and distributed.

Never will I ever again perceive
that I'm going to hit a wall
or reach a plateau.

The mountain has no end
and I'm still playing,

which is the beautiful
thing about this.

I'm here with the winner,
Alex Caceres.

You looked like
you were having fun in there.

I was, man.
Not bad for a vegan, huh?

[chuckling] Not bad at all.

[Santino] Around the time
I went vegan, Mac Danzig won

Season 6 of the ultimate
fighter show.

Watching Mac succeed
proved to me

that I could be
a strong and healthy vegan.

But Mac's true strength
and masculinity lies
in his compassion.

Good to see you, man.

[man] You guys ready?

Well, an easy way to describe
the way I eat is vegan.

Um, another way of saying is
plant-based or whatever,
you know.

You can use any
of those terms. But basically

I'm relegated to being
a consumer in this day and age.

I don't have the ability to
hunt and gather or whatever,
you know,

like some hypothetical
thing that people, you know,

may have done before
the Industrial Revolution

in different parts of the world.

Because I'm a consumer
and I-- everything that I do

contributes to this giant
empire of, of money-making,

er, like the least I can do is
make compassionate choices.

Before I even ever made
the decision to go with
the vegan diet and lifestyle,

I, I was working on
an animal sanctuary, er, farm.

It's, it's like a farm
sanctuary in Pennsylvania

where I used to live
at the time.

Through doing that,
I was able to really gain
a better understanding

of not only like how,
how awesome these animals were,

but also how bad
it was for these animals

that had gotten rescued
from really bad situations.

I always knew that, uh,
it was wrong

and I-- and I think I just
turned a blind eye to it,

"Oh, well, it's not convenient.

And, well, I can't do it because
I'm trying to be an athlete."

So there never was a moment
other than that time

when I finally
decided to try it.

And then I did in a month or two
down the road of doing that,

I was like, "Wow,
I feel great. I feel fine."

[commentator 1] He's timed out.

He's got him tight!

That's it!

Danzig dominates
Tommy Speer for the victory!

Mac Danzig is
the ultimate fighter!

[commentator 2] A full right
knee to the jaw of Mark Bocek.

He lowered his head
a little bit too much
and got caught with a knee.

This could be the finish.
Mac got under the neck!

-[commentator 1] Looking
to finish the fight.
-[commentator 2] It's a wrap.

[commentator 1] It is all over!

Mac Danzig chokes out
Mark Bocek!

Oh!

And it is over!

[commentator 2] Joe charging in.

Look at that. Perfect timing.

It's amazing.
He was moving away as he--

[Mac] Being able to
reach this many people

and have this many
people come up to me and say,

"Hey, you were
the reason why I had

the confidence
to actually go vegan

and I had wanted
to do it for years, but..."

Being able to know
that I've, I've touched
that many people

and I never once shoved it down
anyone's throat, I just led
by example,

it feels really good, you know.
I never had intended that.

All I intended
was first and foremost

for me to control the only
person that I can control
and that's myself,

and I was gonna
control what I ate
and I was not gonna, you know,

live my life contributing
to those industries.

[Santino] As one of the first
plant-based fighters,

Mac has led the way
for other fighters,

including esteemed
amateur boxer Cam F. Awesome.

Cam fights in the 201 pound
division for the U.S. men's
boxing team.

He is a five-time
USA national champion,

four-time Golden Gloves
national champion

and two-time Olympic
trials champion.

[crowd cheering]

Since I've become plant--
a plant-based boxer in 2012,

I've become faster,
I've become stronger,

My recovery time is so much
quicker. I don't get a sore
any more.

It's completely changed my life.

Because after I got into
the, the plant-based world,

I realized what was happening
to the animals, what we were
doing to the animals,

how they were treating
the animals and what we're
putting inside them

and then consuming ourselves.

[man] Come on.

[Cam] I do believe there's,
there's a certain type of energy

that, that comes from your food.

And if the last thing
your food did

was cry for its life
before you ate it,

I don't think that's gonna be
the greatest energy in the world
to put into your body.

[Santino] These are some
of the toughest, fiercest

and arguably,
most masculine athletes.

Yet their compassion
for animals serves

as their common motivation
to be plant-based.

At first, this pairing
may seem like a contradiction,

but now I see their compassion
encompasses their masculinity.

They are united in their desire to stand up for the weak
and the voiceless.

What is going
on in the food system

that inspires compassion
in all of these fighters?

What are the practices that
affect the most frequently
consumed animals?

And how can animals
live a peaceful life?

To me, factory farming
really is an attitude

that sees
animals as commodities,

not as living,
feeling creatures.

And there's no respect at all
for the well-being

or the lives of these animals.

[Santino] It may be
uncomfortable to accept, but
animal abuse is the norm,

not the exception in the animal agribusiness industries.

Nearly all of the animals that are raised for food are done so on factory farms,

they are not on old MacDonald's farm out in the pasture.

They are confined
to a cage or four walls.

In the egg industry,
laying hens are put

in cages so cramped that
they can't spread their wings.

They live in these cages
for their entire lives,

immobilized, laying eggs
day after day after day.

They suffer in a state of chronic pain and chronic stress.

In the pork industry
breeding pigs

these highly intelligent
and social animals,

are locked in cages called
gestation crates.

These crates are two feet wide, and the pigs can't
even turn around.

At most, they can take one step forward and one step back.

For milk production,
cows are forcibly impregnated,

and their calves are taken away
from them immediately at birth.

But the cows have to have a calf
every year to be productive

because they only lactate
when they have babies.

And then the cow,
after her baby is taken away,

goes into the milk
production system.

She is hooked up
to milk machines
two or three times a day.

She's pushed
to produce about ten times

more milk than
she would produce in nature.

She is worn out after just
about three or four years
in production.

Whereas
in a healthy environment,
these cows could live 20 years.

And then when they are no longer
profitable in milk production,

the dairy cows are slaughtered
usually for ground beef.

[Santino] In the veal industry,
calves are taken away

from their mothers at birth
and put into veal crates.

Veal creates are similar
to gestation crates.

The calves can't turn
around, their muscles atrophy,

And they have
a hard time getting up.

They stay in these crates
for four months until
they are slaughtered.

For meat type chickens,
they've been genetically bred

to grow twice as big
and twice as fast as normal.

And they grow
so fast and so large

that their hearts and lungs
have a hard time supporting
their growth rate.

So every year you have
millions of these birds

that die of heart attacks
at just a couple weeks old.

The ones that survive
end up at the slaughterhouse,

where they're hung upside down
on shackles by their legs,
fully conscious,

and then they go through
the slaughterhouse assembly line

where the first stop is usually
an electrified tank of water

where their head is submerged,

which is supposed
to render them paralyzed.

The next part
of the slaughter line,

which is the blade
that cuts their throat,

it usually hits the mark
and they bleed to death,
but sometimes it misses.

And then the next stop
is the scalding tank
where they're boiled.

So you have every year
millions of these birds
that are boiled alive.

[hens clucking]

And then after that,
they are de-feathered and
processed into chicken products.

[Santino] Truly the best day
of these animals' lives

is the day that they're sent to slaughter, because it's the day

that their misery
finally all comes to an end.

[calm guitar music]

[Gene] Here at Farm Sanctuary
people get a chance to come
and look in the eyes of a pig,

or another animal and get
to know them as individuals.

We also try to model a certain
kind of relationship here,

one that is based on respect.

And human beings
are social animals

and are influenced
by others around them

and by other
examples that they see.

We felt it was
important to address

the problems
with animal farming.

And so we started visiting
farms and stockyards

and slaughterhouses
to document what was happening.

And we would find living animals
literally, literally thrown
on piles of dead animals.

And so we started rescuing them.
And the sanctuary just grew
and evolved.

We didn't really have this long,
big long term vision

of creating these farms
and this huge organization.

We just started trying
to help individual animals
that needed help.

And one thing led to another
and we were responding
to different needs.

We want people
to connect with these animals,

see them as living,
feeling creatures,

recognize that they are not
that different than cats
or dogs or us.

They just want to enjoy life.

[music fades out]

[calm guitar music]

[Santino] As I'm in the thick of marathon training, I realized

that I love running,
because it challenges me to be
a better version of myself.

[panting]

[Santino] I want to know more
about elite plant-based

athletes to take this approach.

How do these various
unconventional athletes

all reach the same
conclusion about diet?

[cheerful music]

[Santino] I'm
with professional endurance
athlete Hillary Biscay.

She has finished
66 Ironman Triathlons to date

and is the 2013
Ultraman world champion.

An Ultraman is an endurance race consisting of a 6.2-mile swim,

261.4-mile bike ride

and a 52.4-mile double marathon.

My current diet is

yeah, completely plant-based.

To me, there's really--
there's no difference between,

you know,
my three puppies at home

and the hamburger on my plate.

To me, that's all,
it's all animal. So if I'm
not gonna eat my puppies,

I'm not gonna eat that cow
either. It's just-- it's
that simple, really.

It took me quite some time
and a good bit of trial
and error

in order to get the plant-based
diet completely dialed.

But once I did, I actually
had my best races ever.

I felt lighter, stronger,
I recovered more quickly,

and my body could endure
over the long haul
better than ever before.

There's never been a moment
really, since I made the
decision, where, um...

where I have like
seriously considered going
back to my old way of eating.

My athletic career was such
this tiny, tiny, tiny thing,

it was so unimportant
when I really thought about

like the big implications
of what I was eating.

[Santino] Speaking
with Hillary gave me some
perspective about compassion.

If she needed meat to succeed, she would rather quit her sport

than contribute
to factory farming.

After meeting with Hillary,
I had the opportunity

to talk to one of the true
legends of skateboarding,
Ed Templeton.

[upbeat music]

[rasping and scraping sounds]

For me, finding skateboarding
was the antithesis of sports.

You know, I think
in '85 when I started,

the people who were
finding skateboarding,

I think, were alienated kids,
we were just nerds.

Before I found skating,
I was just like a kid running
around trying to be a ninja.

Skateboarding opened
this whole community up to me.

I never thought it was a sport.

It ended up being a lifestyle.

So we did this grueling tour,
thirty demos in 30 days
across the U.S.,

you know,
full-on road Warrior tour.

I decided for this one month
I'm gonna just go vegan.

Why not?
I'll try it for a month.

Did this road trip and was,
you know, got back

and thought, "Okay,
the month is over,
I don't have to be

a vegan anymore and I opened
the bag of Cheetos,

and ate one, you know,
fluorescent orange

and I ate one and just instantly
felt like, "What am I doing?"

So I read about slaughterhouses
and that was the real moment,
you know.

I mean it's
like reading this stuff,

it's like learning fire
when you're a kid.

You know, it's like you stick
your hand in that and it hurts.

I'm not gonna do that ever again
once you learn about
the slaughterhouses.

For me, it was like that's it,
like you can't go back.

You know, if I was on a desert
island, uh, survival is
number one.

If I had to hunt to survive,

I would probably eat and
then I'd kill and eat an animal.

It's like survival is number
one. I don't live in that world.

I live in this world. I live in
Orange County, California.

I walk into a store and it's
overflowing with choices.

And so I have the luxury
of saying I don't wanna
eat animals.

[Santino] I relate to Ed.

When I learned about
the harmful effect

of meat on health,
I couldn't turn back.

Likewise,
once Ed learned about factory farming, he couldn't turn back.

I guess once you know,
you can't not know.

[calm electronic music]

[Santino] What wisdom does
competitive bodybuilder Torre
Washington have to offer?

When I was young I was really
into comic book characters

Wolverine, Superman and how
their physique was so shaped.

I even started to draw them.

I could draw them freehand
just looking at the picture.

And me sketching that kind of
looked like as being a sculptor.

So now I figured,
"Hum, how can I sculpture
my physique in that way?

Then, lo and behold, I ran
into see Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger
in person, ripped,

muscles everywhere,
just like I was looking at
these comic book characters,

I was inspired to say, "Okay,
how can-- I can do that.

I can basically do the same
thing in a different manner.

And create the physique,
or the superhero physique
of my own."

So I was raised vegetarian
by my mother who was

of the Seventh Day Adventist
way of life.

And this religion talked about
living off the land

that God provided as Adam and
Eve lived in the garden of Eden.

So this health message was
to benefit us health wise

and our interaction
with the animals and this Earth.

And then I took it to the next
level and became vegan.

And on this part of the journey
I learned more about

the connection with animals
and the connection that we have
with this Universe.

As a vegan athlete
or vegan bodybuilder,
competitive bodybuilder,

Some of the most fulfilling
things that I had as part
of the journey

is-- When I'm competing,
backstage people were-- a lot of
them or other athletes were,

"You-- you're that vegan
bodybuilder? Man, how do you
look like that?

We've gotta talk because I'm
so tired of eating chicken.

If I cannot eat that
and look like that, I'm all in."

My tactic of being vegan was,
when I came to the stage was
just-- I just want to compete.

Yeah, I was vegan but I wasn't
thinking, "Oh, I'm vegan
but to show you guys up."

Now I can do more
than just compete for me.

I can do more to compete and
help other people realize that,

"Man, I don't-- I don't wanna
loose muscle, I can get
shredded if I want to,

I can have a six-pack abs, and
eat fruits, vegetables, plants,

nuts, seeds.
That's, that's amazing."

What we are doing is changing
that visual perception.

[calm music]

[Torre] Yeah, as a vegan you see
a chicken in a cage,

that touches your heart, like,
"That's not supposed to
be happening."

I'm happy to change
that perception, I'm happy
to provide a different outlook.

So when someone says, "Man,
I've never seen a vegan
with a muscle."

Well, let me show you somebody.
Here you go.

Those things inspire me
to continue to be better.

You know, I'm better, better--
provide better information
to do things to help,

because we live in a world
too much me and not enough we.

[plane engine buzzing]

[wind blowing]

[engine roaring]

[man screaming]

[Santino] Heights are
definitely not my thing.

So how did I end up
in that tiny-ass plane?

Blame Steph Davis.

Renowned climber, BASE jumper and wingsuit flyer.

She's the first woman to summit all the peaks in the Fitz Roy
range in Patagonia,

the first woman to free-climb
a Salathe Wall on El Capitan

and the first woman to
climb the Diamond in Colorado
without ropes for protection.

How's it going? Me too.

[Santino] More than
her athletic accomplishments,

I'm drawn
to her philosophy on life.

[Steph] My sports are
a very high commitment

and a lot of times there's
really no margin
for error at all.

[wind blowing]

So it's important
to me to always be
performing at my top

because my life is in the line.

[flapping sound]

I think some people hear
the word "vegan"

and think about all the foods
they're not going to eat.
[laughs]

And so, when I say it's
a whole foods plant-based diet,

suddenly your mind is filled
with images of vegetables,

and fruits, and grains
and, uh, legumes

and it's like a lot of things,
it's not about leaving
things out.

With the vegan and plant-based
whole foods eating way,

realized it was
helping my performance.

That was the whole idea, right?
That's why I started this.

I was saying,
"Hey, how can I climb better
and be stronger and healthier

and do my sports better?"
That was the motivator.

And then I started to, um...

I started to get exposed to
information that I hadn't
been exposed to

before just through being busy,
not having my eyes open,
whatever.

I'm embarrassed to say it,
but I didn't know about factory
farming. [chuckles]

I mean, I'm-- I'm
embarrassed, but I didn't.

And then, when I was eating
vegan, stuff was coming across
my desk or my consciousness.

When I saw that, it's like,
um, you know,

"I don't even care if
I wouldn't be climbing better,

I will not support that.
That's just horrible."

I'm very pragmatic
in how the world works

and I see in my society
the way the world works

is when you spend money,
you vote for something.

You put the dollars in
and you now told the system
that that's gonna get support.

So I don't purchase things that
are made from animal products.

My whole goal has been to remove
as many of my dollars

from supporting
factory farming as possible.

[metal clinking]

[upbeat music]

The thing that tortures me the
most is seeing human beings
hurting other creatures.

And I just can't stand it.

I want every creature to be
left alone,

to live a natural, peaceful
life like it wants to.

[plane buzzing]

[wind blowing]

[wind blowing]

Holly shit!

[indistinct chatter]

[man] There you go.

[people clapping]

It's awesome.

Definitely see how small you are

in the grand scheme
of things in this earth.

[Santino] Sometimes leaping
into the unknown

may be terrifying,
but definitely worth it.

Awesome.

[clock ticking]

[upbeat electronic music]

[birds chirping]

[Santino] I've come a long way
from eating eggs, chicken
and steak on repeat.

Sure, I was told to eat my
vegetables like any other kid,

but I didn't realize how much,
nor did I know the variety of
plant foods out there.

I know now that my ideas about
nutrition were pretty flawed.

I can remember how alarming
it was when I first learned
the statistics.

And they haven't
changed that much today.

In the United States,
three out of the four leading
causes of death,

including heart disease, strokes and certain types of cancer,

are closely related
to our food choices,

as are other chronic
diseases such as obesity,

diabetes,
and high blood pressure.

In most cases, these diseases
are preventable through diet.

Yet the United States
remains in a health crisis.

Each year, heart disease causes one in every four deaths.

Two and three adults
and one-third of children
and adolescents

are considered
overweight or obese.

Medical experts are
estimating that, by 2030,

half of the population will
be pre-diabetic or diabetic.

Strictly going by the evidence,
when you think about
what does the medical evidence,

what do studies show, what are
the most disease-promoting foods
that are out there,

I would say right at the top
of the list is probably
processed meat.

And we eat a lot
of processed meat.

And processed meat is bacon,

hot dogs,
it's sausage, it's salami,

it's deli meats that people
perceive as being healthy.

Right below that,
I would put red meat,

which is very closely linked
with heart disease and diabetes
and early death.

[Santino] In October of 2015,

the World Health
Organization released a report

stating that 50 grams
of processed meat a day

increased the risk
of cancer by 18 percent.

50 grams is equivalent to eating two slices of bacon per day.

When you eat animal foods and
animal protein and that gets
into your intestine,

the saturated fat that
comes only in the animals

opens up the cells in
the lining of your intestine

and it lets in these
toxins called endotoxins

which create
the inflammation in your body.

And that sets off
a domino effect

which could create inflammation
in the vessels going
to your heart,

inflammation going into
the vessels anywhere else
in your body.

The first step is
even for doctors to even
realize that food is medicine,

and realizing that
what we choose to eat
and what we put in our bodies

is as powerful
as many of the drugs

that are out there and surgeries
that are out there.

So that's the first step.
But I think once people
start to realize that,

we're gonna very quickly realize
that, well, if food is medicine,

what food is the best food and
what food is the best medicine.

And again, I think there's broad
consensus that plant foods

are what promote health.

[Santino] Research studies
conducted worldwide

suggest that well-planned plant-based diets are associated with fewer strokes,

better cognitive function,
less heart disease,
lower blood pressure,

less obesity, less diabetes,
less colon cancer,

less prostate cancer,
and improved sexual function.

When you're eating plant foods,
you are getting

these antioxidants
that fight inflammation,

you're getting all kinds
of electrolytes

which take away
the acid in our blood.

You're getting
vitamin and nutrients.

You're getting certain
amino acids like glutamic acid

which isn't found
much in meat, but in plants.

It actually goes into your blood
and helps dilate
your blood vessels

so that you don't
get high blood pressure.

And so these plant foods
are like perfectly packaged.

[crowd cheering]

[Santino]
When I played football,

I ate meat for performance.

But that choice could
have caused my underlying
health issues,

for the majority of my symptoms went away after a year or so
on a vegan diet.

Are there elite athletes who eat plant-based for performance?

What about for health?

[indistinct chatter]

My name is Griff Whalen,
I'm a wide receiver.

I played college
football at Stanford University.

And I've been in the NFL
for seven years now.

[crowd cheering]

The way I eat is a vegan
diet, completely plant-based.

But more than that, I try
to focus on eating whole foods

and eliminating processed stuff
as much as possible.

[upbeat music]

So, Griff and I met freshman
year at Stanford, really right
before freshman year starts

at football camp, you know,
and you're sort of
wide-eyed freshmen.

We decided to room
together for the next
three years at Stanford.

Griff had a terrible body
when we first met as freshmen.

He's gonna get mad at me for
saying this, but he had a--
Really it was terrible,

he had like a potbelly,
it was really funny.

But he definitely
didn't look like that
like he does now, way back then.

Originally
I turned to a plant-based
because I was looking for

every edge I could get,
everywhere I could be

a better athlete
and a better football player.

And I worried,
and how's he gonna get enough
protein, is he gonna--

How's he gonna survive,
he's gonna fizz out after,

you know, three days
of practice in a row.

And as a friend, you obviously
want him to be able

to do the best that he can do.

I, I probably was a bit
surprised by how, how well

the diet seemed
to affect his body.

He's always the most
in-shape guy, you know, if he'd
go forever run routes all day.

He's known on the team for
being one of the fittest guys.

It's worked for him.

After having him explain things,
you get it and you get why.

[panting]

[Griff] It's always been
my dream to play football.

But my whole football career,
I've been the underdog.

I've either been too short
or too small or too slow.

When I became vegan,
in a lot of people's minds

it only made me
a bigger underdog

and put me at a bigger
disadvantage.

Like how the hell am I gonna
compete at the highest level

if I'm not eating meat,
eggs or dairy.

But where people thought
I would fall behind

I actually took
huge strides forward.

[calm guitar music]

When I transitioned
to my plant-based diet,

I noticed a ton of benefits,
both immediate and long-term.

Immediately I felt
faster, lighter,

and just more energetic
all the time.

And then over time,
I noticed less soreness

and arthritis
in my knees and ankles

and also I just got stronger,
I felt like I could go all day.

Eating a plant-base diet has
changed my life in a big way.

I've become very passionate
about health and nutrition.

Just constantly reading,
learning as much as I can.

I love talking to people
about their views on it,

and I don't necessarily push
my views on anybody.

But just love
having conversations about
the things that I've learned.

[Santino] Griff proves what
I never thought
could be possible.

He uses a vegan
diet to perform in his top

in one of the most
physical sports on the planet.

Now it's time for me to meet up with a familiar face.

[sportscaster] Ended up here
now. Donavan on the ball,
lets it across to Husidic!

Preposterous, Husidic!

Another for the Galaxy.

And yet another assist
for Landon Donovan.

My name is Baggio Husidic.

I'm a midfielder
for the L.A. Galaxy

and I'm a professional soccer
player in Major League Soccer.

When he got there,
uh, it was great.

He was an instant,

uh, improvement to our
team in a lot of areas

and also just another good guy
that people liked to be around
in the locker room.

And I think he had
a fantastic first year.

I think when you
win a championship
with, uh, with a team,

that's always a success and,
and he was a big part
of what we did.

So it was great to have him.

My diet is
whole food plant-based.

I've been doing it
for-- for a while now

and I've seen a significant
difference in my performance
and my whole lifestyle.

I've been playing
now for the L.A. Galaxy
a year, almost two years.

And I can say that I covered
the most distance on the team,

I recovered faster
than almost all the players.

It's crazy to say this,
but I still think that
sports are pretty far behind

as far as diet goes
and nutrition and these things.

There's still a lot of people
who after training

go to McDonald's
or go get fast food and--

and think that that's an okay
way to treat your body
as a professional.

What I tell people all
the time is that if you
own a Lamborghini,

you wouldn't put
87 octane fuel in it,

you'd put 91 or you'd
put even better if you can.

And that's what we are.
We are-- we are highly tuned,

finely tuned athletes and you
have to treat yourself that way.

So when I first realized

that Baggio was vegan
and-- and only plant-based,

um, I thought it was great.

And when you have examples
like Baggio who are successful,

I think that's
good for everybody.

[sportscaster] ...the side of
the area, plays it through the
6, Husidic, Scores!

[crowd cheering]

[sportscaster] ...away. They're
showing the beauty.

What a goal from Baggio Husidic.

Lift off for L.A.!

I was always a very
fit soccer player.

But for some reasons, 75th,
80th minute I used to get
cramps in my calves

and I couldn't figure out what
the reason. I always thought
it was because of dehydration.

And then the next year I went
to a fully plant-based, no meat
or dairy at all,

and my cramps
completely went away.

Eventually I started digging
further into it and exploring

and I stumbled upon this video
of a, of a grandfather

who said something
that really touched my heart.

He says something
in the words of,

"When I got older,
I didn't wanna--
I didn't want my grandchildren

to come to my house and watch me
sleep in my bed or walk around
on a crane.

I wanted to be able to jog
around and play with my kids."

And that's,
that's who I wanna be.

I don't wanna be, er,
old, weak person.

I wanna be a vibrant,
healthy old person.

You!

Peek-a-boo!

You want some milk?

I've known Santino since
high school. He was
a football player,

bold, pretty mean-looking,
very Italian dude.

At that time in my life
I had no idea about nutrition

and what was good
and what was bad.

We started working out with
Santino, my brother and I,

and that was
the first time, first time

I realized the importance
of nutrition.

Because of him,
my thought about food

and what you put in your body
slowly started to change.

It wasn't radical,
it wasn't quick or anything,

but that was the, the moment
I realized what I put in
is what I get out.

That was the, the start of
me becoming ultimately
a plant-based athlete.

Eating a plant-based diet,
I believe, it's the optimum way
to, to eat.

I feel great now and I wanna
continue to feel great
when I'm older.

And I wanna be able to be happy.

And I think
ultimately happiness comes
with being a healthy person.

[Santino] From one pitch
to another,

I'm headed to speak
with Toni Pressley

about her recent
switch to a vegan diet.

[upbeat music]

My name is Toni Pressley,
and I'm a professional soccer
player for the Orlando Pride.

I decided to switch to a vegan
diet because last season didn't
go as planned.

Uh, I gained weight.

I was struggling with my
performance and my confidence.

So in the offseason, I really
buckled down with my fitness.

I buckled down
with my nutrition.

Seeing Toni's transition to
a vegan diet is actually
very positive.

I feel like she took
the proper steps

and not just cut cold turkey
from her previous diet,

and I think she's talked
to the right professionals
about it.

Um, because I think that's very
important to really understand
the transition,

especially being an athlete.
I feel like you need to feel--

fuel your body
with the proper nutrients

and, uh, nutrition to be able
to perform at your best.

So I think that her sitting down
with our nutritionist here,
and, uh, professionals

really helped her on
that positive path.
I see her happier.

Um, I obviously
see her healthier.

And then as a player,
she's performing really well.

The main change that I saw
my body was the loss of weight.

Um, losing 20 pounds
was huge for me

because I was able to move
around the field and feel
better on the field,

get my fitness where it needed
to be in order to perform
at a higher level.

I'm sticking with it.
And I've seen that, you know,

I can thrive at a high
level with this diet.

[upbeat electronic music]

Tony transitioned to a vegan
diet I would say
a year before me

so I got to see kind of
her experience and how
she was feeling

through it and just--
I feel like the confidence in
her performance

just continues to elevate just
her level on the field,

continued to improve throughout
that year and I was like,

"Wow, maybe I could do
something like this as well".

And so I think she was just
a massive help for me

because I was able
to kind of see that

right in front of my eyes
and see someone just crush it
on the field.

And realize that, you know,
"Maybe I could
do the same thing,

and maybe I can cut animals
completely out of my diet

and still perform
at the highest level."

I decided to transition
to a vegan diet mostly

because of the fact
that I have a pet dog, Blue,

who I absolutely love
and I just had this sort
of guilt that I felt like

the animals I was eating were
similar to... [chuckles]

to Blue, so in that way I was
just like, you know, I feel like
I just wanna cut this out.

So I started slow at vegetarian
and then I went vegan.

And I feel amazing on it
and I just feel a lot more free.

The biggest thing I didn't wanna
see is just a drop in my energy,

and I haven't seen that.
If anything I felt like
I've had more energy

because of it and I feel like
I've also seen a very positive
effect on the field as well.

[crowd cheering & shouting]

[Alex] So when I initially went
vegetarian, I was trying

to cut out diaries and eggs
as well throughout my diet,
but Tony was a huge help,

and I think just kind of
watching her

and learning a little bit
along the way, helped.

So when I went to that vegan
diet and Tony started doing
these prepared meals

I was completely onboard,
I wanted immediately to, uh,

have her create these meals for
me to see what she was cooking.

So I kind of learn
how to cook vegan as well,

because I felt like--
Before my meals always

were meat and then
the sides around it.

I didn't know how to
cook without meat in it.

So it was very new
to me but, uh,

Tony was just
the support system I needed.

[upbeat electronic music]

[Tony] As an elite athlete,
nutrition can make or break you.

It can control your performance.
It can control your recovery.

It can prevent injuries.
It can help you with your sleep.

And, you know,
it's something that
I personally have invested in,

and I've seen dramatic results.

[crowd shouting and cheering]

[Santino] One of the things
I love about running is
that it's accessible.

You could put on your shoes,
find a track, hit the sidewalk
through the streets

and go for a long
run and really be free.

For me, running
is parallel to veganism.

It makes me feel healthy,
happy and really alive.

[Santino] I haven't done
intense training like this
in almost ten years.

I personally am not planning on reviving my athletic career.

But can a plant-based
diet help stage a comeback?

[sportscaster] Wearing
the blue, also representing
[indistinct]

please welcome Chris Campbell.

My name is
Christopher Lundy Campbell,
and I competed in the sport of

freestyle wrestling
in the college wrestling team.

He was one of those guys
when you turn the lights on,
he was just that much better.

And if you analyze it, he lived
a pretty good lifestyle.

[Chris] When I decided
that I really wanted to be
the best of the world,

I started looking at what diets
would work best to germinate
my body.

And that's how I came
to become a vegetarian.

[crowd shouting]

[commentator] And Chris Campbell of the United States gets the first point--

[Dan] He was a smart guy,

and he already was
ahead of a lot of people

just in understanding of what
it takes to live a long life

and what it takes to be really
good and to get your body

to be, uh, working
the right way.

[sportscaster] This should
be an interesting match-up,

Campbell, a reigning world
champion making a comeback--

So I've taken off about four
years, four, five years
when I came back.

Now, most people who come back
can't do it after about four
or five years.

Wrestling is really hard.
But I really think

a vegetarian diet was
really the key to it.

[sportscaster] This time he's impressed with how his body has held together 36 years old.

There he gets it on
his favorite technique--

I hadn't developed the problems
that usually people get

after they don't compete
for a while. That wasn't there.

My body was limber because I was
doing yoga and I was
still training.

But more importantly,
I don't think it was
clogged up with all the meat.

I think I was second
in the nation, my first year.

And then the-- after that,
I won the nationals, I think,
for two years,

after that before the Olympic,
the Olympic Games in '92.

-[reporter 1] And you can
see the way--
-[reporter 2] Oh, boy,

Campbell takes
but that's gonna do it.

So the match ends with
a minute twenty-one to go.

[presenter] Will you please
welcome, ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Dan Campbell.

[Chris] Then I was
Olympic bronze medalist

and I'm the oldest American
to ever win Olympic medal
in the sport of wrestling.

And I do think that my diet
had a lot to do with it.

[Santino] All of these
athletes fuel their careers
with plant-based diets

to achieve ultimate health
and performance.

But what about
more pressing circumstances?

[Santino] I'm with Rich Roll.

Rich is an ultra-endurance
athlete perhaps best known

for completing five Ironman
distance triathlons on five
islands of Hawaii in a week.

I am plant-powered
and by that I mean I eat

a whole food plant-based diet,
100 percent plant-based.

The main reason that I started
exploring dietary habits was due
to a health crisis.

I was 39 years old
and at the time I was
your typical overworked,

overstressed, uh,
guy working 80-hour weeks in a,

in a corporate law firm.
I was 55 pounds overweight.

And everything kind of came to
a head when I had
been working late

and came home, my family was
asleep and I was doing
my favorite thing.

After finishing my beloved
bag of cheeseburgers,

I decided it was
time to go to sleep

and I was making my way up
this staircase right behind us.

I had to pause halfway up
a simple flight of stairs.

I honestly thought that I was
on the precipice of having
a heart attack.

I realized that I was gonna
have to make some, not only
significant changes

but very specific changes.

I mean the weight just came
right off. The 50 pounds gone,
I had so much energy,

I resumed the fitness program,
just a casual one

and just
reconnecting with my body
and loving how that felt.

[calm guitar music]

The endurance community really
seems like the first
athletic community

to jump on board the idea of
eating a plant-based diet
for performance.

There is a very,
very strong focus,

maybe more so than
there has been traditionally

in other sports on recovery.

How can I expedite recovery
in between workouts?

[Santino] Eating a plant-based diet may indeed improve recovery for athletic performance.

The fuel that our body runs on
is called ATP,
or adenosine triphosphate.

ATP is made by our
mitochondria and our cells.

When you eat foods like beets,
dark leafy greens
or tart cherries,

you can improve the efficiency
of your mitochondria,

making more ATP, more fuel
to help your muscles recover.

[Garth] So what's going on,
what's making these people feel
so fantastic?

It's the anti-inflammatory
effect of it. So there's several
reasons for this.

One of them is you're not eating
the inflammation anymore,
obviously.

The other thing though is
you're also eating a lot
of antioxidants,

a lot of phytonutrients, you're
getting all your vitamins
and nutrition.

You're getting fiber
that's cleaning out your body.

Uh, and, people talk about how,
just how light they feel
on a plant-based diet.

And for athletes,
trying to get away from
inflammation is crucial

because the workouts they're
doing create inflammation.

And so if you're
eating a plant-based diet

and you're taking away
that inflammation,
you recover quicker,

you could do more work at your
next workout and work out
more often.

[Santino] It's clear that
plant-based eating is good for health and athletic performance.

I can attest to this for I feel my endurance is improving

and my recovery time is
accelerating as I train
for my marathon.

But what about the health
of the natural environment?

How does diet impact the natural resources that sustain us all?

[calm guitar music]

Although I became
vegan for health issues,

once I learned more
about the vegan diet,

I was moved by the profound
impact human dietary choices
have on the planet.

This knowledge in part, led me
to finish my bachelor's degree
at Arizona State University

in sustainability and pursuing my master's at NYU in environmental conservation.

I love the natural environment
much in the way I love running

for the simplicity
and freedom it provides.

To discuss how food
choices affect the planet,

I'm on my way to visit
with fellow environmentalist

and professional surfer
Anna Ehrgott.

[calm guitar music]

[Anna]
Being a surfer and spending
so much time in the water

has given me a connection
to the natural world that I
otherwise wouldn't really have.

And getting to see
all the elements align

in a way that's so beautiful
and so orchestrated

really shows me like how small
we are in comparison to all that
and how powerful that world is.

Come here.

I went vegetarian
when I was six years old.

I was in second grade and I just
kind of hit me what I was doing

that I was eating these
animals that I had made
a connection with,

and it just didn't feel right.
Like I didn't feel comfortable
killing a cow,

so it didn't seem any better
to be paying somebody else
to do it for me.

As I got older,
I started looking into
the environmental concerns

regarding animal
agriculture and just realizing

what an impact that's
making on our waterways,

on our ocean, on deforestation

and realizing how big of
an impact our small choices

with what each person is
eating has on the environment.

[calm guitar music]

[Anna] All the wastes from
these factory farms
is ultimately draining

into the water systems going
downstream and running into
the ocean.

And it's a huge
pollutant for surfers, for fish,

for up to the food chain
to dolphins and sharks.

All of these fertilizers are
kind of waste from cows
and pigs and everything

like that are causing algal
blooms which take oxygen out
of the water

and make it so surfers
can't be out there.

I wanted to see from a personal
level of what I could do
to stop this,

and ultimately it's my food
choices that I felt I could
make the biggest difference.

Just cutting out animal products
and eating close to the land,

eating locally has been,
I think, the biggest factor

in eliminating those algal
blooms and all the pollution
running into the ocean.

I think there's
so much degradation
in the environment right now

that we just don't
have enough time left

to think everything is
these separate entities.

We have to realize
that everything we eat,
all our daily choices,

plastic use,
all our disposable products,

every bit of clothing we buy,
all the chemicals we are using,

it's all interconnected.

You know, like they say,
reduce, reuse, recycle.

But I also think we need to like
add another one of just refusal

of not buying disposable
products, of not buying
animal products

because we don't need them.

[calm guitar music]

[Anna] Food can either be
our medicine or it's gonna be
ultimately what makes us ill.

And the funny thing about that
is what's good for us is also
good for the environment.

So that's organic, local and
cutting down on meat products.

[Santino] After visiting with
Anna, I'm making my last stop.

I figured
what better way to talk
about diet and the environment

and to train for a marathon than to meet up with ultra-marathon
legend Scott Jurek.

[Christopher] Scott Jurek was
this giant looming shadow

over the entire world
of ultra-running.

This is a guy who shows up

at the premier event,
The Western States 100.

This is the Super
Bowl of ultra-running.

Shows up as a young guy,
not only wins it,

but then comes back year after
year after year, seven years
in a row,

he consecutively
wins this premier event.

How you can go through
a 100-mile race
every single year,

show up on game day,
ready to go strong and healthy,

not sprain an ankle,
not have an upset stomach,
not have a bad headache

against the entire population
out to get you, is amazing.

[upbeat guitar music]

[heavy breathing]

[water slapping and splashing]

[panting]

[wind blowing]

[sizzling food]

When I first became plant-based,
I was really scared about like
chronic disease.

My mother had
multiple sclerosis.

I was working
in hospitals seeing...

people's lives
destroyed by disease.

And I thought to myself,

even somebody who's young
and healthy and an athlete,

I wanted to change
the course of that.

See, I came from a, I thought,
well-educated sports background.

I thought I knew a lot
about sports performance.

But one thing I did
not understand was nutrition.

And this is something that
Scott really opened my eyes to.

I thought he was
kind of a weird outlier.

I thought, "Okay, this is
more like a hobby,

and he's getting away with it,
you know, more like it wasn't
helping him,

but luckily it wasn't
hurting him too bad."

[Santino] If there's
any remaining doubt

as to whether an athlete
can succeed

on a plant-based diet,

look no further
than Scott Jurek.

In the summer of 2015, Scott became the fastest person

to finish the supported through
hike of the Appalachian Trail.

He averaged nearly 50 miles
a day, crossed 14 states

and traversed over 500,000
feet of elevation change.

[Scott] The Appalachian Trail is
one of the longest, toughest
trails out there.

People take five to six months
to hike the whole entire trail.

It's, you know,
2,100 miles of just really
badass, you know, rocky terrain.

So for me, I really wanted
to throw myself into that,

and really test, you know,
my limits and just put
myself on the edge.

And that's what I think I've
tried to do as an athlete is
to find that strength

when I least thought I had it
and just dig a little
bit deeper.

When I was approaching
the summit of Mount Katahdin,

it was really almost like
flashbacks of all kinds of
different aspects of my life,

you know, all the difficulties
I've been through.

You know, I thought about
my mom constantly when I was
on the trail,

when I didn't think I was gonna
continue, that I didn't think
I could make it.

It wasn't just breaking
the record, it was getting
to the end

of that trail because life
is a lot like that.

It's about getting to the end
and just putting your best
effort forward always.

And then as an athlete who
spends a lot of time
in the wilderness,

who, you know,
traverses mountain ranges

and, you know, spends
a lot of time in the woods,

for me, that environmental
component seemed to make
more and more sense.

You know, if I want
to enjoy these wild places

and continue to see them
in the way that they are

as well as passed them on
to generations down the line,

I wanted to make sure
that I left the world
in a better place.

And diet just again, you know,
seemed to point in that
direction of less impact.

How can I live as low
as possible to the ground

and make my impact
less and less?

To produce animal foods,
you need vast resources.

So we have water that is being
used. We have aquifers that are
being drained,

we have rivers that
don't reach the ocean anymore.

Rainforests being cut down
to create more pasture land
and more cropland

to feed more animals,
more corn and soy.

So we are squandering
scarce resources.

We are polluting
precious resources.

We are potentially impacting
our own ability to survive
on this planet.

[Santino] To put in
perspective the resources
utilized to raise

animals for food, consider
the following statistics.

It takes roughly 520 gallons of water and 4.2 pounds of grain

to yield one pound
of chicken meat.

It takes roughly
1,849 gallons of water

and 32 pounds of grain
to yield one pound of beef.

It takes roughly 720 gallons of water and 11 pounds of grain

to yield one pound of pork.

These numbers reveal
the resources required
for only one pound of meat

for three kinds of animals
raised on factory farms.

The implications of this data
exponentially increase
when considering that.

Over 9.2 billion animals were
slaughtered in the US alone
in 2015.

Mass amounts of animals produce mass amounts of toxic waste.

This waste is pulled into open air pits known as lagoons.

Some lagoons are
larger than seven acres

and contain as much as 20 to 40 million gallons of urine
and manure.

[water running]

[Santino] Lagoons
contaminate drinking water

and pollute the air with gases
containing harmful chemicals.

Animal agriculture also plays
a significant role in global
climate change,

yielding some of the highest
amounts of the most potent
greenhouse gases:

Carbon dioxide,
methane and nitrous oxide.

The United Nations talked
about how animal agriculture

contributes more to climate
change than the entire
transportation industry.

So it's really good the people
are changing

the way they drive
or they're changing

their lightbulbs
or doing various things.

But the single more important
thing we can do is to shift

the way we eat. And eat
plants instead of animals.

[Santino] Like me, Scott Jurek
became vegan to protect
his health.

But then I understood the
greater consequences of diet.

It makes sense because Scott has a direct connection

to the land,
by nature of his sport.

By getting on the ground level
and running within these
humbling natural landscapes,

I now realize that being vegan
was not just a different
food choice,

It was key in cultivating
my connection to
the natural environment

that has shaped the life
that I lead today.

[traffic sounds]

[clock ticking]

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

[announcer] If you are
post-race poncho runner

and have a lime green label
on your race number...

[tense music]

[heartbeats]

[announcer] Welcome to New York!

There is no better reason
to celebrate this great city

than running the TCS
New York City Marathon.

On your mark!

[gunshot]

[crowd shouting]

[upbeat cheerful music]

[Santino] I'm at mile eight
in the New York City Marathon.

At this point,
I think I'm Scott Jurek.

Sixteen miles later, I am
definitely not Scott Jurek.

[upbeat cheerful music]

[indistinct announcements
on megaphone]

[people cheering]

[Santino] Hey, that was probably
one of the hardest things
I've ever done.

I'm so happy I finished.
I mean it's, uh,

New York City, it's the biggest
party of the year here, so...

Being in New York for the past
several years I've
witnessed this

and just now being a part of it,
it's, it's an incredible
experience.

[Santino] I wanted to push my physical limits on a vegan diet.

After running this marathon,
I can honestly say

that I recovered faster
and have more energy

-than when I ate meat.
-[woman] Awesome.

[Santino] This journey has
allowed me to learn from some
incredible people.

They've shown me how to be
compassionate, healthy

and environmentally conscious.

You're good?

You see that?

[inaudible]

[Santino] As I run down my dreams and toward my future,

I take with me the knowledge
that the simple choice
of what food I eat

has the greatest impact.

[upbeat music]