Arnold Schwarzenegger was a successful bodybuilder before kick-starting his acting career, and this significantly impacted his diet. The famous actor changed his diet in the last few years and adopted a healthier approach to food, but does that make him vegan?
No, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not vegan, since a vegan diet eliminates all animal products. Former California Governor, however, avoids meat and dairy, but still consumes eggs, which makes him vegetarian.
Keep on reading if you want to find out why Schwarzenegger turned his back on meat, and decided to adopt a mostly plant-based diet.
Changing His Diet
During his bodybuilding heyday, Schwarzenegger’s diet mostly consisted of tuna, meat, and chicken, and he would eat 10 to 15 eggs a day to build muscle mass. He told Men’s Health he wasn’t health-conscious back then because “you get away with a lot of things” when you’re young, but something had to change once he started approaching his 70s.
When he discussed switching his diet in 2017, Schwarzenegger explained he’s trying to eat less meat. He still kept on consuming fish and chicken once or twice a week, because he felt it’s too challenging to stop eating meat at once. This strategy worked, and the actor said that he’s “99% vegan” in 2019, revealing that eggs are the only animal product he still consumes.
Schwarzenegger didn’t opt for a mostly vegan diet only because it was a healthier option. He also became more aware of the impact that meat consumption had on the environment, after years of being an outspoken supporter of taking a firmer action towards fighting climate change.
What Does Schwarzenegger Eat?
Meat is no longer one of the items on the actor’s daily menu, and neither is dairy. He prefers drinking almond milk, but eggs are still one of the rare animal-products he hasn’t given up on. He demonstrated his go-to smoothie recipe during an appearance on the Men’s Health “Gym & Fridge”, and revealed he uses the whole egg – shell and all – because it contains extra calcium.
Other than that, his fridge is usually filled with fruits and veggies, including lettuce, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, bananas, and watermelon. He still uses supplements, but doesn’t fully rely on them, because it’s more important to have “natural food” such as greens, fruits, and “really good proteins” in your diet. The action star is also giving plant-based Beyond Meat a shot, in an attempt to fully eliminate animal products from his diet.
“I stay away more from the meats and more from animal products, and animal proteins, because there was this misconception that that’s the only way you get big and strong, so now I back off that and I feel much better,” Schwarzenegger told Men’s Health.
The Game Changers
Back in 2018, Schwarzenegger took part in the Netflix documentary called The Game Changers. He was in charge or executive producing this project alongside several famous athletes who follow plant-based diets, including Lewis Hamilton and Novak Djokovic.
The Game Changers followed former UFC fighter James Wilks as he discussed advantages of plant-based diets and the misconceptions about meat consumption with several elite athletes. Its main goal was to dispel the myths about athletes requiring animal products to thrive.
The Terminator star proved to be a perfect person to discuss this subject matter with, because he used to eat five massive meals a day during his bodybuilding days before switching to a mostly vegan diet later in life.
“There’s no one that can relate to it better than I do because I’ve lived in that world, ‘Steak is for men’… This is great, great marketing for the meat industry, selling the idea that real men eat meat. But you’ve got to understand, it’s marketing. It’s not based on reality,” explained Schwarzenegger in the documentary.