Veganism has been a controversial lifestyle. It is based on only a plant-based diet and is often magnified as too low protein and unhealthy diet that many non-vegans tend to use as an excuse to stay away from this ethical lifestyle.
Torre Washington, the bodybuilder from Chile, has been slashing away these baseless excuses since 1998 and maintains a spectacular physique without eating eggs, meat and dairy.
In an interview with Washington, he says- “I don’t like to use the word diet. I am not here to die. I am here to thrive; it’s a lifestyle.”
He moved from the US to Jamaica for a few years, and then again, he moved back to the US. He has been raised as a vegetarian by his mother since childhood. He transitioned to fully plant-based when he became a Rastafarian.
He hasn’t seen back; nearly a decade later, he launched himself as a professional bodybuilder and a fitness model.
Torre says that the key to his success is really simple- he likes to maintain a flexible and straightforward eating plan. His eating plan has variety and doesn’t cut out sweet treats and enough rest to keep the body in top shape.
Torre said he always has been crazy about lifting weights, but he finally leaped bodybuilding in 2009. He says, “Some people didn’t believe in me when I started off by being a vegan, but by my second show, I went pro.”
His inspiration comes from a fascination with childhood memories with superheroes. He has been a fan of outrageously muscled heroic characters like Wolverine and Superman.
When he found his motivational figure, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a legend in bodybuilding who seemed like a real-life superhero.
He started his training while he was working as a corporate engineer after he got some pep talk from his bodybuilder friend. He says, “I thought I looked great until I met him, He was on the stage looking bigger than life, and that was what I wanted.”
However, his journey as a vegan has been quite a roller coaster bodybuilding comes with an extensive and aggressively masculine culture, and veganism is perceived to offer low protein, and he claims that he hadn’t felt more pressurized by peers to eat meat.
Washington says, “They have seen me look the look I say, and I kick their butts on stage. I have had some members from the jury, and they like me try eating meat to get bigger, but I refused politely by saying I am not interested, and I am doing just fine by putting on muscle.”
There has been a contrary popular belief that vegans don’t have many protein sources to choose from, but Toree’s diet includes tofu, pea, rice, beans, oatmeal, and lentils. He also eats a lot of Japanese sweet potato, fruit smoothies, and fresh greens.
To everyone’s surprise, he doesn’t keep a strict eating plan, and during his initial bodybuilding career, he barely used to count his macronutrients and calories. He only did so when he needed to cut out weight quickly.
“During the 90s considering social situations such as restaurants, it was difficult to be vegan. It was a little cultish for people to get into,” says Torre.
With all the vegan options available, it has become simple for people to choose from plant-based options and transitive in veganism without hurting animals.
To newbies, he says, “Jump in. Take your time as everyone has their journey, and it’s your journey.”
