Boxing star Mike Tyson is in the ‘best shape of his life' after he adopted a plant-based diet which gave him 'another opportunity to live a healthy life'
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Former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has spoken out about the benefits of going vegan after adopting a plant-based diet a decade ago transformed his health.
The 53-year-old boxing star said that ‘Becoming a vegan gave me another opportunity to live a healthy life’ after his weight soared to 378 lbs after living on a diet of steaks, alcohol and drugs after quitting professional sports.
Tyson was inspired to make drastic changes to his lifestyle to improve his health after he diagnosed as clinically obese in 2009. The diagnoses marked a turning point in his life and the former athlete worked hard to get back in shape by ditching meat and drugs and adopting a healthier lifestyle.
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Speaking about his transformation, he said: “I was so congested from all the drugs and bad cocaine, I could hardly breathe.
“I had high blood pressure, was almost dying and had arthritis. Turning vegan helped me eliminate all those problems in my life.”
Singing the praises for the health benefits he has seen since adopting a plant-based diet in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2013, Tyson said: “Well my life is different today because I have stability in my life. I’m not on drugs.
“I’m not out on the streets or in clubs and everything in my life that I do now is structured around the development of my life and my family.
“I lost weight. I dropped over 100lbs and I just felt like changing my life, doing something different and I became a vegan.
“Becoming a vegan gave me another opportunity to live a healthy life. I was so congested from all the drugs and bad cocaine, I could hardly breathe. High blood pressure, almost dying, arthritis and once I became a vegan all that stuff diminished.”
The long-term vegan is not just passionate about the health benefits of wholefood vegan diet as he has also spoken out about the morality of eating animals.
In an interview with GQ Sports in 2019 he said: “I don’t eat anything that has a mother and father.
“If you were created through a mother and father, through any kind of intercourse, I won’t eat you. So that means I only eat vegetables and stuff.”
Meet the vegan athletes whose sporting success is fulled by a vegan diet here.
Featured image credit: @miketyson/Instagram
