Introduction: Becoming a Badass Vegan
When most people meet me, “vegan” isn’t the first word that comes to mind. I’m six- foot- six, African American, 240 pounds, and have the build of a guy who played Division I college basketball. Not too bad for a forty- four- year- old who hasn’t had any animal protein in fifteen years.
People are also surprised that I’m . . . how should I put it . . . normal? Cool? But I’m just a guy living my life, enjoying my life; I just so happen to sometimes hang with other plant- based folks who just so happen to play for the NBA or make chart- topping hip- hop records, and we talk about how powerful eating plants can be on a physical, social, and environmental level. Again, not exactly what people picture when they think about a bunch of vegans. But I’m used to it— I’ve been surprising people since I gave up meat in grad school and started spreading the word about the benefits, busting stereotypes, and telling it like it is with a healthy side of sarcasm and lan-guage your mama probably wouldn’t approve of. It’s what has earned me the title “Badass Vegan.”
What’s driven me to get the word out to others is that I want to show people— the committed, the curious, the skeptical, all of them— that I’m not part of some special class of people who were born with the superpower to have great stamina, endurance, strength, concentration, mood balance, clarity, and good- looking hair and skin. There’s nothing exceptional in my DNA. I was born to a drug- addicted mother and raised by my grandmother, who I now call Mom; I grew up overweight (I was pushing 315 pounds by the time I was thirteen); and I come from the hood, surrounded by the vio-lence of Ferguson, Missouri. But when my IBS got so bad that I (and my grad school roommate) decided I had to do something about it, I followed the advice of a campus doctor who was clearly ahead of his time and ini-tially gave up meat as part of a thirty- day experiment. By day fifteen, I was getting better, and I was sold. Shortly after that, my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer, and I asked the doctor how this could have happened. His answer? It was animal foods, not genetics. I realized that even though I wasn’t eating meat per se, so long as I ate things like cheese, eggs, and butter, I was still eating the kinds of animal proteins that would set me up for chronic disease. I gave them all up that day, and I have never looked back. It has made my health better, my ball game better, my entire life better. And the food cravings? They weren’t nearly as bad as all the folks saying I was gonna die if I gave up meat.
As I like to think of it: I am the ordinary guy here to tell you that the extraordinary can be done. You can change your life and leave behind heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diges-tive issues, joint pain, and all the other health ailments that bring you down every single day. You can have the energy and strength to do the things that you love, and the things that you never thought were possible. You can feel like you’re riding an emotional high all day, every day. You can have the body, hair, and skin that you’ve always wanted. And while you’re at it, you can give a big Fuck You to the system that keeps you fat, sick, and tired while draining your bank account and making this planet an increasingly dangerous place to live. If that’s not badass, I don’t know what is.
But nobody’s gonna do it for you. Nobody’s coming to do the work while you sit back and wait for your life to change. You have to make the decision; you have to put in the time. But what if you could also make that work easier? What if you could finally have the plan you’ve been waiting for? That’s why I am writing Badass Vegan. This book is for anybody who wants to explore a plant- based lifestyle but doesn’t want to lose their cool. You don’t have to shop in fancy grocery stores. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on food. You don’t have to buy expensive appliances. You don’t have to give up being an athlete. And you definitely, definitely don’t have to give up good food. Though, you do have to admit that you may have been sleepin’ on some of this shit. And that’s okay— it’s not like I’ve been a vegan my whole life either. Nobody’s perfect.
I’m going to break down how exactly you can find the kind of success I have. (I’ll give you a hint: Going plant- based is a lot like starting a new relationship— you gotta keep things exciting and a little sexy.) But first, let’s make one thing clear: Being healthy is a right, not a hobby. And especially now, we have to fight for that right. Almost half of all Americans have some form of heart disease. Seventy percent are overweight, and by 2050, one in three of us will have diabetes. And in places like Ferguson and the many, many other Fergusons that exist around the country, it’s even worse. Black women are 60 percent more likely to die of heart disease than white women. One out of every three Black Americans living with type 2 diabetes ends up needing an amputation. And when it comes to cancer, we have the highest death rate and lowest survival rate of any racial or ethnic group. We’ve all had that uncle/aunt/cousin/brother/sister who passed away in their forties, and it wasn’t from a bullet or a car accident. People hate to admit it, but diet is killing Black people faster than any gun. We’ve got enough outside forces coming at us; let’s not help ’em out.
Regardless of whether you’re a person of color, take a step back and look at almost any hospital in the world. Want to know what they’re not filled with? Vegans. No one’s OD’ing on plants. Nah— these folks are living lon-ger, reversing their heart disease and diabetes, lowering their cholesterol, avoiding Alzheimer’s and dementia, getting less cancer, having fewer strokes, having less pain, and needing fewer surgeries, not to mention having more energy, losing unhealthy weight, gaining muscle, and yeah, having a better sex drive. I always say, “If it involves fresh juice, orgasms, and avocados, I’m probably down.”
What about you? Thought so.
Copyright © 2023 by John Lewis. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
