Panera Bread is a popular chain restaurant offering soups, salads, sandwiches, pasta, and pastries.

However, if youre on the very low carb, high fat keto diet, you may wonder whether you can safely eat at Panera.

While most menu items are too carb-heavy as is, you can customize several dishes to fit the diet. The following options contain up to 12 grams of net carbs per item and can be worked into a carefully planned keto diet.

Panera Bread also has a robust nutrition calculator built into the menu on their website, but the calculator doesnt allow you to remove bread from sandwiches. Thus, you may need to do your own math to estimate the carb count of other menu items without bread (1).

Here are 10 of the best keto options at Panera Bread.

At Panera Bread, breakfast sandwiches are typically served on a bagel or in a wrap, but its simple enough to skip the bread.

This light breakfast is perfectly keto-friendly when you remove the bread and tomatoes. In fact, to make it even more filling, you can opt for a regular egg instead of egg whites.

Order: the Avocado, Egg White, & Spinach, with no tomatoes and no bagel

Heres the approximate nutrient breakdown:

This hearty breakfast option is full of fat and protein to keep you full. All you need to do to make it keto is remove the ciabatta bread.

Order: the Sausage, Scrambled Egg, & Cheese, with no bread

Heres the nutrient content of this item:

This wrap without the tortilla, of course makes a great keto-friendly breakfast with a bit of a kick from Peppadew peppers and chipotle aioli.

Order: the Chipotle Chicken, Scrambled Egg, & Avocado wrap, with no tortilla

Heres the approximate nutrient breakdown:

Many Panera sandwiches are keto-friendly if you remove the bread, but you also need to be wary of certain sauces, such as barbecue sauce, and high carb veggies like tomatoes and onions.

Furthermore, you can ask your local Panera Bread whether they can turn the sandwich into a lettuce wrap, which will make your breadless sandwich more portable and easier to eat.

When you remove the bread and tomatoes, this item is full of keto-friendly goodness turkey, bacon, avocado, greens, and mayo.

Order: the Roasted Turkey & Avocado BLT with no bread and no tomatoes

This BLT without the T contains:

This simple sandwich featuring ham, Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard, and greens makes a great keto-friendly meal when the bread is removed.

Order: the Heritage Ham & Swiss with no bread

Heres the approximate nutrient breakdown:

The Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt features smoked, pulled chicken, Gouda cheese, avocado, cilantro, Peppadew peppers, and chipotle mayo for a spicy, Southwestern flavor.

Be sure to ask for this dish without the bread.

Order: the Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt, no bread

This item contains approximately:

Many salads at Panera Bread are surprisingly high in carbs due to the addition of croutons, tortilla strips, beans, corn, fruit, or other high carb toppings. Additionally, many of their salad dressings are loaded with sugar.

To reduce the carb count, order your dressing on the side and only use what you need.

Below are the three most keto-friendly salads, when customized.

When you leave out the croutons, the Caesar Salad is keto-friendly. Its made even more so with the addition of chicken for some extra protein.

Notably, the Caesar dressing itself is low in carbs.

Order: the Caesar Salad with chicken, without croutons dressing on the side

Heres the approximate nutrient content:

With just a few changes, the Greek Salad with Greek dressing is great for keto. Just remove the red onions and tomatoes, which are high in carbs, and add chicken for a protein boost.

Order: the Greek Salad with chicken no tomatoes, no onions, and dressing on the side

When customized as such, this item offers:

This Cobb salad is piled high with fresh salad greens, chicken, avocado, a hard-boiled egg, and bacon. Make sure to skip the tomatoes and pickled red onions, and sub in Caesar dressing for the typical Green Goddess dressing, which is carb-heavy.

Order: the Green Goddess Cobb Salad, no pickled red onions and no tomatoes, with Caesar dressing on the side (no Green Goddess dressing)

It contains:

Skip the famous bread bowls and stick to this one low carb option if you want keto-friendly soup at Panera Bread.

Unfortunately, the other soups even those that dont seem carb-heavy harbor 20 or more grams of net carbs per serving.

While relatively high in net carbs for the keto diet, this veggie soup is the only soup offering at Panera Bread thats remotely keto-friendly. Add cheese or avocado to boost the fat content and make this a more substantial meal.

Order: Ten Vegetable Soup in a regular bowl

Heres the nutrient breakdown:

Its easy to eat keto at Panera if you stick to sandwiches without bread.

If you choose a menu item thats not on this list, here are a few tips to minimize the carb count:

Supposedly, Panera Bread also has a secret menu featuring high protein, low carb bowls that can easily be made keto-friendly. However, theres no information regarding these items or their nutrient content on the Panera Bread website.

Additionally, the restaurants grab-and-go section may occasionally offer hard-boiled eggs, which are great for the keto diet.

To eat keto at Panera Bread, youll want to customize your order.

Many of their sandwiches are keto-friendly if you remove the bread, tomatoes, and onions. For salads, opt for Greek or Caesar dressing and skip the high carb condiments. Try to be more careful with soups, as only one soup item on their main menu is keto-friendly.

If youre looking for more keto-friendly options at this popular chain, be sure to check out the nutrition calculator on the companys website.

Excerpt from:
Keto at Panera: 10 Custom Options - Healthline

The internet is filled with blogs and articles offering advice for parents who are trying to coax children into eating greens. Anyone with kids can relate to stories of mealtimes becoming a succession of attritional confrontations, where you cycle through ineffectual strategies before accepting the reality of the situation and plead with your toddler to simply take one bite of broccoli. In the end, it doesnt matter how much gravy you pour on fish, or cheese you melt on cauliflower fussy toddlers know what youre up to.

If we could converse with animals, they would also relate to these stories, as many species have a seemingly irrational dislike of anything unfamiliar and are more likely to eat new food after watching other individuals try it. Fussy eating can be an important way of avoiding toxic food, as witnessing other individuals eat new foods might tell them that its safe.

Camille Troisi, University College Cork

But fascinatingly, fussy eating may also indicate the presence of teaching in animals. Despite 30 years of research on the topic, there are still few examples of teaching in other species, making it difficult to understand how such behaviour might have evolved. My colleagues and I recently conducted research in the Atlantic forest of Brazil that provides new evidence that some animals may effectively teach their young what foods are safe to eat.

There are plenty of examples of fussy eating among animals. Young marmoset monkeys are slow to eat new food when alone, but are more willing to take a risk and try it if they are surrounded by family. Similarly, capuchins eat more unfamiliar food when group members also do so.

There are instances where food handling is linked to teaching in animals. The way in which meerkats show their young how to safely handle scorpions for eating is one well-known illustration. At first, young pups are given dead scorpions to familiarise them with the dangerous insect. As the meerkats grow up, adults remove the sting from live scorpions so that the pups can learn how to deal with the prey. Then intact animals are gradually introduced.

As a behaviour, this meets the three criteria scientists use to identify teaching in animals. An individual changes its behaviour in the presence of an observer, at a cost or no benefit to themselves, and this change leads to learning in another individual. In the case of the meerkats, although an escaped scorpion might represent a lost lunch, the exercise leads to learning in the young observer.

This kind of research has helped challenge the long-held assumption that teaching is a uniquely human practice. But the overall dearth of evidence means there is still debate.

In particular, its not always clear that instances where animals learn to eat new foods because of other individuals around them really meet the criteria for teaching. For example, there is limited evidence that adult golden lion tamarin monkeys, which are known to have a varied diet that includes insects and fruits, might teach their young about diet by sharing and transferring food.

If such food transfers do have a teaching function, we would expect them to meet the three criteria I mentioned before. The tamarins would transfer more unfamiliar food than familiar food because this would create the opportunity for learning.

On two recent visits to Brazil, we studied this behaviour by introducing familiar and unfamiliar foods to wild groups of tamarins. Initially, we introduced these foods when young tamarins were dependent on their family, enabling us to look at how adult tamarins transferred food within their family group.

Six months later, when the young tamarins were independent, we returned to find that their food choices were influenced by their parents. The tamarins did not, as we had expected, transfer more unfamiliar food than familiar food. But they did transfer more food they had grown accustomed to than the food they had never tried.

Despite not clearly demonstrating teaching because it doesnt meet all the criteria, this evidence appears to show that adult tamarins assess new food first before passing it on to others. This is still significant for juveniles, as they learn about what to include in their diet from the food that they receive from adults.

It is possible that food transfers in golden lion tamarins serve several functions simultaneously, depending on the identity of the individual receiving the food, and the food type being transferred. Further research could look at how tamarins transfer insects to see if there is a general pattern.

We also need to investigate whether adult tamarin gain any benefit, such as decreased harassment or increased social bonds, by transferring food to their young. Such information would help us come closer to understanding whether some animals really can be taught to overcome their fussy eating.

Camille Troisi, Postdoctoral Researcher in Behavioural Ecology, University College Cork

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Animals are fussy eaters too and this could help parents teach their kids what is safe to eat - iNews

Pregnant women should avoid coffee, soda, and other caffeine-containing products for the safest pregnancy possible, according to a review of 48 existing studiespublished in the journal BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

Caffeine can cause a person's heart rate and blood pressure to spike, Insider previously reported, two conditions that can negatively impact a fetus during pregnancy.

For the review, researchers from Reykjavik University in Iceland looked at data from 37 observational studies that were published after 2000, plus 11 articles that reviewed previous studies on caffeine and pregnancy. Those 11 article were published after 1998.

After reviewing the existing findings, they determined any level of caffeine consumption can increase a pregnant woman's risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, and low birth weight.

These findings go against the official existing recommendations in the UK, US, and the European Commission, which all say pregnant women can consume a moderate amount of caffeine, about the equivalent of two cups of coffee, and still be safe.

The researchers said existing guidelines need "radical revision" in light of their findings.

After examining studies on caffeine consumption and miscarriage, nine in total, the researchers found that eight of those studies showed "significant associations," but not a direct link, between the amount of caffeine a pregnant woman consumed and her risk of experiencing a miscarriage.

One of those studies concluded caffeine-consuming pregnant women could be one-third more likely to experience miscarriage than those who don't consume any caffeine.

When it came to stillbirth, or losing a pregnancy after 2o weeks, four of the five studies the researchers examined found caffeine could increase stillbirth risk up to five times if a woman consumed a high level of caffeine.

Of the 10 low birth-weight and caffeine studies the researchers looked at, seven found a caffeine consumption increased low birth-weight risk.

The review's authors didn't look at any randomized controlled trials (the "gold standard" of scientific research), so their conclusions could be flawed.

They relied on observational studies, which can lead to skewed results if a study participant misreports information, or if lifestyle factors like smoking and diet also played a role in a pregnant women's birth outcomes.

Existing recommendations from various countries' health organizations say women can safely consume a moderate amount of caffeine during pregnancy.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggests consuming less than 200 mg, which is equal to two cups of coffee, daily if you're pregnant. NHS, the UK's national healthcare organization, has the same recommendation.

And the World Health Organization (WHO), a global organization that offers health recommendations for countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa, says pregnant women who typically have 300 mg of caffeine daily should lower their intake.

"When it comes to the baby, their metabolism is not yet as sophisticated as an adult's, so it is harder for them to metabolize the caffeine, which means that their sleep pattern could be disrupted and they could become restless," Dr. Isis Amer-Wahlin, obstetrics and gynecology consultant for midwife app Bonzun, previously told Insider.

Caffeine can come from sources other than coffee, like chocolate, soft drinks, and medications, health experts say pregnant women should be cognizant of what they eat and drink.

"When looked at together, the evidence doesn't suggest that caffeine should be eliminated entirely, but instead, that it should be limited to a moderate amount," Amer-Wahlin said. "If you are worried or feel that you would like further clarification on the subject, make sure to speak to your doctor."

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Study finds there's no safe amount of coffee for pregnant women - Insider - INSIDER

Now more than ever, athletes are reaching for lentils, edamame, and chickpeas instead of biting into steak dinner, to raise their strength, fitness, and overall performance levels. Here are twenty athletes who creditswitching to a vegan or plant-based diet with improving their fitness and results--through faster recovery time between workouts, quicker healing from injury, and being able tobuildleaner, strongermuscles. These superstars say that their dietshelped them get to where theyare today,such as preparing for Olympic Gold or becomingthe number one tennis player in the world.

These champion players report that eating a plant-based diet increasesenergy levels, provides more than enough clean protein to refuel and rebuild, reduces inflammation, and improves recovery time. Eating plant-based also helps them with mental clarity, andevenabates allergy symptoms like asthma during the most intense allergy season.

In the nearly one yearsinceThe Game Changerswasreleased last September and became one of the most-watched documentaries, and showed that some of the world's strongest and accomplished athletes don't need meat or dairy to succeed, more and more players are limiting their animal protein intake and are going all or mostly plant-based.

The number one tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, went plant-based more than twelve years ago to enhance his athletic performance and win more matches. In recent interviews, he has creditedgoing vegan with helping him rise from third place in the world to first in the world because it helped clear his allergies. Before changing his diet,Djokovic had searched for cures to the breathing issues that cost him matches and focus which caused him tostruggled during his most intense matches. The allergies used to make him feellike he couldnt breathe and would be forced to retire from competitive matches as he did in Australia.

"Eating meat was hard on my digestion and that took a lot of essential energy that I need for my focus, for recovery, for the next training session, and for the next match," he said. Djokovic emphasized he does not eat foods that require a lot of digestion, especially in the morning, when he needs all of his energy for training. Instead, he starts the day with hot water and lemon, then celery juice, and some superfood supplements.

Tia Blanco wongold at the International Surfing Association Open in 2015 andcredits her success to her vegan diet.Blanco reports thata vegan diet helps her stay strong and she enjoyseating different forms of vegan protein like nuts, seeds, beans, and legumes.

The professional surferwas influencedby her mother, who is a vegetarian andgrew up in a veggie-forward household, Blanco hasnever eaten meat in her life,which made the plant-based switch much easier. And speaking of making things easier,Blanco has an Instagram cooking page called @tiasvegankitchen where she shares her favorite simple vegan recipes so all of her fans can eat like their favorite professional vegan athlete. In addition to her home-cooked meals, Blanco recently became an ambassador for vegan company Beyond Meat and now she posts Instagram stories and highlights of her favorite meatless meat recipes.

Steph Davis has been vegan for 18 years now and says, "theres nothing in my life that hasnt become better as a result, from climbing and athletics to mental and spiritual well being." Davis has competed on some of the most challenging verticle routeson the planet likeConcepcion (5.13), which is known to be one of thehardestpure climbsanywhere. Davis holds the third overall ascent and is the first female to ever make the ascent of theroute. Davis described it as her "most technically demanding climbever."

Davis explainedwhy she went vegan eight years ago when she partnered with PETA."What can we do to start making changes in a positive way? And if it just so happens that changing our lifestyle leads to environmental benefits, health benefits, economic benefits, and positive social change, then all the better. One thing Ive learned is you dont have to do or be anything you dont want to be, and you can change anything in your life just by starting to do it. Its you who chooses who and what you are, by the things you think and the things you do."

She goes on to add,"no one says you have to become a perfect vegan overnight. But why not start making small changes and see how it feels? I believe its the small choices people make that have the biggest power to change, and nothing is more simple yet also more far-reaching than changing how and what you choose to eat. Were all here for a short time, in the end, and living a well-intentioned and compassionate life seems like what ultimately matters the most, the only real goal that I aspire to."

Tennis champion Venus Williams swearsthat making the switch to veganism was one of the factors that helped to improve her performance and get over an auto-immune disease. Thetennis star went vegan back in 2011when she was diagnosed with Sjgren's syndrome, a debilitating autoimmune disease with a range of symptoms from jointpainto swelling, numbness, burning eyes, digestive problems, andfatigue.She chose to eat plant-basedto recover to herformerly healthy self, and it worked so she stuck to it.

The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion recovers faster on a plant-based dietnow, compared to how she felt backwhen she ate animal protein. When you have an auto-immune disease you often feel extreme fatigue and random body aches and for Venus, a plant-based diet provides energy and helpsher reduce inflammation.

The Beet reported on Willaim's diet and what she normally eats in a day to stay healthy, fit, and win more matches. Talking about her favorite dinner meal, Williams adds,sometimes a girl just needs a donut!"

Mike Tyson recentlysaid he is "in the best shape ever" thanks to his vegan diet. The boxing legend then announced he's getting back into the rings after 15 years,to fightagainst Roy Jones, Jr. in Californialater this fall.

Tysonwent vegan ten years ago after dealing with health complications and in the wake of having cleaned up his life: I was so congested from all the drugs and bad cocaine, I could hardly breathe."Tyson said, I had high blood pressure, was almost dying, and had arthritis."

Now, the 53-year-old powerhouse is sober, healthy, and fit. "Turning vegan helped me eliminate all those problems in my life, and "I'm in the best shape ever." His new trainer agrees:Watching Iron Mike's speed during recent training sessions, observed: "He has the same power as a guy who is 21, 22-years old."

Oklahoma City's point guard Chris Paul decided to ditch meat and dairy and was asked join on as a co-executive producer for the popular documentary,The Game Changers.

For breakfast, Paul enjoys oatmeal with plant-based milkand nut butter. For lunch, hefuels up with pasta or brown rice with Beyond Meat sausage, grilled vegetables, and a curry sauce. His chef toldUSA Today,"The main thing is, we try to keep it as light and clean as possible for his normal routine, with organic ingredients. Anything that can minimize body inflammation. Chris is always worrying about what he can and can't eat." So far it appears he's getting it right.

In an exclusive interview with The Beet'sAwesome Vegans columnist Elysabeth Alfano, Paul said eating a plant-based diet helps him keep up with players half his age.

In 2016,Kaepernickmade the switch to veganismwith his longtime girlfriend to recover froma series of injuries that had him down for the count.The Beetrecentlyreported onhow this dietary switchhasallowedKaepernick to stay strong and healthy. Now, he's in the gym building muscle and looks fitterthan ever. But will he be picked up? The professional football player claims that a vegan diet makes him feel "always ready" to perform his best on the field.

Cam Newton just replacedTom Brady, who also follows a mostly plant-based diet, as the New England Patriot's QB, after havingmade the plant-based switch back in March 2019. The NFL Star first decided to ditch meat and dairy to recover quicker from injurieswhen he learned that a plant-based diet is proven to help reduce inflammation."I've seen such a remarkable change in the way my body responds to the food that I eat," Newton told PETA for his recent partnership for a new campaign called, "Built Like a Vegan," proving that you don't need to eat meat to be strong. Newton enjoys a meat-free burger on a pretzel bun, heavy on pickles and sauce.He adds: "People often ask, 'How do you get your protein?' I just say, 'I get it in the same way you do, but it's fresher and cleaner.' "

Newton shares how to do it: "My advice to a person who wants to become vegan is to eat on schedule. If you can eat on a schedule, you won't miss [a meal or crave meat] or think anything different, and you'll be alright."

Elijah Hall says about his vegan diet:"Going vegan was the best decision" he has ever made.Hallholds records in the indoor 200 meters and was training for the Tokyo this summer when it got postponed by a yeardue to the pandemic. Hall said "the effects that its having on my body are amazing. Becoming a plant-based athlete has opened many doors to my health and my training." We predict he'll only get faster in the next 11 months and break records, come home with golf and be the world champion in 12 months.

Five-years ago, Morgan Mitchell went vegan and it made her faster, leaner and happier. Last year she was featured in the plant-based athletes documentary The Game Changersand said,Being vegan has helped me immensely. I dont feel sluggish like I did when I was eating meat, and my recovery from training really took off. It felt like an overall cleanse for my body, and I started seeing greater results on the track.

Now Michelle is committed for the planet as well.Ultimately helping the environment and not contributing to animal cruelty was a big thing for me, too. That was my initial reason for going vegan, and the rest of the benefits were just added bonuses.

Mitchell describeswhat she eats in a day for enhanced performance and more energy to win sprints. I like to make sure I have three different types of protein in there. I use tofu, beans, and mushrooms, along with spinach, vegan cheese, and hash browns, she says. I also love to add Beyond Meat for more flavor, which is a great source of plant protein as well. That usually keeps me full for the better part of the day," she told Well + Good.

"We were taught that eating animal products was good for us but we've been lied to for hundreds of years," said Lewis Hamilton. The Beet reported on Hamiltion'svegan diet quotingThe New York Timesthat he credits his new plant-based diet with making the difference in his career. Hamilton gave up processed food and animal products for vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, because of his strong compassion for animals, for the benefit of the environment, and his own health. Hamilton isn't the only vegan in his family. His dogRoccois fully vegan and Hamilton says he's "super happy" on Rocco's very own IG post.

Earlier this year, Hamilton gave up his private jet because he said it's a big pollutant and aims to live a sustainable lifestyle. Back in February, he started a line of sustainable clothing with Tommy Hilfiger at London Fashion Week.

Featured in The Game Changersfor his elite strength and his superhuman ability to lift a car, Patrik Baboumiam is one of the strongest men in the world and also happens to be vegan. Baboumian lifted 358 poundsin the 2009 German log lift nationals.

Back in 2014, Baboumiam partnered with PETA in his campaign "Want to be Stronger" describing powering yourself with plants and how you can build muscle without eating meat.

One of his 2019 PETA campaigns showed him posing with crossed arms and leaves in his mouths with the text:"The world's strongest animals are plant-eaters: Gorillas, buffaloes, elephants and me."

Bahoumiam's diet consists of a dairy-free shake for breakfastwith 8 grams of protein and 0 carbohydrates. For lunch, he enjoys vegan sausage, falafel, low-fat oven fires, peppers, and more grilled veggies. He normally eats 250 grams of carbs and 90 grams of protein just for lunch. Dinner includes vegetables cooked potatoes, and tofu. If you want to eat like Boubanian, he reports his food diary onhis blogBarBend.

Here's a guy who has worn many hats: Bodybuilder, Terminator, California Governor, and now vegan and advocate for the plant-based lifestyle. Arnold Schwarzenegger ditched meat and dairy and has proven that you don't need to eat animal products to be strong, healthy and reverse symptoms of heart disease. Now 73, he had a pulmonary valve replacement 1997 due to a congenitaldefectandunderwent emergency open-heartsurgery in 2018 to replacethevalve again. He thenchanged his eating and fitness habits and now extolls the virtues of plant-based eating for the environment as well as health reasons.

He is a producer of The Game Changers (a movie with many masters) and an advocate for going vegan for health, the environment and the sake of animals (he posts on IG with his pet donkey and miniature pony, both household dwelling animals).

Schwarzeneggersaid last year: "Right now, seven million people are dying every year. That is alarming and everyone in the government has the responsibility to protect the people.... 28 percent of the greenhouse gasses come from eating meat and from raising cattle, so we can do a much better job."

Jurek is an extreme ultra-marathon runner who has won the Hardrock Hundred, the Badwater Ultramarathon, the Spartathlon, and the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run (you get the idea). Jurek has been vegan for almost two decades, after easing intoit by cutting out meat in college, heslowly stopping seafood and finally giving up all animal products once he realized that eating this way made him feel healthier and happier.

To run such an extreme amount of miles, you need to fuel your body with plant-based foods that will give you enough energy and carbohydrates to go the distance.The goal is to eat 5,000-6,000 calories of plant-based foods daily.

Jurekoutlined his plant-based diet in an interview with Bon Appetite. Instead of waking up to a hot cup of coffee to boost energy, he prefers to drink tea anda green smoothie with spirulina or chlorella and a host of other ingredients. He adds bananas, frozen pineapple slices, or mangoes, brown rice and pea protein, (for protein) to rebuild what's lost in training. This is not just any smoothie.

Soccerstar, Alex Morgan is one of the beloved members of the USA National Team that won the World Cup and has shown that the female players deserve to get equal pay as their male counterparts by the US Soccer Federation.She is also an animal rights advocate and longtime vegan, having given up meat when she decided that "it didn't feel fair to have a dog, and yet eat meat all the time, referring toher adorablepup Blue.

Morganaims to eat 90 grams of plant-based protein daily to stay fit and lean, especially for her workouts and on the field.Morgan admitted that breakfast was difficult because "a lot of the things I love like pancakes and French toast had dairy and eggs." But now she enjoys oatmeal with nut butter and berries, smoothies, rice, quinoa, veggies, black beans, protein shakes, Mediterranean food, Impossible burgers, Mexican beans, and sauteed veggie burritos, she told USA Today.

Paul Rabil who played for the Boston Cannons and the New York Lizards of Major League Lacrosse, ditched meat and dairy after his 2019 season ended and revealed he's now "officially" vegan on YouTube. "At first [switching to a plant-based diet] was to help solve some pain and trauma that I was going through. Over the last two years, I've had two herniated discs.... and that has led to a ton of shooting pain down my legs, its called sciatica," Rabil explains the purpose of his diet switch.

Headds: "I've tried to a lot of things; I've had a number of cortisone shots; I've done physical therapy for two years. And I reached a place where I was thinking 'okay maybe I can solve this with nutrition because a lot of our pain stems from inflammation.Within a few weeks, I started noticing a lot of alleviation so I started focusing and doubling down more on veganism"

Hannah Teter won Olympic gold and silver in the halfpipe and is also a seven-time XGames medalist. She changed her diet after watching the documentary,Earthlingswhen she discovered how "horrible" factory farming is. After a strict vegetarian diet, Teter liked the way she performed and believes that her diet helped her win gold at the 2006 games.

She now considers herself "plant-based" and in an interview with theHuffington Post, Teter said, "I feel stronger than Ive ever been, mentally, physically, and emotionally. My plant-based diet has opened up more doors to being an athlete. Its a whole other level that Im elevating to. I stopped eating animals about a year ago, and its a new life. I feel like a new person, a new athlete."

Djokovic is not the only tour player to go plant-based. Nick Kyrgiosshared that he does not eat meat anymore because of his strong compassion for animals.

During the time of the Australian wildfires, the Aussie native explained: "I've been passionate about animal welfare for some time now. I don't eat meat or dairy anymore. Thats not for my health, I just dont believe in eating animals."

"I tried a vegan diet a couple of years ago but with all the travel I do, it was hard to stick to it. Since then I've managed to make it work, and I've been vegetarian for quite a while.

"Seeing the footage of these animals suffering from the fires only reinforces why I've chosen this diet. When I see these terrible photos, I cant comprehend eating meat."

Matt Frazier has run 27 ultra-marathons in his career so far and continues to write about the endurance strength of being a vegan athlete in his personal blog, which he started 11 years ago: No Meat Athlete.

The Beet recently interviewed Frazier about his vegan journey and howto be a successful athlete on a plant-based diet. Whenasked about the first time he ditched meat Frazier replied, "I had already cut 90 minutes off my first marathon time. I was still 10 minutes away from the Boston Marathon qualifying time.I had plateaued, and I was not sure how I was going to find 10 minutes. [Plant-based eating] was what I was missing. Thats what it took. The other big noticeable difference to me [after going vegan] was I stopped getting injured. Injuries had always been a big part of my running journey. When I became vegan, it was around the time I ran three 50-milers and a 100-miler. I didnt have any injuries. If its done right, [plant-based diets] can really help you recover faster."

Rowing is grueling. It's known as the toughest endurance sport in the world. The world record-breaking female rower, Michaela Copenhaverwent vegan in 2012 for ethical reasons, she toldGreat Vegan Athletes.Initially, I just wanted to eat more vegetables. Those things are super good for you, and they're delicious. Beingvegetarianandveganmade me more conscious of how many servings I was getting a day (or not).

When she switched from vegetarian to vegan it was almost accidental: I was traveling for a regatta in the fall of 2012. I had been vegetarian for 1.5 years already but relied pretty heavily on dairy and eggs. While I was traveling, I was bouncing from couch to couch and had no way to safely store dairy or eggsso I decided to try a week without them. I felt great, and it wasnt nearly as scary as I thought. Ive been vegan ever since.

Now it's a value system: Once I stopped eating and using animals, I felt I could finally address a question that had been bothering me for a long timewhat right do we have to exploit other creatures? Now, I understand that we have no right, and my motivations are primarily ethical.

The rest is here:
20 Who Athletes Swear by a Plant-Based Diet to Boost Performance - The Beet