I<\/span> am a 51-year-old professional bodybuilder from central Oregon. I\u2019m also a health- and ethics-minded animal lover, which means that I get all my protein from a plant-based diet. In other words, I am vegan.<\/p>\n While working as a police sergeant in Southern California, I was having issues with work-related stress, and it began to cause health issues. So, I started to pay more attention to what was going into my body and how it affected how I felt.<\/p>\n I was having issues but didn\u2019t know what from. My blood pressure swung wildly and unpredictably, which caused frequent and severe migraines. During a 10-year period in which I took a variety of prescribed medications, I started to look closely at my diet and started to cut out animal products that seemed to trigger symptoms.<\/p>\n In 2000, my wife, Cheryl, and I went vegetarian. And in 2007, about one year after taking a medical-related retirement from the police department, we went vegan.<\/p>\n Once I cut out all animal products from my diet (cheese, dairy, chicken, beef, etc.) I began to feel better. And after a few months, I was able to stop taking the prescription medications that I\u2019d been taking for over a decade.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t miss meat at all. Aside from the health benefits, our veganism is also inspired by an aversion to factory farming. To think of eating meat actually makes me feel ill. I like to lead by example. And if I can be a professional bodybuilder at over 50 years old, then apparently you can get enough protein and calories from a vegan diet. And that I can do it means you can do it, too.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t count calories, but I get about 140 to 150 grams of plant-based protein a day. That would take about 1.3 pounds of meat to deliver. I source my diet from everyday grocers where we spend about $200 every two weeks for two people. We avoid the processed and pre-made vegan food in favor of whole food options. Black beans and quinoa make nice burger patties. We don\u2019t eat a lot of tofu, but we do use extra firm tofu to make imitation jerky. Our main source of protein is homemade seitan, a product made from wheat gluten. After adding some spices and cooking it, it takes on an almost chicken-like texture. Beans, potatoes, vegetables, legumes, and fruits round out our diet. But I do limit those when I\u2019m cutting weight for a bodybuilding competition.<\/p>\n I have been into weight training for over 30 years. But I just decided to begin competing when I turned 50 in 2017. I always worked out to stay in shape for police work but have never had the level of focus that I do now since I began competing. I\u2019m a natural bodybuilder, which means that I\u2019m tested for performance-enhancing drugs at every competition. I am a professional with the International Natural Bodybuilding Association (INBA) and the Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association (PNBA), which is very strict in maintaining a drug-free platform for its athletes.<\/p>\n Weightlifting has been a lifelong thing for me. I remember going with my dad to the gym in the early \u201970s. And while he lifted weights, my brother and I would mess around on the \u201cbelt jiggler\u201d machines. As a teenager growing up in Southern California in the \u201970s and \u201980s, I began to work out in earnest. I frequented gyms that were synonymous with the heyday of bodybuilding, such as Gold\u2019s Gym.<\/p>\n On my 49th birthday, I promised myself that I would fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a competitive bodybuilder. After a year of focused training and proper nutrition, I entered my first show soon after my 50th birthday. The show was the Pacific Coast Championships in Lincoln City, Oregon, which was organized by the National Physique Committee (NPC). I placed fifth in Masters Bodybuilding (over 50) and second in Open Bodybuilding Lightweight (under 154 lb.).<\/p>\n I competed in another show the following week in central Oregon, placing fourth in Masters Bodybuilding and 2nd in Open Bodybuilding Lightweight. Two weeks later, I entered another competition, but this one was a Natural show. I placed first place in Classic Physique and second in Masters Bodybuilding.<\/p>\n I took the summer off to add on more size and entered my last show of 2017 with the INBA and PNBA. I placed first in Grandmasters Bodybuilding (over 50) and third in Classic Physique. I also earned my Pro card with my first-place win.\nIn my first Pro show of 2018, I placed first in Grandmasters Bodybuilding. I\u2019d added about 2 or 3 lb. of muscle over the winter. And even though I\u2019m now 51, I\u2019m actually stronger than ever and have tons of energy.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a surprise to many other competitors and audience members when they find out I am vegan. When I go out and beat other competitors that are meat eaters, it proves that you can build a quality physique on a plant-based diet. If you look at the strongest animals on the planet, they all get their protein and calories from plants. Gorillas, horses, rhinos, elephants, and more are all plant eaters and have plenty of endurance and power.<\/p>\n Although not everyone is interested in building a muscular body, I\u2019m here to show that it can be done with a plant-based diet. You can get all the protein that you\u2019ll need from a plant-based diet, all without the antibiotics, hormones, and cruelty involved with a typical western diet. I always encourage people who are interested in changing their lives to try a plant-based diet for 30 days.<\/p>\n Once you see how much better you look and feel, there\u2019s a good chance that you\u2019ll adopt the lifestyle permanently. Even if you stray once in a while or only eat a plant-based diet 50% of the time, you\u2019ll still feel better. You\u2019ll also be making a difference for the health of the planet.<\/p>\n My wife and I are always willing to help people new to veganism. After being vegan for over 10 years, we feel better than ever. And I\u2019m looking forward to competing for at least another 10 years.<\/p>\n I’m a body builder and a vegan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2018","category-spring-summer-2018-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7555"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7852,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7555\/revisions\/7852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mark Chapman is a professional body builder and self-professed vegan. A retired police Sergeant from Fountain Valley PD in Orange County, CA, Chapman has won numerous professional body building awards including first place men\u2019s Pro Grandmaster competition in the INBA\/PNBA International Battle Against Cancer. He can be found on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"