he says. “Try eating 1,000 calories of quinoa or blueberries.”

Koff says, “The quality of what you put into your body is really critical for athletes — you want to get the most bang for every bite.”

Loomis, who served as team internist for football’s St. Louis (now Los Angeles) Rams and baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals before he got interested in plant-based medicine, saw professional athletes develop serious health problems at an early age by focusing only on eating a lot of calories.

“I call it ‘bro science,’” he says. “They’re thinking about getting big and strong without thinking about the long-term impact. But if we help develop healthy habits in younger athletes, it helps them in post-career.”

Inflammation caused by dietary choices, which can lead to a host of chronic diseases, is a common concern for Loomis, Levin and Koff, even if they don’t agree on the need for a completely vegan diet.

Eating meat and animal products, Koff says, has been associated with inflammation, “so it’s all the more reason to have a lot of plants in the diet to balance (that) out.”

Transition

Matt Frazier, 35, an ultramarathoner and author of “No Meat Athlete,” used a gradual transition from omnivore to vegan for his own diet.

“I spent a whole year without eating four-legged animals before I took the next step and cut the two-legged animals out of my diet, and then spent a month there before I stopped eating fish,” he says.

At that point, Frazier found that his speed and endurance were increasing, leading him to shave 10 minutes off his marathon time to ultimately qualify for the Boston Marathon. Over the next two years, he gradually cut out eggs and dairy.

“I think short-term challenges are a great way to dive in and see what it’s like,” Frazier says. “Try a 10-day vegetarian or vegan challenge, and if it goes well, make it 30 days. Having that finish line at the end keeps you from having to deal with those ‘I can never eat a cheeseburger again?’ thoughts that aren’t helpful at all when you’re trying to transition.”

The feared loss of indulgent food is a topic that seems to come up often among both vegan athletes and curious omnivores.

“Your relationship with food becomes pleasing your palate versus making your body look good,” says bodybuilder Washington. “Even when I travel, I head straight for the local Whole Foods and start looking for the ingredients to make a spicy vegan pizza or pan-seared tofu with Japanese sweet potatoes. When you become a vegan, you become a foodie.”

Carter concurs. “I like to make junk food that’s not really junk food,” he says. “My favorite is nachos with couscous, beans and cashew-cheese queso. I’ve converted so many athletes with that cashew cheese — they eat it and say, “Man, that tastes just like real cheese, bro!”