The former heavyweight champion explained on Joe Rogan’s podcast that he now eats elk and bison.

Mike Tyson has confirmed he is no longer vegan and has gone back to eating meat after claiming that eating kale, vegetables and blueberries is ‘really poisonous’ for him.

The ex-world heavyweight champ made the comments while appearing on a recent episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast.

Tyson, who ditched animal products in 2010, revealed to Rogan that he started eating elk and bison when he resumed training for his comeback.

He told Rogan: “I stopped because of the training and because of what I wanted my body to look like and the strength that I wanted to possess.

“I only eat elk and bison — wild stuff — and I’m starting to feel fit.”

‘Look at food for what it’s for’

He added that he longer looks at food like he used to. “I look at it for what it’s for,” Tyson explained to which Rogan added: “To take care of the body.”

While he did not blame the vegan diet, he said that eating veggies such as kale did not agree with his blood type and his health conditions.

“I realised the stuff that’s good for other people — like kale, vegetables and blueberries — for me is really poisonous.”

Tyson adopted a plant-based diet in 2010 to deal with weight issues and tackle the problems he brought on following a diet of steaks, alcohol and drugs after his retirement in 2005.

His nonchalant admissions on the show were in stark contrast to his interview with GQ Sports in 2019,  where Tyson had declared: “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.”

Cyrus ditches veganism

Tyson’s declaration comes at a time when Miley Cyrus, another popular vegan advocate ditched the lifestyle claiming her brain wasn’t functioning properly.

The singer too, like Tyson made the confession on Rogan’s podcast show where she told him she was ‘experimenting a lot’ with her diet and exercise regime and had started eating fish for more mental clarity.

In reply to Rogan’s question on how veganism impacted her brain she replied:  “Now I’m so much sharper than I was and I think that I was at one point pretty malnutrition [sic].”

‘Myriad issues’

While her comments on the show have certainly invited a lot of backlash from the vegan community, her evidence-less justification for eating fish has already been confuted.

British Columbia based naturopathic doctor Matthew Nagra, ND refuted Cyrus’s claims and comprehensively explained about how ‘fatigue’ (mental or physical) can be caused by a myriad of issues, not necessarily related to what one eats and that fish is not the only source of Omega-3 fatty acids.

“It’s important to note that the research on omega-3 supplements (EPA/DHA) and cognitive function is mixed, with potential benefit in older adults specifically. Of course, fish is a source of these omega-3s, but so is a vegan algae-based supplement,” he wrote in a detailed post on Instagram.

“That being said, it is unclear if vegans even need to supplement since we produce EPA and DHA from short-chain omega-3s (ALA) in foods like flax and our levels don’t vary much from fish eaters.”

He continued: “Something that should give pause is when someone notices drastic improvements with a small dietary change. This SCREAMS placebo effect. On a physiological level, it’s impossible for a few meals of seafood to drastically change omega-3 levels, especially within the brain.

“This becomes even more likely when a vegan has constantly been told that their diet is deficient by those who clearly have not seen the data. We can start to believe it…That being said, we have no clue what Miley was actually eating.”

• Read: Miley Cyrus no longer vegan after her ‘brain wasn’t functioning properly’

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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