Austin Aries spoke about his book that recently came out, along with his journey to veganism.
Austin Aries debuted for WWE in 2016, joining their NXT brand. He’s since moved to the main roster, getting an opportunity at the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania 33.
Outside of the ring, Aries recently published a book, titled Food Fight: My Plant-Powered Journey From The Bingo Halls To The Big Time. It chronicled Aries’ vegan diet and philosophy on eating habits and how everyone should be wary of what they put in their bodies.
Aries spoke to FanSided about his book, along with how he eats on the road and what helped him learn about his vegan lifestyle.
What was the moment that made you turn vegan?
That’s really what the book chronicles, right? I don’t want to give too much of it away. The book is about all these little moments around my life where seeds were planted, questions were put before me and what really was the catalyst from the journey of being a dairy-loving, brat-eating Wisconsin kid to being the plant-based athlete I am now. It essentially what the book chronicles. There wasn’t one definitive moment, but I think there were some important moments from my childhood and into my adulthood.
Was there, in regard to educating yourself on it, a particular book, website, TV show or other forms of entertainment that helped you learn about veganism?
That’s the cool thing, man. When I first started this journey, which was around 2000, we didn’t have anywhere near the access like we had now, right? Social media; Instagram; Twitter; Facebook pages — if you’re interested in any certain type of diet or a plant-based diet and you don’t know where to start, there’s great resources at your fingertips. You can look up their recipes and see how they do it.
For me, it was gradual. The internet is your friend and you can dig through a bunch of information to come up with your own conclusion. The one documentary I watched that was kind of pivotal toward my change, was Forks Over Knives. It chronicled the China Study, which studied the effects of animal proteins in humans, in association to different diseases and cancers. For me, when watching that documentary and seeing certain physicians that treat their patients with plant-based diets and not pharmaceutical medications, and these people having great success. So Forks Over Knives is something to watch, to get more educated on these things.
In regard to your wrestling training, how do you incorporate veganism into getting ready for a match?
Over time, I just figured out and sought out. The whole thing about the road is you want it to be convenient because we travel a lot. Luckily, the plant-based market has really exploded over the past five years. There’s tons of companies that have good vegan protein powders that are usually made of rice hemp and pea protein, some sort of mixture of that. Things like packets of lentils or garbanzo beans, too. There are definitely things that I take on the road with me so I’m always prepared. No matter what time it is or how late it is, I always have good food.
Before you were a vegan, what were your eating habits like when you were training for wrestling?
I kind of switched over to vegetarianism around the time I started training. Right up to that point, for the first few months, it was a diet of egg whites, chicken breasts and things of that sort. I like cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese and string cheese. I was convinced I needed that stuff to build protein and muscle, and not saying that stuff doesn’t build muscle, but I found out you can do that without those things, too. It was kind of a gradual change. The book chronicles how I started, 17 years ago, and the journey I’ve been on since then.
Is there a particular food you eat, like a go-to food when you train for wrestling now?
Really everything is trial and error, right? Like veggie burgers along the way and some bad products. I tell people I’m a great resource and to ask me anything because I’ve pretty much tried everything. For a lot of people, there’s exploring a new territory in their first experience, and if something tastes terrible or awesome, they’re going to think “I tried it once and it was terrible.” I tell people I’m like a guinea pig and I try different things. The one thing I’m on right now is burritos by Sweet Earth, like big breakfast burritos. They’re nice for on the road because I can heat them up quick. I don’t do too much microwavable food, but sometimes it’s necessary. This one is pretty good and has close to 20 grams of protein and a quick little fix when I’m on the run.
When you had your WrestleMania match a few months ago, did you change any of your habits for getting prepared or was it status quo?
I don’t think there was really too much difference. I was getting back into the ring after being out for some time, so it was really about getting the ring shape back up. As far as diet goes, I want to be lean and keep my body type. It was keeping my appetite up, training as well as I can and keeping the potassium levels at its peak performance.
In your wrestling career, you’ve crossed paths with Daniel Bryan before, who’s also a known vegan. Have you two ever shared philosophies on the subject?
When I see Bryan, we’ll chat a little bit. He’s kind of in the category of being mostly vegan; he’s pretty much plant-based. He’s flexible and I don’t see any problem with that. The cool thing is the book is really about finding where they sit on the spectrum of plant-based eating or not plant-based eating, but taking a closer look at the food system and really examining the food you’re eating. That’s a big issue that needs to be addressed and that’s what the book’s message is.
Is there a main goal of what you’re looking for readers to learn from your book?
I think that’s it right there, right? If you think about it from early on, in this society, we don’t place a great importance on food, right? We don’t give it precedence. If you look at our education system, we don’t really make it important there. In our healthcare system, that’s not something we’re educated on or part of the curriculum. We don’t put an importance on food. A lot of people live in very nice houses, buy very nice clothes and buy very nice jewelry, but when it comes to food, they say it’s expensive to eat healthy or want to buy the cheapest, easiest and most convenient thing because that’s all that’s in front of us. So really, this book is about my personal journey of making a change in my diet and making me look at my diet choices. When I started doing that, I was almost shocked or appalled at the things I was seeing and the things that were being marketed to children. If you look at society, we’re a bunch of sick and unhealthy people in a lot of ways, and it really stems from what we’re putting in our bodies every day, multiple times a day and every day of the year. We need to take a closer look at that.
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Aries’ book Food Fight: My Plant-Powered Journey From The Bingo Halls To The Big Time is on sale now. It can be purchased at ShopBenchMark.com. Aries can also be followed on Twitter @AustinAries.