Vegan Gold Coaster to compete in international bodybuilding competition

A VEGAN athlete is preparing to chase a second title at an international body building competition later this month on a diet of beans, greens and organic grains.

Crissi Carvalho is a vegan bodybuilder and is one of about 20 Australians competing at a huge US bodybuilding event and is the only vegan on the team. Picture: Jerad Williams

THIS Gold Coast athlete is fuelled by beans, greens, tofu and organic grains.

Bikini bodybuilder Crissi Carvalho of Elanora cut meat, dairy and eggs out of her diet five years ago after a cancer health scare.

She survived the scare but cancer claimed her best friends’s life.

“I didn’t have it ... and had some mass cells removed ... but my best friend had a seizure and they found two brain tumours,” she said.

“We were in fitness for years, why would we have cancer?

Ms Carvalho stopped eating meat after her best friend died of cancer. Picture: Jerad Williams

“My diet is beans, greens, organic grains and my protein is beans, tofu and seitan. I have a variety.”

Founder of Vegan Fitness International, the 44-year-old now coaches vegan athletes in Australia and overseas.

Ms Carvalho said she had come across her fair share of scepticism as a vegan bodybuilder, including from coaches, but said more athletes were turning to a plant-based diet.

“No one was losing muscle mass or their status within the industry,” she said.

Ms Carvalho said she only eats a plant-based diet. Picture: Jerad Williams

“I do higher carbs, moderate protein and lower fat. I never lose mass in competition prep. “Most people (who eat meat) do eight to 16 weeks of prep and lose half a kilo to a kilo muscle.”

Next month Ms Carvalho will head to Ohio in the US in a bid to win the Arnold Classic bikini opens and masters titles, which she won in 2016.

She is the only vegan on the team of about 20 Australians.

“(Vegans) are still a minority on the team,” she said.

“It can be a little awkward. People tend to think you’re self-righteous.”

Ms Carvalho didn’t go vegan until she was 38. Picture: Jerad Williams

Once when Ms Carvalho was competing in Hong Kong, she shared a room with a fellow competitor who ate meat.

“She said: I’ll still be cooking my steak in the morning,” she said.

“And I said no problem. I think everyone is on a journey, I didn’t go vegan until I was 38 or 39.”

The Arnold Classic Worldwide runs from March 1-4 and features more than 18,000 athletes from 80 countries. The Arnold Sports Festival will come to Melbourne later this month.