Alex Morgan and Her Vegan (Plant-Based) Journey

The US Women's National Soccer Team star gave up meat and dairy back in 2017 to adopt a fully vegan lifestyle. The 32-year-old striker said the diet helps her recover faster from intense training sessions and feel less fatigued. She's become leaner and fitter than ever, she told The Beet.

Why Alex Morgan Went Vegan?

But in a recent interview with Time, Morgan revealed that switching to a vegan diet has been key to her success on the field. She first adopted a vegan diet, "because it didn't feel fair to have a dog I adore and yet eat meat all the time," she told Reuters.

Morgan said her diet relies on anti-inflammatory foods like berries, sweet potatoes, and leafy greens, which have research-backed benefits for health and performance.

Alex Morgan scores possibly one of the fastest goals in Olympic qualifying history by scoring on her first touch of the game, just 12 seconds into the match.

She and other returning veterans of Team USA, including Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd, will start their campaign to win another Olympic gold. She is trying to stay healthy and relaxed as she goes into what might be the biggest challenge of her career. As a 33-year-old player, who has won 2 consecutive FIFA World Cups (in 2015 and 2019) and an Olympic gold medal in London, in 2012 (when she was still in her early 20s), and as the odds-on favorite to help the USA win gold again.

It's challenging being away from her but I am not the only Mom in this boat. And it makes me know I can do hard things, Morgan says.

Morgan could rack enough points to be among the winningest players in history. With over 9 million Instagram followers, she knows that the worlds' eyes are on her, and so Alex is telling herself to live in the now, and just breathe. In an exclusive interview with The Beet, she shares her motivational secret weapon, her diet, including what she eats in a day, how she manages to fuel up and get plenty of protein on a vegan diet, and how motherhood has left her in the best shape of her life

Soccer superstar Alex Morgan is many things to many people: co-captain to her U.S. women’s national team, social media celebrity to her 9+ million Instagram followers, Best Female Athlete of the 2019 ESPYs, wife of soccer player Servando Carrasco, and role model to women and girls around the world.

She’s also a hero to animals from her rescue pup, Blue, to all the cows and pigs and chickens she no longer consumes.

"I’m passionate about giving animals a voice, Morgan told Reuters recently. I even adopted a vegan diet, because it didn’t feel fair to have a dog I adore, and yet eat meat all the time."

Morgan is part of the growing wave of top-tier athletes who are eliminating animal products including meat, eggs, and dairy from the collection of foods they eat, instead of embracing vegan, or plant-based, diets.