Green is Good (For You)

Have you been dragging your feet about filling your refrigerator with leafy greens, tofu and flax seeds because you're worried about how it will affect your workout? Well, being vegan or vegetarian isn't stopping a growing group of top athletes from dominating their sports, so why should it stop a weekend warrior like you?

Successful vegan and vegetarian athletes include tennis maven Martina Navratilova, ultimate fighting champion Mac Danzig, the Atlanta Hawks' Salim Stoudamire and Prince Feilder of the Milwaukee Brewers who made headlines for deciding to go vegetarian before this year's season (he's already hit a dozen homeruns, so there!) There's even a web site for vegan bodybuilders where muscled-up babes and bros can show off their glistening veggie-fueled six packs!

Émile de Rosnay is a 34-year-old cyclist who went vegetarian in order to lose 20 pounds. "My energy levels are the same -- I didn't go through a system crash or anything like that," de Rosnay told Canadian newspaper The Victorian Times Colonist. "I eat what I want of the things that I can eat, and the portions I can eat. I used to eat too much before, too much dairy, too much meat."

Going vegetarian is one of the fastest ways to go green, and not just because of the color of your vegetables. Raising animals takes up valuable energy and resources, and animals like cows and goats produce methane gas that damages the ozone. Will you create a green home by changing your diet?