The Short-Lived Vegan Experiment
For anyone asking, "Is Eddie Hall still vegan?", the answer is a definitive no. Eddie Hall, known as "The Beast," briefly attempted a vegan diet, but it was a short-lived and unsuccessful experiment. In an interview with Men's Health, Hall recounted his experience, stating he tried it for only "three or four days" and felt his body "withering away". His intense training and size—at the time over 150 kg—required a massive caloric and protein intake that he found impossible to sustain on a vegan diet alone. He noted that while he respects the vegan lifestyle and his wife incorporates many vegan meals, it simply did not work for his specific athletic requirements. His experience highlights a critical challenge for elite-level strength athletes: meeting extraordinary nutritional demands without animal-based products. He concluded that while reducing meat intake might have benefits, cutting it out entirely was "a big no no" for his strength and performance.
The Shift to the Carnivore Diet
Following his strongman retirement and with new combat sports ambitions, Eddie Hall has dramatically changed his physique and diet again, transitioning from his massive strongman bulk to a leaner frame for MMA. This shift involved adopting a strict carnivore diet, where his primary food sources are meat, eggs, and dairy, with some added vegetables for fiber and digestion. This was done to shed excess body fat while maintaining muscle mass and strength, a strategy he detailed for his MMA debut. According to his own accounts, this high-protein, zero-carb approach helped him drop weight quickly and improved his energy levels and endurance. However, the diet was not without its initial challenges, as Hall admitted it caused some digestive issues at first. The carnivore diet represents a complete 180-degree turn from the brief vegan trial, underscoring how specific athletic goals dictate nutritional choices for professionals like Hall.
What the Carnivore Diet Entails for "The Beast"
Eddie Hall has publicly documented his carnivore diet journey on his YouTube channel, revealing his typical daily food intake. His daily caloric consumption remains extremely high, often around 10,000 calories per day, but now it's focused entirely on animal products. A representative daily menu includes:
- Breakfast: A substantial meal of eggs, smoked salmon, cottage cheese, and a milkshake.
- Lunch: A large ribeye steak with more eggs and a protein milkshake.
- Dinner: Multiple steaks, more eggs, and a final protein shake.
- Snacks: Biltong and other meat-based items for quick protein boosts.
This extreme dietary strategy is a deliberate tool for specific, short-term performance goals, not a long-term nutritional plan for the general population. Hall supplements with vitamins and minerals to compensate for the lack of fruits and vegetables.
Comparing Strongman vs. Combat Sport Nutrition
To understand Eddie Hall's dietary shifts, it's useful to compare his nutrition for different phases of his career. The table below illustrates the stark contrast between his peak strongman diet and his recent carnivore approach for combat sports:
| Feature | World's Strongest Man Diet (circa 2017) | Carnivore Diet (circa 2024) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Goal | Maximize overall body mass and strength | Lose body fat while preserving muscle mass |
| Caloric Intake | Upwards of 16,000 calories daily | Upwards of 9,000-10,000 calories daily |
| Key Food Groups | A wide variety including meat, dairy, eggs, pasta, bread, carbs, fruit, and junk food | Primarily meat, dairy, and eggs; excludes fruits, vegetables, and most carbs |
| Protein Focus | Very high protein from diverse sources | Extremely high protein from animal sources |
| Carbohydrate Source | High intake from sources like pasta, oats, and cheesecake | Minimal to zero carbohydrate intake |
| Health Strategy | Prioritized raw calories for performance; less focus on clean eating | Aims to reduce inflammation and promote fat loss |
The Conclusion: Why Eddie Hall is Not Vegan
In short, no, Eddie Hall is not and has never been a long-term vegan. His brief experiment with a plant-based diet highlighted its incompatibility with his extreme athletic and caloric needs at the time. His more recent adoption of a carnivore diet further solidifies his preference for an animal-based nutritional strategy, driven by a new set of athletic objectives related to MMA and weight loss. While the journey from strongman to leaner athlete has seen a dramatic overhaul of his eating habits, it has consistently stayed far from veganism. For more on his diet and athletic career, you can follow his updates on his YouTube channel.
Eddie Hall's Current Nutritional Strategy
Even with weight loss as a goal, Hall's current diet remains a testament to his high-performance lifestyle. The sheer volume of high-protein, high-fat food allows him to fuel rigorous training sessions and maintain muscle mass while dropping body fat. He maintains that this approach has increased his energy and endurance for combat sport training, allowing him to train longer and harder. His diet demonstrates that for some elite athletes, a highly restrictive, animal-based diet can be a potent tool for achieving specific body composition goals, even if it runs counter to mainstream dietary advice.
Key Takeaways from Hall's Diet
- Eddie Hall's diet is tailored to his specific, and extreme, athletic needs.
- He prioritizes protein and calories over dietary diversity when aiming for performance goals.
- His career evolution from strongman to combat sports dictated two very different, but equally non-vegan, dietary philosophies.
- His experience shows that even a brief departure from his typical diet was detrimental to his strength, reinforcing his personal belief in an animal-based diet.
- The move to the carnivore diet highlights a shift in focus from sheer bulk to leanness and endurance, while still maintaining incredible power.
- His open discussion about diet experiments and their effects provides insights into elite athlete nutrition.
Men's Health UK Article on Eddie Hall's Vegan Experiment
A Shift in Focus, Not Just Diet
Eddie Hall's journey is not just about changing what's on his plate; it's about a complete re-alignment of his athletic focus. His strongman diet was about brute force, mass, and raw caloric surplus. This allowed him to lift record-breaking weights but came with significant health risks. His current carnivore diet, while still high in calories and protein, serves a different purpose: cutting body fat, improving cardio, and boosting endurance for combat sports. The switch from cheesecake to steak is a metaphor for his transition from a pure power athlete to a more agile, combat-ready contender. This evolution shows that an athlete's diet is a dynamic, functional tool, not a static ideology. For Eddie Hall, the answer to "Is Eddie Hall still vegan?" was a resounding no as soon as it became clear that his body could not perform at an elite level without meat.
Conclusion: The Final Verdict
Eddie Hall is not a vegan and has stated that a plant-based diet was an unsustainable option for his athletic pursuits. He briefly attempted it, but for a man needing immense calories and protein for peak performance, it simply did not suffice. His dietary journey has seen him move from an exceptionally high-calorie, mixed-macronutrient strongman diet to a restrictive carnivore diet designed for weight loss and muscle maintenance for MMA. These shifts were driven by his evolving athletic goals, proving that for this elite athlete, animal products are a core component of his nutritional strategy. While his wife enjoys many vegan meals, Eddie Hall’s plate remains firmly anchored in meat and dairy for performance reasons.
