“Marvelous” Melvin Anthony was one of the most popular bodybuilders in the 2000’s because of his ability to entertain the crowds with his posing routines. He had an impressive physique as well – one that earned him three pro victories and seven trips to the Mr. Olympia stage. He made his last onstage appearance in 2010, but he still commits to being his best both with the way he looks and how he feels. He told Dennis James that’s why he made the choice to follow a plant-based diet on a recent episode of The Menace Podcast.

“I switched to plant-based because I wanted to see how my body reacted to as far as my health,” he told James and fellow panelist Chris Cormier. “When I got out of bodybuilding, I had really high cholesterol. I couldn’t get the bad one down and the good one up. When I gave up red meat, my levels went back to normal.”

Anthony didn’t eat meat for six months, and he was pleased with the results, in spite of him having trouble getting the protein he felt he needed every day. What may be most surprising was how his body reacted to eating steak when he tried to add meat back into his personal program.

“When I tried to eat a piece of steak, it made me sick,” he said. “It gets to a point where your body assimilates the protein in a certain way, and when you try to add that animal protein back in, (his body) didn’t like it.

The three bodybuilding legends discussed a variety of topics in this episode, including if Anthony keeps up with the sport today, what made him walk away, and exotic dancing. Subscribe to the Muscle & Fitness YouTube page, and tune in to new episodes of TMP every Sunday afternoon at 3 PM Eastern time.