HUNTSVILLE, Alabama- Jimi Sitko’s apartment is filled with medals and trophies from bodybuilding competitions, and snapshots of his tanned, rippled physique in full flex. 
席特柯的公寓裡擺滿他參加健美比賽得到的獎牌和獎盃，以及充分展現他曬成古銅色、鼓起一條條肌肉的健美身材的照片。

But most surprising is what is inside Sitko’s stomach: tofu, fresh greens and plant-based protein powder.
但最令人驚訝的是他胃裡的食物：豆腐、新鮮蔬菜和植物蛋白粉。

Bodybuilders have long been known for maintaining highly restrictive diets, often low in carbohydrates and high in protein and calories. They aim to have big muscles and little fat, which may require cycles of adding weight, then chiseling away fat to make muscles pop.
人們一向知道，練健美的人要持續嚴格控制飲食，通常是吃低碳水化合物、高蛋白和高熱量的食物。他們要練成大塊肌肉、幾乎沒有脂肪，也許需要定期增加體重，再甩掉脂肪，使肌肉凸起。

Sitko is among a niche community of vegan bodybuilders who are forging a distinctive subculture and hope to change competitors’ eating habits.
練健美的人素食者屬於小眾，席特柯是其中一員，這些人正在形塑獨特的次文化，並希望能改變其他參賽者的飲食習慣。

As a vegan, Sitko, 29, does not eat meat, dairy or, he said, “anything else that comes from an animal.” As a bodybuilder, he spends hours at the gym lifting barbells, running on a treadmill and sculpturing his 1.8-meter, 81.6-kilogram body. He is preparing for a competition in March.
29歲的席特柯吃全素，不吃肉和乳製品，還有他所說的，「來自動物身上的任何東西」。為了練健美，每天要花幾個小時在健身房舉槓鈴，在跑步機上跑步，雕塑他180公分高、81.6公斤重的身體。他正在為三月出賽做準備。

There is little official data on competitive bodybuilders who are vegan, though the Web site veganbodybuilding.com has more than 5,000 registered users.
素食健美比賽選手吃全素者有多少，官方資料有限，不過全素食健身網站veganbodybuilding.com有5000多個登記用戶。

For some vegan bodybuilders, like Mr. Sitko, veganism was an attempt to improve diet and health. Others said that a vegan lifestyle reflected their personal beliefs about animal or environmental preservation. Still others regarded it as a form of rebellion against steroid culture.
對部分練健美的人，如席特柯先生來說，吃全素是為了改善飲食和健康。另有些人說，吃素的生活方式反映他們保護動物或環境的個人信仰。還有一些人把吃素當成一種反類固醇文化的反叛形式。

Nutritionists’ positions vary.
營養學家的立場也很分歧。

“Is it possible to be a good bodybuilder and be a vegan? Yes,” said Jose Antonio, the chief executive of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. “But is it ideal? No.”
國際運動營養學會執行長安東尼奧說：「吃全素而把健美練得很好可能嗎？可能。但這是理想的做法嗎？不然。」

Vegan bodybuilders may face challenges getting sufficient amino acids, found in meats, Mr. Antonio said, adding that although protein can be found in vegetables and nuts, they must be consumed in greater quantities to get the same amount as their counterparts in meat. “The amount of rice and beans you need to eat would fill up a Mexican restaurant,” he said.
安東尼奧說，練健美吃全素，可能會面臨肉類富含的胺基酸攝取不足的問題。他接著說，雖然蔬菜和堅果裡也有蛋白質，但必須吃更多，才能取得吃肉所能得到的等量蛋白質。他說：「你需要吃的米飯和豆子可塞滿一家墨西哥餐廳。」

Other nutritionists have argued that a disciplined vegan diet, consisting of things like hemp-based protein supplements, peanut butter, nuts, vegetables and legumes, can yield similar, if not better, results than a meat- or dairy-filled diet. Carefully monitored, vegans can get the same amount of protein with less fat or toxins, they argue. (For a midafternoon snack, Mr. Sitko sometimes eats 10 bananas.)
另有些營養學家則認為，有規畫守紀律的吃全素，吃大麻蛋白質補充食品、花生醬、堅果、蔬菜和豆類這些食物，效果也和吃豐盛肉類或乳製品類似，甚至更好。他們認為，嚴格控制飲食的素食者可以攝取等量的蛋白質，脂肪和毒素卻較少。（席特柯有時吃10根香蕉當下午的點心。）

Kenneth G. Williams, a 44-year-old bodybuilder in Oakland, California, is a vegan who has taken on traditional bodybuilders and won. But first, there was the stigma.
加州奧克蘭44歲的威廉斯吃全素，他曾與不吃素的人一同參加健美比賽，結果贏了。但先得被烙上汙名。

“I had buddies at the gym, they just thought I was crazy,” Mr. Williams said. In 2003, he became vegan. In 2004, he won his first competition. “But once the announcer mentioned I was a vegan, the claps stopped and it got so quiet in that auditorium,” he said. Right on stage, it hit me: nobody knows about this.”
威廉斯說：「健身房的伙伴們認為我瘋了。」他2003年改吃全素。2004年第一次贏得比賽。他說：「但是，當司儀說到我吃素時，全場掌聲嘎然而止，一片肅靜。」「就在台上，我恍然大悟：大家對吃素這件事一無所知。」

Williams is now a raw vegan; he said he never heated his food above 44.4 degrees Celsius.
威廉斯現在吃生的素食，他說絕不將食物加熱超過攝氏44.4度。

“I’m a warrior now,” he said. “The athletes are just out to get paid. Warriors stand for something.”
他說：「現在我是戰士，運動選手為了報酬出賽。戰士卻代表某種意義。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/sports/vegans-muscle-their-way-into-bodybuilding.html

Video: The Competitive Vegan Bodybuilder
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/01/04/multimedia/100000001232617/the-competitive-vegan-bodybuilder.html

2012-02-21聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 田思怡譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版右