Oliver Stark, the British star of the hit Fox series 9-1-1He is approaching his seventh anniversary as a vegan. “I went vegan for ethical reasons,” he says. “I like animals. I didn’t necessarily want to eat them… Now it’s become my lifestyle. I don’t have to think twice.” men’s health he met Stark at his Los Angeles home, where he lives among racks of tofu; she gave us the tour of the fridge.
Stark’s diet is important. He plays a firefighter on TV and often has to perform true feats of functional strength, including rescuing other characters from drowning and pulling them out of buildings. (He says he changed his training to make such stunts possible. “It gives me a lot of confidence when a director says, ‘Oliver, do you think you can cast this person?’ Absolutely. It makes me feel really good about myself. “It makes me feel connected in the scene. I think it gives a lot of confidence to the other actor that I have to manage.”
To maintain that strength, Stark prioritizes protein, a macronutrient one might think difficult to consume, and especially in the amount needed for a muscular Stark, when he’s vegan. Stark says there is little difficulty. He gets most of his protein from tofu, supplementing it with walnuts and chickpeas. He will also eat plant-based yogurt with jam and protein powder.
Stark says his role helps him maintain discipline. “I play a firefighter,” he explains. “And I feel like there’s a pressure to honor the athleticism of real-world firefighters. makes my [dietary] much easier options to follow.”
Joshua St Clair is an editorial assistant at Men’s Health Magazine.
