HOUSTON – Over the past month, Arian Foster has met more nutritionists than you'll see at the Olympics. Foster, the Houston Texans running back and avant-garde thinker, has been getting advice and disagreement from seemingly everyone he encounters, all because he has become a vegan.

If it wasn't bad enough that a Pro Bowl player is going meatless in the ultimate carnivore sport, there's an associated problem with Foster's diet. This is Texas, the land of beef and barbeque. Not eating meat in this state is about as close as it gets to original sin. Put that together with the team's Super Bowl aspirations and you have some strong feelings.





"I had a long conversation with him about that. I told him, 'If this doesn't work, I'm going to kick your ass,' " teammate Brian Cushing said. "I told him that because he's going too far. He thinks he knows more than me, but he doesn't, especially about nutrition. We have a good relationship, but I told him this better be right. We have a lot riding this year."

Foster hears that comment, nods slowly and smiles. He also has had a detailed discussion with general manager Rick Smith about the dietary choice. In the one month since he announced his departure from an appetite for flesh, he has seen an absurd amount of interest.

"Everybody cares what I eat now," Foster said. "They didn't care before, but they do now. Everybody is a nutritionist now and they're an expert on protein. Every day, every single day somebody knows something new to do. I just smile and say, 'OK.' "

[Related: Texans' Brian Cushing embraces nasty nickname given to him in college]

Adding to the fear is that Foster has some strong similarities with the likes of Ricky Williams, from his NFL counterculture diet (Williams became a vegetarian in 2005) to his deep thinking. Even the cadence of Foster's speech is reminiscent of Williams. More important than any of that is Foster, like Williams, is supremely talented. Between his hard-running style (he has back-to-back 1,000-yard years) to his receiving ability, Foster is one of the best all-around backs in the league – and he's paid that way, too.

Despite a hamstring injury that forced him to miss the better part of the first three games, Foster ended up with 1,224 yards rushing, 53 receptions and 12 total touchdowns. Foster helped Houston get to the second round of the playoffs, even though the team was down to then-No. 3 quarterback T.J. Yates by the end of the season.

Now, Foster has people worried that he's messing with a good thing. Foster believes he's creating a healthier, stronger body that will make him a better player. He consulted doctors before choosing this path, which is more restrictive than a vegetarian diet. As it was, he had gotten down to eating red meat roughly once every six months. His logic was simple: He didn't feel that good when he ate a big meal that featured meat.





"I didn't just blindly stop eating meat. I know what I'm doing," Foster said.

"I saw a documentary in high school that really turned me on to getting aware of it. It didn't change my diet then, but it made me think about the myths about protein. I said a while ago that when I quit playing football, I would probably become a vegetarian and I thought I needed the protein. Then I did some research with doctors who in their world are considered kind of radical. To me, it's radical we have heart disease and 12-year-old kids with diabetes. "

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