Meet Torre Washington: 35+ Years Vegan and Still Going Strong
What does it look like to be vegan for more than 35 years?
For Torre Washington, it has meant building a life around his values, staying committed to his health, and continuing to challenge himself year after year.
Torre is a vegan bodybuilder, entrepreneur, and longtime advocate for plant-based living. He has been vegan for more than 35 years and has spent decades showing people what is possible when you combine plant-based nutrition, training, discipline, and consistency.
We recently sat down with Torre as part of our Black Men. Plant Powered. series to talk about his journey, growing up vegetarian, discovering Rastafari and Ital living, bodybuilding, nutrition, and what it means to see more Black men thriving on a plant-based lifestyle.
His Plant-Based Journey Started Early
Torre's journey with plant-based eating started when he was young. He was raised vegetarian by his mother, who was a Seventh-day Adventist. His early experiences with vegetarian food gave him a foundation that stayed with him throughout his life.
His family eventually moved him to Jamaica, where he spent several years living with his grandparents. His experiences there, along with his later connection to Rastafari, played an important role in shaping his understanding of food and lifestyle. As he learned more about Rastafari and Ital living, Torre began thinking more deeply about the connection between what he believed and what he put on his plate. That eventually led him to veganism.
Today, he has been vegan for more than 35 years.
From Engineering to Bodybuilding
Torre's career path has changed quite a bit over the years. He studied engineering and worked in corporate America before eventually making bodybuilding his full-time career. Fitness became a major part of his life, and over the years he continued developing his training and nutrition while competing as a natural bodybuilder.
His journey is a great example of what can happen when you give yourself permission to pursue something different. Torre didn't follow a traditional path into bodybuilding, and he certainly didn't follow the traditional path when it came to nutrition.
What Does a Vegan Bodybuilder Eat?
One of the questions people often have when they hear that Torre is a vegan bodybuilder is:
Where do you get your protein?
Torre's answer is pretty straightforward. Protein is found in plants, and there are plenty of plant-based foods that can contribute to your overall protein intake.
Some of the foods he regularly eats include tofu, seitan, fava bean tofu, mock meats, rice, Japanese sweet potatoes, sprouts, asparagus, green beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and bok choy.
During bodybuilding prep, Torre tracks his macronutrients and adjusts his intake based on his goals. At the time of our interview, he was eating around 190 grams of protein per day.
Of course, everyone's nutritional needs are different, especially when you're comparing a competitive bodybuilder's diet to the average person's diet. Torre's routine is specific to his training and competition goals. But his experience does show that plant-based eating can support a very active lifestyle.
Training, Discipline and Consistency
Bodybuilding requires a lot of consistency. Torre talked about the importance of staying focused, being patient, and continuing to work toward your goals even when progress takes time. Those lessons have carried over into other areas of his life as well.
For him, strength includes discipline, having strong morals and ethics, and being comfortable making your own decisions. That last part stood out to me because choosing a plant-based lifestyle can sometimes mean going against what people around you are doing. Torre has been doing that for decades.
Why Seeing Black Men Thrive Plant-Based Matters
One of the reasons we wanted Torre to be part of Black Men. Plant Powered. is because representation matters. There are still a lot of stereotypes around what a Black man is supposed to eat, how he is supposed to look, and what strength is supposed to mean.
Torre brings a different example to the conversation. He's a Black man who has been vegan for more than three decades. He's a bodybuilder. He's competed naturally. He's built his career around fitness. And he's continued to live according to the values that brought him to veganism in the first place.
Seeing people who look like us living this lifestyle can make plant-based eating feel more familiar and more attainable. And that's one of the things we want to highlight through this series. There are so many different ways to be plant-based. There are different reasons people choose this lifestyle, different foods people eat, and different ways people incorporate it into their families, careers, fitness routines, and everyday lives.
Torre's story is one example.
Preparing for the Mr. Olympia Stage at 52
When we recorded this interview, Torre was preparing for his next bodybuilding competition and had qualified for the Mr. Olympia stage. At 52 years old, he was continuing to train and compete at an extremely high level. He also competes naturally and has made that commitment an important part of his bodybuilding journey.
For Torre, competition gives him an opportunity to see his progress and continue pushing himself. He talked about bodybuilding as an arena where he can display his improvement and see how far his hard work has taken him. That's a pretty powerful way to look at competition. You're constantly working toward becoming better than you were before.
Winning Without Compromise
Torre uses the phrase "Winning Without Compromise" to describe his approach. It connects his commitment to natural bodybuilding with his vegan lifestyle and the values that have guided him throughout his journey. He's choosing to compete while staying true to the standards he has set for himself. That's something I really appreciated about our conversation.
Everyone's version of health and wellness will look different, but knowing your values and being willing to stand by them can make a huge difference.
What He Wants People to Remember
When we asked Torre about the legacy he wants to leave behind, his message was simple:
Don't let obstacles stop you.
Don't settle for mediocrity.
Keep chasing your dreams and your purpose.
Go be great.
I think that's a message we can all take something from. Sometimes we allow our circumstances, other people's opinions, or the idea that something has "always been done this way" to keep us from trying something new. Torre's life is a reminder that you can create your own path.
His Advice? Don't Complicate It.
One of my favorite moments from the interview came at the end when Torre shared his advice for people who may be interested in plant-based living: Don't complicate it.
And honestly, I couldn't agree more. Plant-based eating doesn't have to be complicated. Start with foods you already enjoy. Find plant-based versions of meals your family loves. Learn a few easy recipes. Try new foods when you're ready. Figure out what works for your lifestyle and build from there.
That's what we try to do at Afro-Vegan Society; make plant-based living feel approachable, affordable, and familiar.
Black Men. Plant Powered.
Torre's story is exactly why we created Black Men. Plant Powered.
We want to create space for Black men to share their experiences with veganism and plant-based living in their own words. We're talking about food, health, fitness, family, culture, relationships, career, and the everyday realities of choosing a plant-based lifestyle. And we're introducing you to Black men who are doing some pretty amazing things while living plant-based.
Torre has been doing this for more than 35 years.
He's still training.
He's still competing.
He's still learning.
And he's still challenging himself to see what he's capable of.
We hope his story inspires you to think about your own health, your own goals, and maybe even what you thought was possible for you.
Watch the full interview with Torre Washington and hear more about his journey, his approach to bodybuilding and nutrition, and what keeps him going after more than three decades of vegan living.
And as Torre said: Don't complicate it.
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