With statistics pointing to nearly half of the Black population being obese, fitness expert John Lewis is on a mission to spread the word about veganism.
The 40-year-old started his nutrition brand, Bad Ass Vegan, in 2010. He’s hoping to encourage more and more Black people to try the vegan lifestyle.
As a co-founder of VeganSmart, Lewis and his Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brothers created a combination of vegan shakes and delicious recipes to fight the obesity that’s plaguing the Black community.
“As Black people, we’re about taste. So we started with taste first, then we worked on the nutrients,” Lewis told Black Enterprise about the VeganSmart products.
At age 13, the Missouri-raised health ambassador was 315 pounds. He eventually lost the weight as a football and basketball player in high school and in college.
After receiving his MBA from Nova Southeastern University in Florida, according to his website, he created Bad Ass Vegan to educate people on plant-based nutrition.