Getty Image / Manny Hernandez / Contributor
You may wonder what does the 325-pound, 7’1″ Shaq eat. Well, these days he’s eating plant-based cheeseburgers for his cheat meal from a restaurant called the “Slutty Vegan.”
Shaquille O’Neal revealed that he dabbles with plant-based foods during an interview on the “Urban Eats & Treats” TV show – which is a food and travel series produced by Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud Studios. His cheat meal is a beefless burger from Slutty Vegan in Atlanta.
“My friend introduced me to this place and it’s healthy. For me, diet is chicken, salad, steak, and fish – but I’m a burger guy,” Shaq tells host Rip Michaels. “So when I got to get that burger taste, when I got to look at a burger, grab a burger – I always come to Slutty Vegan.”
The Big Aristotle admitted that he still loves treating himself to fried chicken – like his fast-food chain Big Chicken specializes in.
The NBA legend conceded that he doesn’t cook, but when he did cook for himself in college that he could only prepare ramen. We can all understand that struggle.
Shaq isn’t the only celebrity who loves Slutty Vegan. Fellow NBA great Chris Paul, rapper Snoop Dogg, actor Will Smith, rapper Ludacris, actress Gabrielle Union-Wade, actress Taraji P. Henson, comedian Tiffany Haddish, activist Colin Kaepernick, comedian Russell Peters, producer Tyler Perry, La La Anthony, comedian Martin Lawrence, and rapper Missy Elliott
In March, O’Neal revealed that a visit to the doctor made him more conscious about his diet and what he puts into his body.
“When you play, you go to the doctor to get checked and a physical, right? But I ain’t played in 11, years so if I’m not playing, what would I go to the doctor for, right,” Shaq told GQ. “So when I went back to the doctor there was some stuff I never even knew.”
“They give you those certain words: ‘Hey man, you got sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can cause hypertension or strokes, you could die.’ I said, ‘What?’ ‘You could die.’ So now I’ve got to sleep with a sleep machine,” the Hall of Fame center said.
“Then, ‘All those painkillers you were taking, bro? Your kidneys are kind of weak. No more painkillers.’ I was dependent upon painkillers — not addicted,” he explained. “Certain days when I couldn’t move, I just popped one or two, just to get me going. But I’m off that now.”
“I had to really get checked out,” Shaq said. “When they hit you with that three-letter word that starts with D and ends with E, it changes stuff up.”