{"id":17069,"date":"2025-05-21T08:02:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T12:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=17069"},"modified":"2025-05-19T14:35:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T18:35:01","slug":"learn-his-plant-based-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2025\/05\/21\/learn-his-plant-based-secrets\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn His Plant-Based Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Malcolm<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After trading burgers for beetroot, former basketball player Malcolm Regisford \u201919 is sharing his passion for health and wellness.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When basketball player Malcolm Regisford \u201919 sustained an ankle injury during his third year at Colgate, he followed his doctors\u2019 orders for recovery: physical therapy and plenty of rest. But after nearly 10 months, when the pain and soreness lingered, the California native made one big change to his healing regimen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI cut out all animal products and switched to a plant-based diet,\u201d he says, heeding the advice of a family friend \u2014 an NBA trainer and longtime vegan, who explained how animal products can contribute to inflammation and hinder healing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Regisford challenged himself to overhaul his diet for just a few weeks, trading staples like chicken breast, beef, and (his favorite) mac and cheese for a wholly plant-based approach. He \u201cgot creative\u201d in Frank Dining Hall, pairing vegetables and salad greens with plenty of nuts, beans, and seeds for added protein, and experimenting with oils, herbs, and spices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was dramatic. \u201cIt was a pretty radical shift in how I felt physically, mentally, and spiritually,\u201d he says. With a new and \u201cprofound mental clarity,\u201d Regisford was back on the court for his final season, where the 6’8″, 225-pound forward felt stronger and sharper than ever, wrapping up his college basketball tenure as one of Colgate\u2019s all-time top rebounders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience made such an impression on Regisford that he began to rethink his career goals. Instead of pursuing a future in professional basketball as he\u2019d always planned, Regisford followed his newfound passion for vegan cooking and nutrition \u2014 a path that would soon inspire thousands of others through social media and, later, culminate in a book featuring Regisford\u2019s recipes and wellness philosophies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Changing my diet] was so powerful for me that, for the first time, I started to think about what my life could look like outside of basketball.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating in 2019, he headed back to Los Angeles and scored a series of jobs as a production assistant \u2014 including gigs with NBC and Buzzfeed \u2014 exposing him to the world of digital content creation. In his free time, Regisford continued to experiment with vegan ingredients, creating new recipes that piqued the curiosity of colleagues and friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople would see what I was eating for lunch and say, \u2018That looks and smells good, what is it?\u2019\u201d he recalls. \u201cAnd they were always surprised that it was vegan.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A videographer friend encouraged him to start posting his content to social media \u2014 a hobby that took off in spring 2020, when the pandemic afforded Regisford more time at home to perfect his recipes and short-form video style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowly, his snappy TikToks featuring recipes like chickpea fried rice, beet carpaccio, and plantain lasagna had earned him a following among vegans and meat eaters alike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy message has always been [that] you don\u2019t need to change your whole life and become vegan, but I do want to inspire curiosity, and a great meal can be an entry point to this lifestyle,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Malcolm<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By 2023, with his top videos racking up more than 800,000 views, Regisford was approached by Mango Media, a publisher interested in putting his recipes and wellness tips into a book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Released in August 2024, Tapped In Wellness: Lasting Performance and Health Through Mindful Living and Eating<\/em> is a straightforward primer for anyone curious about a plant-based diet and its benefits. Regisford\u2019s most viral recipes \u2014 like his famed lentil smashburger tacos \u2014 are paired with vivid photos and easy-to-follow instructions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe book has been a great way to reach a different group of people, and I\u2019m really proud of it,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s still kind of surreal to see a book with my name and face on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n

Malcolm Regisford\u2019s plant-based kitchen staples<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

\u2192 All the mushrooms.\u201cThey have a texture that can mimic a lot of different meats and are good for brain health too.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 Coconut milk \u201cimparts a rich creaminess to both sweet and savory dishes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 Nutritional yeast \u201ccan be a substitute for cheese in recipes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 Smoked paprika. \u201cIt brings a lot of flavor, especially if you\u2019re going for the meat vibe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 His signature \u201cFlavor Bomb\u201d spice blend includes nutritional yeast, thyme, pepper, and onion and garlic powders. Incorporate into recipes or sprinkle on top for a \u201cdeep umami, slightly cheesy flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How former Colgate basketball player Malcom Regisford ’19 found his passion for vegan cooking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":17085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2858,2022,2864,2865,2280,2859,2860,2861,2862,2863],"coauthors":[1720],"class_list":["post-17069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-endeavor","tag-anti-inflammatory-foods","tag-health-and-wellness","tag-malcolm-regisford","tag-mindful-eating","tag-plant-based-diet","tag-plant-based-performance","tag-tapped-in-wellness","tag-vegan-athlete","tag-vegan-cooking","tag-vegan-tiktok-recipes"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-4rj","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/04\/endeavor-power-plant-3-042825.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17069"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17897,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17069\/revisions\/17897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17069"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}