Celebrate Veterans Day With Bill Muir | NutritionFacts.org

Bill Muir gave us the pleasure of speaking about his military and Registered Nursing experience, food access issues, writing his book and Veterans Day celebrations – we hope that you find this interview both informative and fascinating! We wish him success with it all. We wish for his continued success! We wish for everyone listening this interview success.

Thank you for being part of our military! We thank you for giving us this chance. Please tell us more about yourself, including when and why you decided to enlist, along with why and when enlistment occurred.
Hi everyone. My name is Bill Muir aka SGT VEGAN; I’m a combat veteran, Registered Nurse (RN) and 32-year vegan. After 9/11 happened while living abroad (Japan at that time), and as an expat felt deeply affected. Joining military service meant being part of something worthwhile that made a difference and could save both American lives as well as Afghan lives by joining during war time.
What branch and job were you in before leaving military service? Where were you serving?
I served in the 173rd Airborne Brigade as a combat medic before going on active service from 2005-2006 in Afghanistan.
What was your experience like of eating a plant-based diet while serving? Did any challenges with food access arise, if so how were these overcome?
Being vegan in the military depends entirely upon where and what your regiment requires of you. I found basic training very challenging due to constantly feeling hungry; after bootcamp though things improved considerably and my weight started coming back on again. Being stationed with the 173rd was truly life changing! Unfortunately, however, I gained weight despite all my running due to indulging in vegan pasta, pizza and gelato every single day! As soon as I deployed, I feared starvation mode. To my relief, anysoldier.com offers deployed service people all they require for good nutrition while on deployment. Conditions have improved for people following plant-based diets in recent months but until there are vegan MRES (field rations) or options in all military cafeterias it will remain difficult.
Why was being vegan important during your military career? For me, being vegan meant living out my beliefs while in combat zones was important in maintaining my identity as part of being true to who I was as an individual.
How has military service shaped who you are today, or would any specific aspect be of interest for anyone to hear about?
No matter who you are, joining the military will alter you profoundly on every level imaginable. While I had always seen movies and TV shows featuring military service as changing characters drastically, this came as quite an eye-opener to me personally!
After your military service, you earned a certificate in Vegan Culinary Arts from Atlantic Union College. What can education about whole plant foods do for people to achieve better health?
Change can be massively consequential – however people need to want it. Unfortunately, most of my patients have given up trying to live healthier lifestyles; all that remains for me to do is keep them from falling or dying while on my shift. There remains much anti-vegan propaganda within America as well; unfortunately many veterans still believe eating dead animals makes you more masculine than it actually does.
After leaving the military, you became a Registered Nurse. Can you share some insights into working within medical fields and which area of nursing you specialize in?
Working for Veterans Affairs as an RN has been both rewarding and harrowing. I find great satisfaction helping veterans in times of need – much as when I joined the military during times of war – but working with sick and dying patients takes its own unique toll both physically and psychologically. All in all, however, this job fulfills its purpose while I wish there had been another route into healthcare professions I might have pursued instead.
Are you still working at a VA hospital and witnessing conditions which might be prevented with healthy lifestyle choices like whole food plant-based eating?
My workplace at VA Medical/Surgical has heart monitors. In my experience, most cardiac problems are lifestyle related; meaning diet-, smoking- or drinking-related issues. While we cannot live forever, making simple lifestyle adjustments will increase the quality and length of our lives: go vegan, exercise daily and don’t smoke are three great ideas to consider!
Please tell us more about Vegan Strong. What was its source of inspiration?
Once I graduated culinary school, my initial plan was to open my own restaurant. Unfortunately, the economy collapsed shortly thereafter, prompting me to change course and become an RN instead. With my knowledge in plant-based health and living at hand, one day it hit me: why don’t I write an Army Field Manual style book on being vegan!?
Finally, what does Veterans Day mean to you and is there anything special you would like to share with other veterans on this special occasion?
Veterans Day is our day, so as a veteran you should use this occasion for whatever purposes are important to you – free meals or meaningful reflection are equally fine. As Veterans comprise around 6 percent of the population (and even less if serving during wartime), make sure that you eat right, take good care of yourself, and if assistance is required from VA; they’re there! GO VEGAN AND STAY VEGAN STRONG!
Visit my website or follow my work and updates via social media: IG @sgt_vegan and Facebook for the most up-to-date details and follow along for updates! Its For additional details please call “!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s);n=function()n.callMethod? “.
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