How Top Athletes Thrive on a 100% Plant-Based Diet | Ft. Saurabh Netravalkar
Fri Feb 06 2026
Saurabh Netravalkar joins Sustainability with Shreya for a conversation that flips the usual script on fitness, masculinity, and what it actually means to be strong. A fast left arm bowler and international cricketer for Team USA, he also codes full time as a software engineer at Oracle, and he does it all powered by a whole food plant based lifestyle. Instead of giving generic motivation, Saurabh breaks down the real system behind his balance: complete focus when it is time to perform, clean context switching when it is time to work, and the kind of disciplined routine that makes consistency feel inevitable rather than heroic.The episode goes deeper than diet tips. Saurabh shares how his shift started with health and performance, then became rooted in yoga, ahimsa, and a brutally honest look at personal hypocrisy. He talks about the early transition phase most people hide, the mock meat phase, the awkward social questions, and the moment the “why” finally locks in. From there, the discussion expands into the psychology behind resistance to veganism and why people defend what they already know, even when something inside them senses it is wrong. The result is not a moral lecture, it is a model for how clarity changes behavior.Practicality stays front and center: what he eats, how he trains, how he travels, how he handles B12 and D3, and how he approaches plant based parenting with his wife and their young daughter. The conversation also widens into the less obvious parts of the supply chain, from sports equipment to everyday products, and why cruelty is often hidden in plain sight. By the end, Saurabh connects sustainability to dharma, not as a belief, but as a way of living in harmony with nature, seeing the self in everything, and letting right action follow naturally. This is for athletes, busy professionals, and anyone who wants performance and peace without outsourcing ethics to convenience.Timestamps-0:00 Cricketer and software engineer dual life1:30 Vegan diet and athletic performance3:00 Managing cricket with a full time tech job5:10 Daily routine of an elite athlete8:15 Why I switched to a vegan diet12:10 High performance plant based diet26:15 Fitness, recovery, and stamina results1:01:30 Sustainability, dharma, and life philosophyWhere bold ideas meet brewed conversations. ☕ Sustainable Tea with Shreya is India’s biggest sustainability podcast, hosted by climate communicator and plant based lifestyle advocate Shreya Ghodawat. In each episode, we sit down with change makers across the globe, think climate scientists, clean-tech innovators, chefs, ethical fashion founders, indigenous leaders, and more, talking about everything that matters in a bid to live better. This is a space for curious minds and conscious conversations. For people who care, question, and want to understand what sustainability looks like in the real world, from policy to personal choices. If you're done with surface-level conversations and want to hear us spill the tea on how everyday choices connect to change the impact. Pull up a chair, sip on your favourite brew, and explore insights that move the needle.
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Saurabh Netravalkar joins Sustainability with Shreya for a conversation that flips the usual script on fitness, masculinity, and what it actually means to be strong. A fast left arm bowler and international cricketer for Team USA, he also codes full time as a software engineer at Oracle, and he does it all powered by a whole food plant based lifestyle. Instead of giving generic motivation, Saurabh breaks down the real system behind his balance: complete focus when it is time to perform, clean context switching when it is time to work, and the kind of disciplined routine that makes consistency feel inevitable rather than heroic.The episode goes deeper than diet tips. Saurabh shares how his shift started with health and performance, then became rooted in yoga, ahimsa, and a brutally honest look at personal hypocrisy. He talks about the early transition phase most people hide, the mock meat phase, the awkward social questions, and the moment the “why” finally locks in. From there, the discussion expands into the psychology behind resistance to veganism and why people defend what they already know, even when something inside them senses it is wrong. The result is not a moral lecture, it is a model for how clarity changes behavior.Practicality stays front and center: what he eats, how he trains, how he travels, how he handles B12 and D3, and how he approaches plant based parenting with his wife and their young daughter. The conversation also widens into the less obvious parts of the supply chain, from sports equipment to everyday products, and why cruelty is often hidden in plain sight. By the end, Saurabh connects sustainability to dharma, not as a belief, but as a way of living in harmony with nature, seeing the self in everything, and letting right action follow naturally. This is for athletes, busy professionals, and anyone who wants performance and peace without outsourcing ethics to convenience.Timestamps-0:00 Cricketer and software engineer dual life1:30 Vegan diet and athletic performance3:00 Managing cricket with a full time tech job5:10 Daily routine of an elite athlete8:15 Why I switched to a vegan diet12:10 High performance plant based diet26:15 Fitness, recovery, and stamina results1:01:30 Sustainability, dharma, and life philosophyWhere bold ideas meet brewed conversations. ☕ Sustainable Tea with Shreya is India’s biggest sustainability podcast, hosted by climate communicator and plant based lifestyle advocate Shreya Ghodawat. In each episode, we sit down with change makers across the globe, think climate scientists, clean-tech innovators, chefs, ethical fashion founders, indigenous leaders, and more, talking about everything that matters in a bid to live better. This is a space for curious minds and conscious conversations. For people who care, question, and want to understand what sustainability looks like in the real world, from policy to personal choices. If you're done with surface-level conversations and want to hear us spill the tea on how everyday choices connect to change the impact. Pull up a chair, sip on your favourite brew, and explore insights that move the needle.