THE VEGETARIAN ATHLETE.

By Keith Cormican

“Vegetarian” encompasses a wide range of dietary practices, including eating vegetables & no animal products (vegans), eating vegetables & dairy products with eggs (ovo-lacto vegetarians) or without eggs (lacto vegetarians, & eating vegetables & fish or poultry.
Vegetarian diets are associated with a lower risk for several chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, & high blood pressure when compared to the typical western diet, which is high in fat, saturated fats, sugar & cholesterol. However, they have not been shown to be any better than non-vegetarian nutrition plans that are low in fat, sugar & cholesterol.
In fact, many strict vegetarian diets (vegans) are dangerously low in energy creating nutrients, protein, essential amino acids, iron, vitamin B12, calcium, vitamin D & zinc. The risk of these nutritional deficiencies is even greater during periods of growth such as infancy, pregnancy, childhood, adolescence & periods of growth caused by a muscle-strengthening program.
I would strongly recommend that vegetarians, especially vegans, take great care in selecting, planning, & preparing nutritious meals to ensure they are getting adequate amounts of essential nutrients.
Not only is it important to include the essential micronutrients (vitamins & minerals) & macronutrients (carbohydrates & proteins) in your nutrition plan, it is also helpful if each meal consists of one portion of carbohydrates & one portion of protein. If you attempt to increase your protein content for a meal by mixing two high-carbohydrate, moderate-protein sources (such as beans & rice), you will be getting a meal that has one portion of carbohydrates & less than one portion of protein. This results in fluctuating blood sugar levels which can increase fat storage, decrease fat burning & increase hunger. I would suggest adding a protein supplement to the nutrition plan. For example, a soy-protein-isolate powder which can be purchased at most health shops. By doing this, you will ensure that you are getting enough protein to support muscle growth while keeping calorie intake low enough to lose fat. It’s difficult enough for hard-training meat eaters to consume enough protein from whole foods alone, but for vegans it’s very difficult without consuming excess fats & carbohydrates.
In addition, I’d recommend taking a daily multivitamin as it is hard to get the essential micronutrients,- especially vitamin B12 which occurs naturally only in animal foods.