Vegetarian Eating : AIS : Australian Sports Commission. The popularity of vegetarianism in athletes has been fuelled by the success stories of athletes who are world champions and also vegetarians – Dave Scott (vegan and five- times winner of the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon) Martina Navratilova (tennis and Edwin Moses (Olympic Hurdling Champion). For athletes, reasons are likely to be similar to those of the general population. However, some athletes may adopt a vegetarian or . Commonly, these athletes replace meat (red meat, chicken and fish) in their diet with bulky, high fibre foods or avoid eating red- meat, relying heavily on chicken and fish as protein staples. Failing to include suitable vegetarian meat alternatives in their daily meal plan, these athletes are at risk of inadequate dietary intakes to maintain health and support the demands of daily training. Occasionally, this may be a red flag for disordered eating and increase the risk for the female athlete triad. Protein in the Vegan Diet. Summary: It is easy for a vegan diet to meet recommendations for protein, as long as calorie intake is adequate. Strict protein combining is.
Because of this association, coaches and sports medicine professionals should be alert when an athlete becomes a vegetarian and should ensurethat appropriate weight is maintained. Interestingly, studies reporting on the suitably of vegetarian diets to support sports performance have included . In these studies, nutritional inadequacies identified are more likely to reflect athletes that display restrictive food behaviours then athletes who are following a well- chosen vegetarian diet. Categories of Vegetarian Eating. Many diets fall under the umbrella of vegetarian eating. Type. Comments. Fruitarian. Diet consists of raw or dried fruits, nuts, seeds, honey and vegetable oil. A list of vegetarian high-protein low-carb foods, especially suitable for people who are trying not to eat a high-carb diet.Macrobiotic. Excludes all animal foods, dairy products and eggs; uses only unprocessed, unrefined, . In the purest sense, excludes all animal products including honey, gelatine, silk, wool, leather and animal derived food additives. Lacto- vegetarian. Excludes all animal foods and eggs. Does however include milk and milk products. Lacto- ovo- vegetarian. Excludes all animal foods, however includes milk, milk products and eggs. In theory, if a vegetarian diet was high in carbohydrate and met or exceeded recommendations for other nutrients and energy (kilojoules) then it would match the ideal or recommended diet for training and recovery, particularly for endurance athletes. Vegetarian athletes, particularly children and adolescents, may have difficulty meeting the daily energy requirements to support general growth along with the added demands of training. Legumes, whole grain cereals and grains, soybeans and many vegetables and fruits are high- fibre, relatively low- fat foods. For the vegan athlete, incorporating energy dense foods such as nuts, tofu, tempeh, textured vegetable protein and commercially prepared meat analogues helps increase energy density of the diet. For lacto- ovo vegetarians, the addition of cheese, yoghurt and custard further removes bulk from the diet and makes if easier for athletes to maintain energy balance, particularly during periods of intense training or competition. Protein – are vegetarian diets adequate? Although most vegetarian athletes meet or exceed recommendations for total protein intake, diets of vegetarians often provide less protein than those of non- vegetarians. Thus, some athletes may need to target protein rich vegetarian foods in order to meet the added demands of training and competition. This is a particular issue for athletes who avoid all animal proteins such as milk and eggs (i. There is no requirement to include complementary proteins at each meal as long as a variety of protein sources are included throughout the day. Combining different types of plant foods allows low levels of amino acids in one food to be complemented by high levels of amino acids in the other (i. Furthermore, as plant proteins are less well digested than animal proteins, vegetarian athletes are advised to consume approximately 1. This is of particular concern for vegetarians with relatively low energy budgets. These athletes should pay extra attention in choosing nutrient rich foods and fluids in order to ensure protein intakes meet current recommendations. See our factsheet on protein requirements for athletes. What about other nutrients? Recent revisions to population nutrient standards in both the USA and Canada have indicated that people consuming vegetarian diets have higher recommendations for zinc, iron and possibly calcium to adjust for the low bioavailability of these nutrients in vegetarian diets. For vegetarian athletes, this issue is complicated as the requirements for these nutrients are likely to be higher than population standards. Iron is of particular concern because plant sources of iron have low bioavailability compared with animal sources. Iron stores of vegetarians are generally lower than those reported for omnivores. Vegetarian athletes, especially women, may be at greater risk for developing iron deficiency or anaemia. Routine monitoring of iron status is recommended for vegetarian athletes, especially during periods of rapid growth (i. A key issue for athletes who are vegetarian or . Creatine supplementation appears to enhance the ability of athletes (some, not all) to train and recover more quickly from repeated maximal efforts. The performance enhancing effects of creatine supplementation are greatest when initial creatine stores are low. Not surprisingly, several research studies have demonstrated that vegetarians have lower total creatine and lower muscle creatine stores than non- vegetarians. Given this, you would suspect that the performance benefits of creatine supplementation in vegetarians with low creatine muscle stores would be more pronounced than athletes that eat meat. Many supermarkets now provide vegetarian styles of mince, sausages or “luncheon meats”. You may need help to experiment with vegetarian meat alternatives. Specialist vegetarian cookbooks can provide recipe ideas and special tips for cooking with legumes, soy and other vegetarian meat analogues. Sanitarium Health Food Company is the largest vegetarian company within Australia and New Zealand, and produce numerous nutrition resources including cookbooks, nutritional product analysis brochures and newsletters. If you have recently converted to a vegetarian diet, you may find that you lose weight that you didn’t intend to lose. This is a common result when bulky, high- fibre foods such as beans and legumes are used as a replacement for meat, chicken and fish. Athletes in heavy training or undergoing growth spurts have very high energy requirements. It is sometimes difficult to eat enough when meals are based on bulky food requiring lots of chewing. In this situation, it is good to find compact, energy- dense vegetarian foods – for example commercially available meat analogues, textured vegetable protein, tempeh, tofu, nuts, and peanut or nut butter. For lacto- ovo- vegetarians, low- fat milk, reduced- fat cheese and other low- fat dairy products are also low in bulk and energy dense. Soy alternatives to these dairy products are available for vegan athletes. Be sure to include protein rich foods at meals, especially at the midday meal. Many lacto- ovo- vegetarians use cheese as a convenient meat alternative, whereas vegans may fail to use suitable protein alternatives altogether. As an athlete you may have limited time for meal preparation, particularly at lunch. Convenient meat alternatives for lunch include ready- prepared beans (eg. Breakfast cereals and low oxalate green vegetables such as broccoli, and bok choy also provide calcium, but it is important to have an everyday eating plan that provides at least 3 serves of calcium- rich foods. For most people, “milks”, “yoghurts” and “cheeses” are the easiest foods to include in their eating plan. For the Vegan: Vitamin B1. Dairy foods and eggs provide sufficient vitamin B1. As many athletes have increased requirements for iron and non- haem iron sources are more poorly absorbed by the body compared with haem iron sources, it is important for vegetarian athletes to be aware of iron rich foods and factors that inhibit or enhance iron absorption. The best sources of iron in a vegetarian diet include breakfast cereals (especially those commercially fortified with iron – check the nutrition information panel), bread, textured vegetable protein, legumes, dried beans, gluten- based vegetarian meat analogues, nuts, dried fruits and green leafy vegetables. Replacing mince in a lasagne with textured vegetable protein or brown lentils provides a suitable alternative to meat. Tofu is a great substitute for chicken in most recipes. Although some people complain that tofu is bland and tasteless, there are many seasoned options on the market.
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