{"id":291,"date":"2019-01-31T07:39:36","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T07:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp\/?p=291"},"modified":"2019-01-31T07:39:36","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T07:39:36","slug":"becoming-a-vegetarian-athlete-no-meat-athletes-great-how-tos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lisajohnsonfitness.com\/becoming-a-vegetarian-athlete-no-meat-athletes-great-how-tos\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming a Vegetarian Athlete: No Meat Athlete\u2019s Great How To\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

I\u2019m a big fan of Matt Frazier over at No Meat Athlete<\/a>.  He is guest posting today about becoming a vegetarian athlete.  It\u2019s one of the better posts I\u2019ve read on the topic.  Thanks so much Matt and please check out all his info at the end of the piece. ~ Lisa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it was Food, Inc. <\/em>that did it. Maybe it was Oprah\u2019s \u201cvegan week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or perhaps your curiosity about a plant-based diet has nothing at all to do with ethics or the environment, and you\u2019re not even sure if you want to go all the way \u2014 you just want to see if it might help your running. After all, if Scott Jurek<\/a> can run 165 miles in 24 hours as a vegan, who\u2019s to say ditching the steak a few nights a week won\u2019t help you turn your four-hour marathon into a 3:50?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating Less Meat Can Make You a Better<\/em> Athlete<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a popular opinion, and I can\u2019t say I\u2019m all that surprised. Now that fat and carbohydrates have each taken their turn as \u201cthe culprit\u201d for our society\u2019s health issues, it\u2019s hard to imagine that a diet lower in protein is going to help anyone \u2014 especially someone putting their body through the rigors of athletic training week after week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But endurance athletes like Scott Jurek, Rich Roll, and Brendan Brazier are showing the world that lean meat and animal products aren\u2019t a requirement for excellence in sports. And it\u2019s not just endurance athletes, either \u2014 there are bodybuilders, MMA fighters, and elite-level performers in just about any sport you can imagine who are doing it all without animal products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even for a far-from-elite runner like myself, going vegetarian has made a tremendous difference in my level of fitness: Just six months after I gave up meat, I took 10 minutes off my marathon time and qualified for Boston, a goal I\u2019d been chasing for almost eight years prior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A chilli made with no meat or dairy, this includes chickpeas, pinto beans and red kidney beans, and a sauce made from tomato, garlic, onion, celery, ancho, jalapeno and sun dried tomatoes. It’s served with avocado and Spanish rice.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So Where Do<\/em> You Get Your Protein?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ah yes, every vegetarian athlete\u2019s favorite question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is that protein is in all kinds of foods besides meat, but generally in lower quantities. It takes some effort to make sure you get some protein in every meal, but it\u2019s not that hard. While it is possible to eat a high-protein vegetarian diet<\/a>, if your goal is to get the amount of protein recommended by many traditional diets for athletes, though, you\u2019ll have a tough time doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having heard that many endurance athletes thrive on diets with lower amounts of protein than is traditionally recommended, I took a chance on it, and I\u2019ve never felt better than I do now. I\u2019ll never go back to those crazy 1-gram-of-protein-per-pound-of-body-weight rules again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your vegetarian diet is pizza and potato chips, then you won\u2019t get enough protein. But if you eat a wide variety of foods and make smart choices to include some<\/em> protein at every meal and ensure that you\u2019re getting a balanced amino acid profile, chances are you\u2019ll feel better than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staple Foods<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This list represents some common foods that will help you meet the needs of the vegetarian diet for endurance athletes. Certainly there are many more foods one could include; the idea here is to list those that can be found in common grocery stores and whose tastes aren\u2019t too foreign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n