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Nutrition Advice for Vegetarians
A number of our customers have asked us what they need to eat to help with training (or recovery from training) if they have a vegetarian diet.
The problem is that a vegetarian's diet can be deficient in protein, iron, vitamin b12 and calcium. But with carefully tailored meal plans it is possible to make smart nutritional decisions to properly fuel your body throughout your training programme.
The extent of the issues depends on what type of vegetarian you are. We divide our veggie friends into four groups:
- Vegan: this group does not eat any animal produce at all
- Ovo-lacto: this group do not eat meat, fish or poultry but does eat dairy produce and eggs
- Semi-vegetarians: this group excludes red meat but do eat fish and poultry
- Part-time vegetarians: this group eats vegetarian dishes most of the time but eat meat occasionally
Protein can be derived from either dairy or egg produce or from the correct combination of "incomplete proteins" (so-called because they don't contain all of the essential amino acids) such as nuts and cereals, pulses and cereals, or nuts and vegetables.
Iron deficiency may also be a problem so alternative sources such as whole grains, nuts, green vegetables, pulses, soya produce and seeds such as sunflower sesame and pumpkin will help. As vitamin C enhances iron absorption citrus fruits should be included in the same meal to achieve better results.
Often in short supply in people following a vegan lifestyle is vitamin b12 which is found in meat, dairy and eggs. Alternative sources for b12 can be seaweed, soya and yeast extract.
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And calcium found in most dairy produce can be found in sesame seeds, sunflower seeds almonds, spinach, broccoli and pulses.
We must also mention some of the sports nutritional supplements out there. They can be a fantastic source of protein but not all are suitable for vegetarians. In our understanding, very few are suitable for vegans.
Maximuscle's promax products, progain and cyclone are all suitable for vegetarians. Again, the capsules contain gelatin.
PHD's pharma whey and pharma gain are suitable (except in strawberry flavour) and the "smart bar" is suitable but the capsules all contain gelatin, so aren't right for vegetarians
Reflex nutritional supplements can be used in everyday vegetarian life and include instant whey, quick release protein, instant mass, a protein and carbohydrate weight gainer, one stop, a protein, carbohydrate and creatine all-in-one formula and progen, a meal replacement product.
So, these are the ways that a vegetarian can supplement their diet to get the best results possible. This is just a brief introduction and if you need more information, please call us on 0800 056 4343 or visit one of our showrooms. Our team are here to help!
More information is available via our main articles page.
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