Plant-based diets?

[snyderd25]

Hi! I have been cycling for the last few months getting ready for a century (June 3rd in Tahoe) with Team in Training. I also battle my weight, and unfortunately, the scale has not moved with the training.

I've tried it all during the years... WW, Atkins, Paleo, South Beach, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, HMR, etc... Since my race is right around the corner, I don't want to do anything too drastic. But...

I recently watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and "Forks Over Knives" and it reallly struck a chord and made sense to me. I feel horrible all the time and wonder if this is the way to go.

Are any of you on plant-based diets and participating in endurance events?

Thanks!

[sookiesue]

I'm training for a century in August, and have been a ovo-lacto-pesce-vegetarian (I eat eggs, dairy, and occasionally fish, but no mammals, birds or reptiles) for over 15 years.

I rode 150 miles in two days last summer (my first event ever) for the Arthritis Foundation.

I found it easy enough to keep fueled without meat, but since I've been doing it for so long it wasn't anything new to me. I don't eat a ton of soy (tofu or tempeh) products but I do enjoy them.

If you're considering changing to a plant-based diet I think you should be able to do this without sacrificing your training. It is, however, easy to gain weight when learning how to eat vegetarian because swapping lean protein for things like cheese is an easy way to fuel, but not the healthiest way to go. Explore different beans, lentils, quinoa, and find what appeals to you, taste and texture.

Finding healthy, tasty alternatives to meat does take a little trial and error, as there are lots of meat substitutes out there that are delicious and many that are wretched, some that work with one's digestive system and others that can be, well...not so pleasant.

For fuel during rides I love the oatcakes from the Super Natural Every Day cookbook by Heidi Swanson. They're full of oats, nuts, and coconut oil so they fill me up and give me energy while riding, but are also small enough to pack easily.

I'd suggest getting some vegetarian cookbooks from the library and leafing through them to find recipes that sound good to you, then try a few out before committing the cash to books. Once you get the hang of it you can take your old favorite recipes and adapt them to be vegetarian.

Good luck with whatever you try, and best wishes for your century!
S

[limewave]

I have kids running circles around me so I can't write much.

But . . .

I eat a plant based diet and participate in Endurance events
but I do eat eggs.

Quinoa, beans, lentils, and whey protein have all helped bolster my diet.

[Susan Otcenas]

I ate like sookie sue for over 10 years with no trouble cycling or doing triathlon. Her caution about WHAT you sub in for meat is very important. If by "plant based" you switch to fruits and veggies, then GREAT! But it's VERY easy to fall into the trap of eating lots of starchy breads, cereals, grains, potatoes, etc, all of which are just fine on a vegetarian and oftentimes even on a vegan diet. That will not aid in weight loss (ask me how I know this... )

Please don't take this next statement the wrong way, but in general, I find that diets with "I can't eat x" type of restrictiveness issues are not the way to go. Eliminating major food groups just tends to make you focus on the negatives, and often end up making you want them more. It's better to learn how to properly portion control on a eating plan of INclusiveness. Of course, many of us have trigger foods (for me it's salty nuts) that are sometimes best excluded from our households for a short period of time to avoid temptation, but in general, I think we should learn about how, why and what we CAN eat to have a healthy "diet" (by which I mean healthy way of eating).

[Atlas]

Hi, both my boyfriend and I are vegan and have been for many years. I do shorter rides, closer to metric centuries, but he does lots of centuries and longer endurance events.

Our lifestyle/diet is about environmental issues more than health so we eat healthy but not always Potato chips are still vegan and I make a lot of cookies. That said, plant based convenience foods are harder to find/more expensive than they're meat/dairy counterparts. So by default you end up cooking at home a lot which is much healthier anyway.

My favorite snacks on rides are luna bars, lara bars, primal strips, peanut butter sandwiches, and dates.

It's definitely possible to be an endurance athlete on a plant-based diet. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[OakLeaf]

I'd say, unless you have a religious or ethical reason for not wanting to eat foods of animal origin, you'll be better off eating them.

Simple reason: you can get most everything you need from actual food, and don't have to be chasing nutrition from highly processed powders and pills.

If you look at vegan athletes like Scott Jurek (just one example who comes to the top of my head), most of his diet is extremely healthy, but he has to supplement with protein powders, etc.

I actually feel much healthier now that I've started eating meat once or twice a week. I have more energy, I recover quicker from long efforts, I get stronger quicker, my nails aren't brittle. I don't think protein is the only thing that I was lacking, or even quality protein, but I wouldn't be able to put my finger on what else it might have been.

May I suggest (again, provided you don't have a religious or ethical reason for eliminating animal products) reducing but not eliminating them (except possibly do try a challenge diet to see if you might be allergic to dairy - food allergies can contribute to weight gain, among other things, and dairy products are highly allergenic). Keep your budget for animal product the same, but spend your money on high-quality local meat, which will probably reduce your consumption by at least half. Something to think about: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/m...tml?ref=health

[Atlas]

If by "plant based" you switch to fruits and veggies, then GREAT! But it's VERY easy to fall into the trap of eating lots of starchy breads, cereals, grains, potatoes, etc, all of which are just fine on a vegetarian and oftentimes even on a vegan diet. That will not aid in weight loss (ask me how I know this... )

This is such a great point. We try to eat a lot of vegetables and home cooked meals but I have several vegan friends who rely on meat/cheese substitutes and while those don't have the cholesterol and saturated fat that the real things do they still aren't what I would call healthy. I don't know what your meals are like now and if a plant-based diet would drastically change that or if you already eat a variety of veggies. Someone else mentioned checking out cookbooks from the library and I agree with that. There's one called Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It's all whole food based with lots of whole grains, legumes, and veggies. It also has the nutritional information on all the recipes.

[shootingstar]

Most important is figure out healthy combinations of food for each day. And eat up to only 80% full (in how your tummy feels). Instead of a prescibed "type" of diet.

As for the meat vs. no meat. I don't create an absolute but instead just only have lean meat /seafood 3-4 times per month. A fistful of meat portion each time or less.

I know that TE discusses here and enough members use the nutrient replacements in their liquids, etc. But I've never tried them.
I just picked up a freebie energy waffle shaped snack from a bike store info. table at bike to work week. I guess I'll save it for a 100 km. ride or so.

Perhaps try eating breakfast and lunch decently. Then eat alot less for supper. Unless you're going out for a long ride in evening. Eat supper no later than 7:00pm if you can.
I found for a job with a ridiculously long commute, I didn't eat until 8:00 pm and hadn't eaten much during the day. As a result, I didn't lose weight. My body adjusted to this insane starvation pattern!

Join in our thread under this forum topic category to see the running thread of what other people eat.

Severely cut down on processed foods. ie. Instant noodles has a ton of salt and other chemicals. Not as tasty as light pasta with some veggies.

[Tri Girl]

My favorite snacks on rides are luna bars, lara bars, primal strips, peanut butter sandwiches, and dates.

I agree with this! (except I prefer almond butter)


I have been vegan for six months now. I had 2 motivations:
1. my cholesterol was WAY too high and my doc was about to put me on statins (and I do NOT want to go on statins) so I drastically changed my diet (and my cholesterol has lowered 60 pts). and
2. I was flexitarian (vegetarian mostly, but occasional fish) for 3 years and I've always had ethical reservations about eating animals.

I'm an endurance athlete. I did an Ironman triathlon last September (when I was vegetarian- only eating dairy and cheese), and I did an ultramarathon in November just after becoming vegan.
It CAN be done. I normally think that eliminating any one thing is not the smartest thing to do, but in this case, I think it's actually been beneficial. At first I subbed a LOT of starchy things, but then once the initial shock of the dietary changes settled in, I've actually really begun to open up my eating options. There is plenty of protein in vegetables and things like quinoa.
A book that helped me get started was Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet (an OK read, but helpful hints) and Brendan Brazier's Thrive: The vegan nutrition guide for optimal performance in sports and life (he's a former pro triathlete who was competitive on the Ironman level).

I actually feel much healthier now that I've started eating meat once or twice a week. I have more energy, I recover quicker from long efforts, I get stronger quicker, my nails aren't brittle.

It's funny how different people can be. Now that I'm only eating a plant-based diet, my nails are growing again and are very strong (they used to be so brittle I never got the chance to trim them- and I have to trim every other week now or they get too long). I, too, find that I recover more quickly from exercise and I sleep better (and all the plumbing functions normally). Every person is different. My doc didn't think a plant-based diet was the way to go, but I'm doing well on it. I get full bloodwork done every 3 months to check my protein levels, glucose, cholesterol, lipids, etc just to make sure my body is functioning as it should. So far so good.


If this is the way you want to go, please look into it and be smart about the dietary changes you make. It can be done and done well.
Good luck to you!!! (and keep asking if you have any other questions)


P.S.- Those two movies made an impression on me, too. So did Vegucated and Food Inc.

[Thorn]

Mmmm...Primal Strips.....mmmmm....probably my one weak spot for processed vegan, but they make a quick, tasty protein bomb when I'm on the road.

I agree with the statements about watching what you substitute and finding a good recipe resource. To avoid high salt, high calorie substitutes you'll find yourself cooking more, so building up the recipe library will help.

Additional sources:
http://www.drmirkin.com/ -- This is the doctor that the Road Bike Rider newsletter often quotes. His stuff is a pratical balance, backed by research. His recipes are not all vegan, but are simple and nutrituous.

http://nutritionfacts.org/ -- no recipes, just motivation;

There is a lot of research that says you can do what you want, but it will take a little bit of work to get started. Good luck!

[snyderd25]

Wow! So much insight. Thanks ladies! What I was really thinking was to try and increase fruits, veggies, and beans until century ride is over... still eat meat and eggs but maybe cut back. I was thinking I would then try a juice fast upon my return.... and then transition into actual fruits, veggies, grans, and beans for a few weeks. And see how I feel about meat then...

I agree that the minute I decide to cut something out, it's the only thing I can think of eating! So I don't really have any true vegan aspirations, but I might be interested in cutting down on animal products. Protein is the big concern... there seems to be a lot of debate on how much one actually needs... and because I lug around a lot of extra weight, I really have some post workout fatigue after the tough rides and don't want to cut back on protein if that will make it worse.

All I know for sure is that I seem to need a factory reset for my body and I thought this might be a healthy, productive way to do it... but maybe not!

[VeganBikeChick]

You can be an endurance athlete. And you can do it on a plant-based diet alone. And for everyone who worries about "not enough protein" concerns, there is not a "protein deficiency" going around. It's been estimated that everyone eats far too much protein as it is.

I highly recommend "Appetite for Reduction", by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It's a low-cal, low-fat, but NOT low-flavor vegan cookbook. She heavily supplements with veggies, and all of the recipes are fantastic. I have nothing to gain by recommending this cookbook, it's just one that's my favorite and has helped me lose a bit of weight.

No matter what route you choose, good luck to you!

[OakLeaf]

It's been estimated that everyone eats far too much protein as it is.

Not "everyone."

The "average American diet" that includes meat every day - for a lot of people, meat at more than one meal every day - has way more protein than anyone needs. Eliminate or even reduce the meat, and you've automatically eliminated the excess protein.

Endurance athletes need more protein than the "average" sedentary American, and I'm not sure a vegan could get the amount of protein the "average American diet" includes even if you ate nothing but protein powder.

Personally, at 120#, I need at least 100g protein a day when I'm training for an endurance event with body weight training only. More than that if I'm doing heavy gym work. I hate counting grams of anything, but I've done it, and I can't get near that without either animal products, or a highly processed protein supplement.

I'm not telling the OP not to do it (just suggesting ). There are a lot of professional athletes who do it very successfully (although I still can't come up with anyone other than Scott Jurek - help me out here ). I am asking her to be very conscious of why she's doing it, and very aware of the effort it will take to get proper nutrition.

[redrhodie]

I'm not telling the OP not to do it (just suggesting ). There are a lot of professional athletes who do it very successfully (although I still can't come up with anyone other than Scott Jurek - help me out here ). I am asking her to be very conscious of why she's doing it, and very aware of the effort it will take to get proper nutrition.

http://davezabriskie.com/?p=647

Dave Zabriskie is vegan.

[limewave]

I'm a big believer in that bodies are different. There is not one correct combination of food that is the silver bullet for everyone. I have never liked meat, not even as a small child. My daughter is the same way. My son, however, loves meat.

Once I figured out how to eat a balanced vegetarian diet, my body was happy! I know that's a weird phrase, but I can't think of a better word. A diet bolstered with greens, legumes, seeds, nuts, eggs, veggies, fruit

However, 1-2 times a year DH and I will go out to a nice restaurant and all I can think about is steak. So I order the steak and it will seem like the best meal I've ever had. After that, meat won't sound appetizing again for at least 6 months.

I don't think my husband could function on a vegetarian diet. He doesn't eat a lot of meat, but he needs to have it a few meals a week--his body craves it.