Vegetarian Athletes?

Question

I am 13 years old and have been a Lacto-Ovo vegetarian for 1.5 years. I am a year- round competitive swimmer, year- round dancer (pointe, ballet, jazz, hiphop, tap, lyrical) seasonal soccer player, seasonal basketball player, and a runner. My parents are concerned about vegetarianism affecting my sports ability, because since I've been a veggie, I have'nt dropped much time in swimming. They are afraid I don't get enough protein. I am very very strong for my age and am in good shape. Can someone please tell me about vegetarian teen athlete nutrition needs and easy ways I can reach them without having to buy special vegetarian foods ( ex. tofu, soymilk, etc.) I live in a family of meat-eaters who don't support me very much and would not buy me special things. Also I would like to know how much being veggie affects sports. I feel so much better now that I'm a vegetarian, and I wouldn't like to have to stop because it's affecting my sports ability. Thanks! Your help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Here are some cool facts you might like to know.

MYTH: "Vegetarians get little protein."

FACT: Plant foods offer abundant protein. Vegetables are around 23% protein on average, beans 28%, grains 13%, and even fruit has 5.5%. For comparison, human breast milk is only 5% (designed for the time in our lives when our protein needs are as high as they'll ever be). The US Recommended Daily Allowance is 8%, and the World Health Organization recommends 4.5%.

MYTH: "Meat protein is better than plant protein. You have to combine plant foods to make the protein just as good."

FACT: This myth was popularized in the 1971 book Diet for a Small Planet and has no basis in fact. The author of the book admitted nearly twenty years ago that she made a mistake (in the 1982 edition of the same book).

MYTH: "Milk is necessary for strong bones."

FACT: McDougall: "Where does a cow or an elephant get the calcium needed to grow its huge bones? From plants, of course. Only plants. … People in Asia and Africa who consume no milk products after they're weaned from their mother's breast grow perfectly healthy skeletons in the normal size for their race. A consistent conclusion published in the scientific literature is clear: Calcium deficiency of dietary origin is unknown in humans. Dairy products contain large amounts of animal proteins. This excess protein removes calcium from the body by way of the kidneys. Knowing the physiological effects on calcium metabolism of eating excess protein explains why societies with the highest intakes of meat and dairy products--the United States, England, Israel, Finland, and Sweden--also show the highest rates of osteoporosis, the disease of bone-thinning."

Here are some vegetarian athletes, some went to the olimpics as well (=

Answer 2

There are plenty of ways to get protein while being a vegetarian. Beans, peas, chickpeas, tofu, nuts, and lentils are all excellent sources of protien that are also much healthier for you than most meats. Also if they are worried about vegetarianism and sports I can attest that it is very possible to be athletic and a vegetarian a the same time. I have been in te infantry branch of the military for three years as a vegetarian(and yes I am a female). There has never been a time when vegetarianism has made me unable to complete and physical tasks and overal my health has improved since I became a vegetarian at 18. As long as you make sure to get ll your vitamins and so forth you should'nt have any problems, and good for you for choosing to be a vegetarian!

Answer 3

It's not going to affect your sports ability.

I was a strict vegetarian and worked out every day for 2 hours minimum. I felt the best I had ever felt in my whole entire life.
What I would do is wear a calorie counter to see how many calories you are burning during each event. That information will help you determine if you need to increase your protein intake. If you haven't already keep track of your intake so that you can figure out if you need an upgrade. Also eat lots of potassium. I use to eat a couple of bananas a day. As a matter of fact I use to wake up craving them.

Sounds like you are very active. Keep up the good work and don't go back. Trust me, you will feel run down.

Answer 4

The book "Becoming Vegetarian" has a great section on just this subject. Find a copy and make sure that you and your parents read it and understand it. It's written by a pair of registered dietitians.

You could also point to vegetarian athletes. I've given you a link to just such a list.

Answer 5

The best example I can think of for you is dancer-performer Tonya Kay who has ramped up to RAW VEGAN from vegetarian and is a great spokesperson for that ultimate healthy lifestyle. Check out her resume and show your Mom. Go to http://tonyakay.com/

The Arnold (Schwartzenberger) is/was vegetarian during the height of his weight-lifting days.

Eat HEALTHY as a vegetarian... one of my favorite videos is this one: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=221362955412797330&q=raw+food

All the best!

Answer 6

Vegetarians have more endurance
At Yale, Professor Irving Fisher designed a series of tests to compare the stamina and strength of meat-eaters against that of vegetarians. He selected men from three groups: meat-eating athletes, vegetarian athletes, and vegetarian sedentary subjects. Fisher reported the results of his study in the Yale Medical Journal.25 His findings do not seem to lend a great deal of credibility to the popular prejudices that hold meat to be a builder of strength.

"Of the three groups compared, the...flesh-eaters showed far less endurance than the abstainers (vegetarians), even when the latter were leading a sedentary life."26
Overall, the average score of the vegetarians was over double the average score of the meat-eaters, even though half of the vegetarians were sedentary people, while all of the meat-eaters tested were athletes. After analyzing all the factors that might have been involved in the results, Fisher concluded that:

"...the difference in endurance between the flesh-eaters and the abstainers (was due) entirely to the difference in their diet.... There is strong evidence that a...non-flesh...diet is conducive to endurance."27
A comparable study was done by Dr. J. Ioteyko of the Academie de Medicine of Paris.28 Dr. Ioteyko compared the endurance of vegetarian and meat-eaters from all walks of life in a variety of tests. The vegetarians averaged two to three times more stamina than the meat-eaters. Even more remarkably, they took only one-fifth the time to recover from exhaustion compared to their meat-eating rivals.

In 1968, a Danish team of researchers tested a group of men on a variety of diets, using a stationary bicycle to measure their strength and endurance. The men were fed a mixed diet of meat and vegetables for a period of time, and then tested on the bicycle. The average time they could pedal before muscle failure was 114 minutes. These same men at a later date were fed a diet high in meat, milk and eggs for a similar period and then re-tested on the bicycles. On the high meat diet, their pedaling time before muscle failure dropped dramatically--to an average of only 57 minutes. Later, these same men were switched to a strictly vegetarian diet, composed of grains, vegetables and fruits, and then tested on the bicycles. The lack f animal products didn't seem to hurt their performance--they pedaled an average of 167 minutes.29

Wherever and whenever tests of this nature have been done, the results have been similar. This does not lend a lot of support to the supposed association of meat with strength and stamina.

Doctors in Belgium systematically compared the number of times vegetarians and meat-eaters could squeeze a grip-meter. The vegetarians won handily with an average of 69, whilst the meat-eaters averaged only 38. As in all other studies which have measured muscle recovery time, here, too, the vegetarians bounced back from fatigue far more rapidly than did the meat-eaters.30

I know of many other studies in the medical literature which report similar findings. But I know of not a single one that has arrived at different results. As a result, I confess, it has gotten rather difficult for me to listen seriously to the meat industry proudly proclaiming "meat gives strength" in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
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MYTH: "Vegetarians get little protein."

FACT: Plant foods offer abundant protein. Vegetables are around 23% protein on average, beans 28%, grains 13%, and even fruit has 5.5%. For comparison, human breast milk is only 5% (designed for the time in our lives when our protein needs are as high as they'll ever be). The US Recommended Daily Allowance is 8%, and the World Health Organization recommends 4.5%.

MYTH: "Beans are a good source of protein."

FACT: There is no such thing as a special "source of protein" because all foods -- even plants -- have plentiful protein. You might as well say "Food is a good source of protein". In any event, beans (28%) don't average much more protein per calorie than common vegetables (23%).

Answer 7

your parents are victims of an older culture in which the role of protein and how you can get it are less well understood. You are fine. Get some articles for your parents so they will know too.
Do research to show them. your body makes the protein you need.

Answer 8

it doesnt eat nuts for protein

Answer 9

check out these sites:

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/

http://www.brendanbrazier.com/