Vegetarian Diet and Sport: Incompatible

The vegetarian diet has been associated for years with nutritional deficiencies, protein insufficiency and caloric restriction. These labels turned their followers into "crazy", "unconscious" and "irrational" being marginalized by the scientific community for years.

Nowadays, there are still health professionals who call the vegetative diet deficient and unsustainable, trying to convince their patients of the need to abandon it and to include food of animal origin. However, years later the American Dietetic Association (A.D.A) appears and eliminates with a stroke of the pen any trace of doubt, positioning itself as follows:

"Properly planned vegetarian diets, including fully vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthy, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases."

"Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence, as well as athletes"

I underline this last sentence because although the scientific evidence does support vegetarianism, there is still some skepticism with the idea that an athlete can be a vegetarian and also succeed in his profession. In that case ... let's stop studies and numbers and if you like, let's see real cases of elite athletes and also vegetarians:

–Lizzy Hawker: five-time winner of the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc

–Edwin Moses, 400 meter hurdles Olympic champion (Montreal 76 and Los Angeles 84)

–Scott Jurek: US record for the longest distance in 24 hours (266.61 km)

–Dave Scott: American triathlete. He won the Ironman of Haway no more and no less than six times (from 1980 to 87)

–Alberto Pelaez Serrano: vegan ultra-long distance runner. In case it does not sound familiar to you (we all know that in Spain sports are collapsed only by soccer) He is the one who is collecting the first prize of the La Candelaria trail in the photo with which I have started the article.

Still in doubt? I refer you to this page: http://veggierunners.es/index.php/about-us.html where you can find many other examples.

At this point, dear reader, it may be necessary for us to start demystifying some points related to the vegetarian diet. Shall we start?

1. It does not provide enough protein. FALSE

We already saw in this other article that athletes require a greater amount of protein and in which scales the daily recommendation moved. Based on these data, Americans pass between 120-158% of these recommendations. But, "the diet of the Americans is very beast" you will think, and if I tell you that the Spanish also far exceed the recommendations ?, between 176-156% according to data from the National Survey of Dietary Intake (ENIDE) to be exact . Taking these data into account, are we concerned with reaching protein recommendations?

You will think that this happens with an omnivorous diet but that with a vegetarian this situation is impossible. Well, let's see an example: a sedentary 64 kg ovovegetarian woman (she would need, according to the recommendations 0.83g / kg weight, about 53 g of protein daily):

Breakfast: 35gr oat flakes and 250ml of vegetable milk. A fruit

Midmorning: 60gr of bread with tomato, oil and avocado.

Food: 150gr of chickpeas cooked in salad. A bowl of rice (120gr cooked). fruit

Snack: 30gr of almonds and a banana.

Dinner: omelette of 2 eggs with vegetables, 100gr of cooked pasta and salad with 15gr of seeds. A soy yogurt.

TOTAL: 68’8gr of protein (we would cover 129% daily recommendations)

Imagine now that this girl decides to prepare marathons, which will require not only more protein but also a considerable increase in calories. Taking into account that your energy requirements will increase, which will imply that the rations will be higher even maintaining this same diet, will you manage to reach the protein recommendations? My answer is obviously Yes, without any doubt and without any problem.

2. Vegetable proteins are not complete. FALSE

Soy, quinoa or amaranth have all the essential amino acids that our body needs to carry out the string of functions that I have already listed in this other article. In addition, at the same weight as meat, soy is providing us with more protein (100g of soy would provide 36g of protein, while 100g of beef only 20g)

Although it is true that the rest of vegetable proteins do not have all the essential amino acids, there is nothing that cannot be solved knowing how we must combine them to obtain a protein of high biological value:

-Legumes + cereals: lentils with rice, cous cous with chickpeas, hummus with bread, soy milk with breakfast cereals….

-Legumes + nuts: chickpea salad with walnuts, legume burger and nuts, chickpeas with raisins, spinach and pine nuts.

-Cereals + nuts: cannelloni with almond béchamel, walnut bread, bars of dried fruit and oats ...

Furthermore, it is not necessary that this combination be made in the same food or on the same plate. Including them throughout the day will suffice. An example?

-Breakfast: soy milk with cereals

-Mid-morning: a handful of almonds

-Lunch: chickpeas with Swiss chard

-Dinner: tofu burger with tomato salad

3. A vegetarian diet is incompatible with the gain of muscle mass. FALSE

When it comes to gaining muscle mass, we consider that we must focus our efforts on consuming more protein. If this were true, the many adherents to protein supplements who being sedentary think that this will be their popeye spinach would not have to envy Schwarzenegger in his prime.

What really influences the growth of muscle mass? Training and a good recovery. Obviously, no pain no gain, folks, and high intensity training is intrinsically related to the growth of muscle mass. Nutritionally, a higher energy consumption will be required, as well as a diet with enough carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals to promote post-exercise recovery. The time of consumption of these nutrients before, during or after exercise will also be key. to increase the volume of workouts and promote maximum recovery.

Usually, great importance is given to proteins, but if we consider that this type of exercise requires the involvement of glycolytic metabolism, the key will be carbohydrates:

If we provide enough carbohydrates in the diet, the muscle will be full of glycogen and will be able to perform during this type of training.

When there is no muscle glycogen, the body perceives that it does not have enough energy to carry out its functions, thus activating catabolic (destruction) routes and inactivating creation or anabolism. Therefore, a glycogen deficit will compromise quality training and, therefore, the creation of muscle mass.

Protein needs will also need to be met. As always, remember that your contribution is INDIVIDUALIZED, that is, it will depend on the needs of each one, but, keep in mind that meat is not the only source of protein that exists. Below are examples of plant-based foods that are giving us 10g of protein:

120g whole wheat bread

90g of whole grains

300g of cooked pasta

400g of cooked rice

150g lentils

200g cooked beans

120g tofu or soy meat

400 ml of soy milk

60g nuts or seeds

 Therefore, for the development of muscle mass, good diet planning will be necessary - either omnivorous or vegetarian - including proteins (among other micro and macronutrients) to promote muscle growth. At no time is it specified that it has to come from a fillet to be valid.

4. It is impossible to consume enough calories. FALSE

Athletes have increased energy requirements. This leads to the need to consume hypercaloric diets with a density of 3000, 3500, 4000 or even more to be able to cope with the intensity and duration of your workouts. Here I link to the Spanish Vegetarian Union where some examples of different vegetarian diets with high caloric density are given to show that vegetarianism does not necessarily have to be associated with a low calorie diet: http://www.unionvegetariana.org/menú-para- athlete-vegetarians

5. Produces nutrient deficiencies. FALSE

A well-planned diet does not have to cause deficiencies, either omnivorous or vegetarian.

In the case of vegetarian diets, proteins are frequently considered to be the main nutrient of risk when we would need to focus our attention on others such as: Vitamin B12, Calcium, Iron, omega 3, Zinc, Iodine or Vitamin D.

To assess the possible deficiency of these in the diet, it will be essential to go to a dietitian-nutritionist who evaluates our diet and determines the need or not for supplementation.

CONCLUSION-FINAL REFLECTION

Although today there are still health professionals who underestimate vegetarian diets, scientific evidence determines that not only are they not dangerous, but they can also report health benefits and disease prevention.

From a health point of view, respect for the food choice, whether it is omnivorous, vegan, ovolactovegetarian or ovovegetarian of our patients is essential and it is not within our competences to try to discourage their choice. However, it will be our responsibility to carry out adequate advice so that whatever your choice is complete, balanced and meets your needs so that it allows you to achieve an optimal state of health.