Vegan/Vegitarian athletes and martial artists

**RunningDog** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 12:38am

I don't like a lot of **** the French do, but in supermarkets they display fully skinned whole rabbits in rows, the way they stare at you with a look of shock is strangely appetizing.

One for the vegans there. Happy day.

**Iscariot** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 12:49am

Hitler was a vegetarian.

Eat meat to avoid becoming a genocidal dictator.

**Virus** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 1:20am

Originally Posted by Godhand

Hey guys.
Ive been vegitarian for two years (For moral reasons) , and have had no problems concerning energy levels or building muscle. In fact, I was in the best shape of anyone I knew.

At this time, I trained 5 days a week for two hours a day in kickboxing, freestlye wrestling and Bjj.

As of about a month ago, I stopped training (Im moving to a different country for a year) and I also became vegan. I did so cold turkey and Im still grappling with the dietary ajustments. Since then, Ive lost 4 kg of weight, which is a bad thing, putting me at 63 kg.

Part of this weight loss can be attributed to loss of muscle since I stopped training, I am sure, but I think alot ofit has to do with my change in diet.

I wanted to know if there were any other vegan or vego athletes out there who could share their experiences with training. The reason I specified athletes is because their needs are different to other martial artists who train purley for self defense.

Being in great physical condition is a part of the sport.

Thanking you in anticipation for your sincere input, and damming those trolls in advance.

Hi Godhand.

I've been a vegan for about ten years. I was formerly very skinny and I built up my body on a vegan diet. Currently at 73kgs. I've taken soy protein in the past but no longer do as it is simply not necesarry to suppliment with extra protein. Protein deficiency is virtually unkown in the west, including amoungst vegans and athletes. It's actually endurance athletes such as marathon runners and triathetes that require the most protein intake, not ones that are primarily resistance trained. This is due to the depletion of carbohydrate stores and the subsequent catabolising of tissue protein. Even at the elite level of such training, thier requirement is only 1.6g per kg of bodyweight per day.

Group Protein intake (g/kg/day)
Sedentary men and women: 0.8-1.0

Elite male endurance athletes: 1.6

Moderate-intensity endurance athletes: 1.2

Recreational endurance athletes: 0.8-1.0

Football, power sports: 1.4-1.7

Resistance athletes (early training): 1.5-1.7

Resistance athletes (steady state): 1.0-1.2

Typically, the Australian diet provides about 12-15% of energy
intake in the form of protein, and the average Australian easily consumes more than
150% of the recommended dietary intake of protein from such a dietary mix. Generally,
athletes enjoy the advantage of increased energy requirements that make it possible to
consume even larger amounts of protein and other nutrients than the sedentary person.
Numerous dietary surveys show that the dietary patterns reported by various groups of
athletes provide protein intakes that are well in excess of 1.2-2.0 g/kg body mass per
day - especially in the case of strength-training athletes. Therefore, there is no
justification for special high protein eating strategies for sport.

Daily protein intakes under 2 g per kg BM in healthy people are unlikely to cause side
effects. Less is known about the long-term side effects of protein intakes above
2g/kg/BM. High protein intakes can increase the amount of calcium excreted in the
urine. This may cause problems with athletes at risk of weakened bones - for example,
female athletes with low energy intakes who are not menstruating. High protein intakes
are also known to accelerate the progression of pre-existing kidney disease.

Taken from the AIS factsheet: http://www.ais.org.au/nutrition/docu...actProtein.pdf

You might also want to read thier factsheet on vegetarian eating: http://www.ais.org.au/nutrition/documents/FactVeg.pdf

You will need a source of b12 if you are vegan. You can take a multivitamin as an "insurance policy", and also flax seed oil for omega 3 fatty acids, as these are not commonly found outside fish. If you are eating a balanced diet with sufficient kilojoule intake you should be getting enough protein. Theres a lot of hype surrounding protein and most of it comes from marketing.

**RunningDog** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 1:33am

^^ Another Aussie vegan. I bet you chaps go down well at barbies.

**DAYoung** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 1:39am

I was a vegan for ten years. I love meat, but I don't like the industry (I ate meat if I killed it myself).

I didn't have any problems with health of fitness. Unfortunately, it played havoc with my memo-

What was I saying?

**pauli** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 1:44am

a: your moral reasons are wrong. just saying.

b: check out quinoa. iirc it qualifies as high quality protein, and is inherently vegan (not that that's a good thing, but it's what you want). and it tastes good. tastes best with steak, though.

**RunningDog** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 1:44am

What meat did you kill? Maybe a subject for another thread...

**Godhand** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 2:01am

"a: your moral reasons are wrong. just saying."

Wrong forum. But no they arnt.

"b: check out quinoa. iirc it qualifies as high quality protein, and is inherently vegan (not that that's a good thing, but it's what you want). and it tastes good. tastes best with steak, though."

Thanks for the advice.

And thank you for everyone else who has given constructive information, especially Virus with his ultra-informative post.

Oh, and screw the rest of you.

:lol:

**Flash Jackson** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 2:24am

My ex stepdad was a vegetarian. We took him to my grandparents farm. He was all like "Why don't the cows escape? The fence is so unstable, they could just lean up against it and break free!" Then we pushed a pig into their feeding trough and watched the other pigs eat it before he could escape, and cut off a chicken's head and timed how long it took to die.

Animals are dumb. Chickens can survive without a head. They die of blood loss. Cows don't care about anything as long as there's food around. Pigs are cannibals, and will eat anything. You don't even WANT to know about fish. There is no moral reason to not eat them. Mmm mmm. I think I'll go have a hamburger with bacon on it, using chicken breasts as bread. I'll use salmon and some crab meat in place of sauce.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=sponsor

Asshole.

**DAYoung** · Posted On: 12/30/2006 2:57am

Originally Posted by pauli

a: your moral reasons are wrong. just saying.

b: check out quinoa. iirc it qualifies as high quality protein, and is inherently vegan (not that that's a good thing, but it's what you want). and it tastes good. tastes best with steak, though.

My morals reasons?