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Diet Advice for Vegetarian Athletes
Vegetarians can have difficulty planning the right diet for their weight training and fitness needs. For vegetarians most protein comes from the following sources:
- Eggs
- Cheeses
- Pulses
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Cereals
Soy beans are an excellent source of textured vegetable protein (TVP). Milk and yogurt will contain proteins too.
You still need to ensure you are getting a lot of carbs as during weight training your muscles will require glucose from the blood as well as using their own glycogen stores. Carbohydrates are quickly metabolized to release glucose, so eating these before training reduces the pressure your muscles will place on the stores of glycogen in your muscles during training, which means it is less likely that the muscles protein will be broken down during exercise. Muscles with a good supply of glycogen can exercise for longer without tiring, and this in turn can increase muscle bulk, and further increase the amount of glycogen you can store. So, for glycogen, eat plenty of healthy carbs.
However, note that glycogen loading of muscles only works if your increased carbohydrate consumption is accompanied by intensive training, otherwise the extra glycogen will be converted to fat. So make sure you balance your diet daily in accordance with your training routine.
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