If you are a vegetarian strength athlete, a vegetarian tri-athelete or just your average run of the mill vegetarian who enjoys lots of energy and a lean, strong physique, and have happened across this web site, then I want to be the first to welcome you!
Total Physique Online prides itself in offering the best information available in order to help people from all walks of like gain the most out of your strength training and/or fitness programs. As of late, I have become more interested in getting some input from my Vegetarian Bodybuilders out there.
I have created a new Vegetarians Category with the hope of gleaning some wisdom from folks that have gotten some great health benefits from either complete vegetarian diets, or partial vegetarian diets. This comment thread will be a place where you can share your experience and dietary secrets that allow you to build strong, solid muscle while observing some version of the vegetarian lifestyle.
Mind you, this is not a forum for political activism. I review all comments before approving them, and any political speeches will be destined for the dung heap of Spam Hill. That said, if you can appreciate the freedoms we all enjoy and can view this is a wonderful forum where you can help others learn about the health benefits of your lifestyle choice, please contribute! We need your wisdom.
Keep in mind that there are lots of bodybuilders and other strength athletes out there that might be willing to give Vegetarianism a try if you can jus show us how to meet our strength training goals using your profound insights and wisdom.
Have at it and Godspeed.
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Since January of 2008, I have been following a pescetarian diet (will eat fish, but not meat or poultry of any kind). About the same time, I decided to buy adjustable dumbbells, as well. I went from 209 lbs. to currently 185 lbs. In the past when I lost weight, I couldn’t keep it off. The carnivore within saw to that. Within months, it came back. However, since I introduced both weightlifting, running, and a modified diet into my overall lifestyle choices, the weight has not returned.
My overall reason for switching to pescetarianism (initially I wanted to become a full-blown vegetarian, but I love fish way too much and haven’t been able to stick to a full vegetarian diet, as of yet), was a concern for how farm animals are treated, the contamination from industrial sized animal and poultry farms, energy consumed from raising animals and poultry for food, and a general concern for the planet, I suppose. This concern has served to both help me keep off the weight and do my part to protect Mother Nature.
I was initially concerned about protein, but I’ve gotten better about consuming enough protein as time has passed. My family are all hardcore meat eaters, so I had to do this alone, and therefore it was initially hard to know what to eat. Enough protein consumption is invariably necessary for muscle growth, so it will be interesting to see what the future will bring as I continue my pescetarian diet and my exercise routine….
Well, I like the reasonable approach to your diet.
I am not drinking milk, rarely eat cheese now, and cannot afford beef. I rarely eat chicken, but when I do it is organic breast meat from Whole Foods. Delicious!
Within the last 2 weeks I got a juicer. So, I am juicing with fruits and veggies at least once a day, sometimes twice, morning and evening. The rest of my diet is fish, fresh veggies lightly steamed and Whey protein, soon to add Argentine Beef Liver. I suppose the last supplement more or less disqualifies me from any sort of vegetarian label, but I am feeling pretty good.
I am using strands/cables and some dumbbell work, but I am in the process of reacquiring my Vulcan Racks and Pillars of Power, Dip Bars and Chin station from Ironmind Enterprises.
The CF Foundation (local) may try to hold a fund raiser for me to assist me in my goal, so if all goes well I may be able to resume barbell training!
I’ve been a vegetarian for about 10 years now and a bit over a year ago moved to a mostly raw, near vegan diet. The thing I’ve been impressed with the most is that since eliminating processed foods (except for my cheat day on sunday) I haven’t gotten a cold. I used to get like 5 colds a year and since changing my diet, nothing. Even after the odd night of partying and drinking a lot or times of increased stress and lack of sleep I still haven’t gotten one. Based on this I’m convinced that getting colds has a lot to do with diet.
I became near vegan after reading The China Study which talks about how animal protein is very highly correlated with the diseases we have in North America. It’s written by a very credible nutritionist who’s on some of the biggest food and disease boards in the US and talks about all the corruption within it – a very interesting read. I know a lot of people have resistance to this idea but it’s worth checking out. We know that heart disease is very highly correlated with blood cholesterol levels and there is only cholesterol in animal foods. Basically, the idea is that our bodies make enough cholesterol and don’t need any more from food. It is also becoming more mainstream that alzheimer’s disease has the same causes as heart disease.
I started a program called hypertrophy specific training in October ’09 and have since put on about 10 lbs of muscle and increased my squats 30 lbs and bench 15 lbs. I can’t compare it to when I was eating meat because I wasn’t working out like this then. I’m happy with the progress however. I like to vary my protein supplement sources between raw hemp protein, rice protein and pea protein. I was surprised to see that pea protein has 4.5 g of BCAAs in one serving with 38 g of protein and hemp protein is supposed to be high in BCAAs as well. My diet may be a little more expensive than before going mostly raw but then again, I took out a lot of supplements that are probably pretty useless anyways and only kept the ones with solid studies so it may be comparable. It doesn’t really take a lot of work; I’m pretty lazy when it comes to food preparation so I’ve managed to find raw organic food bars and raw organic plant-based meal replacements that help and I make a large smoothie in the morning with frozen fruit, etc. That only leaves 3 meals to come up with.
Anyhow, I hope that adds something.
Cheers,
Brian.
Brian, that is a great post! Thank you.
I am beginning to eliminate processed foods from my diet totally. I am juicing now! I have a Champion Juicer that is really coming in handy.
Your gains are impressive. Keep up the good work and check back every so often and let us know how you are doing!
TC
Thanks. I should mention a great place to get info for vegan bodybuilding that has helped me a lot is: http://www.veganbodybuilding.org/main.htm. The guy who runs it reads a lot of the scientific research and only basis his conclusions on sound science which is quite refreshing in this area.
Ive been into some sort of training since i was sixteen, whether it be boxing, strength training, powerlifting, wahtever. I love to exercise. Anyhow i became a vegetarian 3 years ago and it was probably one of the best health decisions i ever made. At first i expected it to be hard to maintain muscle and keep a steady weight. But im maintaining a steady weight of about 190- 195 at 5’11″. One Benifit as mentioned by someone in another post ,is the fact i hardly ever get sick anymore. My meals no longer leave me feeling groggy and lethargic either. Instead they energize and fufill me. As for my diet i just eat a lot of quality calories. I eat a big bowl of frosted mini wheats every morning and usually some fruit. If you need a little more protien just add some whey protien powder. Otherwise i eat fresh fruits and veggies,grains, breads and pastas, and lots off dairy products. I snack on nuts and trail mix or something of that nature. The only thing close to meat i eat is eggs, the reason being that they were never alive and unfertilized. As far as supplements go I still take whey protien, bcaas, multivitamin, flaxseed, and chromium.
I feel terrific and my bad cholesterol is way down while good cholesterol is up. My blood pressure is never out of whack and neither is my blood sugar. I still train 3-6 days a week, depending on what im training for. I can say im definitly in the best shape ever and will continue to try to improve. Oh, the best part i should mention is that i can eat ice cream every day and not get fat! I love the stuff. I can consume more calories throughout the day and not store a bunch as fat. its great , hope this article helps in some way.
Jason. what a great post! Thanks.
I am moving in this direction myself. I was recently hospitalized and because Iron deficient, so I am snacking on some organic liver for a few days to get my iron back up, but as soon as I am done, I am back to a diet very similar to yours.
Thanks again for this post!
WM
Just thought I’d add that a lot of people think that vegetarian diets are low in iron but if you eat a whole foods plant-based diet with nuts, grains, legumes and veggies you will get tonnes of iron. A lot of supplements have iron added and if you take a vegetarian protein you will see that they have a lot of iron, at least the ones I’ve seen do. Animals don’t make iron but they store it like us which is why there’s a lot of it in liver. You’ll need more iron if you’re on a plant-based diet (roughly twice as much I think) since it’s not in the form that is usable in the human body. Animals have it in this form since they are like us and have turned it into that form already. Iron also readily oxidizes to form iron oxide which is basically rust and is toxic at high levels which is why getting it in the plant-based form helps to regulate it by providing anti-oxidants. I don’t think there are any anti-oxidants in animal foods unless they have been added or there is very little. So, basically, if you eat enough plant-based whole foods you shouldn’t have to worry about iron. Of course, if you’re eating meat then that will add a lot as well.
Hopefully you get better soon ‘webmaster’
Brian, once again I want to thank you for a great post. Really terrific information!
I am getting better. Eating a bit of liver, eating fruits and veggies, and yes, once supplement. I got something called Blood Builder from Megafoods. Here is a link:
http://www.megafoodessentials.com/products/dailyfoods/blood_builder.php
My veins are standing out once again. My oxygen levels are improving! Will get my blood tested in a couple weeks to see where I stand.
Thanks for the well wishes.
Timothy (webmeister)
That looks like an excellent iron supplement. I’ll have to keep that in mind in case I hear of anyone who is looking for one. A lot of good info too.
Good to hear you’re getting better.
Brian.
If vegans are so concerned with getting adequate protein, why don’t they just take soy protein powder? It is a complete protein and having a complete protein is the only reason animal protein is superior to vegetable protein.
Well, I suppose Soy is a reasonable way to go, but there are some studies that show that Soy can upset the balance of hormones in men.