A few things I’ve learned from working out on a plant based diet (vegan)
I came across a post here where someone asked about special considerations training someone vegan. I’m not a trainer or dietician, but thought I’d share what I’ve learned the past few years.
If you have anything to add, PLEASE SHARE. I only just recently learned a few things and eager to learn more-
So a plant based/vegan diet has a few challenges. Protein is an obvious concern, but people often forget that all protein originally comes from plants. Herbivores eat plants and use plant protein, and those animals get eaten by humans or other predators, but all the protein originally came from plants in the first place.
Anyway, besides protein, people often forget about fats. On a vegan diet, there’s only a few sources one can get fats. Avocado, nuts, legumes, and refined oils. That’s about it. So if you or someone you know goes plants only, you have to have a a mix of nuts daily, a lot of guac, and plenty of cooking oil in the pan.
Protein is tough too, considering the 200+ grams a day need to build muscle. NOW protein has a great pea protein for cheap. Orgain is a mix of a bunch of plant proteins and is really tasty by itself. Costco has Orgain, often on sale. I use a mix of both throughout the day.
As far as supplements, B vitamins, A vitamins, and omega oils should all be supplemented daily. Flaxseed oil for omegas, and B vitamins come from I think algae extract. There’s plenty of vegan multi vitamins for that stuff anyway, with a mix of all the other stuff needed daily, vegan or not.
Iron is interesting, in that from my understanding, you can get/supplement with too much animal iron, but not plant iron. Plant iron for some reason works and does what it needs too, but animal iron can build up and become too much in the body. Heme vs non-heme iron. I haven’t had meat in 9 years and my iron blood tests have always been healthy.
The biggest lesson I learned is that all vegans, especially those who workout regularly, NEED CREATINE. I went from vegetarian to vegan, and lost a lot of strength after a few weeks because I didn’t know about creatine. Now I have 6g/day and it helps tremendously. My gym time suffers dramatically before supplementing.
If there’s anything else you might know that needs special thought or consideration, please share! Thank you
