Pros/cons of going vegetarian?

The hardest part, as the old adage goes, is telling your kids that you are gay.

In all seriousness though, nothing exists that can replace meat. It has been something that scientists have attempted to do since the mid-1940s, but you know, they just haven't been able to do it. Every few years some young cat says "I bet I could make something to replace meat in a person's diet." And then some old scientist that long since gave up the dream tells him "don't waste your life!!!!"

It's too late, but eventually that young hotshot will try to stop another prospective scientist from wasting their potential on a pointless pursuit.

And the cycle goes on and on.

Jurek's right

I went vegan after reading his book and the recovery is day and night

After running a 50 miler as a meat eater, I was in bed for 2 days and couldn't run for a week

After running a 100 miler as a vegan, I was running easy 2 days after with minimal pain

meat is delicious wrote:

I read Jurek's book "Eat and Run" and he said a vegetarian diet reduced inflammation, quickened recovery time, burnt excess fat, and gave him more energy on his runs. Anyone here vegetarian? What's good about it and what's bad? I've previously eaten meat typically with every meal, no dairy however. What can be used to replace meat if needed?

I'm not very interested in being vegan yet so don't bother. Oh and also I'm not doing this for the plight of farm animals, it's purely for my own health.

I'm a vegetarian and have no problem recovering but use whey protein between workouts of course. It won't change your body fat percentage. You'll need to take a b12 supplement or rely on eggs cheese and whey protein for b12 (or drink red bull).

meat is delicious wrote:

I read Jurek's book "Eat and Run" and he said a vegetarian diet reduced inflammation.

Regardless of whether this is true or false, it is worth pointing out that the statement "X reduces inflammation, therefore X is good for athletic performance (or health)" is...malarkey. Or poppycock. Or foo-foo. Arachidonic acid supplementation, for example, increases inflammatory response to exercise and thereby (in large part) improves adaptations to exercise. NSAIDs reduce inflammatory response to exercise and thereby (in large part) impair adaptations to exercise. Exercise itself which is most productive tends to cause significant inflammation. Try to make the exercise itself more pleasant by reducing that-which-causes inflammation (by doing concentric-only or concentric-emphasized weight training, for example) and the physiological adaptations will be drastically reduced. And so on...

It's not going vegetarian that helps. If you continue to consume dairy you will not get the plant based benefits. Dairy is really hard on the body. Go plant based w mostly whole foods. Not processed vegan crap like fake meat and cheese. The recovery is day and night and I the excess fat went bye bye really quickly.

vegan for 5 years...

i feel better. my heart rate is down. bp is down. cholesterol is the "best" my DR has seen. I had chronic sinus infections. now, I have none. (this was prob a food allergy - dairy or something - and so won't influence all.) never constipated. (this is why people say they feel "lighter.")

BUT...

it will NOT help your body composition. if anything, you'll increase your body fat %. if you want low BF, follow a typical bodybuilding diet: increase protein to 30%, reduce carbs, and increase F.

learn to like whole beans, tofu, tempeh, etc. - and possibly vegan protein shakes (if you aren't willing to eat beans). If you don't, you'll certainly see an increase in body fat % (as you lose some lean muscle).

SUMMARY: I had tons of health problems, and a whole-foods, plant-based vegan has been incredible. I lose some muscle and gained some fat, but I'd rather this than chronic sinus infections, bronchitis, etc. Keep in mind: I think people who see these results typically have multiple food allergies (this is what I have).

Lack of protein will be your biggest concern

Karl Meltzer celebrated broke Jurek's Appalachian record and celebrated with fillet minion.

Meat eater > Vegetarian.

I dropped 10points off my body fat and gained muscle. That's not true at alllll unless u don't run and lift and bike etc

what does 10 "points" even mean?if you did, it's not because you went vegetarian...it's because you reduced your overall calories and increase your protein (perhaps through an increase in beans, etc.). for body composition, it doesn't matter if your protein comes from beans or a filet of Cod.

Percentage points. You made my point you can get whatever macro ratio you want from plants so saying somone will gain fat and lose muscle switching to a plant based diet is totally false. Thanks for making my point for me

Be sure to keep tabs on your iron levels. I went vegetarian for a couple months and ended up with really low iron levels (granted, I wasn't smart about how I did it at all). Something to pay attention to though, for sure.

You dropped 10% of your body fat. Wow, you were crazy obese.

Run Doctor wrote:

Lack of protein will be your biggest concern

This would be one of many concerns on a vegan diet. A "vegetarian" diet is typically assumed to be lacto-ovo vegetarian--including both dairy products and egg products. Lack of protein is unlikely to be a problem if these are frequently consumed...

Vegan is the healthier diet because your food comes in a better package deal. All the vitamins and minerals and none of the cholestrol, hormones, saturated fats.

The highest source of vitamins is FRUIT.

The highest source of minerals is VEGETABLES.

The 2nd highest source of vitamins is VEGETABLES.

The 2nd highest source of minerals is FRUIT.

The only nutrients you can't get from plants are:

B12.

Comes from neither animals nor plants but earth spanning bacteria. Since our water is chlorinated and our food is washed and never picked fresh we need supplements. We would of gotten it drinking out of streams/wells and organic food. The only reason animals contain B12 is from injections by the farmers and their intrinsic B12 however it is destroyed by heat. 1/6 in the population are deficient.

Vitamin D. Produced by animals, including ourselves during summer months. 15 minutes a day of sun exposure will produce more than 10,000ug between March-September. Fat soluble, stored through winter.

No such thing as a protein deficiency no medical term even exists. Plants have less protein than meat but on a vegan diet you eat higher volume so all the protein adds up and the amino chains are more bio-available as they are not complete proteins and do not need energy to break down and utilize by the body.

The relationship between people and plants works so well that there has never been a case of dietary calcium deficiency ever reported. Ever.

Trust me this is the best diet plan you could have as an athlete. If you found out your training plan wasn't optimal you would change to a better one no questions asked. So check out a plant based diet and get yourself the best training AND the best recovery.

[quote]Xfit_Idiot_the_Fake_One wrote:

Karl Meltzer celebrated broke Jurek's Appalachian record and celebrated with fillet minion.

Meat eater > Vegetarian.[/quot

Your cut of meat is a servant? Interesting.

Hmm im vegetarian but not for health...

as a serious runner i dont think its a big deal to eat meat or not to eat meat it wont effect your performance

now if you want to lose weight or something but like meat try cutting out red meat thatd be easiest (things like hamburgers and steak) but still eat fish and chicken

I'm vegetarian for the environment which is a huge issue but as for health as well as the environment... red meat=worse than white mat

lol no it wont... protein is easy to get, watch for iron lol

I've been a vegetarian for 20 years and I don't take supplements or even make much of an effort to eat balanced meals. I've never had iron issues and I have more muscle mass than before, so protein isn't an issue.

Everyone is an experiment of ONE when it comes to diet. You'd just have to try it and see how your body reacts to your level of training, etc.