Is plant-based diet truly the best for running?

And 3,2,1 for all the vegan hater comments that are about to occur. For whatever reason people on here get really fired up about veganism.

I’m vegan and feel great running. Never had low vitamin levels except iron (which I had even when I ate meat). If you are mindful about what you are actually eating (not a bunch of vegan junk food), you can get what you need.

I already eat very clean, just not vegan. Not saying I should cut out animal products completely (eggs and yogurt will probably remain a staple in my diet), but in terms of overall performance, I would imagine if I switched to about 70% plant-based foods that it would have carryover to performance as well as quality of life.

On a side note, I think going completely vegan is a mistake because human beings are OMNIVORES. I barely eat red meat, maybe once every 2-3 months and typically eat white meat a few times per week. A healthy balance would probably be optimal, but I would have to find my personal sweet spot on my own.

Any anecdotes of people going partially, primarily, or completely plant-based and how it affected your running?

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" - Michael Pollan

As far as health goes, eating mostly plant based is just as good as eating 100% unless you already have heart disease or something. Most research supports this, the benefits are pretty much the same if you are eating 80-90% plant based.

The way switching from a lower carb paleo style diet to plant based affected my running was that within several weeks my recovery was better, I could run harder efforts for longer and not feel as beat up. Basically made me faster from the simple fact I was able to do more intensity and increase mileage without a huge toll on my body. IMO it is mostly a result of the increase in carbs over a low carb diet, nothing magical about it or that eating too much meat was necessarily damaging my body. But now I digest food insanely fast and plenty of carbs for recovery means my body just never really feels tired.

1) Yes, the OP is a troll.

2) Different things work for different people. If a thousand-plus generations of your ancestors got a large percentage of their nutrition from animal products, it seems likely that your digestive system has evolved to handle/require animal products; but it is certain (not just likely) that there are some people with such ancestors who nevertheless are healthier, and better runners, without ingesting any animal products at all. Individuals vary.

My general advice to students is to try to eat a variety of foods that are in season, preferably processed lightly or not at all. But I also tell them that, except for foods that are poisonous to them or to which they are actively allergic, they should avoid saying "never." It's very unlikely that we know everything about human nutritional needs, and a wide variety of foods seems like the best way to cover the bases.

No

1) Not a troll

2) Thanks for the advice, I was wondering how other people's bodies reacted to the change because it can vary for everyone. For me, cruciferous like broccoli and cauliflower tend to make my digestive system feel a little bloated, but when I thoroughly steam them they seem to go down easy. Beets are also a little iffy for me because if I eat too many at night the next day I feel a bit of a burning sensation. Just wanted some input on how it made runners feel

If anyone has any good recipes, please share!

And many different people suddenly feel better going from Vegan to eating Meat.

My 1st Vegas trip at 36yo eating prime ribs and crabs and eggs for a week saved my running. All of a sudden, my aching joint was gone.

Everyone is different.

Also, if Veganism was performance enhancing, the majority of elite runners would be Vegan which is not the case.

No, we are biologically designed to eat animals. We lost our cecum which is very important for primarily herbivorous nor do we have a multi chamber stomach.

In herbivores, the cecum stores food material where bacteria are able to break down the cellulose. This function no longer occurs in the human cecum (see appendix), so in humans it is simply a dead-end pouch forming a part of the large intestine.

Most mammalian herbivores have a relatively large cecum, hosting a large number of bacteria, which aid in the enzymatic breakdown of plant materials such as cellulose; in many species, it is considerably wider than the colon. In contrast, obligatory carnivores, whose diets contain little or no plant material, have a reduced cecum, which is often partially or wholly replaced by the appendix.[5] Mammalian species which do not develop a cecum include raccoons, bears, and the red panda. Over 99% of the bacteria in the gut flora are anaerobes,[7][8][9][10][11] but in the cecum, aerobic bacteria reach high densities.[7]

How do you know when someone is a vegan?

Oh don’t worry, they’ll tell you!

Well, in this case someone is specifically asking.

you are not a herbivore wrote:

No, we are biologically designed to eat animals. We lost our cecum which is very important for primarily herbivorous nor do we have a multi chamber stomach.

Good thing we learned how to cook so that we can more easily digest plants. Any herbivores you know of that can cook?

we dont need it since we invented fire wrote:

you are not a herbivore wrote:

No, we are biologically designed to eat animals. We lost our cecum which is very important for primarily herbivorous nor do we have a multi chamber stomach.

Good thing we learned how to cook so that we can more easily digest plants. Any herbivores you know of that can cook?

Even when cooked, we still can not break down cellulose and digest plants like other herbivorous animals do. However, we can easily digest raw meat quite easily.

Thanks for starting this. We will surely come to a consensus on this topic unlike the previous 493 threads on this topic with the same people saying the same thing thousands upon thousands of times.

Is breaking down cellulose some arbitrary necessity in your mind? Obviously it isn't, or we'd have one right? Thats how evolution works genius.

its not necessary wrote:

Is breaking down cellulose some arbitrary necessity in your mind? Obviously it isn't, or we'd have one right? Thats how evolution works genius.

Why would you consume something you can not digest or get any nutrients from? Herbivorous animals can break down cellulose and get calories from it. We do not have the digestive system of a primarily herbivorous animal. Look at the way we chew our food. We do not grind it side to side like a herbivorous does. Our stomach acid is strong enough to digest bones.

we are not meant to be herbivorous wrote:

Why would you consume something you can not digest or get any nutrients from?

Because this is literally not true about plants. Breaking down cellulose appears not to be a requirement otherwise we wouldn't be omnivores right?

Kipchoges no meat day before race. Sponsored sports drink 3 hours before bed and 3 hours before race.

we are not meant to be herbivorous wrote:

Why would you consume something you can not digest or get any nutrients from? Herbivorous animals can break down cellulose and get calories from it. We do not have the digestive system of a primarily herbivorous animal. Look at the way we chew our food. We do not grind it side to side like a herbivorous does. Our stomach acid is strong enough to digest bones.

If that were true, herbivores wouldn't have any BM's, which is far from the case.

Let me guess... you're morbidly obese, and you sleep in a king sized bed.