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Vegan diet and training (Read 8499 times)

weakdave

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Vegan diet and training
January 01, 2018, 12:23:59 pm
Anybody tried going vegan and still training? I have read a few things and people seem to really do well from it but never actually met or some too any of these people.

I am doing it from a health point of view rather than feeling sorry for delicious animals so if it doesn't work it's no big deal but I am keen to try, unless anyone has horror stories about it?

jwi

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#1 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 01, 2018, 04:53:38 pm
It makes no difference to climbing. None.

andy popp

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#2 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 01, 2018, 06:03:23 pm
I've been vegan for close to thirty years now and managed to climb at a reasonably high standard ... but have never been much of a trainer so probably don't have any particularly good advice. However, there are plenty of vegan elite athletes across a range of disciplines so I don't see it being much of a problem.

battery

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#3 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 01, 2018, 06:14:42 pm
https://www.rebeccadent.co.uk/nutrition-articles/

No specific article about vegan but some good advice that may contribute. She does Facebook live broadcasts every now and again answering questions so might be worth keeping your eye out for that, or drop her a message, I think she's open to questions/suggestions for articles.


weakdave

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#4 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 01, 2018, 08:33:25 pm
Thanks guys

tim palmer

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#5 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 01, 2018, 08:47:25 pm
It makes no difference to climbing. None.
Care to expand upon this at all?

Fultonius

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#6 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 01, 2018, 10:20:02 pm
Anybody tried going vegan and still training? I have read a few things and people seem to really do well from it but never actually met or some too any of these people.

I am doing it from a health point of view rather than feeling sorry for delicious animals so if it doesn't work it's no big deal but I am keen to try, unless anyone has horror stories about it?

If you are strict and well planned you should be able to maintain adequate levels of protein and shouldn't necessarily lose out performance wise compared to a meat based diet.

I can't see any way it could improve your performance though. I think the jury is very much out over any purported health benefits. It's very easy to be an unhealthy vegan! 

Good for the environment, but don't expect any grade boost!

andy popp

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#7 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 02, 2018, 07:01:09 am
I can't see any way it could improve your performance though. I think the jury is very much out over any purported health benefits. It's very easy to be an unhealthy vegan! 

True, but its also not that difficult to be a healthy one.

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#8 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 02, 2018, 08:28:46 am
I've been vegan for a few years. Trained a bit before that as an omnivore. I found no significant difference to training after changing my diet because the macro-nutrient ratio I am eating is about the same as it was before.

I get injured less frequently now, but that's probably because I've started weight-training, rather than due to a change in diet.

Monolith

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#9 Re: Vegan diet and training
January 02, 2018, 11:23:50 am
Around 4 months in now but it's not that much of a shock for me since I didn't eat meat for 21 years since I was born.

It's incredibly easy to get protein sources and you'll also see your shopping bills come down insanely. Mixed beans, pulses etc. cost pennies.

Be sure to get adequate sources of B12 as any dietitian will tell you. Personally I love nutritional yeast flakes and a heaped spoon a day on a meal has that base covered.

I've found the Vegan Society to be incredibly helpful and was connected with Peter Antonio at Birmingham University who was similarly helpful: https://www.sportandfitness.bham.ac.uk/experts/peter-antonio/

Happy training.

monkoffunk

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#10 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 11:43:11 am
Late to the party here but anyway....

In the aims for 2019 post I said this under general life goals:

Longer term: Re-evaluate my relationship with meat. Increasingly of the opinion that some degree of vegetarianism/veganism is ethically correct with regards to the environment, but I’m just not there yet. Reduce consumption at very at least.

I didn’t really do anything about particularly active about this, the odd vegetarian meal here and there, but really I made very little change and continued to buy plenty of standard supermarket plastic packed meat.

Despite this, over the last 5-6 months it’s something I’ve been increasingly thinking about. During a coffee break last week I started writing down thoughts on my phone with no audience in mind, just see what came out. The end result is a unnecessarily lengthy personal reflection, but one which I’m still interested in feedback and thoughts from other people.

I’ve stuck it up online and I don’t expect more than a handful of people to take the time to read it, and even less to have much interest.

However, for those that might be, here it is , comments appreciated!

If there is anything of use that comes out this with regards to training etc, I may add further posts now and again.

andy popp

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#11 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 12:02:23 pm
I think its very well written. This sentence really stood out for me: "If I eat animals, then I need to be able to justify it." This is the real sea change that needs to come (and is coming I think - or hope). In the past, it was always the vegetarian or vegan who needed to justify their choice. Personally, I think we need to get to that point were it is continuing to eat meat that really requires justification.

Given the very careful thought that you have clearly given to this issue, what do you think is stopping you from making the final change?
« Last Edit: May 10, 2019, 12:24:26 pm by andy popp »

monkoffunk

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#12 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 01:11:37 pm
At this stage nothing really.

I showed this to my wife and she very rapidly agreed after having much the same thoughts, certainly on the environmental side. My parents are mostly vegetarian and also were very positive and are now thinking about milk and cheese themselves. My wife’s family less so. Actually quite upset at the idea, felt it would make family meals with them a real issue: ‘we can’t eat together any more’ and the like. I’m sure they will come around.

In the mean time I’m going to stop eating meat after I have used up the remainder I have in the freezer, and that I have already said yes to for a wedding tomorrow. After that no more; will probably eat fish for a month or so to transition over.

andy popp

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#13 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 03:10:16 pm
My wife’s family less so. Actually quite upset at the idea, felt it would make family meals with them a real issue: ‘we can’t eat together any more’ and the like. I’m sure they will come around.

I wouldn't say she was upset but I don't think my mum ever fully came to terms with it. To be fair, she was a very traditional (but excellent) cook and this was the 80s, so the whole thing was very left field, and she did try really hard.

Monolith

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#14 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 04:30:32 pm
Monkoffunk, I'm not able to read your post in its entirety at the time of writing but will do so asap.

Just some general thoughts I have:

It's extremely easy to eat vegan. The convenience food market has exploded in recent months and whilst this doesn't form the bulk of my diet in any sense, it is incredibly useful with a busy working life.

It has taken me a lot more effort to find good leather replacements. Will's Vegan Shoes are absolutely incredible and don't look as naff as I think a lot of the vegan shoe brands look. They are also incredibly well made, comfortable and the company is renowned for a high level of customer service.

I phased out merino wool for organic cotton and smelly Hellys which I actually prefer for running in.

Dog food. This is proving to be very tough but the American market is starting to crack it and I constantly have my eye on it.

In summary, I've found the eating side of things very easy and some of the other life details less so. It's certainly gotten much easier as I've done my homework over recent months.

nik at work

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#15 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 05:19:11 pm
I'd agree that a vegan diet at home is easy.
Eating out is generally possible, but at times repetitive at 'normal' restaurants.
Fully vegan life is harder, animals are used so much in so many ways...
I follow a vegan diet, but do a bit of 'benefit of the doubt' type rationalising when eating out.

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#16 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 05:30:19 pm
Is KeenWaH vegaN?

teestub

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#17 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 06:11:48 pm


Dog food. This is proving to be very tough but the American market is starting to crack it and I constantly have my eye on it.


Big ups for all the personal vegan decisions, but there doesn’t seem to be much science supporting vegan diets for dogs and there seems to be high risks of detrimental health outcomes for them.

tomtom

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#18 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 06:56:53 pm


Dog food. This is proving to be very tough but the American market is starting to crack it and I constantly have my eye on it.


Big ups for all the personal vegan decisions, but there doesn’t seem to be much science supporting vegan diets for dogs and there seems to be high risks of detrimental health outcomes for them.

Helps with the high carbon cost dog ownership entails (I’m not being facetious).

Depends on how you feed it / how big it is / which paper you read but C emissions from owning a dog can equate to 10k of car miles or a 6-7 hour return flight...

teestub

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#19 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 10, 2019, 07:00:42 pm
Yes, understood that feeding a dog vegetables has the same impact on carbon consumption as feeding yourself vegetables. Whether this is a good idea for your pet wolf or not is what I was driving at...

monkoffunk

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#20 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 11, 2019, 08:47:43 am
Thanks all!

I’ll admit that clothing isn’t something I really thought about, and make up was a big one for my wife when she realised the stuff she uses isn’t animal product free.

I doubt very much she will be animal free any time soon, but I’m really psyched to start cooking loads of new things. Loads of stuff I want to try.

Have received way more negativity from her side of the family than I was expecting, which is currently unresolved so I think some tricky conversations coming, we’ll see how it all turns out!

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#21 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 11, 2019, 10:32:19 am
The convenience food market has exploded in recent months and whilst this doesn't form the bulk of my diet in any sense, it is incredibly useful with a busy working life.

What gets me is the amount of plastic packaging some of this stuff comes in. Sometimes small individual tofu or textured wheat protein pieces individually wrapped in plastic and then wrapped in a further plastic package!

monkoffunk

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#22 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 11, 2019, 11:48:54 am
The amount of plastic I get through in meat purchases is another motivator for me. I think that’s inherent in the convenience food market across the board.

I really like cooking though so I imagine I’ll use less of this. There are more environmentally friendly fast food vegan options though, a mate of mine I know through climbing just set up a delivery service called Mitch’s Kitchen which is very good.

tomtom

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#23 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 11, 2019, 06:14:04 pm
I think its very well written. This sentence really stood out for me: "If I eat animals, then I need to be able to justify it." This is the real sea change that needs to come (and is coming I think - or hope). In the past, it was always the vegetarian or vegan who needed to justify their choice. Personally, I think we need to get to that point were it is continuing to eat meat that really requires justification.

That’s a really interesting point. And  I think attitudes are shifting around slowly towards that point of view. I still eat meat - but far less than I used to - mainly due to concerns about carbon usage in getting our protein through meat - but also due to solid health reasons too.

MrsTT is a meat lover (though I cook and shop) so I have to still use some meat... but we have far more veg and vegan meals than a year or two ago. Also dialing down the amount of meat in for example a stew and adding more pulses/veg (I’m quite sneaky about this :) )

Trying to shop more seasonally as well. Plastic packing on all things is hard to avoid...

Mainstream supermarkets to have far more meat free choice now - though I’ve not seen any improvement in the fake meats (quorn is still very disappointing and I’d rather just cook something that doesn’t need a meat substitute!).

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#24 Re: Vegan diet and training
May 12, 2019, 01:11:29 pm
(quorn is still very disappointing and I’d rather just cook something that doesn’t need a meat substitute!).

I am a confirmed omnivore but I make a mean quorn chili thing, which I am in fact shovelling into my face at this very moment: toasted sesame oil, garlic (saute, etc.), lemongrass, chili, coconut milk, several tbsp peanut butter, several tsp black sesame tahini (makes the chili go ominous grey, it's great -- Goth chili), quorn pieces, simmer, optionally add some spinach at the last minute and cook until wilted (the spinach not you).

 

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