NFL players' surprising performance hack: going vegan
cnbc.com
cnbc.com
I'm not saying it'll turn an everyman into a Tom Brady, but it could explain why Tom Brady performs so well against his peers (which is just enough of a gap to near-consistently win; and all of these people, even on the Browns, are all absolutely amazing athletes at the top of their field).
It sounds more to me like the DASH diet, or Mediterranean.
Sure, but what the hell is going on with the Bills?
edit: I double checked, and it is clearly linked. I was in reader mode before and didn’t notice the link.
They're often willing to mislead.
A non-activist writer would have given us answers to some obvious questions like "What exactly does a 300lb vegan eat in a typical week?"
Instead it moves into naked activism.
An athlete would face extra challenges. Tudor Bompa cites research showing athletes tend to be deficient in important micronutrients compared to the general population, likely because of the stresses of training. And though the position paper on sports nutrition published by the world's most important scientific journal on nutrition recommends that athletes consume up to 1.4g of protein per 1kg of body mass per day, for a vegan athlete this means consuming approximately 1kg to 2kg of beans a day, or even more if the food is less protein-dense than beans. It's hard to eat that many beans.
Sources:
Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental issues and options, p.112, Food and Agriculture Organization, 2006
United States Department of Agriculture Food Composition Databases
Tudor S. Bompa, Periodic Training for Sports, 2015
"Nutrition and Athletic Performance", Dietitians of Canada, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the American College of Sports Medicine, December 2016
B12 is a different matter, but as it seems a standard additive to soy milk, which I often have on breakfast cereal, I've never worried about that either.
No supplements needed. (Anecdata: I've been going strong for almost 30 years of vegan diet)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline#Dietary_sources_of_cho...
As an example of such a source, see tsmoctl's first link in this same thread to a US Department of Health & Human Services article on choline. Its authorship alone would have justified choline's inclusion in my database, though I acknowledge the National Institutes of Health may not be correct in their assertion.
One can be micronutrient deficient and still be athletic or observably healthy. Nutrient deficiency is not a guarantee of disease; it merely increases the likelihood of disease. Or you may be right about choline, and the NIS may well be wrong.
EDIT: I consider food additives to be supplements, such as vitamin B12 to soy milk. If you don't, then our disagreement on the point of vegans requiring supplements is a semantic one.
I thought old “Element 17” was made by fusion in stars.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis
<Oops: choline not chlorine!>
From https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Choline-HealthProfessional...
And in regards to B12,
> It has long been assumed that B12 is produced by bacteria in the large intestine (aka the colon), but since B12 is produced below the ileum (where B12 is absorbed), it is not available for absorption. This theory is reinforced by the fact that many species of totally or primarily vegetarian animals eat their feces.
https://veganhealth.org/intestinal-bacteria-as-b12-source/
I don't blame you for taking a supplement instead.
Note how obtaining all of one's choline from its most concentrated plant source, roasted soy, still requires eating two and a half cups of it daily. Though I suppose that can be done, eating two coffee mugs of soybeans every day would quickly become unpalatable.
As for the second link? Oof.
Meeting that recommendation requires a diet with slightly higher average calories-from-protein than potatoes: 60kg * 1.4(g/kg) / 8(g/serving) * 290(kcal/serving) = 3045 kcal, which is around the TDEE of an active person of that weight.
[ nutrition info from here: https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetabl... ]
60kg*1.4g/kg/0.0196=4386g
[1] https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/11829?fgcd=&manu=&fo...
Just to reiterate the scope of this, it's easy to get sufficient protein from plant matter if your protein requirements are nearer the consensus daily minimum of 0.8g protein per 1kg body mass.[1]
But it is hard if 1.4g/kg is your goal, as it would be in a power-dominant sport like NFL football. I should have used the exact source of the data you linked to the first time around (mea culpa), which reports a protein mass fraction of 0.0250 [2]:
60kg*1.4g/kg/0.0250=3,360g
Also consider that we're talking about the mass of a female powerlifter here. I believe most women in training would balk at more than three kilograms of plant matter every day. The 95kg, 175cm running back Emmitt Smith would have had to eat 5.3kg of plant matter every day, and he was a smaller man in the world of power athletics.
At the minimum daily protein requirement for seniors of 0.8g/kg, the numbers are more palatable:
60kg*0.8/kg/0.0250=1,920g
Sources:
[1] Protein and Amino Acid Requirements in Human Nutrition, World Health Organization, p.114, 2007
[2] https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/11674?fgcd=&manu=&fo...
In my own experience: I eat 3 meals, generally within an 8 hr window, and it's not unusual for me to cook myself a 1 lb bag of lentils as the major ingredient of any one of them. I don't weigh my prepared food, but comparing usda data for "lentils, raw" vs "lentils, boiled" I'm getting a factor of 3 mass difference for isocaloric quantities; I usually have 1.5-2 x 4 cup bowls of food per meal, which is consistent with the calorie-based estimate of their weight increase on cooking. (Sorry to mix imperial units into it, but I'm surrounded by them!) Translating to respectable units, that comes to over 4kg/day of plant matter. I'm apparently smaller than a female powerlifter and certainly get less exercise; the reason this is an equilibrium amount of food for me is I only eat every other day[1]. I don't have any trouble eating that much, though the quantity of food was daunting when I starting alternate day fasting a few years ago. So, I'm inclined to think that the answer is: what sounds like a huge amount of plants is actually a manageable amount of food once you get used to it; it is a lot of volume, but digestive tracts are adaptable and plants are mostly water.
[1]: if I have convinced you yet that I am crazy, please try not to let that cloud your judgment of my reasoning :)
But my experience was different. At 1.1g/kg I found it too hard to eat the amount of food my diet prescribed. I would just stop salivating.
Then maybe the underlying problem isn't the amount of food but my lame-ass cooking.
I run ultra marathon distances, am vegan, and am Type 1 diabetic. I do no special meal or protein planning beyond estimating and somewhat limiting the amount of carbs I eat.
I find if I eat too many processed foods my chronic depression comes back. So eating simply and regular exercise is how I stay off antidepressants and perform better at every aspect of my life.
"Hey wanna come over to a BBQ at our place on Saturday?" might be awkward for a vegan to respond to, just as "Hey, wanna come over for spaghetti night?" would be for someone on a low-carb diet without any specific disrespect or disapproval from the host about the particular diet. I'm assuming you wouldn't recommend telling someone to "fuck off" for inviting you to a BBQ.
That's what my original post was about. None of that stuff even matters. It's cliche to say but it's only awkward if you don't have true self-acceptance, THAT is what makes it awkward. Otherwise, its your reality against theirs, and if you bend to their reality it's basically telling your own self "that person's beliefs are more important than my own"
If someone invites me to a BBQ I would just eat beforehand and then come over and socialize, have some water or carrots/hummus (if they have it), or nothing at all. If someone asked why I'm not eating I would just say I'm vegan (if they didn't already know) and I already ate for today. Anything beyond that conversation (i.e. making sarcastic jokes) I'm used to, I'd play along with it. There are rare times where the jokes get too much in which case I 100% ignore them so they get the idea that they should chill. Looking at people in the eye as they're talking, and then slowly looking away while they're mid sentence is a really good indicator that "ok... that's enough" without having to talk about it.
For all the quarterly meetings at my old job, we would go to steak houses every single trip. The amount of times I've heard a waiter/waitress say something to the effect of "You're at a steakhouse pussy, you want a salad???" ... I dunno it just doesn't phase me. If they're a huge asshole I will be an asshole back... "Yeah did I stutter", but this is quite rare and usually only at really meat-centric places like Brazilian steakhouses etc. One memory I have was at this famous BBQ place in a basement in Memphis. He called 3 or 4 people around to have a 30 second comedy show at my expense, but I played along with it and shot remarks back, after which we all laughed and I ordered a water and a thing of potato salad.
99% of the time though, no one even cares, and people are polite.
Not to mention the self reinforcing effects of social pressure - for example, if you're a vegan and you want to go out to eat with your friends, your options may likely be limited depending on the restaurant. If your friend group is considerate, they may take vegan options into account, or you might end up going out less with your friends as a result.
Eating at home was a challenge, at first, to switch cooking styles and get used to new ingredients I hadn't cooked with as much. I cook quite a bit and I feel as though this was my highest point of frustration my first few weeks. I bought about a dozen plant focused cook books and cherry picked what looked good right away and have ventured into odd and more complex recipes over the months. It's been far more fun than I would have guessed as there are so many plants I knew nothing about.
Healthwise I feel much better and blood tests have shown improvement over where I was at before (and I was probably above average compared to the average American at start). I'm about 5'11, started in the mid 170s and am now in the low to mid 160s. I noticed a significant improvement in my running. I'm averaging 8 minute miles on a 3-5 mile run a few times a week. I could probably run lower but I enjoy it and don't try to push it beyond that. Last year I was running mid to upper 8s for the same distance. Nothing has really changed outside diet.
TL;DR - Went mostly plant based at the start of the year, enjoying it. Hasn't gotten in the way and have seen improvements making the change.
With vegan diets, the most commonly deficient nutrients are: protein, calcium, choline, selenium, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, and zinc.
2 cans of sardines can provide almost all of the vitamin D, selenium, and B12 you need in a day, and a majority of calcium and protein, with a serious dent in your choline RDA as well. Not only that, they are among the most sustainably-caught and lowest-mercury fish you can eat.
Add in 3 pasture-raised, farm-fresh eggs and you've hit your RDA for choline (via the yolks) and protein.
The rest of your nutrients can be covered with vegan foods...for the remaining common deficiencies, a few scoops of vegan pea protein to finish up your RDA for iron with that athlete boost I need of additional protein.
Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, lentils, garbanzo beans, cashews, and quinoa are all excellent sources of protein and zinc.
On that note, is there any measure of how closely clustered top athletes are in different sports? Are there some in which the best are more separated from the rest than in others, so that the best in those sports can get away more sub-optimal stuff?
You should read up on the training regimen of Usain Bolt. Fastest guy who ever lived. His training regime is basically that he doesn’t train. I can’t imagine that his dietary adherence is any better. Short of malnutrition or massive sugar consumption, there’s probably not much he could do to screw himself up. Clearly his genes want to build a very specific phenotype.
Same link also says Bolt has a freakishly long stride. I wonder if sprinting is one sport in which the very best are further from the rest relative to other sports due to sprinting involving exactly one activity? I'm not much of a sports fan but I can't recall another accounting of a great in my lifetime that didn't involve intense training.
(My wife is a registered dietitian with a PhD in nutrition, so obviously we tend toward veganism.)
however going dairy free is a whole other ball game, We've tried some alternatives, and things like banana ice cream is a pretty good ice cream alternative, but cheese alternatives are not so good.
The core reason that many ethical vegans are vegans is that they decide not to put their taste preferences over an animal.
I think that the main reason is less that meat itself is unhealthy though, but that I used to basically eat meat and carbs with little in the way of vegetables. Steak and chips isn't a very nutritionally complete meal.
Of course it's possible to eat shit food while still being a vegan. Oreos and fries are vegan.
That's definitely a minority view. The point is to avoid creating demand for animal products, so most vegans don't worry about cross-contamination as if it were an allergy.