ilovejesusandgod
New member
Hello r/veganfitness
This month I decided to challenge myself: A 30 Day Vegan Meal plan.I wanted to address the topic of muscle building while on a vegan diet. Recently this past month, I put together a meal plan for myself that outlines specific amino acids in my diet. I plan to experiment for 30 days the effects of being on a strict vegan diet while training. From my own observation, my opinion is that there is a need for education relating to a vegan's approach toward athletic performance.
For disclosure, I am not a registered dietician or physician, but do believe in holistic health, overall wellness and longevity. From my experience dieting as an athlete, my own perspective has been shaped by the process of dieting for muscle growth and how to achieve optimal physical conditioning.As defined animal protein is noted as a 'complete protein', as it contains all of the essential amino acids that your body needs to function effectively (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/animal-vs-plant-protein). These six are arginine, cysteine, glycine, glutamine, proline, and tyrosine (i.e., R C G Q P Y). Five amino acids are dispensable in humans, meaning they can be synthesized in sufficient quantities in the body. These five are alanine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid and serine (i.e., A D N E S).(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_amino_acid). Furthermore, each type of animal protein is made up of varying percentages of these types of amino acids (http://www.jbc.org/content/148/2/431.full.pdf). In other words, animal protein is made up of varying amino acids, but will contain all of the essential amino acids for muscular regeneration.For vegans however, plants are 'incomplete' and do not contain all of our essential amino acids. Hence, plant variety is required to intake the requisite amino acids for muscular growth.
Currently, as a vegetarian, I have had great results with (1) a leaner, more structured muscular tone; (2) less body inflammation; (3) a comparative strength profile; and (4) a quicker recovery period.Before I began this challenge, I analyzed my prior diet and researched the amino acid percentages of a moderate, animal-based protein regimen. In theory, this animal-based diet requires consuming high amounts of protein to maximize muscle recovery during post-athletic performance.Next, I totaled the amino acid profiles derived from each animal-based meal. This becomes a benchmark for my protein intake while training for these next 30 days.My analysis and amino acid profiling begins as follows:
I would love to hear what the comments/thoughts are on this thread, and if you are interested in learning more about my own story going vegan, please follow me on Instagram or message me here!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathan_b_keane/
EDIT: Hi Everybody!I posted this late last night and should have waited. Please see my new vegan diet and old animal based diet here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xWzLPQzTclCgv6mnnm-JEmZaobN_tdbp (Please let me know if this link doesn't work) I just wanted to clarify a few things.
I understand that some plant-based foods are considered complete proteins (e.g. quinoa and buckwheat). However, what I discovered when I compared my old animal based diet to my plant based, vegetarian diet, was that I was eating fewer amino acids comparatively. In other words, in my plan linked above, 1 serving of 6 ouces of chicken contains 5,242 mg of lysine, 4,508 mg of leucine, and 2,032 mg of histidine. 1/2 cup of quinoa, which is considered a complete protein, only has 442 mg of lysine, 483 mg of leucine, and 235 mg of histidine.From my understanding, this would mean that you would have to almost eat 5 cups of quinoa to obtain the close to the same level of lysine compared to one 6 ounce serivng of chicken (which is a ton of carbs!).
So, I basically had to make sure I was within my macro limit for protein, carbs and fats, but am still hitting the same TOTAL amount of amino acids as I would be on a animal-based diet. I have also heard of the plant protein combining myth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining), but I am more concerned about getting an adequate amount of amino acids rather than varying the types of plants I am eating.Please let me know your thoughts are thank you for the feedback thus far!
TL;DR : Maximizing muscular gains and balancing your macros (protein, carbs, fat) by making sure you're eating an equivalent amount of amino acids using plant-based proteins.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathan_b_keane/
This month I decided to challenge myself: A 30 Day Vegan Meal plan.I wanted to address the topic of muscle building while on a vegan diet. Recently this past month, I put together a meal plan for myself that outlines specific amino acids in my diet. I plan to experiment for 30 days the effects of being on a strict vegan diet while training. From my own observation, my opinion is that there is a need for education relating to a vegan's approach toward athletic performance.
For disclosure, I am not a registered dietician or physician, but do believe in holistic health, overall wellness and longevity. From my experience dieting as an athlete, my own perspective has been shaped by the process of dieting for muscle growth and how to achieve optimal physical conditioning.As defined animal protein is noted as a 'complete protein', as it contains all of the essential amino acids that your body needs to function effectively (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/animal-vs-plant-protein). These six are arginine, cysteine, glycine, glutamine, proline, and tyrosine (i.e., R C G Q P Y). Five amino acids are dispensable in humans, meaning they can be synthesized in sufficient quantities in the body. These five are alanine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid and serine (i.e., A D N E S).(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_amino_acid). Furthermore, each type of animal protein is made up of varying percentages of these types of amino acids (http://www.jbc.org/content/148/2/431.full.pdf). In other words, animal protein is made up of varying amino acids, but will contain all of the essential amino acids for muscular regeneration.For vegans however, plants are 'incomplete' and do not contain all of our essential amino acids. Hence, plant variety is required to intake the requisite amino acids for muscular growth.
Currently, as a vegetarian, I have had great results with (1) a leaner, more structured muscular tone; (2) less body inflammation; (3) a comparative strength profile; and (4) a quicker recovery period.Before I began this challenge, I analyzed my prior diet and researched the amino acid percentages of a moderate, animal-based protein regimen. In theory, this animal-based diet requires consuming high amounts of protein to maximize muscle recovery during post-athletic performance.Next, I totaled the amino acid profiles derived from each animal-based meal. This becomes a benchmark for my protein intake while training for these next 30 days.My analysis and amino acid profiling begins as follows:
- Determine my total amino acid intake on an animal-based approach
- Calculate my total milligram (mg) intake per amino acid for the day
- Substitute in my vegan-based diet plan
- Calculate my amino acid profile for my vegan-based diet plan
- Compare both profiles and see where I am deficient in amino acids (in milligrams) compared to my previous animal-based diet
- Target specific plant-based food types that make-up for those deficiencies
I would love to hear what the comments/thoughts are on this thread, and if you are interested in learning more about my own story going vegan, please follow me on Instagram or message me here!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathan_b_keane/
EDIT: Hi Everybody!I posted this late last night and should have waited. Please see my new vegan diet and old animal based diet here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xWzLPQzTclCgv6mnnm-JEmZaobN_tdbp (Please let me know if this link doesn't work) I just wanted to clarify a few things.
I understand that some plant-based foods are considered complete proteins (e.g. quinoa and buckwheat). However, what I discovered when I compared my old animal based diet to my plant based, vegetarian diet, was that I was eating fewer amino acids comparatively. In other words, in my plan linked above, 1 serving of 6 ouces of chicken contains 5,242 mg of lysine, 4,508 mg of leucine, and 2,032 mg of histidine. 1/2 cup of quinoa, which is considered a complete protein, only has 442 mg of lysine, 483 mg of leucine, and 235 mg of histidine.From my understanding, this would mean that you would have to almost eat 5 cups of quinoa to obtain the close to the same level of lysine compared to one 6 ounce serivng of chicken (which is a ton of carbs!).
So, I basically had to make sure I was within my macro limit for protein, carbs and fats, but am still hitting the same TOTAL amount of amino acids as I would be on a animal-based diet. I have also heard of the plant protein combining myth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining), but I am more concerned about getting an adequate amount of amino acids rather than varying the types of plants I am eating.Please let me know your thoughts are thank you for the feedback thus far!
TL;DR : Maximizing muscular gains and balancing your macros (protein, carbs, fat) by making sure you're eating an equivalent amount of amino acids using plant-based proteins.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathan_b_keane/