I am 5'4" and 150 and I am currently training for my second marathon. To help me loose weight, I went vegetarian about a month ago. The people I work with are telling me I should not give up meat because I need the protein. I am getting protein from dairy and soy, so I do not see the problem. Any thoughts? I have lost about a pound a week since I started.

I have not eaten pigs, cows, or any other mammal for around five or more years. I do however occasionally (once a month or so) eat chicken or fish. I love chicken and fish!! Even though I became half vegan for my love of animals (especially the furry ones) I think as long as you take supplements and get your protein in other forms you should have no problem with protein intake. Yogurts and dairy products are excellent sources and have been said to help people loose weight. Although I am not a doctor so if I were you and if you are adament at loosing weight the healthy way I would check into a local gym and find a nutrisionist. Although it may cost you a bit of money I believe that in the end a nutrisionist and regular exercise program will really help you to your goal. As for your friends saying your not getting enough protein because you cut out meat, not true, there are thousands of vegetarians in the United States alone and they are healthy and may acutally live longer (studies have shown), hey we dont have to worry about mad cow disease!! Good Luck and hope I sorta helped you out. Any other questions I would be glad to help.
silver91

hmmm...i dont think mad cow disease is rampant in the americas..but anyways. The biggest problem, especially with females and being vegitarian is the intake of iron. You NEED iron if you are running, or you may get jaundice, which turns your skin yellow, and the iron defeciency can kill you if not treated. Red meat is the best source of iron. I do not reccomend a vegitarian diet for runners personally, especially if you are just trying to lose weight, i say that diet is for the tree huggers. But if you must do it, just be sure to get enough iron.

::Loras::

Ser loras~
I really dont appreciate you calling me a tree hugger becuase I have chosen to become a vegetarian. I have been a runner since I was ten and have taken multivitamins and the following foods down below to get my iron. There is no need to eat a sirloin to get iron there are other foods with the element in them. So please before you write such a short,rude uninformed message to someone please get all the facts!!.


These are for Buckeyecoy:
· clams, cooked, 3 oz (23.8 mg)
· tofu, 1/2 cup firm (13.2 mg)
· raisin bran, ready-to-eat, 3/4 cup (4.5 mg)
· shrimp, cooked, 3 oz (2.6 mg)
· black beans, boiled, 1/2 cup (1.8 mg)
· chickpeas, canned, 1/2 cup (1.6 mg)
· turkey breast, 3 oz (0.9 mg)
· bread, whole wheat, 1 slice (0.9 mg)
· chicken breast, skinless, 1/2 breast (0.9 mg)

silver91

Meat(red meat) is the best source for iron as its well absorbed and large amounts in it, try drinking a class of orange juice b4 a iron intake as vitamin c helps the absorbtion of iron..

I also am a vegetarian, and I feel that as long as you are taking vitamins and getting protein from other sources (soy products, etc.) then I think you are on your way to being healthier. When I went vegetarian I also lost weight, but as long as you are getting protein in each meal you are doing okay. :) However, it might be a good idea to get a nutrisionist, because it is usually a good idea to get a pro's opinion. A professional will be able to give you a better idea on what foods you should be eating in order to maintain your ability to run well.

Good Luck on your vegetarianism! You are doing a good thing!

Although I commend people trying to stick with a vegetarian or vegan diet, being a 'vegetarian who only eats chicken or fish' or 'a vegan who eats ice cream' is a contradiction. As a vegetarian for 14+ years and vegan for the past 3, it's a bit frustrating to hear people call themselves something they aren't. If I've gone to temple once, that wouldn't make me Jewish. If I tried skiing one time, I'm not a skiier. Sewing a skirt in 8th grade home-ec doesn't make me a sewer. If you eat chicken but not red meat, that's fine, but it doesn't make you a vegetarian - you would be a person who doesn't eat red meat. Dubbing yourself a vegetarian just confuses others on the definition.

Hi, I have been a vegetarian for four years now...I hate seafood but I have recently started training for a half marathon so i now try and eat salmon and shrimp about twice a week. I also eat alot of low fat dairy. I had an iron problem and am just getting over it, and have done alot of research into iron intake and whatnot. Turns out that many dark green vegies have much higher iron content than meat BUT this iron is harder to absorbe, unless paired with animal protiens(eggs ect..not milk..it coats the stomache) and vitamin c also helps absorbtion alot. I also suggest a multi vitamin...so your iron is maintained and make sure you get regular blood work to make sure your on track. Anemia is not fun...i litterally could do NOTHING ..it was terrible. However..if you take proper precautions...most nutritionists will tell you that your better off a vegetarian and you should have no probs..most distance runners need a high carbo diet that only has about 20 to 30 percent protien anyways. dont listen to people who dont know their stuff..you will find lots of them trying to tell you that its unhealthy and whatnot , usually they are offended..but trust me on this one...it isnt plant matter that gives people heart disease (which happens to be the leading cause of death in the united states)....just be carefull..make sure you put an effort into eating well, good luck and happy eating!

Kyla~ Excellent information!!!

Interesting Thread...

I've been vegetarian before I started running last year. And have stuck with it, throughout my training.

For Iron it as easy as finding the right veggies. Spinach, baby spinach, Red peppers and beans all have some iron in them. Enough to make you okay. Females are specifically prone to iron deficiancy due to their menstration. So this time of the month ladies, you might also want to supplement with some b12 and iron pills. Just a thought.

For Protein, it's all about the legumes and dairy. Beans, all of em, numero uno! Cottage cheese, another awesome source. If you're worried about the Na in Cottage Cheese, don't, you're a runner. You're body is probably screaming for the salt anyway.

Now most importantly, if you've become a vegetarian to lose I got some bad news for you. It's not that great an idea. There is no animal in sugar, alcohol ('cept that new fish wine, you guys hear about that? SICK!) And eating too much of it, can hinder your wieght loss. The key to losing wieght, is exercise, and eating the right stuff. Veggies, Fruit, Fibre and Whole grain. That's where it's at.

Good luck, and for the record, there is no shame in being a tree hugger. The environment is important, and without it we'd have no trail races, no paths to run on...But that's another story.

Jacob.

It's good to know that there are top athletes who are vegetarians. One of them is Dave Scott who is 6 times triathlon champion (though, I also heard that now in his retirement, he started eating fish)

I recommend all to use webs as your knowledgebase. Go to http://www.wholehealthmd.com/reflib/1,1529,,00.html and you can check the nutrition value of every food (almost). You will be surprised that some of nuts and veggie have as much protein as red meat without the negative effect. For instance: 3 ounce broiled sirloin has 24g of Protein, but comes with 66mg of Cholestrol. 1 ounce of sunflower seed has 7g of protein with zero Cholestrol. Please note that plant based protein usually do not give a complete Amino acid and therefore it's good to have variety of plant based food to get the 8 essential Amino acid.

For this past 12 months, I have been learning alot from websites and books about nutritions and discover that there are many theory out there. Lots of them are similar and some are contraversial. I do not think that there is one absolute diet theory as everyone is guessing about how our body work. Even the pros are guessing and the one who has much funding can do scientific experiments. Most experiments are done in animals and it is important to take into account that animals (i.e. rats, mouse) need different nutrient than human. It's only our creator that knows exactly the right diet. So it's best to be open minded and see the improvement yourself whether it works or not.

I have been fighting skin condition (psoriasis) for the past three years. After my 1.5 years with 2 different top notch dermatologist without any result (getting worst), I gave up and went to look for natural way via diet. I found several programs from books and websites. Last year, I started with whole food diet, supplement and cleansing - no red meat -only fish and chicken - no processed sugar and flour. It improved my skin by 10% and then stop improving and reached plateu. Meanwhile, I lost 20lb without wanting to loose weight (since I only weigh 130lb to begin with -5"2')

I began to have more energy and started running. In search for the right cure for my psoriasis, this past thanksgiving week, I started a new diet/lifestyle: Not only vegetarian, but I also eat everything raw. This is a biblical based diet (hacres.com), so it is totally based on your faith whether you believe this or not.

I eat raw of these:
-mostly vegetable (vegetable juice recommended)
-15% fruit
-Mix my own trailmix with raw nuts and unsulphured dried fruit
-With critical supplements: barley grass powder juice and carrot powder juice (I don't have time to juice carrot everyday)

After 3 weeks on vegetarian, I still do not have clear result on my psoriasis yet, but the scaled skin is getting much softer.

Now, with my raw food life, I also started bike to work (even in the winter) 9 miles each way. I still have energy to go to gym at night for my upper body strength for my bad back. Since I stopped eating processed flour and sugar over a year ago, I have not gotten any germ/virus borne illness. This is due to my healty diet and therefore healthy body does not tolerate virus or bad bacteria living comfortably in my body.

Though, I am still new in vegetarian - I discovered that what I believed before: cannot survive without meat as source of protein was not true.

Hope this help. Wish the best for your vegetarian lifestyle.

well back to the origonal question, i would say that your friends havent looked very deeply into the subject and id say what youre doing is fine, although you might want to get a nutrionist's views first. as a life long vegetarian, i agree getting protein can be difficult. nuts are a great source, but on average they supply about 10% of your protien need while giving you about 20% of daily fat (a rough estimate keep in mind). recently, i have begun to eat protein bars fairly often, which i would like to hear some fellow runners opinions on. Im not completely relying on them for protien, but i would like to make sure no one here knows of any harm they might bring me. Perhaps they could help as well?

Going veggie is fine, I personally eat meat but have trained and trained with several vegaterians and they did fine. As you have heard, make sure you find other sources of protien. I have had a few of my veggie athletes become run down and when the went to the doctor, their iron levels seemed OK. With deeper reseach we found out that their ferretin level was low giving them symptoms of anemia. You can boost it with supplements but it really affects your stamina and endurance. If you are having your iron level checked make sure the doctor checks the ferretin too!

Rusty

Spinach and many types of enriched cereals can also be good sources of iron.

I have been vegetarian for a year and a half and eat one protein bar a day. I have had no problems to this point. I highly recommend Clif's Builders Bar. It contains all natural ingredients and 20g of protein per bar. Good Luck!