In the demanding world of mixed martial arts (MMA), fighters are constantly seeking ways to gain a competitive edge. Nutrition plays a crucial role in optimizing performance, recovery, and overall health. While traditional diets often emphasize animal products, a growing number of athletes, including MMA fighters, are exploring the benefits of plant-based diets. This article delves into the world of vegan diets for MMA fighters, examining the advantages, potential challenges, and practical strategies for success.
Introduction: The Paradigm Shift in Athletic Nutrition
The world of athletics is witnessing a paradigm shift, with a growing number of athletes embracing plant-based diets for optimal performance. Contrary to popular belief, vegan diets for athletes are not just a trend but a sustainable lifestyle choice. The vegan and vegetarian diet is a topic that people are becoming increasingly interested in, especially after the release of a certain Netflix documentary. As a martial artist, your journey isn’t just about mastering techniques or winning bouts; it’s also about challenging and overcoming stereotypes. One such stereotype is the belief that a vegan diet cannot support the demanding physical requirements of martial arts. This idea has been deeply ingrained in the martial arts community for decades, but is it time to re-evaluate it?
What is a Vegan Diet?
Firstly, it’s essential to understand what a vegan diet entails. Unlike a vegetarian diet that may include dairy or eggs, a vegan diet consists of only plant-based foods. This means your nutrition comes from fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
Benefits of a Vegan Diet for MMA Fighters
There are some really great reasons why a vegetarian or vegan diet can work well for fighters and combat sports athletes.
Lower Body Fat Levels: Studies show vegetarians and vegans, on average, have lower body fat levels than meat eaters. Going meat-free also naturally leads to higher intake of low energy density foods. You can eat a big serving of vegetables, lentils, or oats for relatively few calories.
Read also: The MMA Fighter's Diet
Improved Heart Health: Heart health is vital in fighting, and vegetarian diets are linked to lower blood pressure and cholesterol on average.
Reduced Inflammation and Muscle Damage: The antioxidants and compounds found in colorful fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices can reduce inflammation and muscle damage. This helps accelerate recovery between training sessions. An vegetarian meal plan for MMA fighters is loaded with antioxidants, which can speed up recovery and reduce muscle soreness after intense training sessions.
Long-Term Health and Consistency: Fighters have to stay healthy and training consistently over many years to succeed in this sport. This is another area where plant-based eating seems to have advantages over a typical Western diet.
Potential Collagen Production Boost: Studies do suggest diets rich in vitamin C and antioxidants can improve collagen production. Most veggies, berries, and herbs are packed with vitamin C. More collagen equals better skin elasticity and strength.
Lean Energy Source: The plant-based proteins are great for muscle repair and growth, providing a lean source of energy.
Read also: Is Fighterdiet Worth It?
Supports a Healthy Immune System: This diet supports a healthy immune system, keeping fighters in top shape and ready to train.
Optimal Weight Management: The high fiber content from vegetables and grains aids in maintaining optimal weight and muscle-to-fat ratio.
Improved Cardiovascular Health: It's also known to improve cardiovascular health, which is crucial for endurance in the ring.
Better Joint Health and Flexibility: Additionally, this diet helps in reducing inflammation, ensuring better joint health and flexibility.
Mental Clarity and Focus: Martial arts is as much a mental game as it is physical. A vegan diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, has been linked to improved mental clarity and focus. These cognitive benefits can give you an edge during training and competition.
Read also: Vegan Diet for Diabetes Management
Addressing Common Concerns and Misconceptions
A common misconception is that vegan diets lack sufficient protein for muscle growth. However, by incorporating a variety of plant-based protein sources, like legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, athletes can achieve a complete amino acid profile. There’s a persistent myth that vegan diets lead to a lack of strength or muscle mass. This is far from the truth. With the right balance of macronutrients, you can build and maintain muscle on a vegan diet.
While whole foods should form the basis of your diet, supplements can fill in nutritional gaps.
Potential Nutritional Deficiencies
If the athlete is vegan or vegetarian, or considering the change, you need to consider the nutrients you are at risk of inadequately obtaining the diet. These are all found less in plant-based foods, in comparison to animal products, and often are in less bio-available forms. This means your body may struggle to completely absorb the nutrient. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure adequate intake of foods rich in these nutrients, and also to utilize supplementation if needed.
Protein Quality: Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Fighters need UPWARDS of 150 to 200g protein per day to build / maintain muscle mass. Most plant proteins are lower quality and lack some "essential amino acids" needed to build muscle. Protein is also a component to consider, some plant-based foods do not have a complete amino acid profile, which is important for recovery and performance. So, by following such a diet, you need to be mindful of the protein sources you choose and put some time into doing your research. In terms of protein powders, pea protein has a complete amino acid profile and is as effective as whey proteins.
Micronutrients: Iron - vital for energy levels. Vitamin B12 - only comes from animal foods. Vitamin D & Omega-3s - normally obtained from oily fish and eggs. Zinc & Selenium - important for immunity, thyroid function and metabolic rate.
- Vitamin B12: Essential for nerve function and blood cell formation.
- Vitamin D: Important for bone health and immune function.
- Vitamin K2: Plays a role in bone and cardiovascular health.
Blood Sugar Levels: Eating more grains and carb-heavy foods like bread and pasta instead of meat can play havoc with blood sugar levels.
Nutrients Found in Red Meat: Red meat in particular contains nutrients like creatine, carnitine, iron, zinc and B-vitamins that can help support our strength and power output.
Strategies to Mitigate Deficiencies
Variety of Plant-Based Protein Sources: By incorporating a variety of plant-based protein sources, like legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, athletes can achieve a complete amino acid profile.
Supplementation:
- Vitamin B12: Supplementation is crucial to ensure adequate intake.
- Vitamin D: Supplementation is crucial to ensure adequate intake.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Discover the secret to a healthier you by striking the right balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids! Dive into a world of nutritious choices like flaxseeds, chia seeds, and walnuts for a rich omega-3 boost, while keeping a watchful eye on the omega-6 content in oils and processed delights. And for an extra health kick, why not explore algae-based omega-3 supplements as a direct route to EPA and DHA?
Iron-Rich Plant Foods: Iron and B12 are two nutrients often under scrutiny in vegan diets. Iron-rich plant foods like spinach, kale, and fortified cereals are vital.
Consuming Fermented Soy Products: Consuming fermented soy products like tempeh for quality protein.
Including Eggs and Dairy: Including eggs and dairy if lacto-ovo vegetarian.
Sample Vegan Meal Plan for MMA Fighters
A sample diet for vegan martial artists should be carefully crafted to ensure it provides all the essential nutrients needed to support their rigorous training and recovery.
Breakfast: Start your day with a nutrient-packed breakfast that provides both energy and sustenance. A smoothie bowl can be an excellent choice.
- Tip: Stir some nutritional yeast into your scrambled tofu for a sneaky source of complete protein to help you recover like a champ.
Mid-Morning Snack: For a mid-morning snack, opt for a protein-rich option like a homemade trail mix. Combine roasted chickpeas, pumpkin seeds, and dried fruits like apricots or raisins.
Lunch: Lunch should be a hearty and balanced meal that fuels your body for the rest of the day. A quinoa and black bean salad is a great choice. Mix cooked quinoa with black beans, diced bell peppers, corn, avocado, and a squeeze of lime.
Pre-Evening Training Snack: Before evening training, a light snack can help boost energy levels. A peanut butter and jelly, banana sandwich on whole-grain bread offers a good mix of protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates.
Dinner: After an intense workout, dinner should focus on recovery and muscle repair. A tofu stir-fry with a variety of vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and bell peppers, served over brown rice or whole grain noodles, makes for an ideal post-training meal.
Bedtime Snack: A light snack before bed can aid in overnight muscle recovery. A small bowl of chia pudding made with plant-based milk and a sprinkle of nuts or fruit can be soothing and nourishing.
Foods to Eat
- Plant-Based Proteins: Hemp seeds, lentils, and edamame offer complete protein sources for muscle repair and growth. Legumes (also know as pulses) are a plant-based food group that includes beans of all kinds, chickpeas, and lentils. Soy is also a great source of protein. One-hundred grams of tofu contains 17.3 grams of protein, according to the USDA. It contains about 19 grams of protein per 100 gram serving.
- Healthy Fats: Olive oil, avocados, and fatty fish alternatives like algae oil provide sustained energy and support brain health.
- Complex Carbohydrates: Sweet potatoes, quinoa, and whole grain bread fuel intense training sessions and promote muscle glycogen replenishment. Whole grains and grain-like seeds like quinoa are naturally high in protein. Oats are a protein superstar, even among other high-protein grains. Vegan NFL player Andre Patton swears by oatmeal for breakfast, he told Chargers podcast. Whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, and whole wheat provide complex carbohydrates, fiber, and essential nutrients. For long-duration activities, focus on carbohydrate-rich foods for sustained energy. Whole grains, fruits, and starchy vegetables are excellent choices.
- Leafy Greens: Spinach, kale, and collard greens are packed with vitamins and minerals to support immune function and recovery.
- Hydration: Water, coconut water, and electrolyte-rich drinks keep you hydrated and prevent muscle cramps during training. Hydration plays a pivotal role in athletic performance. Vegan athletes should focus on maintaining optimal hydration levels to ensure peak performance. Maintain optimal hydration throughout your workout.
Foods to Avoid
- High-Sugar Snacks: Skip sugary snacks and desserts, as they can cause energy crashes and weight gain.
- Trans Fats: Avoid foods high in trans fats, such as fried foods and packaged snacks, as they can increase inflammation and impair recovery.
- Excessive Alcohol: Alcohol can impair recovery and negatively impact sleep quality, so it's best to limit intake, especially during training camps.
- Processed Meats: Deli meats and sausages are high in sodium and preservatives, which can increase inflammation and hinder recovery.
- High-Fat Dairy: While some dairy is fine in moderation, excessive consumption can lead to bloating and digestive issues, so choose dairy alternatives when possible.
- Processed Vegan Foods: Primarily, steer clear of processed vegan foods rich in additives and preservatives, as they can be low in essential nutrients and high in unhealthy fats and sugars.
Practical Suggestions for Fighters on Vegan Diets
Matt offers his top practical suggestions for fighters succeeding on vegetarian and vegan diets. He caveats there are no black and white answers or one-size fits all approach. Some fighters may lean heavily plant-based but include salmon a couple times a week. Others thrive on a vegan diet with sports supplements. He has worked at the top of elite sports for over 20+ years.
Focus on Whole Foods: By eating a range of minimally processed whole-foods, getting a consistent source of protein during the day, having a mixture of carbohydrates and consuming minimally processed fats you can put yourself in the best position to benefit from your Nutrition.
Proper Nutrition for Workouts: The right nutrition can significantly enhance workout performance. Aim for a balance of carbohydrates and protein to fuel your body. Your post-workout meal should combine protein and carbohydrates to aid recovery.
Developing a Structured Meal Plan: Developing a structured meal plan is key for meeting nutritional goals.
Budgeting on a Vegan Meal Plan: Maintaining a vegetarian diet on a budget for MMA training requires a bit of strategy. Base your meals around affordable staples like lentils, brown rice, and oats. Visit ethnic grocery stores where you can often find better deals on spices and legumes. Cooking at home rather than eating out saves a lot, and it ensures you know exactly what's in your food. Use a slow cooker for easy, budget-friendly meals.
Real-Life Examples of Vegan MMA Fighters
To break the stereotype, it’s important to look at real-life examples. Many successful martial artists follow a vegan diet. Nick and Nate Diaz have been two of mixed martial arts’ biggest stars in the past two decades, yet they’ve been vegan for most of their adult lives. Nick was a champion in multiple MMA promotions like the now-defunct WEC and Strikeforce promotions. Notable examples have included Carl Lewis, track and field athlete, and Kendrick Farris, an American weightlifter.
Mac Danzig: A Vegan Pioneer in MMA
Mac Danzig remembers grabbing some chicken breasts from the freezer, cooking them up and chowing them down. It was a milestone moment, signifying the last time the conscientious consumer would taste any meat or fish. The animal rights advocate had already stopped eating dairy products; he was now full-fledged vegan. No big deal, except Danzig’s diet made him a glaring anomaly in the MMA and society in general, where carnivores are widely presumed to have a huge edge in the all-important strength department. So for years the Cleveland-born, California-based fighter shouldered plenty of criticism and battled misperceptions about his eating habits. But Danzig, winner of season six of The Ultimate Fighter and single father to a three-year-old daughter, has noticed a gradual shift in attitudes over the past few years as the fight game evolved and ever more attention is paid to the cleanest diet possible.
Danzig's Diet Philosophy
Danzig opened up about his food philosophies and recently being featured in the acclaimed “Forks Over Knives” documentary that is related to a book of the same name that climbed to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Once, the fight world virtually scoffed at Danzig’s fringe diet. More and more, however, he is looking like a pioneer who was ahead of the times.
Danzig on Protein Intake
“I used to always get that, ‘Well what do you eat?’ ‘Where do you get your protein?’ I get that all the time. The truth of the matter is that protein requirements are blown all out of proportion. We are led to believe that we need huge of amounts of protein for physical activity. People have been saying that for so long. The fact of the matter is, even if I did eat meat I wouldn’t be so focused on my protein intake. I wouldn’t worry that much about it because you get enough protein if you have a balanced diet. But so much of our society is based on what is printed in magazines and publications. All of that knowledge was handed down, literally, by the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno days … people who looked at bodybuilding as the ultimate way for Joe Schmoe to get in shape and be five percent closer to looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. And that’s been going on for a long time. It goes hand in hand with this whole fitness mindset that has been going on for decades. You don’t need one gram of protein per pound of body weight. You don’t need that at all. If you are regularly active and at a good weight, if you get more than 80 grams of protein a day then you are fine. The body can’t even process more than that, your liver can’t process more than that. If you give your body too much protein then it’s either going to turn it into energy or to fat. And your liver has to do all that.”
Danzig's Vegan Journey
“I’ve been researching nutrition for years and years, and not just being vegan, but nutrition in general. I’ve asked a lot of questions from knowledgeable people over the years, read books, read medical journals and stuff like that online. So I’ve been educating myself as much as possible for years and then using trial and error. For years I didn’t do the Vegan diet even though personally, morally and ethically I wanted to. But I believed in what everyone else was saying, ‘You need meat! You need some kind of animal product, fish or chicken … to maintain your strength and muscle mass. As an athlete you need that.’ And I believed all of that. Then I saw some examples of athletes that were Vegan and were getting good results and I thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to try it.’ At the very beginning for me it was moral and ethical. In this day and age, buying animal and dairy products causes way more suffering and harm than it does good. Don’t get me wrong, yes, I love animals … but if we were in a different day and age like 100 or 200 years ago then, sure, I would do whatever I had to do to live. If I had to be a hunter-gatherer then I would. I might feel bad about it, but I would respect the animals that I killed and I would eat meat. But things are different. We don’t live in that day and age anymore. Today you have processed meats and a lot of animals suffering unnecessarily for it. Now, some people just blow that off and don’t have a conscience about it or they just don’t care. They wouldn’t eat their dog but they feel that way about other animals. But for me, I just decided to stop eating meat. I didn’t want to contribute to all of that. I’m not trying to change the world or wear that on my sleeve or make a political statement, because that just turns people away. I only have control over one person and that’s myself. And I feel good about it."
A Day in the Life of Mac Danzig Grubbing
“It depends whether I’m in hard training. When I’m in hard training, like right now, I wake up in the morning, get some stuff done and I go train. I skip breakfast and the reason I do that is because if you train before you eat you will burn off the glycogen stores and the immediate fat sources that you have accumulated a lot quicker. So if you eat breakfast before you workout, then you are burning off some of what you just ate. I like to start with a clean slate for weight-cutting purposes. So I go work out. After I work out I have a Vegan protein shake and mix that in a blender with mangoes, banana, coconut for the good fats, and some cashews. Then a little bit later I will have some sort of carbs … usually quinoa, because it has complex carbs and a lot of protein. I’ll add steamed vegetables and some kind of fruit. I snack throughout the day with fresh fruit. I try to only eat organic fruit and that’s where I get my sugar intake from. I stay as far away as possible from refined and processed sugars. I go train and then when I’m done I’ll have a salad, usually with spinach and kale, with beans and legumes as the main source of protein. Sometimes I might eat Tofu or Tempeh. Tempeh is a little better because the processing and fermentation process that the soybean goes through is not as intense. Or I might add lima beans to my salad. Later on at night I eat more fresh fruit, as always.”
Childhood Diet
“Me and my mom didn’t have a whole lot of money. We both cared a lot about animals and hypothetically wanted to go vegetarian but we didn’t know how to do it. This is like the (1980s) and when you grow up in the Midwest or the East there was not a lot of information about it. We just got by on what we could. I think I drank more 2 percent milk than any other liquid because we didn’t know any better and there were so many commercials about milk - like the milk campaigns that they are still doing. I drank so much milk that I ended up with an allergy to it. A typical meal for me was white bread, baked potato, a side of lunch meat and milk. That was what I had a lot. It wasn’t good for me but when you’re a young kid you can process that. But if you go vegetarian or vegan you’re going to be making yourself so much healthier.”
Go-To Meal
“I eat a lot of vegan energy bars from Whole Foods. I’m really into Coconut milk to make curry, so I’ll make a yellow curry powder and mix it with coconut milk, put that over organic brown rice and add some stir fried vegetables with snow peas. If I have 20 minutes to prepare something, that’s something I might make.”