Adolescence is a pivotal time marked by experimentation and growth, often extending to dietary choices. Teenagers may embrace vegetarianism for various reasons, including animal rights, religious beliefs, and perceived health advantages. However, being a vegetarian is not a monolithic concept; variations exist, each with distinct nutritional implications. While a well-planned vegetarian diet can be complete and beneficial, inadequate planning can lead to deficiencies in protein, vitamins, and minerals, potentially impacting athletic performance.
Understanding Vegetarianism
Vegetarian diets are plant-based diets in which any kind of animal flesh is excluded (meat, poultry, wildfowl, seafood, and their derivatives), and are based on a varied amount of plant foods. The presence of milk and eggs and of their derivatives distinguishes lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets from vegan diets. The plant foods included in a vegetarian diet are grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and seeds.
Nutritional Considerations for Vegetarian Athletes
Athletes can be vegetarians, but they need to be mindful of their diet’s potential inadequacies. It’s always a possibility that the young vegetarian athlete may require a vitamin/mineral supplement to ensure the diet is complete. Also seeing a registered dietitian is a good step to help the athlete maintain the nutrition necessary for their sport while choosing a vegetarian lifestyle. Because the vegetarian diet excludes certain foods, protein and certain vitamin and mineral intake can be low. If the vegetarian is thoughtful about their food choices; however, the diet can also be made complete.
Macronutrient Needs
The macronutrient vegetarians need to deliberately seek out most is protein. While plant and vegetable proteins repair muscle the same way animal proteins can, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) recommends vegetarian athletes increase their protein intake 10% to help account for plant proteins that don’t get fully digested by the body. Vegetarian athletes can account for this inherent deficit by consuming beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and lentils. For athletes that are ovo-lacto vegetarians (meaning they still eat some non-meat animal products), eggs and dairy are abundant sources of protein. Shakes can also be an easy and tasty way to supplement the protein normally consumed through meat.
- Protein: Crucial for muscle building and repair, protein intake is particularly important for young athletes. The current recommendation on PRO intake for athletes of 1.2-2.0 g of PRO per kilogram of BW per day is considered sufficient to support metabolic adaptation, repair, remodeling, and protein turnover. Sources of plant-based protein include beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and soy products. The protein content of the diet can be manipulated by ADJIUSTING the NUMBER OF servings of protein-rich foods, each one providing 9.5 g of PRO.
- Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are an important component of an athlete’s diet and should make up the bulk of their energy intake. The current carbohydrate recommendations are 5-10 g carbohydrate/kg BM/day for most athletes performing moderate- to high-intensity exercise of ~1-3 h/day.
- Fats: Dietary fats are necessary to provide energy, cellular membrane structures and components, and essential fatty acids, and to promote the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Vegetarian and vegan athletes can ensure that fat intake is appropriate within the guidelines through judicious selection of plant-based sources.
Micronutrient Needs
Certain nutrients including protein, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, vitamin D, iron, zinc, iodine, vitamin B12 and riboflavin are found less abundantly in plant, compared to animal, foods, or are less well absorbed.
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- Iron: Iron helps carry oxygen throughout the body, including muscles where it can be stored. Low iron in the body can mean a tired athlete. Non-heme iron (plant-based iron) is best absorbed with foods that contain ascorbic acid (i.e., citrus fruit or juice, tomatoes and melon) and other organic acids and is inhibited by plant phytates, polyphenolics, tannins in tea, cocoa and coffee, soy and dairy protein, and foods with high concentrations of calcium, zinc or other divalent minerals.
- Calcium and Vitamin D: Calcium and vitamin D build and maintain strong bones. Calcium intake is a concern for vegan athletes and vegetarians who consume minimal dairy products.
- Vitamin B12: Vitamin B12 helps maintain healthy blood cells and the nervous system. B12 deficiency can lead to a certain type of anemia that can cause such symptoms as fatigue, which can affect a young athlete’s performance.
Practical Strategies for Vegetarian Athletes
Emphasize Variety
For new vegetarians, it can be easy to find a few foods that ‘work’ then become overly-reliant on them. While convenient, eating the same handful of meals can lead to deficiencies in certain vitamins and minerals. The simplest way to make up for the lack of zinc, magnesium, and other micronutrients the modern diet leaves even many non-vegetarians deficient in is to ‘eat the rainbow.’ Simply, this just means to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and avoid sticking to the same week in and week out.
Monitoring and Planning
Except for maybe 1% of the most-devoted athletes, the average teen doesn’t have the dedication to count calories, macronutrients, or plan and record their meals. Since most teens are on routine schedules and many of their meals are either prepared or eaten at home, parents themselves can log what their athletes are eating (asking when needed to fill in the gaps), then determine macronutrient and calorie counts on a site or app like MyFitnessPal or Cronometer.
Glycemic Index Awareness
It’s important to remember that not all vegetarian foods are created equal. High GI foods are better immediately following an endurance workout as they are quickly absorbed by the body. At any other time, however, these foods spike the body’s blood sugar and promote hunger as well as fat storage. Conversely, low GI foods are digested more slowly.
Gradual Transition
If you and your athlete eat meat every day, a first step could be to try and incorporate ‘meatless Mondays’ (or any other day) as a first step in experimenting with recipes and the new logistical challenges that come with making the switch.
VegPlate for Sports
The VegPlate for Sports is suitable for men and women who are active in sports and adhere to a vegetarian (i.e., lacto-ovo and vegan) diet, and provides weight-based, adequate dietary planning. As already described in the above-cited publication [43], the basic VegPlate includes 6 fundamental “food groups”, which must be present in the everyday diet in quantities that are functional to satisfy the nutritional needs of the subject. The 6 fundamental food groups of the VegPlate are (a) grains; (b) protein-rich foods; (c) vegetables; (d) fruits; (e) nuts and seeds; and (f) fats. The VegPlate is completed by the indications relating to the adequate intake of vitamin B12 and vitamin D. In the diagram, they are placed at the center of the plate to underline their indispensable presence in any balanced diet.
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Vegetarian Diets and Athletic Performance
There is some evidence suggesting that a plant-based diet might improve athletic performance and recovery time after exercise. Nevertheless, it has been hypothesized that vegetarian diets help athletes optimize their training and performance due to the naturally high content of carbohydrate, antioxidants and other phytochemical, and even the alkaline earth metal strontium.
Challenges and Solutions
Athletes with high-energy requirements may need to eat frequent meals and snacks and limit fiber-rich foods.
The VegPlate for Sports: A Practical Food Guide
The aim of this perspective paper is to present a practical vegetarian food guide, the VegPlate for Sports, which might allow nutrition professionals to plan a vegetarian diet for athletes, having the immediate possibility of checking its content in energy, macronutrients, as well as micronutrients.
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