Hey if it works for you, it works for you.

 https://www.businessinsider.com/marathon-runner-disqualified-for-chain-smoking-during-chinese-race-2024-1

Look it up.

 

 

 

 

 So I went to the Merritt vegetarian restaurant with one of my vegan friends today. I'm not vegan, but I don't mind having vegan food occasionally. This is one of the dishes we had in the picture above, which is the vegan broccoli beef. We also had the vegan chow mein. Now both were really good and I'm impressed how places like this get the vegan "meat" to taste so delicious. But of course towards the end of the meal my friend was like," See! this is just like meat, but healthier and has alot of protein." Now whenever someone says something like this I usually just nod my head and agree, because I don't want to get into some kind of meat eater vs. vegan argument. But for people who care a lot about gaining muscle or maintaining muscle while keeping their body fat down, being a vegan is just not the most effective way of doing it. And this is because plant protein is an incomplete protein which means it does not contain all of the 9 essential amino acids. While 1g of protein from an animal source contains all 9 essential amino acids. So something like broccoli does have a few grams of protein in a serving, however each gram does not have all 9 essential amino acids. Therefore 1g of protein from broccoli is not equivalent to 1g of protein from meat, cheese, or milk. So in order to make that 1g of plant protein from broccoli count as a legit 1g of protein(that has all 9 essential amino amino acids), you have to eat it with another plant that has the amino acids the broccoli is missing. And you have to figure out which ones those are lol. So picture you're a 170lb man who is interested in gaining muscle or atleast maintaining the muscle you have. You should be getting a minimum of 170g of protein in per day total. So you've already got a fair amount of eating to do if you're eating animal protein(that would be 4 meals with 42.5g protein per meal). But now let's take that same 170lb guy and make him a vegan. The guy is going to have to be eating tons of vegetables all day to reach his goal of getting 170g of protein(that contains all 9 essential amino acids) in. Realistically the guy would probably have to eat like atleast 8 meals. So you see how much more work that is. If you're a vegan for religious purposes I understand you gotta do what you gotta do, but don't be complaining about not making the best fitness progress. And if you're someone who chooses to be vegan because you don't like the idea of eating animals you should also not be complaining you're not making the best fitness progress. Also, don't be upset other people eat animals because that's what a lot of us do. So there it is people, that is all.

* To add to this post I was actually wrong about there being no plant sources of complete protein. Here is the list of plant sources that are:

-quinoa

-buckwheat

-hempseed

-blue green algae

-soybeans

-tofu

So although these sources do contain complete protein. A good sized serving, let's say 6oz, is still not going to contain as much protein as 6oz of meat. So like I said,  you're going to have to eat more to reach your protein requirements. Which therefore is more work and why being a vegan is not the most effective way of eating if you're trying to maintain muscle or build muscle while keeping your body fat down.

 

 

 

 ( Photo by Mitch Crispe)