Vegetarianism and Performing at a top level of dance, skating

[el henry]

I am a vegetarian, and have been for 25 years, but mnm464, your dietary needs will be unique because you are a teen and engaged in intense athletic training. I am neither of the above.

It is fairly easy for me to eat a balanced vegetarian diet and to get all the vitamins I need. (As a woman of a certain age, I have had all sorts of tests, just because they do that when you are over 50, and not one vitamin deficiency). Not only are tofu and beans and meat analogs a good source of protein, these days, they are everywhere and easy to get. I also exercise regularly (but not nearly at the level of training that you are) and have had no endurance issues. But I became a vegetarian for ethical reasons, not for health or for weight loss, so I am not restricting calorie intake. And as someone who grew up thinking cheesesteaks were one of the major food groups, it wasn't that easy...

I also have plenty of baby fat, even if it is a little too late to call it that.

 

[anyanka]

Surya Bonaly is also vegetarian. Here she is explaining her support for PETA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYIfvR5Q5jU

And given her propensity for doing the best backflip in the world (one footed landing!!!), I'd say she can be meatless (wonder if she's pescetarian though) and still get all the nutrients she needs, considering she's still got a rockin' body at age 41!

 

[Ianthe]

Amber Corwin was a vegetarian during her competitive career. Her coach, Charlene Wong, is a vegetarian as well, but I'm not sure if that started during her skating career.

 

[Skater Boy]

Meagan Duhamel is Vegan.

Really? Because skate boots in vinyl or non leather tend not to breathe well. I guess she must be a Mat and Nat fan and not so much a Michael Kors or Fendi supporter. I think you can still be healthy but you have to eat carefully and maybe take supplements.

 

[Eclair]

yuna kim ate no meat during the competitive season, but she ate fish and seafood. There was an article which said that her nutritionist told her to avoid meat, because although it strenghens muscles, it also reduces endurance. Does anyone has more info on this? Is this really true that meat weakens endurance?

 

[satine]

Really? Because skate boots in vinyl or non leather tend not to breathe well. I guess she must be a Mat and Nat fan and not so much a Michael Kors or Fendi supporter. I think you can still be healthy but you have to eat carefully and maybe take supplements.

Are there boots that are 100% leather-free?

 

[Mista Ekko]

There are athletes who are Vegan, I know of Boxers and body builders even, Pretty sure athletics legend Carl lewis was one too,

It's all about nutrition, You can be a carnivore and not get everything your body needs because of the way you eat,
Today we know every single thing the body needs can be found in non animal products, Of course if someone becomes Vegan\Vegetarian
and eats french fries all day, They're not gonna be healthy You need to take more control of what you eat.

I guess some Vegans don't necessarily do it out of compassion for animals,
Some just do it for health\Dietary reasons or Ecological awareness,
That's why the boots discussion might not be relevant.

Being vegetarian is a-okay in my book

Expecting everyone else to be is not

I agree and disagree, While these people are sometimes annoying, It's important everyone is at least aware to what they eat,
And what it takes to make it, It's not like being talked into a religion haha,
eating animal products requires the suffering of beings that didn't have a say,
And it's basically because of Flavour and habit,
But it's not fair to demand someone to change lifelong habits at the drop of a hat either.

 

[satine]

Being vegetarian is a-okay in my book :yes:

Expecting everyone else to be is not :no:

I completely understand why some would choose be vegetarian or even vegan. Good for them, but don't be preachy about it. As for me, I love meat but if I had to give it up, I'd become a pescetarian since I can't live without seafood.

Sorry if you two have come across preachy veggies in your day. But, on the flip side, in my near-decade of being a vegan, I've been taunted/had meat shoved in my face by mainstream eaters dozens of time. Completely unprovoked on my part, those people were simply nasty because they could be :disapp: Not a big deal, just saying that harassment on the topic can and does go both ways.

 

[YesWay]

I have seen many vegetarians who are over weighted. Or maybe being over weighted was the reason they became vegetarians I don't know.

According to a recent article in New Scientist - unless they are careful, vegetarians can end up eating a LOT more calories to get the same amounts of protein that eating meat provides. So that might have something to do with it.

But I figure athletes are a lot more savvy about their diets, vegetarian or not - and in any case, they need way more calories than regular people...

By the way, modern levels of meat consumption are not sustainable in terms of land and water usage. The future may well be vegetarian for the vast majority whether they like it or not! Or, different kinds of "meat" will dominate eg. crickets, that are very high protein, but require drastically less water, land and other resources to "farm"...!

 

[YesWay]

Is this really true that meat weakens endurance?

I believe Tour de France riders often eat steak for breakfast before hitting the road, and I'm pretty sure they don't avoid meat generally. Those guys ride the cycling equivelent of a marathon nearly every day for three weeks, which is quite the feat of endurance!

But, maybe that's a different kind of endurance? Their races each day are typically several hours, whereas figure skating is concentrated into 4 minutes or so...

 

[Buttercup]

Sorry if you two have come across preachy veggies in your day. But, on the flip side, in my near-decade of being a vegan, I've been taunted/had meat shoved in my face by mainstream eaters dozens of time. Completely unprovoked on my part, those people were simply nasty because they could be :disapp: Not a big deal, just saying that harassment on the topic can and does go both ways.

Likewise. I don't discuss vegetarianism unless people ask me about it, and I expect meat eaters to extend me the same courtesy and not try to persuade me that I'm doing it wrong. It's rude to comment on what's in other people's plates.

And of course it's possible to be a high level skater and follow a vegetarian/vegan diet, as Meagan Duhamel has clearly shown. You just have to be smart about what you eat - and this is true regardless of whether you consume animal products.

 

[dorispulaski]

USFSA has a presentation on nutrition for skaters here:

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://...jADOBQ&usg=AFQjCNEsIGqK9kibJ2C0iDuBpnKaXYR6bQ

Their special concerns for skaters were:

Special Concerns for Figure Skaters

Calcium

• 9–18 years 1300 mg/day
• 19–50 years 1000 mg/day
• 51+ years 1200 mg/day

Vitamin D(Indoor activity concern)

• U.S. Dietary Reference: 200 IU/day

Iron

• The Dietary Reference for iron varies considerably
  based on age, gender, and source of dietary iron
  (30% increase for menstruating women.

and getting adquate hydration.

 

[mnm464]

I see. It seems that YuNa(still need confirmation) and Megan Duhamel are/were vegan/vegetarian. Any other top skaters and athletes that are notable? I want to do a little internet research!

 

[Pippuripihvi]

I was surprised to find how many athletes choose not to eat meat / be vegetarians / vegans. The biggest surprise though was this guy - Alexey Voevoda of the Russian bobsleigh team. He is also professional arm wrestler (or something similar, I forgot).
http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Alexey+Voevoda+Bobsleigh+Winter+Olympics+Day+P5nZMxtzsPol.jpg

I wish I could see his meal plan.

 

[fuzzymarmot]

In response to mnm464:

I was a vegetarian twice: once in my early 20s, and now. Below are my stories of a) how to do it wrong and b) how to do it right. I offer them in hopes that they can offer some insight into your own decisions. As others have said, however, at the end of the day we are just so many strangers on the Internet, and your best sources of information lie closer to home.

How to do it wrong: I was a junk food vegetarian in my 20s. I rarely cooked, ate out a lot, and generally didn't make food a top priority. When I became a vegetarian, I mostly substituted cheese for meat and probably ate a higher-fat, higher calorie diet as a result. I gained weight, and didn't feel great. I felt much better once I started eating meat again.

Almost fifteen years later, I tried again and it's now a fundamental part of my lifestyle. Though I'm certainly not an Olympic athlete, I do enjoy an active lifestyle with hobbies such as cycling, rock climbing, and hiking. Here are some things that made a huge difference the second time around:

1) I learned to cook. I really think that cooking is essential to eating better, period, whether you choose to follow a Paleo, vegan, Mediterranean, or any other diet. A great place for vegetarians to start is Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. That's been my bible. Rather than just give recipes, he explains what the various ingredients are, how to make substitutions, and how to improvise. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Yes, cooking is a time commitment, but it doesn't need to be an exorbitant time commitment. I think that vegetarian meals can take longer to prepare on average than meat-centered meals, but it's easier to prepare large quantities and stockpile them for later. So being vegetarian isn't just about cooking vegetarian - it's about finding a routine that works for your lifestyle (for example, making a giant pot of lentil soup one day, that you can eat for the rest of the week).

2) I had vegan friends who introduced me to new ways of serving up plant-based protein sources such as tofu, tempeh, seitan, legumes, seaweed, nuts, seeds, and grains. Just as I believe you can't be a healthy vegetarian without learning how to cook for yourself, I also believe you can't be a healthy vegetarian while also being a picky eater. The right way to become a vegetarian is to increase the variety in your diet (by discovering new foods), rather than decreasing it (by eliminating meat, but replacing the meat with equally familiar but potentially less healthy foods such as cheese).

3) I dated (and later married) a fellow vegetarian. This isn't a requirement, as I know plenty of vegetarians married to non-vegetarians. But it does help a lot to have allies. When you say that "my dad says you can get all but one crucial amino acid from other supplements," this worries me because, well, your dad doesn't know what he's talking about. I suspect that he's conflating a longstanding myth (that vegetarians need to worry about "combining" amino acid sources to get "complete" proteins), and a very important fact (that vegans CANNOT get reliably get vitamin B12 through a plant-based diet, and MUST find a way to take vitamin B12 supplements in order to remain healthy). The important question here is, is your dad open to being educated? Are the people in your life willing to eat a few vegetarian meals with you, and help you explore vegetarian cooking and vegetarian nutrition? If they are, your road will be a lot easier. If they aren't, you'll need to educate them while educating yourself, which isn't impossible, but it's certainly more of an uphill battle.

4) I learned enough about the science in order to ignore the science. Let me explain this one. I think there is a HUGE amount of misinformation out there about how to eat vegetarian and maintain an active lifestyle. There's science, and there's pseudoscience. I can't help you separate fact from fiction, but I can advise you to read everything you can, listen to your body, and use common sense. Eventually, you'll hit a point where you can plan meals based on instinct and taste rather than bean-counting macronutrients (percentage of diet from fat, carbs, and protein) and micronutrients (making sure you get enough vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and iron). The science is important, but being able to maintain a lifestyle without going insane means that you eventually learn how to plan a week's worth of meals without having to count calories, measure out protein, or sum up your vitamin intake. Trust your doctors, but also trust your own body. Also realize that every person's body chemistry is different. If eating vegetarian just doesn't work for you, then perhaps the best dietary choice is to make an effort to find sustainably and humanely raised meat and seafood. This also requires research, but it's research that's well worth undertaking.

In the end, I think it's very much an American myth that we can eat mindlessly and not suffer the consequences. I personally believe that there are many different ways to eat mindfully, and no one way is the right way. My way works for me, and it also works for my husband. Best wishes, mnm464, as you find your own way.

And just to add to the list of high-level athletes who don't eat meat: Rock climber Steph Davis maintains a great blog, and she talks quite a bit about her choice to be a vegan. She has some great recipes as well.
http://www.highinfatuation.com/

 

[noidont]

From my experience, the "American" way of eating has only two problems, too much dairy and too much sugar, emphasis on the former. I think dairy-free goes a long way to maintain good health dietary-wise. I've been to some non-corporate milk farm in the U.S. and even though I already stopped dairy a lot of time ago I still found it implausible for people to drink those highly-processed milk that came out of this sort of place, and I can only imagine the processing that goes for corporate brands. I've tried vegetarian for a period sheerly out of curiosity (and that American processed meat tastes terrible) and didn't feel too different. Cooking vegetables isn't a thing done well in the West. I cannot imagine eating cold salads all day. Overall I think one cannot assume you will be able to maintain a reasonable weight if you eat milk cereals for breakfast and drink latte or hot choco all day even if you go vegetarian. I told my American ex-boyfriend to stop this cereal crap and he lost about 10 pounds within two months. I suppose though cereal is embedded into most Americans' food memory so it's close to impossible to actually stop eating it. I myself came from heavily oily unheavenly-looking Chinese culinary culture and wouldn't feel very happy if I don't get enough grease in anything I eat (though not American Chinese food kind of grease. American Chinese food is a total invention non-existent anywhere in China), vegetable or meat. I kind of admire the Western non-attention and non-complicatedness in food though. Preparation of food should not take as much time and effort as most Chinese people put into it.

 

[satine]

From my experience, the "American" way of eating has only two problems, too much dairy and too much sugar, emphasis on the former. I think dairy-free goes a long way to maintain good health dietary-wise. I've been to some non-corporate milk farm in the U.S. and even though I already stopped dairy a lot of time ago I still found it implausible for people to drink those highly-processed milk that came out of this sort of place, and I can only imagine the processing that goes for corporate brands. I've tried vegetarian for a period sheerly out of curiosity (and that American processed meat tastes terrible) and didn't feel too different. Cooking vegetables isn't a thing done well in the West. I cannot imagine eating cold salads all day. Overall I think one cannot assume you will be able to maintain a reasonable weight if you eat milk cereals for breakfast and drink latte or hot choco all day even if you go vegetarian. I told my American ex-boyfriend to stop this cereal crap and he lost about 10 pounds within two months. I suppose though cereal is embedded into most Americans' food memory so it's close to impossible to actually stop eating it. I myself came from heavily oily unheavenly-looking Chinese culinary culture and wouldn't feel very happy if I don't get enough grease in anything I eat (though not American Chinese food kind of grease. American Chinese food is a total invention non-existent anywhere in China), vegetable or meat. I kind of admire the Western non-attention and non-complicatedness in food though. Preparation of food should not take as much time and effort as most Chinese people put into it.

Neither can most veggies. And vegetarian diets do not generally exclude dairy (unless lactose intolerant). That would be a vegan diet.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

In response to mnm464:

I was a vegetarian twice: once in my early 20s, and now. Below are my stories of a) how to do it wrong and b) how to do it right. I offer them in hopes that they can offer some insight into your own decisions. As others have said, however, at the end of the day we are just so many strangers on the Internet, and your best sources of information lie closer to home.

How to do it wrong: I was a junk food vegetarian in my 20s. I rarely cooked, ate out a lot, and generally didn't make food a top priority. When I became a vegetarian, I mostly substituted cheese for meat and probably ate a higher-fat, higher calorie diet as a result. I gained weight, and didn't feel great. I felt much better once I started eating meat again.

Almost fifteen years later, I tried again and it's now a fundamental part of my lifestyle. Though I'm certainly not an Olympic athlete, I do enjoy an active lifestyle with hobbies such as cycling, rock climbing, and hiking. Here are some things that made a huge difference the second time around:

1) I learned to cook. I really think that cooking is essential to eating better, period, whether you choose to follow a Paleo, vegan, Mediterranean, or any other diet. A great place for vegetarians to start is Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. That's been my bible. Rather than just give recipes, he explains what the various ingredients are, how to make substitutions, and how to improvise. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Yes, cooking is a time commitment, but it doesn't need to be an exorbitant time commitment. I think that vegetarian meals can take longer to prepare on average than meat-centered meals, but it's easier to prepare large quantities and stockpile them for later. So being vegetarian isn't just about cooking vegetarian - it's about finding a routine that works for your lifestyle (for example, making a giant pot of lentil soup one day, that you can eat for the rest of the week).

2) I had vegan friends who introduced me to new ways of serving up plant-based protein sources such as tofu, tempeh, seitan, legumes, seaweed, nuts, seeds, and grains. Just as I believe you can't be a healthy vegetarian without learning how to cook for yourself, I also believe you can't be a healthy vegetarian while also being a picky eater. The right way to become a vegetarian is to increase the variety in your diet (by discovering new foods), rather than decreasing it (by eliminating meat, but replacing the meat with equally familiar but potentially less healthy foods such as cheese).

3) I dated (and later married) a fellow vegetarian. This isn't a requirement, as I know plenty of vegetarians married to non-vegetarians. But it does help a lot to have allies. When you say that "my dad says you can get all but one crucial amino acid from other supplements," this worries me because, well, your dad doesn't know what he's talking about. I suspect that he's conflating a longstanding myth (that vegetarians need to worry about "combining" amino acid sources to get "complete" proteins), and a very important fact (that vegans CANNOT get reliably get vitamin B12 through a plant-based diet, and MUST find a way to take vitamin B12 supplements in order to remain healthy). The important question here is, is your dad open to being educated? Are the people in your life willing to eat a few vegetarian meals with you, and help you explore vegetarian cooking and vegetarian nutrition? If they are, your road will be a lot easier. If they aren't, you'll need to educate them while educating yourself, which isn't impossible, but it's certainly more of an uphill battle.

4) I learned enough about the science in order to ignore the science. Let me explain this one. I think there is a HUGE amount of misinformation out there about how to eat vegetarian and maintain an active lifestyle. There's science, and there's pseudoscience. I can't help you separate fact from fiction, but I can advise you to read everything you can, listen to your body, and use common sense. Eventually, you'll hit a point where you can plan meals based on instinct and taste rather than bean-counting macronutrients (percentage of diet from fat, carbs, and protein) and micronutrients (making sure you get enough vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and iron). The science is important, but being able to maintain a lifestyle without going insane means that you eventually learn how to plan a week's worth of meals without having to count calories, measure out protein, or sum up your vitamin intake. Trust your doctors, but also trust your own body. Also realize that every person's body chemistry is different. If eating vegetarian just doesn't work for you, then perhaps the best dietary choice is to make an effort to find sustainably and humanely raised meat and seafood. This also requires research, but it's research that's well worth undertaking.

In the end, I think it's very much an American myth that we can eat mindlessly and not suffer the consequences. I personally believe that there are many different ways to eat mindfully, and no one way is the right way. My way works for me, and it also works for my husband. Best wishes, mnm464, as you find your own way.

And just to add to the list of high-level athletes who don't eat meat: Rock climber Steph Davis maintains a great blog, and she talks quite a bit about her choice to be a vegan. She has some great recipes as well.
http://www.highinfatuation.com/

OMG.....what a wonderful contribution this post is. As I posted earlier I eat vegetarian in moderation (like a few days a week or even a few weeks at a time). I do eat meats but not every single day. That said....you really gave me some food for thought I will probably always eat meat but with your help I think I will be reducing it even more. I am a creature of habit and have really learned over the last few years how to curb the appetite for bad foods and have slowly nearly removed them. Thank you for the tips.

 

[peg]

The right way to become a vegetarian is to increase the variety in your diet (by discovering new foods), rather than decreasing it (by eliminating meat, but replacing the meat with equally familiar but potentially less healthy foods such as cheese).

Great post, and I particularly like this point. Variety also helps with getting a wide range of nutrients.

 

[karne]

For those giving advice, I feel it is prudent to note that the OP is already anemic even with meat in their diet...