In the Nurses’ Health Study, nuts in particular seemed to help prevent weight gain. Over an eight-year period, women who ate nuts two
or three times a week gained less weight than those who rarely ate nuts, even when they had similar calorie intakes.
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Nuts are unique foods because they are high in protein, fiber, and fat. Their consumption may give a boost to the enhanced metabolism that normally occurs after a meal.
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And whole nuts are hard to chew completely, which might result in incomplete digestion and fewer calories absorbed. This may help explain why peanut butter doesn’t seem to have the same benefits as whole nuts for weight control.
We are not suggesting a free-for-all when it comes to fat intake. It’s definitely hard to keep calorie intake low or moderate if you are dousing your food with oil. But including some plant fat, especially monounsaturated fat, in a vegan diet may have advantages for controlling chronic disease and for weight loss compared with eliminating all fats.
PLANNING VEGAN DIETS FOR WEIGHT LOSS
There is no great secret about how to lose weight: Eat less, exercise more. It’s hardly surprising that Americans are more overweight than ever since studies of eating habits show that we consume more calories than we did a decade ago. Americans are also less physically active than in times past.
While calories are the real issue in weight loss and gain, where you get those calories may affect your dieting success. Good food choices can help control hunger, making it easier to lose weight and keep the weight off. Use the food guide in Chapter 7 to plan your daily intake. Most people need more than the 1,600 calories provided by the minimum number of servings in the food guide, so add servings from any of the groups to achieve a calorie intake that is comfortable for you and contributes to a slow, steady weight loss. As you make menu choices, keep the following suggestions in mind:
• Find that happy balance between too much and too little fat. Some people have success with weight loss by consuming less
fat while others find that including some fat in their meals makes the diet more satisfying and helps with long-term weight control. A good goal is 22 to 27 grams of fat for every 1,000 calories you consume. See Chapter 5 for a quick guide to the amount of fat in different plant foods.
• Get enough protein. There is evidence that protein is better at preventing hunger than either carbohydrate or fat—that is, protein can help you feel satisfied with fewer calories. Boosting protein intake during a weight-loss program can also help preserve muscle tissue so that the body burns more fat and less muscle. Protein-rich plant foods like legumes, soy products, and nuts represent the best of all worlds. They are high in protein but also rich in many protective compounds like fiber and phytochemicals. They also happen to have a low glycemic index.
• Choose foods with a low glycemic index. The easiest way to do this is to concentrate on eating whole, unrefined plant foods. It doesn’t mean avoiding all foods that contain carbohydrate.
• Eat lots of vegetables and fresh fruits to fill your stomach with nutrients and fiber without resorting to empty or excess calories.
Low GI, Moderate Fat Menu: 1,500 calories
BREAKFAST
Sunny Scrambled Tofu
• 1 cup tofu scrambled in 1 teaspoon olive oil with ¼ cup onions, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, and 2 tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds
• 1 slice “grainy” bread (made from whole grains that haven’t been ground into flour)
• 1 cup mixed raw fruit
SNACK
Smoothie
• ½ frozen banana
• ½ cup berries
• ½ cup fortified almond milk
LUNCH
• 1½ cups mushroom-barley soup (½ cup cooked barley and ½ cup cooked mushrooms)
• 1 slice whole-grain bread with 2 tablespoons almond butter
• Tossed green salad with vinaigrette dressing containing 1 teaspoon olive oil
SNACK
• ½ cup white bean hummus (made with white beans and sundried tomatoes instead of garbanzos and tahini)
• 2 cups raw vegetable strips
DINNER
• 2 cups raw vegetable soup made with kale, cucumber, tomatoes, ¼ cup avocado, and seasoned with miso and nutritional yeast
• ½ cup cubed baked sweet potato tossed with ½ cup cubed, seasoned tempeh
BREAKFAST
• 1 cup oatmeal made from steel cut oats, topped with ½ cup chopped figs
• ½ cup fortified soymilk
• 1 slice “grainy” bread with 2 tablespoons almond butter
SNACK
• 1 slice pumpernickel bread with tofu spread (¼ cup soft tofu pureed with 2 tablespoons cooked carrots or other vegetable)
LUNCH
Quinoa salad
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• ½ cup small red beans
• 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
• herbs to taste
• lemon dressing made with 1 teaspoon olive oil plus lemon juice to taste
• 1 cup vegetable soup
• Fresh fruit
SNACK
• 2 cups raw vegetables
• ½ cup guacamole (¼ cup avocado and ¼ cup salsa or tomatoes)
DINNER
Bean, pasta, and greens soup
• ½ cup pasta
• ½ cup white beans
• ½ cup cooked kale in vegetable broth
• 1 cup raw shredded cabbage tossed with 2 tablespoons peanut sauce
• 1 glass red wine (or replace with small dessert if you prefer)
Special Medical Conditions
Two medical conditions—type-1 diabetes and kidney disease—are beyond the scope of this book. But we want to address them briefly, if only to assure you that people with these conditions can be vegan.
Type-1 Diabetes
As in type-2 diabetes, people with type-1 diabetes may benefit from eating more whole plant foods, which result in a slower release of carbohydrate into the blood. But while we’ve heard a number of anecdotal reports in support of this theory, there haven’t yet been studies to confirm it. Whether or not a plant-based diet has any specific advantages, though, there is no reason to think that those with type-1 diabetes can’t be vegan.
If you have type-1 diabetes and want to eat a vegan diet, stick to mostly fiber-rich, whole plant foods and avoid refined grains, added sugars, and sugary drinks. As with any dietary change in type-1 diabetes, you’ll want to work closely with your health professional to monitor blood-sugar levels and insulin needs.
Kidney Disease
Plant-based diets have been shown to be beneficial in reducing the markers of kidney disease. This may be due to their lower protein levels, but it could also be from their effect on blood-cholesterol levels and blood pressure and their antioxidant content. People with moderate kidney disease may benefit from a vegan diet—especially one that’s free of high-sodium, high-protein vegetarian meats.
Once someone is on dialysis, following a vegan diet becomes more difficult because of the need to restrict potassium and phosphorus, while at the same time insuring adequate protein intake. Planning such a diet is beyond the scope of this book, but we recommend
The Vegetarian Diet for Kidney Disease Treatment
by Joan Brookhyser, a registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in renal nutrition.
While vegetarian meats should be restricted for people with chronic kidney disease, they can play a role in the diet of people on dialysis because they provide high-quality protein. See VeganHealth.org/articles/kidney for a list of vegetarian meats and their saturated fat, potassium, phosphorus, and sodium contents.
CHAPTER 14
SPORTS NUTRITION
T
here is no question that vegan diets are suitable for competitive sports. Some of the most talented athletes in the world—like ultramarathoner Scott Jurek, world champion boxer Keith Holmes, and professional football star and Heisman Trophy–winner Desmond Howard—have enjoyed successful careers as vegans.
Most of us aren’t in their league, of course. If you’re hitting the gym two or three times a week to work out, you probably don’t need to change a thing about your vegan diet (assuming you’re already following our guidelines for healthy eating). It may be that those who train competitively don’t need to change much either. Athletes who eat enough to satisfy their appetite will often meet their protein needs without even trying, and they will get a boost in iron intake too. But since vegan diets are typically lower in calories, protein, well-absorbed iron, creatine, and carnitine, it’s worth giving these issues some added attention. We’ll also discuss carnosine because there has been interest in the relationship of this amino acid to athletic performance.
MEETING ENERGY NEEDS
Exercise efficiency, gender, non-exercise habits, and genetics all affect calorie requirements. And because needs vary with every individual, there is no set formula for determining your energy requirements; it’s a matter of experimentation.
For weight lifters, inadequate calorie intake can inhibit muscle growth. Consuming adequate calories preserves muscle protein that would otherwise be used for energy. Pay attention to hunger signals to know whether you are eating enough. For a ballpark figure, one study found that novice male weight lifters lowered body fat while increasing muscle mass and size when they consumed about 18 calories per pound of body weight per day (3,240 calories per day for a 180-pound person).
1
In another study, highly trained male bodybuilders ate 22.7 calories per pound (4,086 calories per day for a 180-pound person).
2
Teen athletes and others with high calorie needs may find it a challenge to eat enough, but a few simple additions to your diet can help boost calories:
• Include more refined grains in meals. While whole grains are normally the best choice for optimal health, athletes who eat a large quantity of food can afford to eat more processed foods than non-athletes. Because of their lower fiber content, processed foods are less filling. Spaghetti is a good option since its carbohydrate is more slowly released into the bloodstream compared with other processed grains.
• Use moderate amounts of olive oil on salads and for sautéing vegetables.
• Snack on nuts or trail mix, and add avocado to sandwiches to boost fat and calorie intake.
• Add tofu or tempeh to salads or mix it into grain dishes to increase calorie, fat, and protein content of meals.
• Add silken tofu to fruit smoothies.
Although current government recommendations don’t include a separate protein RDA for athletes, opinions about protein needs of athletes vary considerably. And needs may be quite different depending on whether you are engaged in endurance or strength training.
Strength Athletes
Whether the protein needs of strength athletes are any greater than the general population is a subject of debate. There is a legitimate argument for needs ranging anywhere from 0.8 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram (0.36 to 0.77 per pound) of healthy body weight. Higher protein intake might be more important for people who are starting a strength routine, and needs might decrease in those who have already fulfilled most of their muscle mass potential.
In a 2009 joint position paper on nutrition and athletic perormance, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the American Dietetic Association (ADA), and Dietitians of Canada suggested that vegetarian athletes need 1.3 to 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, which translates to 0.6 to 0.8 grams per pound.
3
Here are some practical tips for strength athletes:
• If you are beginning a workout regimen to build muscle mass, make sure to eat plenty of high-protein plant foods, such as legumes or soyfoods. You might consider consuming a protein powder shake providing around 20 grams of protein before or after working out. Once you reach a point where you are not gaining additional muscle mass, this additional dose of protein probably won’t be necessary (except for the most serious competitive athletes).
• If you are trying to lose weight, make sure you are eating plenty of protein-rich foods and consider adding a protein powder shake.
• Eating a high-protein food right after working out can increase muscle mass.
Every person is different, so it takes some experimenting to find the right balance. The menu on page 204 is one example of a high-protein diet for athletes.
Endurance Athletes
Endurance athletes may need less protein as they become better trained because, according to the 2009 position paper, protein turnover may become more efficient with training. At the earlier stages of training, you may need as much as 1.2 to 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight—which translates to 1.3 to 1.55 grams per kilogram for vegan endurance athletes (0.6 to 0.7 grams per pound of body weight).
4
It can be easier for endurance athletes to meet protein needs simply because they consume more calories. If you are not losing weight and are consuming high-protein foods, you’re likely to get plenty of protein. But you might want to calculate your individual needs and track your intake for a few days using the chart on pages 19–20 just to make sure.
When Protein Falls Short
While protein isn’t a huge worry for vegan athletes, it’s possible to experience muscle damage from a diet that doesn’t meet needs. A sixteen-year-old competitive swimmer in Italy who was avoiding almost all high-protein foods suffered temporary, but serious, muscle damage, presumably due to inadequate protein.
5
His muscle damage didn’t occur unnoticed; he suffered obvious fatigue and muscle pain. It’s a rare and unusual case, but it does illustrate the need to make sure you’re eating enough high-protein foods. If you are, and you aren’t suffering from muscle pain or unusual fatigue, it’s safe to assume that you’re getting enough protein.