I'm back to the blog and I just wanted to say that I'm still training and trying to rev up a little more this June with diet. I'll be writing specifics on this possibly this weekend, but today I wanted to get into my overall diet and lifestyle choice.
The reason I'm doing this is because in the past few days I've met some new people in my bootcamp class who claim vegetarianism as their diet and lifestyle choice {exciting :D }. I've been a vegetarian for 15 years, longer then I've eaten meat, and through this dietary choice I've learned, adapted and changed.
So a bit of body composition first! If you want your body to be what the world refers to as "lean or tone" what you're really saying is "I want more muscle then fat on my body". No matter how you want to look at that, you need to build muscle.
Building your muscles is a two step process.
First you need to tax those muscle fibers, which means you constantly have to work them harder then you worked them before. Your body gets use to the work you make it do, if you don't challenge your muscles you eventually will plateau in your progress!
Secondly you need to eat to fuel that muscle reconstruction and growth. Growth believe it or not is what makes you tighter and leaner (speaking from experience!) I'm not the hulk and I don't want to be, but I do want to be tone so I work and feed my muscles accordingly. If you want to get lean you have to replace some of that fat with something!
Protein is the fuel that makes a lean body possible. It's the main macronutrient that everyone should be focusing on :)
Vegetarianism is often viewed as unhealthy because most don't have a varied or nutritious diet. It's much more difficult to live this lifestyle and you have to be dedicated and creative to be healthy living it. As with any diet if it's not balanced it's not good for you.
So how do I get my protein?
Well first I had to do a lot of research on protein sources and the company's manufacturing them. I say this because if you're not careful, you can end up eating a lot of "meatless" alternatives that are so processed you might as well just be eating pure salt and sugar.
As with anything "boxed" you HAVE to read the label. Vegetarians often don't realize their sodium, fat and carb intake is off the charts!
I've finally found a few companies to whom I'm very loyal for my protein sources. These are products where the protein content is high and the processed content is low. I also try to find these sources in their most "pure" form because the more it's flavor or "shaped" the more it probably contains things that aren't super great for you.
I also don't recommend, but insist that vegetarians need to have a source of powder protein in some form. Whether it be whey, rice, egg, or an isolate blend. It is sometimes the only way I can make sure I reach adequate protein ingestion without having to eat a mountain of food. It also is one of the EASIEST ways to get a high dose of complete proteins into your system after a good workout. (Adding to that growth and lean muscle I talked about earlier!)
Also everyday I make sure to try and get a decent combination of proteins. I don't JUST eat tofu, in fact I've lowered my soy intake for the sole fact that as women, not getting any younger, it's not great to ingest copious amounts of soy.
I get protein from eggs, nuts, legumes, setain, soy, whey, casein, protein isolates and on extremely rare occasions yogurt and cheese. Being partially lactose intolerant I don't dapple much in the dairy department and you also have to be careful you don't eat too much dairy because it's very high in fat. The key is always moderation.
While that list doesn't seem as big as the animal kingdom, it's far more varied then people may realize. The legume and soy family alone is gigantic and make great additions to a lot of recipes in place of mountains of grains. I actually eat very little in the way of rice, bread, oats or pasta. Most if not all of my carbs come from vegetables, fruits, and usually are a part of my protein sources.
It is very easy to be a lo carb vegetarian and not tired all the time, you just have to be willing to want to eat that way :)
Oh and bottom line you need to cook. I don't even want to hear you don't have time because it takes less then 15 mins to make an awesome meal. Even when I was at my breaking point with no time, I would make all my food on Sundays so that I never had to think about cooking. Remember fresh veggies are best, but frozen is "cool" too <<<sorry bad pun. Sometimes I can't always get fresh, so I have loads of organic frozen veggies for emergencies. No salt added, just 8 mins to steam. YUM!
You cannot always rely on outside sources for your meals because as a society of omnivores places often don't offer protein options based on a vegetarian lifestyle. New York City is an exception as I imagine San Fran is too, STILL as a veggie you should always be carrying food. I pack my breakfast and lunch almost everyday I go to work and if the event I've forgotten or can't I'm sure to throw something protein based in my bag, (usually eggs, raw nuts & protein powder), so that I get something if my lunch is mostly veggies.
You also have to except that you will have to supplement your diet. I firmly believe that my losses would not have been so dramatic if I hadn't been consciously supplementing, not only with a protein powder, but also with daily vitamins. It's a must to make sure you're hitting your B12 and iron, you don't want to be sick or tired.
I also tracked my eating habits for a long time to understand how much protein was enough. The tighter I honed my diet to include more protein combinations the easier it's been to see progress physically.
It's very possible to be a healthily vegetarian. As one I've excepted responsibility of my choice not to eat meat and believe me it is a responsibility. I don't care what your reason is for being one, with that choice you ultimately made "eating" a conscience part of your life. If it's too much work or too much of a stress, it's worth reconsidering why you chose to be one. Doing yourself bodily harm because you love animals seems like priorities need readjusting and I can say this because I feel a moral connection to animals that I cannot overcome. I could not bring myself to kill one, so I feel obligated not to take part in consuming them.
I find my choice to be a veggie was right for me. I'm happy, healthy and can see progress in my fitness goals even with the diet I've chosen. I'm not afraid to adapt or change ratios in the foods I do eat and I'm always aware of my health first.
So to all veggies out there, do your research and eat your protein!
