Vegetarian Gym Diets

Zombienosh

Anyone on here a Veggie Gym addict?
I'm a gym goer and i'm starting to look at my diet a bit closer and wondering if im missing anything.
Trying to juggle high protein diet and make sure I've got all the bases covered in terms of vitamins etc.

My diet at the moment consists of a lot of beans (soya beans/kidney beans/chickpeas/butter beans..etc) or tofu.
Usually paired with wholegrain brown rice or pasta. Use a lot of lentils too. and veg, Peppers/Broccoli mostly.

I try to eat a lot of nuts too, mostly almonds.

Breakfasts are usually weetabix or oats.

Snacks tend to be various fruits..Apples, bananas, snickers:p
Breads are always brown, wholegrain, usually multi-seed healthy breads.

I throw in eggs as much as I can too, and should up my milk intake i guess? I drink a good bit of oat milk or milk alternatives.

I also start everyday with a Vit C drink and a Centrum.

I eat a lot of seeds (sunflower/pumpkin/linseed/sesame/chia) but need to get some flax based oils for omegas. thats my main concern at the moment EFA's and omegas, i'm pretty sure im not getting enough.

anyone got any advice or tips?

Thanks.

siochain

What's your aim with this diet? How long are you doing it and how do you feel on it? Healthy weight ?

Your right about the omega 3, I would say your 3 to 6 ratio is out of sync.

Zombienosh

Been on this diet for months, Feel great on it and happy with my weight, I'm not looking to loose weight, if anything bulk up.

siochain

there’s your validation, if its working for you then stick with it,

Perhaps broaden your veg intake and increase good fat sources (olive, walnut, coconut oils).

blatantrereg

Normal vegetable sources of omega 3s aren't ideal. You need to convert the fat in them into the type your body actually uses. The rate this occurs at is variable from individual to individual, but it is typically about 1%. The omega 3s found in fish are preferable. Incidentally this is the only nutrient that you can't get in sufficient quantities easily enough in a sensible vegetarian diet without supplementation.

You dont need to eat fish or fish oil to get the omega 3s you'll be missing though. You can supplement with algal oil which contains the exact same ones, and is vegetarian. There are a few threads discussing this on the vegetarian forum here, including providing links to online sources.

Milk is very beneficial to any weight training programme. Depending on your reasons for being vegetarian you might think that replacing meat and fish with milk is missing the point a bit. Dairy cattle in Ireland are typically kept in far better conditions than in many countries including to USA however, and growth hormones that they are routinely dosed with there are illegal here. So while consuming it might be a compromise in your mind, it might not be as big a compromise a compromise as might be suggested. [It has occurred to me that maybe part of the reported benefits of milk might be directly from consuming the dodgy growth hormones the cows are being dosed with incidentally - though that is just my personal speculation].

Zombienosh

Yeah I've heard a lot of times I ask about Omegas that from fish they are absorbed easier.

But I'm figuring between some Flax oil and Chia seeds(http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/chia-seeds-for-protein-and-omega-3 Just in case anyone's unfamiliar with them, and sunflower seeds (omega 6)
I shud be ok, maybe look at other supplements...I'll look into this Algal oil

Also I used to take coconut oil on a regular basis, I'll have to get back into that.