Vegan Fitness

I was always big into exercise but had high cholesterol and blood pressure. I was following the bro science type diet of high animal protein and although I looked fit and healthy on the outside I was dying on the inside.

Now I'm cycling 180km a week, and doing 3 weight sessions a week as well. Very fit and bloods are amazing. Muscle mass has gone up to.

Can anyone recommend a good vegan protein shake?

Right a few weeks ago I said I was getting a full blood check and was asked to post it. Finally got the hard copy of it. So lets see how i got on.

Just for some background I am a type 1 diabetic since I was 10, now in my 30's.

Blood pressure 112/68
Resting heart rate 50 beats per minute.
Blood Glucose 5.6 - within range for a diabetic as per Irish diabetes website
Hba1c. This is a measure of the blood sugar last 3 months. Mine is 50. Diabetic website says aim for less than 53 but I want to improve on this.

I am putting my result first, then the referenced target range after it.

Ok so lets start with Cholesterol.

Cholesterol (total): 4.01. Target 2.5 to 5.00
HDL: 2.11. Target 1.00 to 2.00
NON-HDL Cholesterol: 1.90. Target 1.80 - 3.80
LDL Cholesterol: 1.64. Target 1.00 to 3.00
Total HDL Cholestrol Ratio: 1.9. Target 2.0 to 5.0
Triglycerides: 0.57. Target 0.50- 1.70

Ok so some interesting results there. The HDL cholestrol which is considered the good cholesterol is high and the LDL and triglycerides which are linked to heart disease are very low. All good there

B12: 1010. Target range 206-1000.

Ever hear of a vegan with too much b12? You just found him :pac:

Calcium: 2.39. Target Range 2.15-2.50
Corrected Calcium: 2.35. Target Range 2.15-2.50

All good here within range.

Phosphorus: 0.77. Target range 0.81 to 1.45

Opportunity here. Looking online I eat all the foods recommended to increase this so not sure yet how to fix.

Liver Profile

Total Proteins: 71. Target range 66-87
Bilirubin: 8. Target range 0-21
Alkaline phosphatase: 74. Target range 40-129
Gamma GT: 9. Target range 10-71
AST (GOT) 25. Target range 0-40
ALT (GPT) 20. Target range 0-41

So as we all know at this stage, protein easy to get as a vegan. Gamma GT I can't find anything about being too low, just that if it's high it causes liver disease.

Urea/Creat/Electroly

Urea: 4.2. Target range 2.8-8.1
Sodium 144. Target range 136-145
Potassium 4.4. Target range 3.5- 5.3
Creatinine 64. Target range 59-104

So all these within range. This means healthy kidneys

Serum Ferritin: 116. Target range 23-393.

This is for iron levels. Since I'm eating only plants, my iron is non heme iron which is harder to absorb than animal heme iron but I am still within range.

Folate Immunoassay: 10.6. Target range 4.5- 20.0

This is B9 which I get from leafy greens, beans and lentils

TSH: 2.13. Target range 0.27 to 4.20. This is my thyroid so all good.

I have many more results there about red and white blood count and they are all within range. Apologies for long post but I know some people are very much into health and would be interested to know a vegans blood work. Overall my results match up to peer reviewed scientific studies about vegans

loveisdivine wrote: »

I was so inspired by Game Changers and seeing how many elite athletes are killing it on a plant based diet. I've followed Scott Jurek for years, along with other ultra runners but didn't realise just how many other sports have top athletes that are vegan.

I wouldn't pin too much hope on the documentary it is extremely bias and cherry picks alot of the studies.

That being said I have personally adopted a more plant based diet (not completely but would generally build 2-3 plant based meals a day into my diet)

One of the athletes that I coach has been going well off a vegan diet. He only adopts this for 2-3 months at a time in build up to races but manages to maintain high training loads with no ill effects. Recently came off a big PB in the marathon (is running in the sub 2.40 range)

For him reasons are from a calorie perspective (i.e he uses it as a weight management tool)

loveisdivine wrote: »

Whilst the data cited may or may not be cherry picked. There's no denying what people like Jurek etc are doing.

Jurek is a phenomenal athlete no doubt. One of the true Ultra running greats (unlike many of marketeers like Karnazes, Rob Young, Sharon Gayter etc)

But to belittle athletes efforts to being attributable to diet alone diminishes the achievements of those athletes.

There are a number of athletes doing incredible performances as vegan, paleo, hell even beer and pizza. The diet is not the determining factor with these athletes in many cases.

loveisdivine wrote: »

I agree completely, but the point is to show that it can be done on a vegan diet.

For so long society has though of vegans as weak and "protein deficient". Which is why the documentary is important because it's showing that that's not the case at all. It isn't saying you have to be vegan to be an elite athlete, it's just saying you can be, vegans aren't at a disadvantage.

But strictly speaking, they were right.

The issue is protein quality and digestibility. Animal protein is more digestible than plant protein (roughly 90% vs around 60%) due to anti nutrients. These can be offset through soaking/boiling/steaming but this also impacts nutrient values of said vegetables so also needs to be taken into account both in terms of making sure diet is adequate for demands but also influences calorie intake (i.e would need to increase calories to offset this)

That's the problem with this documentary and many other claims that simply say X study says Y therefore it's true without addressing it multi-facetedly. You can't make these claims without dealing with the obvious issues it leads to a host of issues.

It's not that vegan diets are bad it's that the information is given in a vacuum a lot of the time. Yes education has helped correct a number of the pitfalls that supported societal claims previously but there is still an awful lot of pitfalls to adopting this sort of diet without fuller understanding of the limitations and that is where documentaries like this one do a disservice to plant based approaches.

Went vegan as part of my 20-week training plan for Dublin Marathon, with every intention of reverting back to a regular diet straight after. Found I recovered really well after my long runs, where previously I would have been like a zombie for 48hrs after. Knocked 31mins off my PB, by running 3.24. Don't think I will ever revert back now.

Found the diet transition really easy as the wife is vegan and she is an incredible cook.

davidjtaylor wrote: »

Protein is not an issue.

Enlightening, did you actually read any of what I said or simply saw protein mentioned and pounced on that?

Blinkered tribalism just leads to confirmation bias which is sad to see as I do see merits in some elements of the plant based approach (and many people do see benefits simply because eating more veg should be encouraged on any diet, anything that pushes away from processed crap of any kinda (be it convenience meat products or vegan "substitutes") but like anything pro's and cons need to be weighed in order to get the most optimum approach.

Here is also a good article about the most important supplements for vegans

https://foodclinicdiet.com/most-important-supplements-for-vegans/

I sit whole day long- just as you! It is unhealthy. I walk everyday about 50 minutes and doing yoga.. I feel like I have to move my body, so I know what you actually feel!