Vegan Bodybuilding Foods
Bodybuilding on a vegan diet can be done, but you have to carefully choose your protein sources to get complete essential amino acid coverage!. Here are some tips.
Is Vegan Bodybuilding Possible?
The basic problem a vegan bodybuilder faces is that he needs protein, but that the most convenient protein sources are animal products.
It gets even trickier once he delves into the subject and finds out that essential amino acids. Those the body can’t produce itself, yet are the most important in enlarging muscle tissue. They are difficult to come by in the form of vegan sources.
But it can be done. It just requires carefully planning. I looked through the protein contents of various plant sources and came up with the following list with the highest to lowest protein per g ratio:
| Source | Protein Per 100 g | Calories Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Soybeans, Roasted | 39.6 g | 451 kcal |
| Peanuts, Roasted | 26.4 g | 581 kcal |
| Miso | 12 g | 199 kcal |
| Lentils, Cooked | 9 g | 116 kcal |
| Kidney Beans, Cooked | 8.7 g | 127 kcal |
| Tofu, Firm | 8 g | 70 kcal |
| Quinoa, Cooked | 4 g | 120 kcal |
| Soy Milk | 3 g | 43 kcal |
Watch The Calories!
Two things you have to keep in mind here: you have to watch the total calories and you need to combine these sources.
The most common rule of thumb about how much protein you need per day to build muscle is 1 to 2 g per pound of body weight. Which means if you are 175 lbs, you need 175 – 350 g. If you were to try to do this solely with peanuts, you would be consuming about 7,702 kcal per day (350 / 26.4 = 13.3, therefore 581 kcal x 13.3 = 7,702 kcal). That would be almost triple the amount of daily calories you need to maintain your weight. You would grow rather chubby in rather short time.
The other reason why you shouldn’t solely rely on a single source is the one I already hinted above: many plants vary wildly in what amino acids they contain and how much of them. Beside that, they also are all over the board in the amount of minerals and vitamins coming with them.
The WHO (World Health Organization) for example recommends that a 165 lbs person gets about 2,900 mg of the essential amino acid leucine per day, but 100 g of cooked lentils only come with 390 mg. 100 g of roasted soybeans, however, have 3,232 mg. That is more than fulfilling that 165 lbs person’s daily need. But then again those soybeans are hefty in calories.
The keys to vegan bodybuilding nutrition therefore are:
- Combine different plant protein sources to get all required amino acids
- Keep an eye on the number of calories you consume
- Your body needs more than protein to live, so have fruits and vegetables in your nutrition
Soy And Hormones
Let us give this a mention as well: time and again you get to read stories that consuming soy produces too much of the female hormone estrogen in males and that that could do everything from hindering muscle growth to causing infertility.
Tofu is made from soy and can be turned into a wide variety of dishes.
Looking over a couple of years worth of research, it seems to me that there could be an effect, but nothing is definite. This study here quite nicely summarizes things. My hunch is that being vegan, working out and eating soy products to gain muscle is better than being vegan, working out and saying “no” to soy, which could mean not getting enough protein.
Two Recipes
I know some guys are able to simply pop open a can, grab a spoon and eat beans right out of their rotund container, but I wager some of you are a bit more refined.
Therefore have a look at this article about affordable protein sources for bodybuilders. Toward the end you will find two recipes that work for vegan bodybuilders, as one is for lentils and the other for beans and neither uses animal products. Both also are easy to prepare and you should be able to fix these dishes even in a dorm room.
Vegan Protein Powders
Finally there also are vegan protein powders, who often use soy or rice as basis (this one
and this one
, for example). Some users are rather satisfied with them, others report the taste to be bland or say they had difficulty mixing them in juices or water.
Dissecting these products will require an article of its own, but you may want to keep an eye out for them. You can also try getting in touch with the manufacturers and ask for a free sample. Many should be willing to send you one.
8 Comments
Vegans may want to especially consider hemp seeds. They’re nutritious like Soybeans. E.g. omega 3 balance, complete protein. Hemp seeds avoid the controversy like the Trypson enzyme inhibitor or hormonal concern (I believe) that you’d find in soybeans. A downside is probably that hemp protein packs more calories per gram of protein. You could get the more isolated version, but cost might be a factor, there. At a minimum, it’s a great supplement to avoid complete reliance on soybeans/diet variety. Or you could plant them behind your barn.
Nice suggestion! Planting something yourself is an excellent idea as well!
Yeah, you could plant it for your own. I was thinking of it as more of a joke because of the THC, but it’s not as comparable to the levels in marijuana I guess :p
There I go taking you seriously, you drug baron! ;P
What about the sprouted beans? After getting prouted their protein content increases dramatically.
I will look into that!
Thanks for this post! I’ve never seen the actual per 100g protein values written down like that. Super helpful 🙂 It’s crazy how the calorie counts can creep up like that though!
Glad you found it useful, Dana! I too find the per 100 g listing easier, because if you do it as cups, you knever know exactly how many calories you end up with.