Although meat and fish are both great sources of protein and fatty acids the good news for vegetarians is that it’s possible to get in great shape without them. The key is knowing what to replace them with.
Great sources of protein
The first question most people ask when discussing a vegetarian diet is how to get enough protein. But there’s a simple answer: plenty of other foods contain protein - it’s not exclusive to meat.
If you stock your cupboards with beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, quinoa and tofu, then you should have no problems. Conveniently, many of these foods are also versatile ingredients, which mean you can vary your diet significantly without losing out on protein.
One point to bear in mind is that while received wisdom says that you should have lots of protein if you want to reach your optimum fitness, many professional athletes claim they feel fitter after cutting their protein intake.
Try these fantastic alternatives
There are three other nutritional areas in which vegetarians are often accused of lacking: vitamin B12; iron; and fatty acids. In all three cases, there are options open to you.
Vitamin B12 is only found naturally in foods coming from animals, which sounds like an insurmountable problem until you realise that eggs, milk and cheese can do the job. For vegans, it’s trickier and must be solved with supplements or fortified foods.
To keep your iron levels up, eat plenty of eggs, dried fruit, wholemeal bread, pulses and certain dark green vegetables like broccoli and okra.
Eggs make it three in three by being a potential source of Omega-3 fatty acids as well, although people will need to look out for the kind that is fortified with Omega-3. Other options include flaxseed, soya and rapeseed oils, walnuts and tofu.
Vegetarian role models
The vast majority of top professional sportsmen and women are meat eaters, but there are enough veggies out there to provide inspiration and suggest that it’s possible to reach your physical peak while not eating meat.
In terms of agility, the achievements of British pro skateboarder Geoff Rowley take some beating, while Czech-American tennis star Martina Navratilova is arguably one of the greatest players to grace the game, having won 59 Grand Slam titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles).
Not convinced? Seven-foot tall basketball player Robert Parish was also a vegetarian and is an NBA Hall of Famer. Finally, there is Dave Scott. The American triathlete was the first six-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion, winning the Hawaii event six times between 1980 and 1987. He later started eating meat, but was strictly vegetarian during his heyday.
So get out there and be the best, meat or no meat.