Vegan Diet for Heavy Exercise

[WillamK]

Hi,

I am a vegan (mostly raw) for about 3 months now. I have never felt better and am losing weight to boot. My only issue has been with heavy exercise. I train in Karate about 3 times a weak. The workouts are primarily cardio type workouts. I have noticed that near the end of my workouts I find myself getting light headed and feeling like I'm going to pass out. I never had this issue on my previous omnivore diet. After my workouts and the rest of the time I feel just fine and have good energy.

My diet consists of primarily raw fruits and veggies, smoothies, sprouts, whole grains, and some wheat grass shots to boot.

I know I am doing something wrong. Can anyone reccomend some good vegan foods to give my body the carbs and protien it needs for strenuous exercise? Thanks.

[SomebodyElse]

Go to a site like Fitday.com, and enter the quantities of all the foods you eat in a day, and it'll tell you how many calories you are getting. You don't get energy from special foods, you get it by eating enough calories to fuel your body.

[slicknickns]

Karate 3 times a week won't make you feel light headed from veganism alone. I ran about 9 miles today....not a single thought of light headedness, and i ate completely vegan today, yesterday, and the day before (I'm a vegetarian, who at most times, will eat vegan for a while --- the only thing 'cooked' i eat is pasta, the occasional yogurt and oatmeal).

Are you not eating enough?

I love me some nuts before a run --- almonds or peanuts do a damn good job digesting right before a good run. You ever eat a few pounds of pasta the night before hard exercise? Carbs aren't always good (they do nothing for inflammation and will not help you recover from exercise injuries. Plus, they spike your blood sugar and interfere with your insulin regulation and resistance. They're just a good source of cheap energy ---- kind of like unleaded regular gas)

What's with the smoothies?

[WillamK]

I do green smoothies. They consist of about 60% fruit and 40% leafy greens. I like to throw some sprouts in as well. Tasty and good for you. Make a nice snack. Google it and you will find quite a lot of info. So there are no "special" foods for the vegan athelete? Just need get enough calories? Sounds too logical : - ).

[das_nut]

With my biology, once near a certain weight, my body would rather let me be light headed than burn fat.

This was with heavy exercise (about 500 calories/day being burn being typical, and a few non-typical days had insane amounts of calories being burnt).

I've come to two conclusions:

1. Estimates of calories being burnt in exercise is crap.
2. People have different setpoints where their bodies decide to go into starvation mode rather than burn fat. Once you're in starvation mode, your body is going to try to conserve energy.

Btw, karate should just be energy being burnt. Carbs are a decent fuel, and easy to get while vegan.

[codemonkey]

Make sure you're eating enough calories to get through your workout. You need a deficit to loose weight but if you have too much of a deficit, you won't have enough energy to work out. Have a little snack (100-200 calories) before you exercise and see if that makes you feel better.

[Jinga]

You may want to check out Brendan Brazier's books (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Brendan%20Brazier). He's a high-raw vegan ironman triathete. I have The Thrive Diet and found it had a lot of sensible info.

[KellyBon]

I'm a runner. 6 days a week I run 6 to 10 miles. Sometimes more. If I run more then 8 miles I drink a protein shake after, Rice, Soy, Hemp, Or all 3 mixed together. Breakfast is soy yogurt with granola slivered almonds, and dried berries. Sometimes I have Steel cut oats cooked in soy milk with a banana. I always eat fruits and nuts for snacks. Lunch is a sandwich or soup. Dinner is a typical vegan dinner, Some protein , veggies, brown rice, or pasta. I listen to my body and eat when I feel hungry. When I have done a fairly long run I tend to eat more. I have noticed on the days I do strength training I am usually very hungry all day, so I eat more.

[das_nut]

6 to 10 miles?

Isn't it roughly 100 calories a mile while walking or running?

[WillamK]

Thanks all. It makes sense. I sit at at a desk all day for my job. So if my body is going into moderate starvation mode, it's not really noticible. However, when I go to do heavy exercise, I run out of energy and get light headed. I will increase my calorie intake overall and eat a little extra on days of my workout. Strange that I have not really felt hungry during all this though.