Changing the Game

Will try vegans :slight_smile:
We eat plant based at home and what’s on the table when we are guests. The food is great but it takes more time to get seitan to taste well.
A good cookbook is the veganomicon.
We give out kids additional b12.
It did not have a significant impact on my endurance (that I noticed) when switching 5 years ago.
One thing that changes is that I now Cannot eat meat based junkfood anymore. My stomach cannot stand it

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Cool. Thank you.
I will definitely give it a listen.

I‘m consuming a lot of information for the last few days. I like what I see.

So far I‘m less than a week into my „experiment“ and I‘m not looking back.

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@Pierre and co to add a few thoughts for further consumption!
I’ve been plant-based/ vegan for 10 years now and was vegetarian for 12 before that so hopefully this will add something useful to the discussion - from a health rather than a performance perspective.

If you’re not vegetarian now it really is a massive change so keep doing what you’re doing - read/ read/ read. If done right it’s an easy change; if not a potential crash and burn.
Be prepared to re-stock your pantry/ fridge etc and to take your palette on an adventure. My diet widened considerably when I changed to vegetarian and then vegan - you’ll learn the names and tastes of foods you never even knew existed.

Speaking now as someone who’s made some mistakes, and at times headed towards others:
Eat like a rainbow - as wide and varied as you can. While a good concept regardless of plant-based diet or not it is absolutely essential for a plant-based diet. In meat and fish the essential vitamins, proteins etc are bundled up in a package for you. In a plant-based diet you have to bundle the essentials yourself. How many (natural) colours can you get onto your plate? A very simple yet useful reminder/ check.
Plan your meals/ what your body needs meticulously until you’re well into the swing of things (you’ll need to in the beginning anyway or you’ll battle with grocery shopping :grin:).
Iron and folate (for the all important red blood cells that carry your oxygen - think VO2 max!!!) are easily gotten from a host of vegetables - look for the green leafy ones - but Vit B12 (for your blood cells and nervous system) is not found in any plants and you MUST supplement. B12 stores in our body last for years (commonly quoted as 2-4) so a lack of B12 in one’s diet takes time to hit but when it does it’s nasty and will make GvA seem somewhat angelic in comparison, and his workouts seem like they were romantic fireside indulgences. It’s a very serious deficiency and one you don’t want to experience.
Protein - eat widely to get all the different amino acids/ building blocks. Until recently that’s all I was doing as I focussed on ensuring I looked after my energy, fluid and electrolyte intake during my training plans (i.e. my protein intake naturally went up as part of a balanced diet as my energy intake went up). Measured gains (FTP/ 4DP tests) and real world improvements on the road confirmed I was at least looking after myself. However, we always want more gains and after finally devouring “Eating to Suffer” I now protein supplement (e.g. protein powder, in a variety of almond milk shakes) so am looking forward to seeing what this current training plan delivers. I think with what we put our bodies through protein supplementation is required - an “A-Ha” moment for me.
Finally, while it is harder to eat c&)# with a plant-based diet it has become easier over the last few years. Here in Australia our major supermarkets now have clearly defined plant-based sections with a multitude of foods mimicking non plant-based. Read the fine print ingredients though - long lists and numbers are not what you’re looking for.

Hope you find this useful and good luck!

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Just look don’t buy yogurts that have “added sugars”. That should be listed in the nutrition information.

I’m plant-based. I still eat fish on occasion, mainly due to there being very few plant-based options if I go out to a restaurant.

I feel I recover faster. My legs do not seem to burn as intensely as I remember them burning on a traditional diet.

I try to stick to whole foods but I will throw a burger on from impossible or beyond.

In my fast, I’ve combined the diet with intermittent fasting. I’ve gone from 270 to 188 since 2019.

My FTP has been higher but my watts/kg is better now. I’m about 20 watts off from my best FTP. I will hopefully set a new PB this year.

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I recently did a keto diet to be supportive of my wife, so we did it together. I would still have carbs before a long ride, to ensure I didn’t bonk. During that time, I lost 25 pounds, and now I’m working to find a new normal as far as my diet goes.

I don’t want to stay keto as I’m not sure that’s healthy, too much cholesterol, I think. But my weight has been creeping up. My performance on the bike has never been better, although my FTP is lower, w/kg is higher than ever. NM, AC are nearly identical but my MAP is down a bit (might be higher w/kg).

I’m looking to double-down on tracking (my fitness pal), add a multivitamin, strength and swimming.

I’d be interested to hear more about vitamins, as I suspect that deficiencies may drive my binge eating. Once I have a bite of junk food, I tend to pig out for the remainder of the day.

And that doesn’t get logged into MFP because I don’t know how much I’ve eaten and am embarrassed by it as well. But it’s not like Strava, it still happened!

FWIW, I’m 5’7” (170cm) tall, 162 (73.4kg) pounds. I had gotten down to 155 pounds on the keto diet.

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