Some people believe that vegans cannot build muscle and will inevitably suffer from protein and vitamin deficiencies. Others think that veganism is the best thing since the invention of the Internet, and that they have to convert everyone they see to become a vegan. So who's right and what is the vegan diet really all about? As you probably know, vegetarians do not eat meat, fish or poultry. Vegans, in addition to being vegetarians do not consume other animal products and byproducts such as eggs, dairy products and honey. Now, while some people will choose to go vegan because of environmental or ethical reasons, I will talk about it only from a fitness and health perspective.

Since the field of veganism is so broad, we will start with a rather simple question. Can you build muscle as a vegan? And the answer is yes, absolutely. But it's more difficult than on a normal diet. The main reason for this is protein, as I have discussed in detail in the previous lessons on protein, and this Dozens of studies have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt. A high protein diet is very important for building muscle.

Our bodies simply need amino acids derived from protein to repair and grow muscle tissue. Without it, you won't provide your body with the material for muscle growth. When we look at vegan diets and compared to traditional diets, from a macro nutritional perspective, the main difference is protein intake. Most people eating an even halfway healthy diet are already getting a large percentage of their carbs and fats from plant based sources like grains, fruits, veggies and nuts and oils, which doesn't change when you become a vegan. What does change however, is protein intake because you replace high protein animal foods like meat, eggs, and dairy with lower protein foods like beans, grains and nuts. Now don't get me wrong.

Beans, grains and nuts are very healthy foods and generally quality sources of protein as part of a balanced diet. You run into problems though when you use them as your single source of power. protein. Why, because plant based proteins come with two drawbacks. First, not all of them are complete proteins, which means that they don't contain all the nine essential amino acids or don't have sufficient quantities of them to meet the body's needs. As you know, amino acids are the building blocks of protein and tissues in the body, including muscle tissues.

The body needs 21 amino acids to stay alive and nine of them must be obtained from food. Unfortunately, many nuts seeds and legumes are incomplete proteins that don't contain all nine essential amino acids. But fortunately, there is a very simple solution for all this if you're vegan. Don't rely on these as your protein source. For example, if you combine them with other foods, you can get the right balance of essential amino acids. proteins that in combination make a complete amino acid profile are known as complementary proteins.

Here are a few good examples. Rice and beans, spinach salad with almonds, hummus with whole grain Peters Whole grain noodles with peanut sauce. Now the second problem with plant based proteins is that some sources aren't absorbed as well as others. This means eating 100 grams of hemp protein isn't the same as eating 100 grams of rice or pea protein. hemp protein has much less muscle building potential then P protein. What this means is that as a vegan who wants to build muscle, you have to make sure you're getting enough protein that is both absorbed well and rich and essential amino acids.

Doing this isn't impossible, but it's more difficult than simply relying on meat and dairy as your protein source. To help you out here are a few protein sources that should make up the majority of your daily protein our grains like wheat, rice and oats, vegetables and legumes like peas, beans and potato nuts like almonds, Peanuts, walnuts and pistachios and seeds like canola and buckwheat. Also make sure to combine them with one another to get all the essential amino acids Now that we talked about how to overcome protein deficiencies, what about micronutrient deficiencies? You probably heard that going vegan does increase the risk of various nutrient deficiencies, and this is true. The most common ones are deficiencies in vitamin D and B 12, iron, calcium, zinc and omega three fatty acids. Now, many vegans will tell you that these common deficiencies can be avoided by simply adding certain foods to your diet.

While this is true, in theory, things look a lot different in practice. For example, to get the same amount of calcium from vegetables, as from dairy products, you will have to consume multiple servings instead of just one. The same goes for zinc, unless you want to micromanage your diet and always check for your micronutrient intake. This means you will have to supplement supplementing for vitamin D, B 12. And omega three fatty acids is actually fairly common among experienced vegans and something I would recommend So what's my conclusion on the vegan diet, you can build plenty of muscle and strength as a vegan. If you know what you're doing, you will have to closely monitor your foods and protein sources and probably invest more time towards meal planning to avoid deficiencies.

If you're willing to invest the time then the vegan diet can definitely be a healthy alternative and help you gain muscle.