Sports nutrition info sources

[FranDoc]

Looking for good (valid, reliable, scientifically-based) sources for sports-specific nutritional information. What have you used and found helpful/useful?

Recommendations using 'regular' food (not lots of supplement compound drinks) and any good (useful, valid, reliable) info on vegetarian sports nutrition are especially appreciated. NO comments, please, re: vegetarian = ancient Aztec word for 'lousy hunter'.

Did a Forum search, found a few things mentioned in general terms, most of those were several years ago.

Found one 2007 title on Amazon.com specifically titled 'Vegetarian Sports Nutrition'. What else is out there and what have any of you found that really works?

The dieticians that I've talked with deal with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure/cholesterol, the general medical issues of society ... not sport performance and certainly not the specific demands of USPSA shooting.

References based on good personal experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much.

Edited January 17, 2008 by FranDoc

[Jake Di Vita]

I've experimented with basically every diet that I've heard of. The one that stands head and shoulders above all the rest can be found here.

The Paleo Diet

I would not hesitate recommending this diet to anyone for any reason. The Paleo Diet for Athletes is an absolutely fantastic book, with many logical explanations regarding nutrition, exercise, and many of the common ailments that effect humans today.

[AikiDale]

The cave man's site seems to be down.

[Nik Habicht]

I've experimented with basically every diet that I've heard of. The one that stands head and shoulders above all the rest can be found here.

The Paleo Diet

I would not hesitate recommending this diet to anyone for any reason. The Paleo Diet for Athletes is an absolutely fantastic book, with many logical explanations regarding nutrition, exercise, and many of the common ailments that effect humans today.

Reading the FAQs on that site, I realize that I lost 75 lbs. over the last year by basically following that diet without knowing it. I came at it from the direction of low glycemic index foods/previous success with Atkins/hating the fat abundance and lack of fruits/salads/veggies in Atkins. It's working for me, at least when during the long stretches when I'm able to resist the lure of carbohydrates....

[Jay870]

My favorite resource for nutrition info is www.bodyrecomposition.com, which is Lyle McDonald's site. If you want a "meal planner" type of diet then this probably isn't a good resource, but if you want sound, no-BS nutrition information then definitely give it a look over.

He has a free "articles" section (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/articles.html), as well as a forum (which you have to register to use, but is also free.) Have a thick skin in his forum and you can learn a lot (Lyle is an a**hole). There is not a lot of vegetarian specific content, but there are a number of vegetarian members. The forum is heavy on references to the medical literature as well.

He also sells a number of "e-books", but aside from "The Guide to Flexible Dieting", these are all fairly extreme in approach, and I wouldn't recommend any of them looking for general sports nutrition info, although the physiology he covers in some of them (especiall UD2.0) is extremely interesting for anyone interested in the hormonal & bio-chemistry aspects of metabolism.

Edited January 17, 2008 by Jay870

[XRe]

Fran, for what its worth, I've been doing The Zone - which is really more of a system of eating, rather than a prescribed diet. In fact, it plays well with the Paleo Diet Jake and Nik are talking about above. The CrossFit folks recommend a Zoned Paleo diet, actually. I haven't quite gone Paleo, but am considering it...

What sources of protein are you able to take in? I can't keep straight what "vegetarian" means theses days, vs. vegan, etc. The basic gist is - each meal should have a small amount of lean protein (depending on your lean mass), and an appropriate amount of carbs and fat in proper ratio to the protein. Carbs should come mainly from veggies and some fruit, avoiding sugars, starches, grains, breads, etc. Fats should try to be mono-unsaturated as much as possible. Paleo further restricts the types of food from there, essentially (ie, technically, on Zone, you could eat grains - they give you a way to figure them in - on Paleo you would avoid any sort of food that caveman couldn't eat, which includes dairy, too).

Let me tell you this - what I'm doing does not feel at all like a diet. If I try to get all my carbs via veggies, it takes over an hour to eat the meal, and I'm stuffed! Usually, I'll have some fruit to help cut down the bulk a bit

[Jake Di Vita]

I had a persistent cough for about 5 years, never could figure out what it was. I cut dairy out of my diet and it went away within a week.

[D.carden]

I've experimented with basically every diet that I've heard of. The one that stands head and shoulders above all the rest can be found here.

The Paleo Diet

I would not hesitate recommending this diet to anyone for any reason. The Paleo Diet for Athletes is an absolutely fantastic book, with many logical explanations regarding nutrition, exercise, and many of the common ailments that effect humans today.

Just picked up a copy at Barnes and Noble this morning...........Going to give it a shot (along with some serious work-outs......)

My goal is to drop 40-lbs (230 to 190ish).

I'll keep you posted.....

Thanks for the link Jake.....

Dan

[Jake Di Vita]

Go for it man. Anyone who truly wants it can do it.

Best of luck.

If you have any questions, let me know.

[dglock9]

The company that I work for has more than forty certified nutritionists on staff and I get to chat with most of them on a weekly or monthly basis. Granted most of their experience is in geriatric nutrition and non that I know of have experience in sports nutrition specifically. I get polar reactions from them when I ask about vegetarian diets. Either they strongly endorse a vegetarian diet or they are ambivalent. However, I've noted that those nutritionists recommending a vegetarian diet are with few exceptions vegetarian or vegan and appear by all obvious measures to be in decent or better shape. And it's hard to take criticism of vegetarian diets from an overweight non-veg nutritionist seriously.

I've talked with most of them in various degrees of detail about the USPSA sport and regardless of their stance on vegetarianism they all seem to agree that proper hydration is the most important concern and that after than there no special considerations that are of any significance outside of any existing health or nutritional problems or needs you may have. Regarding mental alertness and memory: most recommended mental exercise instead of nutritional supplements. And most strongly recommended sun screen and eye-(UV ray) protection!

In the first week of December I started a Medifast Diet Plan (http://www.medifastdiet.org) that I have been gradually transitioning into a vegan diet. I've lost 40lbs in two months. I have about 40 more to lose but I'm off the medifast and going full-out vegan for a least a few months.

Before looking for books on vegetarian sports nutrition, I'd recommend a good book on a plant-based diet: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Thomas Campbell. http://www.thechinastudy.com/

Sorry to get so far OT but we were headed in that direction anyway.

[Jake Di Vita]

The only reason I support vegetarian and vegan diets is from the hormones and other crap that is in most foods today. But excluding those factors, a diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and lean meat is the best diet for the human organism.

(This is actually quite a gigantic discussion and there's no way I could make a post that would even scratch the surface).

[FranDoc]

See D E Larson-Meyer, Vegetarian Sports Nutrition, Human Kinetics, 2007.

Good, practical, real-world detail; sometimes more than can be processed with a casual reading. It assumes that the reader either already follows a vegetarian diet of some sort, or has interest in exploring that. No heavy-handed preaching. Author is a PhD dietitian who directs the nutrition & exercise lab @ University of Wyoming; also a competitive athlete. Decent creds.

Using what she suggests, I'm actually eating more, eating different things ('regular' food, not tons of tofu, not synthetic supplements), the grocery bill isn't much different, I'm feeling better overall, par times are coming down in dry fire, the match performance is inching upwards, and the weight/body fat % are staying stable or creeping down slightly.

Although there's no specific mention of shooting sports, the discussions of pre-game and game-day eating/hydration plans are easily applicable to USPSA matches.

If you're interested in exploring a vegetarian/vegan diet while competing, I'd recommend that you look at the book. It's one of the rare few (the other may be The Soy Zone) that gives vegetarian competition nutrition more than a passing (and often condescending) mention.

[BigDave]

I accidentally removed meat from my diet back in the beginning on October. I say accidentally because I didn't set out for it to be that way, I just was eating what I had around and it wasn't meat. Once I realized it and that the world did not come to and end, I ended up going 2 1/2 mos meat-free by choice. And, I'm really glad that I did.

My diet then became composed mainly of whole grains, vegetables and dairy. One thing I was concerned though after I made the decision to see how far I could ride this strange torpedo was my protein intake as I was working out 5-6 days/wk. I discovered over a year ago how well I respond to protein supplements, namely in the form of Optimum Nutritions Gold Standard Whey. Once I adopted the diet, I relied on that as my main protein source. It really has worked well.

Now I'm a veg 6 days a week. I have found it easier to maintain the weight loss I've experienced in the last nine months. Do I feel better? I can't say. I don't feel worse. Do I make better eating choices? Absolutely. If nothing else, going veg, even for a little bit, really makes one step back and examine what they eat daily and don't put much thought into. That is a good thing.