Question
If you are following a rigid and intense physical training program, don’t you require an extra source of protein even if you’re following a balanced and varied plant-based diet?
Sarah
Answer
When you are doing more physical activity of ANY kind, you need to provide your body with more calories overall. When people eat “healthy” in general and increase their calories, they also increase ALL of the nutrients in the correct proportions. More calories naturally means more protein.
Therefore, when we eat in a natural manner, we have an easy time meeting all of our nutrient needs without unnaturally exacerbating any one nutrient.
We have to keep in mind that any kind of “gym” facility has very different nutrition ideas from what truly healthy eating is all about. Most trainers and gym facilities are not thinking of how a “training diet” is going to impact your cancer risk, heart disease risk, diabetes risk, autoimmune diseases risks, neurodegenerative diseases risks, liver function, kidney function, intestinal microflora, hormones, neurotransmitters, mental health, emotional health, and on and on the list goes. The diet and nutrition advice that trainers and gym facilities typically give is very short-term oriented for achieving a specific physical goal no matter the cost to one’s present or future health. Likewise, many physical trainers and gym employees simply repeat the dietary recommendations they have been told without questioning the logic and safety of it themselves. This revolves around the same misleading and risky advice that if you are going to work out and do strength resistance training, you need to focus on eating high amounts of protein.
Therefore, before one follows any such dietary advice, each person needs to reflect on what their priorities are and what they are willing to risk. While some people choose to do resistance training for health purposes to maintain a healthy amount of muscle mass and bone density, unfortunately, most of those who go to the “gym” are fixated on physical appearance much more than on their present or future overall health. In fact, people who train at the gym or work at the gym helping to train others often have no idea how much the faulty protein and general dietary advice they give or follow is negatively impacting all levels of the person’s health.
The bottom line, is that it is partly a myth and partly incomplete information that “more protein is needed for intense training” or any general muscle training. However, most trainers and gym facilities will strongly disagree with that and even get offended by such an idea. In their world, “protein is king” and everything revolves around protein amounts, whether that be per meal, per day, or per the person’s weight.
The Most Important Influences for Building Muscle and High Levels of Physical Activity
The best muscle, stamina, and strength results come from a mixture of things, which are as follows:
- The right physical training - muscles get built by being used properly, challenged regularly, and rested sufficiently. If these three elements are not present, then all the protein in the world is not going to help or provide some magical results.
- Eating more calories overall - the more physically active a person is, the more calories they need to eat to maintain a healthy weight and build new cells, specifically muscle cells, and have sufficient strength and energy. (This is assuming that the person is of a healthy weight to begin with. If someone is overweight, they may need to maintain or even lower their caloric input, even though they are exercising more, depending on their state of health and medical recommendations.)
- Eating a highly nutritious and nutritionally balanced diet - this means getting enough healthy carbohydrates, healthy fats, healthy protein, AND lots of vitamins and minerals to sustain and support the stress of the physical exercise and to protect the body. These nutrients come from whole plant foods, namely, fruits, vegetables, beans/legumes, whole unrefined grains, nuts, seeds, and additions like sea vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, and spices. It does not mean that we add more calories by eating any food, especially plant-based junk food or heavily processed vegan food, or that we exaggerate the eating of one food group or type.
Increasing protein alone, while not focusing on all of the above, is a sure way to have an imbalanced diet and put stress and risk to the liver and kidneys. The source of any extra or exaggerated protein presents us with a whole other group of risk factors. For example, many plant-based or vegan eaters rely on plant-based protein powders, which means that the person is consuming a completely unnatural, processed food, which is far removed from what is ideal and healthy for a human body. On the other hand, those who do not eat plant-based diets but eat animal products typically seek out more meat and other animal foods to fulfill the high (and unnatural) protein amounts they are told to consume. More animal foods in one’s diet typically means increasing the risk of almost every disease, not to mention putting your internal microbiome in your digestive tract out of balance, which is associated with all kinds of physical and mental health problems. Hence, again, each person must reflect on their priorities and take accountability for the choices that they make in their life in the present time regarding what consequences these may or will lead to in the future for them.
Avoid the Numbers Trap
Lastly, one should not eat based on rigid “numbers” as that is completely unnatural and far removed from holistic principles of how nature works and how our bodies work. Numerous recommendations are given for what the “ideal” quantity of protein for an adult human is, and even more so for adults who do any kind of physical or muscle training. If you try eating based on such numbers, you will create a stressful and imbalanced diet and run into all sorts of disagreements and controversies about who is right and who is wrong in their protein amount approach. Most protein quantities recommended to people in gym facilities are grossly exaggerated, have outright health risks, and are pushed by none other than the billion-dollar protein industry. So, if a person is not confident about how their body works or what it needs, they are easy prey for accepting any outlandish dietary advice and protein amounts.
Yes, it is prudent to have a general idea of human protein needs. However, once a person learns that human bodies are designed for diets that are lower, not higher, in protein and that most people who eat enough calories for their needs are consuming too much protein given their modern-day food choices, and once they learn how easy it is to meet and exceed our daily protein needs, even if we eat a plant-based diet, then they realize that there is nothing to count or stress about. What matters is simply eating enough food for their metabolic needs from a diverse range of whole plant food groups. These, again, are fruits, vegetables, beans/legumes, whole unrefined grains, nuts, and seeds.
In conclusion, if you eat a balanced and varied whole food, plant-based diet, then your protein intake will rise accordingly as you eat more food. We should not revolve our meals around having more protein alone for the points listed above and the risks that come with such an imbalanced action.