How To Build Muscle As A Vegetarian
The general belief among most vegetarians is that you can’t build muscle as a vegetarian. This of course isn’t true, however, you will face the hurdle that your body requires large amounts of protein to build muscle. Since most people take in the majority of your protein from animals, how can you get past this and still build muscle?
1. Protein
Soy is the perfect source of protein for many vegetarian bodybuilders. This is because soy products such as tofu, edamame, and soy milk provide all 8 essential amino acids required by your body to build and rebuild muscle. Soy milk can be used to replace cows milk in any recipe, and tofu is a great meat replacement for most chicken or turkey based dishes. In fact, soy has more protein content than beef.
Nuts like walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and pistachio nuts are a great source of both protein and healthy fats for vegetarians. Keep a jar or package around to snack on at all times and you can be sure to get enough protein through the day.
Supplements, such as protein shakes are wildly popular with most body builders, and many are based on either whey or soy protein. These shakes often provide upwards of 21 grams of protein per serving. A few of these during the week will give your muscles the boost they need.
2. Vitamins and Minerals
You should be getting most of your needed vitamins and minerals if you eat a balanced diet. With that said, many vegetarians suffer from a vitamin B12 deficiency because most vitamin B12 comes from meat. Adding a vitamin B12 supplement or good multivitamin can cure this quickly as well as add to your energy levels. The protein shakes mentioned above often provide at least 1/3 of your daily servings of vitamins and minerals.
3. Fats
Even if you are eating a proper portion of nuts each day and will be getting plenty of good fats, you may still require more essential fatty acids that are often found in meat. You can add a tablespoon of flax seed oil to your diet each day to ensure you get these amino acids. Flax seed oil is one of the best sources of linolenic acid, an essential amino acid.
Making the above changes or additions to your diet will help you guarantee that you can build muscle as a vegetarian. With the above information, all you need is a good muscle building program.
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