Episode 176 - Eat Plants, Train Hard: A Vegan Triathlete’s Nutrition Guide

Eat Plants, Train Hard: A Vegan Triathlete’s Nutrition Guide

One of the most common questions I get asked is, can you help me with triathlon nutrition as a vegan? 

And the short answer is absolutely!

Sure, being vegan comes with a lot to consider and some nutrients you need to be extra careful with but you absolutely can thrive in this sport while sticking to a plant-based diet.

It's all about being educated and making the right food choices which is why I want to highlight some of the key nutrients vegans need to manage to make sure they’re ready to train, race, and recover efficiently.

Links:

Check how well you’re doing when it comes to your nutrition with our 50 Step Checklist to Triathlon Nutrition Mastery

Start working on your nutrition now with my Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart course 

It’s for you if you’re a triathlete and you feel like you’ve got your training under control and you’re ready to layer in your nutrition. It's your warmup on the path to becoming a SUPERCHARGED triathlete – woohoo!

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Episode Transcription

Episode 176 - Eat Plants, Train Hard: A Vegan Triathlete’s Nutrition Guide

Welcome to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. The show designed to serve you up evidence-based sports nutrition advice from the experts. Hi, I'm your host Taryn, Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Advanced Sports Dietitian and founder of Dietitian Approved. Listen as I break down the latest evidence to give you practical, easy-to-digest strategies to train hard, recover faster and perform at your best. You have so much potential, and I want to help you unlock that with the power of nutrition. Let's get into it.

[00:00:00] Taryn: One of the most common questions I get asked is, can you help me with triathlon nutrition as a vegan? And the short answer is, yeah, sure. Absolutely. My entire approach to nutrition is built around education. Not just handing you a meal plan and telling you what to eat, but teaching you how to fuel your body so that you can perform at your best, no matter what type of dietary preferences you have. I like to say, give a triathlete a fish and they'll eat for a day, but teach a triathlete how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime.

[00:00:35] Taryn: So whether you're vegan, gluten free, diabetic or can't tolerate dairy, my job isn't to tell you what you can't have. It's to show you how to get everything that you need to train harder so that you can recover faster and perform to the best of your ability, no matter what way of eating you choose.

[00:00:55] Taryn: So if you've ever wondered how to fuel for triathlon and follow a plant based diet, you're in the right place because in today's episode, I want to cover some of the key nutrients vegan triathletes need. To focus on, to make sure your nutrition approach supports your performance, so you're not just surviving the training sessions and surviving life and getting through on vanilla and mediocre.

[00:01:20] Taryn: I want you to be thriving so that you can train hard and you're racing to the best of your ability and smashing your goals. So let's get into it. whether you're transitioning to a vegan lifestyle now, or it's something that you've been doing for a long period of time, veganism can be a fantastic choice for health for some people, definitely environmental sustainability and also ethical reasons. But when it comes to triathlon nutrition.

[00:02:06] Taryn: There are a few critical nutrients to consider to make sure your body is primed and ready to train and race and recover. We're not trying to train for three sports and carrying around nutrient deficiencies with us, because the physical demands of triathlon. Uh, no joke, as you are very well aware, and if you're a vegan triathlete, then you need to be really intentional and planned and organized with your nutrition so that you can fuel your performance for the sport, but also make sure your body is getting everything that you need.

[00:02:44] Taryn: so today I'm going to break down some of the key nutrients every vegan triathlete should prioritize to hit the finish line with a smile on your face and feeling strong and energized.

[00:02:56] Taryn: The first key thing is our macronutrient carbohydrate. It is king as an endurance athlete when you are swimming, cycling and running all in one sport. Vegan diets typically lend themselves to being more higher carbohydrate because a lot of your protein sources are also a good carbohydrate source.

[00:03:15] Taryn: But we need to make sure we're eating the right types of carbohydrates and form the foundation of our diet. day to day nutrition with whole foods and more whole grains as particularly a plant based athlete, but everyone should be doing that also. So Carbohydrate is our main source of fuel, unless you're a fat adapted athlete, but that's a topic of conversation for another day. They, uh, what we eat, we break them down into single molecules and, generally speaking, store glucose in our muscles and liver as glycogen. They provide energy overnight when we're fasting and not eating, as well as energy during training and racing.

[00:03:54] Taryn: So without enough glycogen stored, you are running the risk of hitting the wall or bonking. And that doesn't feel good if you've ever experienced that before. So we need to make sure we're getting the right amount of carbohydrate to support our training. And that is at an individual level. And I always bang on about periodization.

[00:04:13] Taryn: So you're eating carbohydrate for the work required. You're not eating the same amount day in, day out and hoping for the best because some days that'll overfuel you. And other days that will under fuel you. And we want to make sure we're meeting the needs of our training program for that day, for that week, for that block.

[00:04:32] Taryn: And that'll ebb and flow over the years, which is periodization 101. So make sure you're not doing a set and forget strategy for your carbohydrate intake. So, how to optimize this as a vegan triathlete? We definitely want to lean more heavily on whole grains, so things like oats brown rice, quinoa is another good one because it's a higher protein grain, and using those as the foundations of your meals.

[00:04:59] Taryn: Don't shy away from higher carb fruits, like things like bananas, mangoes, those big juicy medjool dates, they can be perfect for strategic fueling in and around your sessions. And fruit is honestly got a bad rap. I don't understand. I do understand why, but please don't not eat fruit. Fruit is great. High fructose corn syrup, not so great, but fruit comes with fiber.

[00:05:23] Taryn: We have to chew it. There is so much more benefit to eating whole food, high fructose corn syrup or fructose containing foods like fruit compared to the very carb rich. easy to consume sweets or candies that have given fructose the bad name.

[00:05:40] Taryn: Also think about some high carb or carb rich snacks. As a vegan athlete, there could be something like brown rice cakes with some peanut butter or almond butter, hummus, or other spread that's got some protein in it as well.

[00:05:53] Taryn: Pretty much all sports nutrition products are vegan, you know, gels, sports drinks, and things like that. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would not be. So those should be. All ok to consume, and they are things that you want to lean into on those very long endurance sessions and particularly for racing.

[00:06:12] Taryn: So whole grains whole foods outside of training and then during training flipping to a strategy of those more commercialized sports nutrition products that are high carbs

[00:06:23] Taryn: is going to help you get the most out of that session. The next main macronutrient which definitely comes with the territory as a vegan athlete is protein. And we need protein for all of life. It is the building blocks of every single cell, hormone and our muscles, and particularly helps with us endurance athletes to maintain our lean tissue and recovery and repair when we do a lot of exercise.

[00:06:51] Taryn: You Absolutely can meet your protein needs following a vegan way of living, but you need to be more organized and you need to understand where you're getting all of your plant based sources of protein from. I have seen some terrible vegans in my time. I'm going to throw my brother under the bus. Here.

[00:07:09] Taryn: He switched to veganism or many, many years ago now, and he lived on soy milk, coffees and hot chips, like he was not a very good vegan. And when you do triathlon, you cannot get away with eating like that. Yes, it may be ticking the right boxes it's not animal based, but we need to be smarter around our protein choices and get the full variety of essential amino acids that our body can't produce.

[00:07:34] Taryn: Now, animal sources are rich in those, but plant based sources are limiting or don't have that full complement of essential amino acids in one source typically. So as a vegan, you need to combine lots of different things across the day to get that full complement of amino acids that our body can't produce.

[00:07:52] Taryn: some examples of our protein rich plant based sources are tofu and its fermented cousin tempeh, lentils, legumes, corn, TVP, soy. There is a wide range of products on the market now that just didn't exist 10 years ago. Lots of like not meat or fake chicken or. Things like that, that you can have a look for in your supermarket that are convenient and easy or looking deeper into things like using corn or tofu or tempeh.

[00:08:22] Taryn: Now the vegan athletes that I work with tell me they definitely get over eating tofu. So start to broaden your horizons by looking at some of those other sources because I think variety in that is going to help you with longevity and sustainability, but also making sure you do get those amino acids that you need.

[00:08:40] Taryn: Some good quality protein rich snacks could include something like edamame beans. You can get those here in Australia shelled already for you. They're a great protein and carbohydrate rich snack that are bursting with nutrients. Things like roasted chickpeas, they are prolific now or you could make your own.

[00:08:58] Taryn: There's a recipe for those. in the recipe database. You can make homemade protein balls. There's loads of those in the recipe database too, actually. There's probably 10. they were very kind of trendy, I don't know, maybe 10 years ago when I first started building out the recipe database. some vegan protein bars that you might want to keep in your arsenal as well for those convenient.

[00:09:19] Taryn: Like, I'm running out of time here, I'm hungry the option is something poor, or something like that you could keep in your office drawer at work, or your training bag, or just some convenient things to have on the run as well. You could consider a good quality vegan protein powder if you are struggling to meet your protein needs.

[00:09:38] Taryn: I wouldn't lean on that more than once a day though. And. Finding the right one and making sure you've got a good one is something that I help my athletes with in the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program because there is a lot of crap on the market and it's really hard to decipher marketing BS from actual good products when there is so much out there.

[00:09:58] Taryn: So definitely something to. Ask a question in power hour. If you are one of my athletes and we can have a look at what you're using, and I can always help guide you around different things to try to make sure you're getting what you need from a good quality protein powder. Some athletes also choose to eat eggs.

[00:10:16] Taryn: Now, total personal preference You want to make sure they're coming from happy chooks. Like my mom has chickens, they are very well looked after. She doesn't have any kids at home anymore, so those chickens are very well looked after. Or, you know, from a local farm where you know that they are taking good care of their chickens.

[00:10:33] Taryn: Total personal preference though, but eggs are a great source of essential amino acids, and in particular leucine. And leucine is one of our bearding blocks. But it's also the switch that turns on muscle protein synthesis and can be really valuable in that post exercise recovery window. So I'm not saying you have to eat eggs, but I know some vegans that do choose to eat eggs as long as they know where they come from and they are from Happy Chooks.

[00:10:58] Taryn: Iron is another huge big nutrient that you're going to need to focus on as a vegan triathlete. It is the energy production's best friend. It has very important roles in lots of systems in our body, but a key one for us as endurance athletes is transporting oxygen around the body. We need that to exercise, particularly for the aerobic stuff and making sure that our muscles have that available as well to produce energy.

[00:11:25] Taryn: So it's. Definitely a non negotiable, and unfortunately even non vegan triathletess are iron deficient. It's just one of those key things that you need when you are using a lot more iron compared to somebody that sits on their butt and losing more iron as well. So as a vegan triathlete, you are at higher risk of being iron deficient.

[00:11:45] Taryn: If you are vegan endurance athlete and a female, then there are three big red flags to check for iron deficiency. And if that's you, you're going to need to be very diligent around maintaining your iron status. We have two different types of iron in our diet.

[00:12:01] Taryn: We have heme iron, which comes from animal based sources, and non heme iron, which comes from plant based sources. Now our non heme iron, the plant based variety, is not as well absorbed. compared to the animal sources. Now, neither are absorbed particularly well, but the plant based sources of iron are particularly bad.

[00:12:21] Taryn: So if you're iron deficient and if you've ever experienced it, it is not a fun feeling. You are feeling tired, lethargic, fatigued. You're struggling to recover. You might sleep through a full night and still wake up and feel absolutely exhausted. And we know that you're not going to be performing on all cylinders.

[00:12:40] Taryn: if you are iron deficient. So we need to make sure we're getting this really important nutrient in our diet just generally as triathletes but in particular if you're only relying on plant based sources. So you need to make sure you're having lots of lentils, spinach, fortified breads and cereals. A lot of those are fortified with iron these days.

[00:13:00] Taryn: Pumpkin seeds and quinoa is another one. You want to pair out high plant rich sources of iron. with vitamin C to assist with the absorption and we want to avoid the iron inhibitors as well. So things like tea and coffee and having those definitely away from meals because we're trying to absorb a small amount of iron from our plant based sources in our diet and tea and coffee are definitely going to downregulate that absorption too.

[00:13:30] Taryn: I would suggest that you get your iron status checked as well. Regularly as you need and it's something that you want to monitor over time, particularly during big training blocks, but you need to understand your iron status. If you need help with what that means and what to ask and what to look for, then.

[00:13:49] Taryn: You can download my free blood test for triathlete guide at dietitianapproved.com/bloods. We need a different amount of iron in our body compared to somebody that's sedentary. So go and download that for free dietitianapproved.com/bloods. Get that, have an educated conversation with your doctor so that you know what you're asking for.

[00:14:11] Taryn: I teach my athletes to monitor that over time as well, because our, Needs are so much greater when we swim, bike, and run, and the general lab cutoffs and the general population guidelines don't cut it for us.

[00:14:26] Taryn: Vitamin B12 is another key one. It is a non-negotiable as a vegan triathlete, It's difficult to obtain from plant based foods because it's typically found in animal products. Deficiency can lead to fatigue, nerve damage, and a type of anemia called megaloblastic anemia. All of those are performance killers. Vitamin B12 supports our red blood cell production, which is essential for delivering oxygen to our muscles during exercise, and it's also required for cell division and maintenance of the nervous system. So you need to be choosing foods that are fortified with B12 like plant based milks, breakfast cereals, meat substitutes are often fortified with B12 and some of the vegan yogurts on the market. So always check the label and look for the presence of B12 fortification and maybe lean towards those brands over something that is not fortified.

[00:15:23] Taryn: Fortified nutritional yeast is another good one, or savory yeast flakes is another name for this thing. You can find it in our supermarket in Australia in the health food section. You can get it from those big bulk tub scoop places, you could buy it online on Amazon. It's actually delicious. we keep ours in the freezer because moths are a major issue in Australia in our hot environment.

[00:15:46] Taryn: But we keep some in the freezer and it's great for sprinkling on salads. You could chuck it on something like a spaghetti bolognese instead of cheese. But look for the fortified versions with B12 as well. But that's a little nutrient powerhouse that you maybe have not heard of before. Yeast extracts like Marmite can be a great source of B12 if you lean in the direction of enjoying that type of food.

[00:16:09] Taryn: Not for everyone. And some tempeh also contains microorganisms that produce B12. So you need to start to become a bit of a detective and read food labels and understand what that means. If you need help with that, that is one of the modules in my Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart course. And you might think like, yeah, yeah, Taryn, I've got this, but chances are you don't actually.

[00:16:30] Taryn: And a little bit of guidance from a sports dietitian around how to actually decipher the marketing on a food label and figure out what is a good product is a really good skill that you can take with you for life. So you can check out that course at dietitianapproved.com/kickstart.

[00:16:46] Taryn: Some other great sources of plant based B12 could be some edible seaweeds. You have to check the type though. Not all of them contain B12. Miso is another one. And mushrooms, in particular, the shiitake mushrooms, are a higher source of B12. You could take a B12 supplement if this is an area that you do struggle with, but again, regular blood tests to check that deficiency or see how your status is going over time is really valuable.

[00:17:16] Taryn: B12 deficiency does take. a long time, typically. So again, you want to be doing regular bloods and keeping an eye on things and monitoring rather than just getting one test and going, Oh yeah, it's all good. Like I'm fine. You should be much more diligent with checking this stuff as a vegan triathlete as you should, as just an endurance athlete.

[00:17:37] Taryn: You are the driver of your vehicle and I like to equip my athletes to be in control of that so that they are monitoring things over time and they're on top of stuff quickly and early, not becoming deficient and then having to dig themselves out of a deep hole.

[00:17:52] Taryn: The next two are calcium and vitamin D, both really important for strong bones. In the long run, pun intended, calcium, vitamin D definitely work together to support our bone health. Crucial for triathletes because we are pounding the pavement and in the big picture, we don't do a lot of weight bearing exercise. Like we swim in a pool and we ride on a bike. Running is our only weight bearing exercise. Plus we also lose calcium and sweat and low energy availability can wreak havoc on our bone health.

[00:18:26] Taryn: So definitely something to be mindful of just generally as a triathlete, but as a vegan out. Rich calcium sources come from dairy, and if you're not having dairy, then you need to replace that, and aggressively replace that, like on day one, so that we are not drawing calcium from our bank, our bones, to maintain our serum calcium levels.

[00:18:49] Taryn: So we'll go through some plant based sources of calcium and vitamin D to help this whole process just hum along because we'll end up with stress fractures and osteoporosis later in life if we're not doing a good job of this now. So calcium rich plant based foods include all of your plant milks, but they need to be calcium fortified.

[00:19:11] Taryn: If they are not, if you're drinking almond milk and it's not calcium fortified, you know how I feel about almond milk, it is just expensive water. The first ingredient, filtered water, the rest of it, not a lot. So do a better job of checking the labels and making sure your plant based milks are calcium fortified.

[00:19:31] Taryn: Tofu also can be set with a calcium sulfate. So checking your tofu and checking what it is set with, because some tofu is a good source of calcium, whereas others is not. And leafy greens is another one. Check for vitamin D fortification on your products also. So plant milks. can often be fortified with vitamin D breads, cereals, and tofu sometimes.

[00:19:59] Taryn: And sometimes some of your meat alternatives can be fortified with vitamin D. Hot tip if you eat mushrooms is to sit them out in the sun for a little while, because that increases their vitamin D content, because those bad boys are a little powerhouse and can do that. And vitamin D, again, It's something you want to check and check regularly, particularly if you live in certain parts of the world where it's dark a lot through the winter or you train inside all the time.

[00:20:28] Taryn: Vitamin D status is again something you want to be monitoring regularly over time. It's not just a set and forget thing. We do an entire masterclass in the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program on vitamin D for all of our athletes who are all over the world. and I make sure I set them up with understanding how much they need on a daily basis and what they're looking for with their bloods and how often to monitor, because you need to be on top of this all the time.

[00:20:53] Taryn: Omega 3 fatty acids is the next one and While fats are essential, omega 3s are particularly essential because your body can't make them. They have a really important role in eye and skin health, as well as our immune system, brain and nerve development, and also help to manage our inflammation. As an endurance athlete, we probably have a fair bit of that going on.

[00:21:14] Taryn: Now, most people kind of go, yep, fish is their immediate go 3s, but there are actually some really good plant based options here as well.

[00:21:22] Taryn: So our body needs these long, long, chain omega 3s that you can get from eating fish, but they're not naturally found in the fish. It is the algae in the ocean that those fish are eating that help the fish get their omega 3s. They don't make it themselves either.

[00:21:39] Taryn: So some plant based sources of omega 3s are flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and shelled hemp seeds. They are all short chain omega 3 fatty acids called Alpha linoleic acid or ALA and our bodies elongate those short chains of omega 3s into the long chains of marine omega 3s, the DHA and EPA.

[00:22:02] Taryn: That's pretty cool. Algae based omega 3 supplements are also something that you might want to consider in your diet if you're not getting any 3s on the regular.

[00:22:14] Taryn: Now the final nutrient that That probably goes left untouched is zinc. Zinc is so important for our immunity and recovery support as well as wound healing. It is often overlooked by vegan athletes and it's something that as a triathlete you need to pay particular attention to. If you are constantly getting sick and run down, that is a massive training and racing performance killer.

[00:22:42] Taryn: So to optimize your diet as a vegan for zinc would be to eat things like legumes, lentils, greens, pumpkin seeds, and fortified cereals. Making sure you're always choosing those whole grains, nuts, and seeds as part of your daily diet. So like I said, right in the beginning, whole Foods, real foods is going to be so much easier as a vegan triathlete than trying to get everything that you need from supplements.

[00:23:06] Taryn: So there you have it. Those are the key nutrients that you need as a vegan triathlete And how to make sure that your nutrition supports your training, recovery and performance. So the bottom line is that you can absolutely thrive and do this as a triathlete on a plant based vegan diet. You just need to be way more intentional about getting the right nutrients in the right amounts.

[00:23:30] Taryn: Because you're not going to get away with winging it. Because it does require more, like, thoughtful planning and organization. You can't just grab food on the fly. We need to be making sure that your daily nutrition ticks all the right boxes. And then you can compound that over time, every damn day, forevermore, to make sure that you don't run the risk of deficiency.

[00:23:53] Taryn: So we want to focus on whole foods. to cover your, all of your nutritional bases and maybe consider some supplementation for things like B12. Omega 3s and vitamin D if needed. Don't blanketly go and do that. I'd much rather you get the nutrients from your food because there are so many more beautiful chemicals and nutrients from those foods than just those silo nutrients alone.

[00:24:18] Taryn: When you get all of that dialed in though, You will notice the difference in your training and endurance and recovery. You're just going to be humming along. And if you're ready to take the guesswork out of your triathlon nutrition and actually get a clear evidence based plan about what to eat for your training, here are two good ways to work with me.

[00:24:38] Taryn: Number one is the triathlon nutrition kickstart course, which I mentioned earlier. It is a step by step framework, online self paced modules, to help you with fueling your training and recovery and also getting your daily nutrition right. So covering things like getting organized, becoming more efficient in the kitchen, how to decipher food labels and being way more planned and organized so that you're not winging it and you're not being reactive, being much more proactive with your nutrition.

[00:25:08] Taryn: That is an awesome place to start. You can go and check that out at dietitianapproved.com/kickstart. Now, if you're looking to dive deeper and you want ongoing power hour live Q& A sessions with me most weeks and that expert guidance, I will hold your hand. I will help you do all the things.

[00:25:27] Taryn: Then the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program is where we go beyond the fundamentals and the basics and truly dial in your day to day nutrition, race nutrition for every single distance and long term performance strategies forevermore.

[00:25:42] Taryn: Because I like to teach my triathletes how to fish and understanding how to do this for yourself forever is so much more valuable than being handed a meal plan and being like, here you go, off you go, go and do this. When you have no idea how to manipulate it, how to change it, what went into it, all the science behind it.

[00:26:00] Taryn: I'm going to show you how to do all of this stuff for yourself so that long term you can manage your health and performance. So no matter where you're at in your triathlon journey,

[00:26:10] Taryn: there are lots of tools to help you feel smarter and train harder so that you can perform at your best. Head to dietitianapproved.com to check it out. And learn more, or if you're ready to dive into one of those two things, you'll be able to find your way there. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope you found that helpful, particularly shout out to our vegan triathletes.

[00:26:33] Taryn: And if you do have a vegan triathlete buddy that you could share it with, that would be so awesome because I'm sure they need a little bit of assistance to get all the things right with their day-to-day nutrition. Thanks for putting me in your ear holes today. I'll catch you next week.

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions or want to share with me what you've learned, email me at [email protected]. You can also spread the word by leaving me a review and taking a screenshot of you listening to the show. Don't forget to tag me on social media, @dietitian.approved, so I can give you a shout out, too. If you want to learn more about what we do, head to dietitianapproved.com. And if you want to learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, head to dietitianapproved.com/academy. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to helping you smashed in the fourth leg - nutrition!