More and more fit women are choosing vegan and vegetarian eating plans, driving their workouts with veggies, fruit, beans, nuts, and seeds. And it works. “Vegan and athlete don’t seem like they should go together, but a lot of people are surprised to find that plant-based eating improves their performance,” says Matt Frazier, a coauthor of The No Meat Athlete Cookbook.
In a study at Arizona State University, vegetarian and vegan endurance athletes had better cardiovascular fitness than – and were just as strong as – meat-eating athletes, perhaps in part because these diets are typically higher in healthy carbs, says study author and dietitian Heidi Lynch. Vegan and vegetarian runners also eat better overall, other research shows.
“When you train hard, you burn more energy and put stress on your body,”…
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Shape Singapore (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2018