Over the last 3 months or so I have been moving the household diet towards c. 75% vegetarian. Not entirely for any bunny-hugging reasons other than perhaps environmental and as from farming stock I have certain expectations with regards to animal husbandry and so am trying to get better quality meat and fish, but it costs, and I’m also bored of regular meat-and-two-veg menu staples. Im also a pretty big fan of Hugh Fearnley-Hair and his shift towards more vegetarian foods has interested me.

Mrs Stoner is a fairly accomplished “Masters” athlete (GB Age group Triathlon squad, 4th in the Euro champs this year, competing at the Euros and Worlds again next yr etc).

I do 99% of the meal preparation and cooking in the household. I enjoy cooking.

I recently picked up Friel’s “Fast at 50” following a thread in ‘ere and am interested in how to manage our household diet while meeting the needs of a) 50yr old athlete and b) 2x young boys growing like triffids. ( c: I have no dog in the race really, I eat anything). Also reading Anita Bean “Complete guide to sports nutrition”.

It rather seems I need to be shoving substantially more protein into Mrs S than I am at the moment. I do cook with nuts, cheese, some pulses, grains etc, but there is no way Im getting near the recommended 1.5g/kg/day of protein. That’s 3-400g of meat a day. Every day. Just for Mrs S. At the moment I’m probably cooking about 1kg of meat per week for a family of four.

Qus:

Are there other “older” higher performing athletes in here who are vegetarian/vegan? Are you getting these levels of protein intake?

Anyone else going with the higher protein/lower carb/higher fat diets?

Is a diet for Mrs S compatible with 2x growing boys?

Have I got this all v wrong?

This lot might be able to help? https://vegetariancac.org/

We are trying to follow a similar path to you, but don’t have any athletes in da house – or growing boys thank god

I’ve been doing some fairly intense strength training for the last couple of years and with two small children and quite a lot of fussy eating in the household, my nutrition solution has evolved to eating pretty much as normal (I am an enthusiastic carnivore and my idea of portions is larger than most though) and adding two protein shakes a day, each of which has about 50g of protein. It’s a very cheap and simple way of adding loads of protein to a diet which is well balanced in all other respects

I see all these people doing “sports nutrition” and it’s just not me – I like good food and I like cooking! I’m not a fan of other sports nutrition products like fake chocolate bar type things but protein powder in simple shakes or fancier smoothies just works.

And although I haven’t researched this, I presume whey protein is a byproduct of the cheese industry?

Stoner, good reading for Mrs S would be Roar by Dr Stacy Sims, basically all about how hormones etc affect dietary requirements and training. It’s a great read. She recommends 2g protein per kg body weight for women spread evenly across day with focus. Iirc the older a woman gets the more protein she needs too. Plenty of podcasts out there with her too, she’s a bit of a legend when it comes to studying women who exercise.

I’d have thought any healthy diet would be over 75% vegetarian.

“It rather seems I need to be shoving substantially more protein into Mrs S than I am at the moment”

Phnarrrrrrrr……..phnarrrrrrrrrr

Following with interest on behalf of Mrs Felltop. 61 and planning an on and off road ride the length of Norway next year.

Also following with interest..

We as a family have reduced our meat consumption to zero over the last 5 years, we are now completely vegetarian.

Like most teens in the 80s I was a militant vegetarian, but that waned as I moved into my mid 20s. But now for similar reasons you quote I’ve cut it out altogether and I actually like what I eat and don’t miss meat at all.

I was veggie for 17 years, my reading from the time pretty much debunked the myth that we need a lot of protein.

Plenty vegan athletes and no doubt info on their diets .

I have been an ovo lacto vegetarian for a long time, >30 years. To get my 1.5g per kg each day I tend to rely on eggs and dairy. Today for instance I had nutty mueslie and protein granola with milk and yoghurt, 20grams of protein, 2 glasses of skimmed milk at work, 16g, lunch baked potato with egg mayo and salad with cheese, 15g, supper was haloumi cheese, 3 poached eggs plus salad 25g large glass of skimmed milk 10g. Total of around 90g. Body weight is 66kg so I should have 99g. Will just have another large glass of milk.

When  I have a curry I usually have a whole block of paneer cheese with it or tons of chick peas. Veggie Chilli has lots of kidney beans in it. If I have a roast I use nut loaf plus lots of haloumi cheese. 5 or 6 egg omelettes are another favourite of mine that’s a good 30g hit of protein. I’m also partial to goats cheese.

I manage to cycle 200 to 250 miles a week and road race with that diet.

DGBOAB – Thanks for the reco. That’s certainly consistent with the information in Friel’s book on older women etc. 2g/kg/day is toppy but it emphasises the higher protein intake recommendation.

cheifgoove – very interesting, shakes are probably the easiest way of Mrs S supplementing her diet. Id like to be able to meet her more than half way though win an appropriate veggie/meat diet too.

Aberdeen – thanks thats v useful. We tend to have “eggs at the weekend” probably about 6 each. But perhaps Mrs S should consider having a few more through the week as a bump.

I like cooking spanish/english omelettes/fritadas. Maybe need to make one a week for her lunches.

thanks all. WIll make some changes and report back.

As an aside, I’ve noticed my strength dropping since reducing protein intake (as a result of not thinking too hard when moving to a basic veggie diet) so I too do need to consider keeping my protein intake up I think even though I’m no athlete*

* quiet at the back.

It rather seems I need to be shoving substantially more protein into Mrs S than I am at the moment. I do cook with nuts, cheese, some pulses, grains etc, but there is no way Im getting near the recommended 1.5g/kg/day of protein. That’s 3-400g of meat a day. Every day. Just for Mrs S.

Stoner, are you sure you’ve got your sums right? 1.5g of protein per kilo of body mass, for an average woman of 60kg, would be 90g per day, even at 2g/kg/day it is only 120g, no?

120g protein is a lot more in terms of meat though (you may be forgetting the fat/water/etc).

Not really qualified to comment on the protein side of things per say, but I can state that the missus and I have been following James Wong’s How To Eat Better over the last few weeks.

The focus is more on fruit and veg, opting regularly for the ‘better’ variants, eg purple sprouting broccoli vs normal, barley vs risotto rice, cauli mash, beetroot crisps, cooking vine tomatoes for 10 mins, jumbo oats and berries for breakfast and so on.  Have to say I’m genuinely feeling a positive difference.  And I’m usually – although open – quite sceptical about these things.  It’s not about carbs or proteins.  It’s about better nutrients and GI and more.

I’ve experimented with a lot of ‘diets’ over the years.  Not because I’m fat blah blah.  Thankfully I’m not.  But I do like to understand more about what I’m taking in, why I’m doing so, how to make it taste proper bo and believe it’s genuinely better for me.  I get to run and ride – sometimes regularly, sometimes less so.  And I love food.  I live to eat for sure.  So I’m cool with checking out ways to mash up all kinds of ideas from various chefs.  No single method has nailed it for me – or the missus.  But Mr Wong’s method has by and large made me feel more full between meals, and with no lack of energy.

FTR, tonight’s supper was barley risotto with leftover roast chicken (and stock) and shiitake mushrooms.  Apparently ‘healthier’ than one’s normal carnaroli risotto with chicken and porcini shrooms.

Not preaching, just sharing bro.

EDIT: not saying I’m an advocate of solely following the Wongmeister – we (I in particular) make out way through a fair amount of fish most weeks too.  Speaking of which, Tom the Fishman started rocking up a few weeks ago and we’re now stocking up on some awesome tuna steaks, gigantic prawns, smoked fish, mackerel, etc.  I’m led to believe the quality is high and am going with that – the taste certainly substantiates this side of the argument.

Akers – as thecaptain says, the ratio of protein to meat weight is anywhere between, say, 15% (Lamb mince, Quorn) and  max of 25-30% for chicken breast. Fish between 20 and 25% too so am looking to get more good quality fish too, but that’s trickier in landlubberish county like Worcestershire…

In terms of fitting in with family – I’ve been veggie for 30 plus years now, as has Mrs B and it’s been interesting how this worked out with our kids.

3 boys – oldest militant veggie although I think its a handy way to reduce his food exposure as he just isn’t interested in eating much, middle acquired a taste for fish (particularly trout, I think mainly because it was freshly caught and likely tastes as good as it could) which we accommodate, youngest is a rampant carnivore who would take down deer on the hoof given half a chance – he gets the worst of the deal as we don’t really know how to cook meat so he sees very little at home. Very fond of those horrid little sausages in beans cans 😀

All 3 are very active, not sure if it says anything but preferred sports are eldest climbing, middle cyclocross, youngest rugby (and he gave up tag as he wasn’t interested till it was full contact this year :-D). They eat a better diet than most of their peers, not massively varied but all eat various fresh veggies with a lot of pulses, quorn and eggs filling the protein gaps – I think it was Matt from Torq who pointed out the ‘complete’ protein set could be found in beans on wholegrain toast

Get to like eggs, beans, lentils and tofu. If you want some inspiration for veggie meals, then you could do a hell of a lot worse than getting the following out of the local library: For The Love of Food by Denis Cotter, Plenty by Ottolenghi (or any of his other books really), Curry Easy Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey, A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones, or just go to The Guardian website.

As has all ready been mentioned, beans on toast, is the perfect meal; pimp with cheese, fried eggs and hot sauce for moar…

Rather than protein shakes, I make my own kefir, which I drink as a smoothie, blended with a banana and some frozen berries. Good for the guts too…

I forgot to mention peanut butter¹, also a terrific source of protein and damn tasty too…

¹ Other nut butters are available…

Check out Rich Roll’s book, for how to get fit as you get older. Also Scott Jurek’s book is interesting, and has some ideas for recipes.

1.5g/kg protein is what bodybuilders aim for.

I suspect that unless your missus is running to “get to da choppa” then she doesn’t need extra.  Her results seem to indicate she’s eating well.

Although not vegetarian, i am very much for sourcing quality meat which thankfully is easy for us living in Norfolk with a proper butcher in the next village who only sells meat (and fish) from a 20 mile radius, which i like.

Having done a number of long distance events this year like Torino-Nice, i find my body tells me what it needs, i come back craving protein and have fond various good ways of sneaking more into diet.

At present typical day is:

Two slices of wholemeal toast with two poached eggs at around 6.30am

Jumbo oats porridge with blueberries and 20g of protein from protein powder mixed in at 10.30

Brown rice, spinach, broccoli and a chicken breast with some sweet chilli sauce.

Two apples about 5pm

Then whatever i want for tea, i love Indian and thai food, and find much of it is really adaptable for vegetarians and half of what i eat is meat-free, but i am aiming for 25-30g of protein again.

This book is useful – not a light read though.

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/books/enette-larson-meyer/vegetarian-sports-nutrition/GOR002190925?keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjwjIHeBRAnEiwAhYT2h4n5MOXwoo3dUwyQhmmEsF-mljcHcGS0XTlcOktm_vdguxDOT5hQzxoCLHQQAvD_BwE