Bodybuilding For Vegetarians - Is It Possible?

Bodybuilding For Vegetarians Is It Possible?

Body Building, Fitness Education, Sports Nutrition
Bodybuilding is all about building more lean tissue. It is not about maintaining or staving off the aging process
but actually supercompensating for the muscle broken down during exercise & increasing the size of muscle
cells. It is about the process of Hypertrophy.
Thus the intrinsic role of the appropriate amount of protein cannot be denied. Notice, i used the word
Appropriate & not High. At the advanced level of bodybuilding you need at least 2.5 to 3 grams of protein per
kilogram of bodyweight for it to be appropriate enough for tissue repair & super compensation. Plus the quality of
this protein has to be undeniably First class. What is First class or Second class will be explained subsequently
in this blog.
Now the question isIs it possible for vegetarians to meet this requirement through their diets? Again this is not
a very straightforward question to answer as the term Vegetarian has a lot of variations.
The vegetarian in the truest sense of the term is called a Vegan. This category will not touch anything that is
even remotely connected to animals including animal produce such as milk & dairy products. The Vegan might
as well forget about bodybuilding. You will understand this better when we discuss First & second class proteins.
The bulk of the vegetarians that we know in India fall under the category of Lacto-Vegetarian, meaning that they
allow in their diets Milk & dairy.
A small percentage of vegetarians in India belong to the category of Lacto-Ovo Vegetarians. These vegetarians
only exclude animal meats. They are allowed or rather allow themselves Milk, Dairy & Eggs. The Ramkrishna
mission in East India is a vegetarian outfit that considers Fish to be a part of a vegetarian diet.
In the west..there are many countries that consider ONLY the elimination of Red meat to be the vegetarian diet.
Apart from milk, Eggs, they also include Fish & Chicken in their diets. Ever wondered why airlines had a special
Hindu meal as an option? Well it was because they wanted to avoid confusion between the varying grades of
vegetarianism.
The last 2 categories can easily engage in bodybuilding. Up until now there are 2 cases of vegetarians having
won the Mr. Universe. They were Bill Pearl & Andreas Cahling. They both called themselves vegetarian, but they
were actually Lacto Ovo Veg but saw no need to be specific & in the bargain misled a lot of vegans & Lacto
vegetarians into believing that even a vegetarian (as we Indians define it) could become Mr. Universe.
As a fitness consultant to many, i have my own classification of the Indian vegetarian (The most common being
the Lacto-vegetarian). I classify them into 3 categories:
1. A vegetarian by religion.
2. A vegetarian due to ethics & morals that do not allow him to eat animals slaughtered for human
consumption.
3. A vegetarian who chooses to be vegetarian because he believes that its good for health.
I never argue or try to change the belief systems of the first 2 categories. But i will argue till my last living day
with the 3rd category & try my level best to convert them into Non-vegetarians. This notion of Non-vegetarian
diets being unhealthy stems from the fact that people often think that Non-vegetarianism excludes the eating of
vegetables. I seriously consider the term Non-vegetarian to be a misnomer. I would rather that the term be
Omnitarian (meaning, eating all food groups.)
The notion that you can have a well balanced diet being a vegetarian shows a woeful lack of understanding of
the term Well balanced.

A vegetarian diet will be deficient in protein (Lacking both quantity & quality). It will be deficient in B12 & in Iron.
All of these are extremely crucial nutrients. You cannot exclude an entire food group & expect to still have a well
balanced diet.
Now lets understand quality of protein. Proteins are a chain of amino acids & protein that synthesizes new
muscle is made up of 20 Amino acids. Out of these 20, we derive 3 categories of Aminos
1. Non-Essential Amino Acids: They are 9 in number & are made by the body & hence is not important for
the body to get these from food,
2. Essential Amino Acids (EAAs): They are also 9 in number & cannot be manufactured by the body &
hence very essential for the body to derive them from food. &
3. Conditionally Essential Amino Acids (CEAAs): They are the remaining 2 & are made by the body but in
times of stress such as strenous exercise, they get depleted very fast & if not given to the body from food
exogenously the body will cannibalise its own muscle to top up the levels of these 2 aminos.
A combination of all 3 are required for synthesizing more muscle. But your diet essentially needs to provide at
least the EAAs & CEAAs in the right ratios for the diet to be deemed as anabolic. The foods that provide the
above have what we call as a high Bio-Availability. What this means is that the protein ingested is
immediately available to the body for proteins prime purpose of repairing & building lean tissue.
When even one EAA is missing, the protein cannot be immediately used for tissue repair. It then has to wait for
the missing amino to be delivered by another food to then combine & form complete protein that can be used for
tissue repair. This ability of the body to wait for the missing amino & then combine 2 incomplete proteins to form
a complete usable protein, is what allows vegetarians to survive the huge lack of complete bio-available proteins.
This is why you see that vegetarians live as long as Non-vegetarians.
But the issue we are tackling is a bit more complex than simply living a long life. We workout & spend our blood
sweat & tears in the gym to alter our body composition in favor of muscle. We purposefully cause micro-trauma
to our muscle fibers in a bid to make the body super-compensate & create a bigger muscle fiber (Hypertrophy).
Well this is where the incomplete proteins lacking an EAA will not cut it. The body will demand complete EAA
profile proteins everytime you eat. Remember we are not eating to subsist but rather eating to grow. This is
where the vegetarians get a beating. All beans, pulses & sprouts lack an EAA called Methionine. Thus the much
touted Soyabean is also very much an incomplete protein thats missing Methionine. The grains lack Lysine.
To be able to distinguish superior protein that would build muscle from inferior protein a score based on bioavailability was awarded to all protein sources. Up until quite recently Egg was considered to be the most bioavailable protein source & hence was awarded a biological value score of 100 (full marks). All other sources of
protein were graded as per this bench mark of 100 for Egg. The following table will show you the scores awarded
to each protein source.
Egg: 100
Whole milk: 91
Whey: 106
Casein: 80
Chicken: 79
Beef: 80
Fish: 83
Soya: 74
Wheat: 54
Beans: 49
Lentils: 30s
If a protein is complete in its EAAs then it will always score above 75. The incomplete sources that cannot by
themselves build tissue are considered to be failed & the passing percentage is 75%. Thus all protein sources
above BV of 75 are considered to be first Class & those below are considered Second Class.

In the above table it is very clear that all the animal sources score above 75 & all the vegetarian sources score
below the passing % of 75. Please do not forget the fact that despite most indian vegetarians being Lacto
vegetarians where Milk is not considered to be non-vegetarian, i will have you know that milk has a favourable
amino acid profile giving it a really high BV score of 91 only because it is from an animal source.
Plant origin proteins are all without exception Second Class proteins that do not immediately get used for tissue
repair.
The only first class sources of protein availaible to the typical Indian vegetarian purely from whole food are the
following:
1. Whole milk (preferably skimmed)
2. Paneer (Cottage cheese)
Now the above foods give protein in the following amounts:
100gms Paneer will give you 20 grams of first class protein
100gms Curd will give you 5 grams of firstclass protein
100ml Milk will give you 5 grams of first class protein
There is nothing else in a hindu vegetarians diet that can provide first class proteins.
Now an average 70kg boy starts to bodybuildinitially through his beginner phase will at least require a bare
minimum of at least 100gms of protein per day. Now this is a very low amount & assuming he eats 5 meals a
dayhe will require 20 grams of firstclass proteins in every meal, everyday.
This would mean that each of his meals would have to have atleast 100gms of paneer Or 500ml of milk or
500gms of curd to barely meet his requirement. This is a tall order & we are not even talking about the
requirements of advanced level bodybuilders that might go upto 300-400grams of protein per day.
The only way you can possibly succeed as a vegetarian bodybuilder is if you sensibly take the advantage of
protein supplements. Now as a vegetarian you have 2 options in supplements. Whey & Soy. Be wise & choose
Whey over Soy (Even if its fortified with added methionine.) Soy apart from being an incomplete protein also has
the issue with having phytoestrogens. At high quantities this could have an adverse effect on a males hormonal
balance. Whey BV of 106 & Soy BV of 74why am i even trying to convince you to stick to whey over soy?????
This should be reason enough to never touch Soy in any form.
To gain muscle as a vegetarian male who has just started his bodybuilding journey the following is a broad
outline (Only macro-nutrient profile) of what his diet should look like:
Meal I: As many fruits as possible + 1 scoop Whey in water.
Meal II: A big bowl of oats with 100ml milk + 1 scoop whey in water
Meal III:Brown rice, Dal, any 1 vegetable, 2-3 chappattis, 1 small bowl of curd + 1 scoop Whey in water
Meal IV: (Pre-workout) 1 bowl Muesli + 1 scoop whey in 100ml skimmed milk
Meal V: (Post workout) 50 grams Glucose powder + 1 scoop Whey in water
Meal VI: Brown rice, Dal, any 1 vegetable, 2-3 chappattis + 100 gms Paneer
The above meal plan will give this novice weight trainer who is a 70kg male with 120 grams of protein per day.
Now this is practical & doable & the only supplement you need to buy is a good quality Whey protein.
A vegetarian for whatever illogical reasons does not want to include whey protein in his diet should give up his
aspirations of doing well in bodybuilding or any other sport that requires the building of muscles.