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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Building Muscle When You Are A Vegetarian

By Ricardo d Argence

You can build muscle if you are vegetarian, but let's first talk about what the different types of vegetarianism entail.

Vegans eschew animal products of any kind, including dairy products. Pesco vegetarians eat fish and dairy products, while lacto-ovo vegetarians eat eggs and milk but don't eat meat or fish. There are more sub categories of vegetarianism, but that will suffice for the purposes of this article.

Because vegetarians don't eat things like red meat, they are at lower risk of certain diseases, like hypertension, diabetes, and some types of cancer, as well as heart disease and coronary artery disease.

It can be very health inducing indeed to change to vegetarianism, and not just because of advantages to your health. There are other reasons, too, such as that the vegetarian lifestyle is less cruel to animals and better for the environment.

However, many people who want to become vegetarian may be hesitant to do so because they may think they'll have trouble building muscle mass when they work out. However, if you consume soy, this is a great way to build muscle. In reality, soy is higher in protein than beef and has all eight of the essential amino acids.

You can get soy from easy to get sources like soymilk, textured soy protein and tofu. There are lots of different recipes out there that include soy, so experiment. In addition, beans, seeds, rice, nuts, and legumes are also great protein sources, so one thing you'll never be short of is protein.

Alright so that is protein dealt with but what about vitamins and minerals, particularly zinc, vitamin D, calcium, iron and vitamin B12? Well, supplements should be taken by vegans for this.

Vitamin B12 is found in dairy products so is not an area of concern for other types of vegetarians. The others can easily be gotten from a decent meal replacement powder. Of course however many minerals and vitamins are easily available in the form of leafy green vegetables and fruit that you should not overlook if you wish to build muscle up vegetarian style.

So, overall there are many health benefits to being a vegetarian and being a vegetarian need not prevent you from achieving your bodybuilding goals. Of course a key factor to your diet success will be the ability to plan, however this is just as crucial for meat eating bodybuilders also. With the above guidelines in mind go ahead and build muscle vegetarian style!! - 17273

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