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Home » Diets that Work » We Talk Plant-Based Diets for Mountain Bikers With Keri Hatley of Shred Science Nutrition [Interview] – Singletracks.com

Supplements are great, but what food can I eat to make sure I consume all the nutrients I need?

But how do you get enough protein? Anyone who has eaten a plant-based diet for more than a few days has been prodded with this question, and for veteran plant-based eaters, the query becomes a bit of a tired joke. After 24 years of eating only plants, I typically respond the same way you do by eating it.

In truth, its not quite that simple. Regardless of your dietary choices and allergy restrictions, knowing how much protein, fat, and carbohydrates to ingest can be as complicated as any other element of physical health.

We wanted to find out more, so we buzzed micronutrient nutrition coach Keri Hatley from Shred Science Nutrition about how vegetarian and vegan mountain bikers can maximize their meals for performance and overall health.

While Chatting with Hartley, I realized that I and many of my meat and vegetable eating friends have been targeting roughly half of the daily protein intake that we actually need. Find out what else she had to share on the topic of plant-based nutrition below.

The genericrecommendationfor daily protein consumption is 1 gram per kilogram of body weight. How accurate do you feel that is for most amateur athletes?

Thats VERY low. Id double that 2g per kilogram of body weight.

What percentage of the athletes that you work with eat a plant-based diet?

Hmmm, probably 40%. We coach primarily cyclists, so we get a lot of vegan and vegetarian athletes.

When vegan or vegetarian clients come to you are they concerned aboutgetting enough protein, or more generallylooking for nutrition coaching?

Most peoples primary concern is weight loss and protein is RARELY mentioned as a concern. I think most vegan/vegetarianathletes are under the impression they get plenty of protein and shouldnt worry about it.

What are some general misconceptions about plant-based diets?

Most of my vegan and vegetarian athletes think they are eating a balanced diet, but dont get deep enough into it to understand how much carb, protein, and fat they are consuming. In reality, plant-based diets are very high carbohydrate diets. It takes a lot of intention and focus to strategically eat enoughplant foods that are also high in protein in order to get adequate protein from a plant-based diet. It can definitely be done, but it takes a lot of thought and planning.

What are some of the best whole food sources for plant-based proteins?

That depends on where you draw the line at whole foods and whether you consider tempeh, tofu, and seitanwhole foods as they are all slightly processed. Tempeh is a fermentedsoybean product and tofu is processed soybean curd. Tempeh and tofu are easy to prepare and high in protein while relatively low in carbs. Lets look at the macros: four ounces of tofu has 12 grams of protein with only four grams of carbohydrates, while four ounces of tempeh has 15.4g protein with only 7.8g of carbohydrates. The bonus is that you can turn them into almost anything (tofu scramble, anyone?) and they take on any flavors they are paired with. Seitan is the most processed of the three (it is a processed wheat protein) but it has a huge amount of protein. Four ounces has a whopping 31.5 grams of protein with only 7.5g grams of carbohydrate.

If youre looking for single-ingredient whole foods, legumes and grains are great sources, but they are higher in carbohydrates. This is the catch-22of plant-based eating: there are LOTS of highish protein, single-ingredient, whole food sources but most are also very high in carbohydrates. Thus, to get adequate protein, you are also eating a lot of carbs.

A high carb diet wont negatively affect weight or body composition if you are getting enough activity; thus, for very active athletes, a whole food plant-based diet is doable! These very active athletes will still need to be a bit strategic in which plant foods they choose basically, try to eat foods that give you carbs AND protein. So, instead of reaching for four ounces of sweet potato (22.7 grams of carbs with only 1.8 grams of protein), having four ounces of chickpeas (17g carb with 5g protein) will get you a lot more protein. That said, as you can see, its still not a lot of protein.

For less active individuals, you wont get adequate protein from single-ingredient whole foods without getting way too many carbs. Remember that carbs are human gasoline. If you arent very active, you just dont need a lot of gasoline. This means that less active plant-based eaters need to really watch their carbs to keep them low. Less active people must lean heavily on processed soy products and/or plant-based protein powders to ensure that they get adequate protein.Note: vegetarians have many more options [than vegans] because dairy and eggs are fantastic protein sources.

Summary:

Do you have any plant-based protein supplements or powders to recommend?

ShredScience Coach Marc Langlois, who himself is a vegan athlete, loves anything made by Vega. His favorites are:

I like Garden of Life protein powders. Just read the labels to get one that is relatively low in carbs and fat while remaining very high in protein. They are made with high-quality ingredients and even contain prebiotics and probiotics. For a budget plant protein powder, try the Orgain brand.

Do athletes need to consume different amounts of protein after cardio vs. strength workouts?

My athletes that are primarily cyclists but also strength train, and eat the same quantity of protein every day, regardless of the daily workout. However, my strength athletes (powerlifters, crossfitters, etc.) eat much more protein than my cyclists do. Thus, the daily amount doesnt vary by the workout, but your overall daily protein target will be different depending on if you are an endurance athlete or a strength athlete.

Are there specific things that plant-based athletes can do before big events to better prepare themselves?

Yes!Long-term: Most plant-based athletes eat very high carb and very low protein. Plant-based athletes should immediately work to lower their carbohydrate intake while simultaneously increasing their protein intake. This will make their body more resilient to training, stress, and injury, help them maximize fitness and strength gains, and optimize their recovery all things that will make them better-performing competitors at their next big event. These changes take time, so start now.

Short-term: eat a normal-sized meal consisting of a good mix of protein and carbohydrate 2-3 hours before competition. Too many people line up with only carbs in their belly.

What are some of the whole foods that help our bodies utilize proteins,and what order is it best to eat them in?

The most absorbable protein sources are whole food animal sources that have complete amino acid profiles. Eating a wide variety of plant-based sources (legumes, nuts, seeds, veggies, etc.) will result in combinations of plant foods that, together, will have complete amino acid profiles. People get kind of in the weeds with this stuff but I typically dont go down this rabbit hole with clients because it distracts from the larger, more important goal of just selecting plant foods with higher protein and lower carbs. As long as athletes are eating a wide variety of plant foods, they should be fine.

Conversely, what are some foods that prohibit protein absorption and utilization?

Oh, lots of plant foods are high in anti-nutrients that limit absorption of protein. But, Im not really an expert here.

Can an athlete eat too much protein? If so, what happens?

Yes, you can have too much of a good thing! Lots of healthy things, when taken in excess, result in disfunction (look at overtraining). It can definitely cause an upset stomach. Unless you are really overeating tofu or slamming several plant protein shakes a day, its unlikely a plant-based athlete will overdo it. Track your macros and stick to two grams of protein per kilogram of body weight and you should be good!

Lets take me as an example. I weigh 69 kilos (150lbs), am 38 years old, eat a diet (vegetarian outside the house), Im training for amateur enduro races and general fitness. Outside of quarantine, I ride 6-7 days a week and do strength workouts 5 days a week. As a rough estimate, how much proteinshould I consume on a daily basis?

138g per day. Oh, and go hard on the dairy and eggs when you are out.

We would like to thank Keri for sharing this valuable information with us. For more info, visit Shredsciencenutrition.com, and check out our recent podcast interview with Keri where we discuss nutrition more broadly.

Do you have any nutrition questions that you would like us to research? Please share them below.

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We Talk Plant-Based Diets for Mountain Bikers With Keri Hatley of Shred Science Nutrition [Interview] - Singletracks.com

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Home » Diets that Work » We Talk Plant-Based Diets for Mountain Bikers With Keri Hatley of Shred Science Nutrition [Interview] – Singletracks.com