The vegan diet has become more popular among the youth and they adopt healthy lifestyles by implementing healthy habits in them.
Likewise, a vegan diet is mainly a plant-based diet excluding all animal products that include honey, dairy, meat, and eggs.
Adaptation of this plant-based diet tends to include plenty of vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts in their daily diet.
Also, if an individual follows the diet correctly it can be highly nutritious and reduces the risk of chronic diseases.
Undoubtedly the adaptation of a Vegan diet renders fat loss and if you are acclimatizing to a high-protein vegetarian diet for bodybuilding, you need to know the ins and outs of the science behind muscle building with a vegan bodybuilding diet.
Vegetarians need to pay more attention to the aspects of their diet to increase their muscle protein synthesis and build body mass or gain weight.
Can you Build Muscle on a Vegan Diet?
Building muscle with a vegan diet is not impossible for an individual if they diversify their diet and consume enough plant-based protein.
Adding protein-rich food to your daily diet helps in building blocks for muscles and gradually gaining mass.
Being a vegetarian, you have to cut-offs that high-protein meat and animal products, so choosing the correct plant-based proteins is your utmost concern.
Plant-based proteins like quinoa, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and farro are some known food that is needed to include in food for building muscle with a vegan diet.
After a strenuous workout, protein is necessary for muscle recovery. Subsequently, all workouts, intense yoga, and strength training can impose a strain on muscle and leads to cracks.
Taking protein helps in healing these muscles faster and speeds ups muscle gain.
Common Vegan Food Source for Protein
It’s a common misconception that only an animal-based diet can provide the protein that is needed to gain muscle.
While research shows that both strategic food management and food supplementation are effective in supporting building muscle on a vegan diet.
Popular Vegan Protein Sources
Plant-based proteins that contain all the essential amino acids plays important role in building muscle mass. that’s why it’s necessary to add protein to your vegan bodybuilding diet plan. These include tempeh, tofu, chia seeds, seitan, and edamame.
- Beans
- Quinoa
- Lentils
- Soy Milks
- Oatmeal
- Tofu
- Spinach
- Black-eyed peas
- Asparagus
- Chickpeas
- Artichokes
- Broccoli
If you want to maximize muscle growth, you have to know the pros and cons of the protein supplementation of a vegan diet.
High-Protein Vegan Diet Good for Bodybuilding
Basically, bodybuilding and mass gain are not only about adding protein-rich food items to your diet but also need to adding strength training. People say that animal proteins are complete because they have all the required amino acids.
Bodybuilders endeavor to develop their musculature with intensive strength training. The vegan bodybuilding diet is all about protein-rich food to fulfill the required needs of amino acids in muscle building.
By keeping a few aspects on the preferred level you can easily achieve the goal of muscle-building with a high-protein vegetarian diet for bodybuilding. These include:
#1. Figuring Out Your Protein Needs
In your muscle gain journey, you need to fulfill the daily protein requirement.
According to Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), for a healthy body 0.54–0.82 g/lb of an individual’s body weight or 0.36 gram per pound.
If you are wondering how to calculate the minimum amount of protein your body mass needs (in grams); just multiply your body weight by 0.36.
#2. Intake of Different Types of Protein in a Day
In order to fulfill your daily protein needs opting for a different plant source element is essential.
Beans and lentils are one such rich source of protein, and 1 cup of boiled beans and lentils have 15 grams of protein.
Apart from Beans and lentils, you can also add Soy products, whole grains, nuts, and seeds to your daily diet to increase the protein source in your body.
#3. Have Protein-rich Food in Meal
Consuming protein from a variety of sources helps you get a range of nutrients in a day.
If you start your first meal of the day i.e. your breakfast with a bowl of oatmeal with walnuts and add a glass of soy milk with it, afterward in lunch a black bean quesadilla and complete your meal with a salad with hemp seeds, and tofu for a dinner.
#4. Don’t Completely Cut the Carbohydrates from your Diet
Most of the people who start their mass gain journey generally eliminate the carbs from their diet. Carbohydrates are one such essential ingredient and provide energy to perform all sorts of activities.
If you limit or eliminate carbs from your diet it may affect your achieving your goal of gaining body mass efficiently. It is vital to the source of energy and helps you to perform intensive health training.
#6. Add Complementary Protein to your Food
As we all know that amino acids are the building blocks of protein, but not all proteins are complete. A Complete protein refers to a protein that has all the required 9 amino acids in it. Most plant-based proteins are incomplete in comparison to animal proteins.
To fulfill your complete protein needs pair two or more vegetarian sources together to get essential amino acids. Some of these paring complementary plant-based proteins are beans and rice, nut butter and whole grain bread, oats and almonds, Hummus, and Pita. However, some still find it difficult to add this food altogether into their diet.
Go through some healthy bodybuilding vegan recipes to know how can you include this food into your diet.
#7. Practice Intensive health training
Along with adding proteins to your diet, a regular practice of intensive health training is vital. If you primarily focus on the cardio workouts, also start lifting weights. It helps you in gaining muscle mass.
Conclusion
A vegan bodybuilding diet can also help build strength and muscle, it may just require the right dietary change and proper protein intake.
Whether the protein source is plant-based it is necessary for every individual to start weight training to build muscle.
Start lifting weights and also ensure that you eat enough calories in a day. Building muscle efficiently needs the consumption of a varied diet with a good amount of protein, complex starch, and healthy fats.
