But thanks to the stories of dozens of high-profile, elite athletes turning to plant-based diets for a performance advantage in recent years—including Olympic medalists, world record holders, and even the occasional mainstream superstar—the myth that plant-based diets don’t work for sports has finally been uprooted.

But why do whole plant foods work so well for everything from endurance sports to powerlifting? Mainly, it’s because their nutrient density and anti-inflammatory properties—the same properties that make them so protective and even disease-reversing in the long term—make them ideally suited for fueling and repairing your body after workouts.

Indeed, “faster recovery” is what just about every elite athlete who chooses this diet cites as the primary benefit to his or her performance.

And that’s been exactly my experience. When I began eating a plant-based diet eight years ago, I did so for ethical reasons, all but assuming that it would pose a serious a challenge to my marathon training. But when I qualified for the Boston Marathon just six months after making the transition, I knew I was onto something.

Since then, I’ve run many longer races, including several 50-milers and a 100-mile ultramarathon, and I haven’t looked back (and crucially, I’ve stayed almost entirely injury-free).

These days, there’s little doubt that a plant-based diet and fitness can go hand-in-hand. So if you’re already eating a plant-based diet, how do you add fitness to your healthy lifestyle?

Here are five of the most important tips I can offer:

1. Start small.

As with any endeavor (just like when you started eating plant-based, I bet!), it’s tempting to dive in and really go for it. But when it comes to fitness, I’d advise against taking on too much, too soon.

A mountain of habit-change research shows that most people are more likely to make changes last when they minimize the strain on their willpower. Think of willpower like a muscle: It can grow and strengthen over time, but only if you “train” it.

So instead of committing to a full-on fitness program right from the get-go—say, a weekly program of three gym workouts and three 30- to 45-minute cardio sessions—what if you started by committing to a five-minute jog (or jog-walk) each day? If you find yourself procrastinating on even that, make it two minutes.

Only after you’ve put together a string of these tiny “wins” should you let yourself increase the duration. And even though you won’t notice many physical benefits when your exercise volume is so small, with each little run you’ll be changing your brain, adding a fiber to what will eventually become a cable, a habit that’s automatic—even once the duration and intensity of your workouts is much greater.

Best of all, you’ll be doing so without excessive pain or effort, which will keep you in the game while you’re learning it.

2. You might need more calories (but not just protein)!

The belief that athletes need more protein has persisted for decades, passed down from coach to athlete as common knowledge not to be questioned.

Thankfully, the recent successes of plant-based athletes have given us lots of ammunition with which to question it.

While the protein myth isn’t going to disappear overnight, many plant-based doctors, coaches, and dietitians now suggest that although it’s true that athletes need more calories to support their activity levels than sedentary individuals do, increasing those calories with whole foods automatically increases your protein intake (and total carbohydrate and fat intake, too).

For most people, this happens without having to think about it: Listen to your body’s hunger signals, and you’ll likely find yourself eating slightly more of the same whole plant foods to support your new athletic pursuits.

If, however, you find yourself struggling to keep weight on, then focus on calorically dense whole plant foods: sweet potatoes, beans, avocados, nuts, and seeds are favorites of plant-based athletes who want to pack in the calories without sacrificing long-term health by eating processed powders or sports nutrition products.

3. Fuel your workouts.

If you’re just getting started with fitness, you won’t need to take in any extra calories for most of your workouts. But once the intensity increases, and especially if the duration of your workouts extends past an hour or so, you’ll find you perform better and get more from your workout if you eat something to replace the fuel your body burns through as you exercise.

So for those more intense workouts, aim to eat a few pieces of fruit (and possibly more, if your energy runs low near the end of your workouts) in the hour before you start. For very long workouts, like a distance run in marathon training, you should eat a larger, starchier meal (oatmeal or whole-grain pancakes, for example) several hours earlier.

During a workout, whole medjool dates (with the pits removed and replaced with a Brazil nut) are one of my favorite sources of quick, whole-food calories. Experiment to find out what works well for you and what your body tolerates while it’s in motion.

As your workouts get longer and more intense, you’ll also want to make sure you’re giving your body the energy it needs to recover. A whole-grain pasta dish with lentils or veggies, Quinoa Primavera, or a hearty salad with beans are examples of great post-workout choices.

4. Hydrate with water.

It’s important to drink fluids to replace the water you lose through sweat. So how much should you drink?

If you’re tuned into your body’s signals and your workouts aren’t too long, you might be fine just drinking to thirst. Otherwise, plan on 4 to 6 ounces of water every 10 to 20 minutes during exercise.

Should you get involved in longer (say, three hours or more) workouts, like those associated with marathon training, or those where you’re sweating an immense amount, you’ll want to add some electrolytes to your water to avoid hyponatremia, a dangerous condition often associated with overhydration. But for typical, shorter workouts, the natural sodium and potassium in many fruits, or a pinch of salt added to a homemade sports drink, will keep your electrolyte levels balanced.

5. Don’t neglect recovery!

Remember what so many elite athletes cite as the main benefit of a plant-based diet? That’s right, recovery!

Your anti-inflammatory and nutrient-rich diet of whole plant foods will help you recover quickly, but some of the job is still up to you. Don’t work out hard two days in a row; give your muscles (and that includes your heart!) a chance to recover. Remember, exercise works mostly by tearing down muscle fibers in order to stimulate repair and strengthening, so make sure you allow time for that to happen before hitting the gym, roads, or trails again.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with doing a light workout almost every day, but if the intensity of your workout creeps beyond the point where you can comfortably carry on a conversation, build in a day of recovery or very light activity before doing another hard one.

Finally, don’t forget sleep! It’s a huge part of the recovery process, and you’ll need extra zzzs to make up for your toughest workouts. And hey, you’ll have earned it.

The post Get Plant-Fit: 5 Tips from Plant-Based Athlete Matt Frazier appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

How do plant-based athletes eat for peak energy, performance, and recovery? And what can the rest of us learn from their experience?

Competitive athletes Robert Cheeke and Matt Frazier, co-authors of The Plant-Based Athlete, are living proof that the human body doesn’t need meat, eggs, or dairy to be strong. In this free Forks Over Knives webinar, Cheeke and Frazier will answer audience questions and discuss how a consciously calibrated plant-based diet offers the best possible recovery times, injury prevention, and restorative sleep, allowing athletes—and anyone who is active—to train more effectively with better results.

WATCH THE REPLAY

Originally aired July 19, 2022

The post Webinar Replay: The Truth About Protein, and Other Secrets of Plant-Based Athletes, with Robert Cheeke & Matt Frazier appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

I have two young children and work hard. As a result, I’ve streamlined my diet so it’s affordable and doesn’t take a lot of time. Here are some of the best tricks, rules, and tips I rely on to minimize time, energy, and effort.

1. Serve your salad (and your family’s) right when you start cooking dinner.

Since you’re hungry and the hot food isn’t ready yet, you’ll fill up on more healthy salad than you would if you served it just before the meal hits the table (or worse, at the same time). Over time, increase the size of the salad, and lessen the amount you’re cooking.

2. Keep ingredients on hand for no fewer than three dinners-in-a-pinch.

These are meals that you can make with little effort and time, and ones you can fall back on when your day gets away from you. Having these ingredients on hand is a good tactic to prevent going out to eat at the last minute or ordering takeout, which can lead to several unhealthy meals in a row due to inertia or leftovers. Your dinners in a pinch might not be as healthy as you’d like — you’re looking for ingredients that can sit for a few weeks without going bad, so not a lot of fresh veggies — but they’ll get you through a stressful day or two until you can get back on track.

3. When you discover a meal that meets the big four criteria (tasty, healthy, quick, and cheap), for the love of all that is holy, write it down!

Keep the growing list of these meals in your wallet or phone (with ingredients, or links to the recipes online) so that you can stop by the store on the way home from work when you realize you’ve got nothing for dinner.

4. Anytime you make veggie burgers, make a double or triple batch.

Freeze the leftovers, and when you need a quick, cheap, and easy healthy meal, crumble one on top of a salad. Or put it in a pita. Or eat it by itself. Five-minute meal.

5. Same goes for soups, which you can thaw and serve over pasta or rice for an easy meal.

6. One more on this theme: make a big batch of pesto and use a melon baller to freeze 2-tablespoon size balls.

For a fast weeknight meal, thaw with a few tablespoons of hot water and toss with pasta.

7. Start with a meal that’s healthy but not hearty (salad, soup, or the pasta with pesto above).

Add chickpeas. Bam! Filling meal.

8. Don’t rule out vegan meal services, even if you’re on a budget.

Economies of scale allow them to purchase food for way cheaper than you can, so even after the cost of delivery and their markup, you might not pay much more than you would if you shopped yourself. Plus, oh yeah, you don’t have to shop. Or prep most of the ingredients. Or think about what to make. Or eat the same old thing again.

9. Don’t buy junk food at the grocery store.

Just flat-out refuse to do it. Make it your policy. If it’s not in your house, you’re so much less likely to put in the effort to go get it.

10. Put out a snack bowl in a high-traffic area (we do it for our kids, but it also works for grown-ups).

Fill it with whole or chopped fruits and veggies, a trail mix, maybe even some hummus. Then when your kids pass through or do something at the table, you’ll see them snacking on healthy food without even realizing they’re doing it. Hat tip to Dr. Fuhrman.

(RELATED: Kid-Friendly Snacks in 5 Minutes or Less)

11. Chop your salad vegetables for the week all at once, on the weekend.

Easy to do, but so easy not to do. Do it.

12. Make a big batch of rice (or another food you eat often) to last you the entire week.

I cook a lot of Indian food, so rice is a big one for me, but this works just as well with other grains and pseudograins like millet, quinoa, and bulgur. And you can do it with beans and vegetables too, though veggies generally don’t keep quite as well in the fridge. But the freezer is always an option!

13. If you’re stuck for meal planning ideas because you’ve got too many options (I’m thinking of the thousands of recipes in the cookbooks on your shelf), give yourself some constraints.

Pick a fresh veggie you need to use up, and search the index of a favorite cookbook for that ingredient. Or pick a theme for each night of the week — by ethnicity, color, anything — and search within those parameters. Inspired by Dr. Seuss and Austin Kleon and every other artist who found her greatness by limiting her tools.

14. Follow a “fruit first,” “salad first,” or “water first” rule if weight loss is part of your health goals.

This way, there’s no “missing out” on anything more calorie dense—just a natural desire to eat a little less of it.

15. When your greens start to go, move them to the freezer to use for smoothies.

Start with small amounts, and you might be surprised at how little you can taste that extra nutrition.

16. Skip certain herbs and spices or make substitutions when it’ll save you a grocery trip or time in the store.

Chefs who create recipes are artists, and if your goal is to experience the highest expression of the chef’s creativity, then yes, you should follow the recipe exactly. But for you, the guy or girl who just wants to start eating well and to do it as simply as possible, then it’s not going to matter much whether you use fancy sherry vinegar or substitute the apple cider vinegar you’ve had in the cupboard for the past two years.

Don’t be afraid to take a lot of substitutions and omissions. Plain old Tabasco can stand in for Sriracha or chili oil. If you don’t have cilantro, try basil or parsley if you’ve got either one. Or just Google “substitution for ____” and go with it.

Sure, maybe something will taste weird now and then. But in the long run you can save a lot of money and effort this way, and almost nobody’s going to notice.

17. If you’ve tried and failed to go vegetarian, vegan, or whole-foodist (or harder, to get your whole family to do so), bite off a smaller chunk.

Pick a time in the morning and follow your ideal diet until that point. As you get comfortable and build a string of successes, slowly move the line further back in the day.

The post 17 Tips for Healthy Eating and Living appeared first on Forks Over Knives.