One easy way to make great casein treats, especially for on the go, are casein cookies. I even took a portion to parties if I knew others were going to be eating desserts and I would want to join in on the fun!

Mix up, and add water until it is the texture of drop cookie dough. Drop spoonfuls out onto a cookie tray and cook at degrees until cookies are fairly firm and starting to smell like toasty brownies.

Let them cool before packaging them up to avoid rubberiness and moisture, and then divide into the proper portions. Basically, this involved mixing casein powder, a packet of stevia, one egg white, and some extra cocoa powder in a mug.

When the egg looks cooked and firm, you should have a gooey brownie mixture that is delicious with a dollop of peanut butter or some Halo Top ice cream. Some days I did not want to wait around for even an easy mug brownie, and on those days, I made casein pudding.

Casein pudding is just a mix of casein protein powder, a little nonfat Greek yogurt I usually just used a good dollop , PB2 optional, but I love this stuff , and water or milk I sometimes used cashew milk, but usually just water.

First mix the dry ingredients and yogurt, then add the liquid slowly while stirring until you have the desired pudding-like consistency. I hope this is helpful! What are your favorite high-protein vegetarian meals I should be adding to my repertoire? Any other RPers or other dieters with tricks I should know?

Pingback: Renaissance Periodization: My Results and Review athlettuce. Pingback: Quick Update Three Weeks Post-Phoenix athlettuce. Super helpful!! Just found this blog while trying to think of more ways to get protein as a vegetarian who eats fish, so pescatarian, but that sounds ridiculously fancy.

The casseroles sound so good! And the cloud breads! I can imagine myself rationalizing and eating even more treats! Thank you for all these great ideas!! Like Liked by 1 person. Hi Sarah, thanks for stopping by! Yes, for the casein goodies, I just used the macros on the label of the protein and whatever else I was adding.

Like Like. Pingback: How to Lose Weight While Training for a Marathon And Still PR athlettuce. This is such a good post! Glad you enjoyed the post! I only used seitan once or twice because I find it to be a little harder to use, but I used tempeh more towards the end of my cut when I wanted to mix things up.

The tofu recipes I outline here provided enough variety during the 12 weeks, but I am trying to keep up the protein levels and finding that I want more options.

I will try to test out some other recipes and do a follow-up post. I want to thank you for this amazing post. I love your ideas. I will be trying them all for sure. I am about to start RP and am trying to get this whole thing figured out, I am just wondering if you or anyone else reading this used fake meats for protein?

Thank you Kristen. Hi Kristen, Glad this is helpful! I used mostly tofu rather than fake meats because tofu has so few carbs and was expressly approved by RP on my template. I did have some veggie burgers but made sure they were either low carb or that I counted the carbs.

Hope that helps! Good luck! Hi Dipesh, I did not. RP allows that your protein source can have a few grams of fat in it g fat per 6 g of protein , and you only would count fat above and beyond that level. Technically for best results they would say count the 2 extra grams of fat in each serving of your tofu against your fat allotment.

Pingback: Starting Vegetarian Whole30! Plus, an RP vs. Whole30 Comparison athlettuce. Thanks for this post 🙂 Did you do the regular RP template or the Vegan RP template? Thanks in advance! I did not do vegan because there were no vegan ones at the time, and because I worked with a coach directly rather than going only through the templates.

I did think my coach could have been more helpful walking me through options as a vegetarian but my guess is that by now RP is better up to speed on how to work with vegetarians.

Overnight Slow Cooker Oats These have been my staple carbs on RP for several reasons: 1 they fit perfectly in my template; 2 they are easy to portion; 3 they are easy to take on the go, even on a run in portioned plastic baggies and can be eaten without a bowl or spoon; 4 my husband will eat them; 5 they are easy to customize with unsweetened coconut, chia seeds, etc.

Easy Tofu Stir Fry As I got the hang of RP, I realized that tofu was going to be key to my success on the diet as a vegetarian. Relatedly, Tofu and Ricotta Casseroles I love baked pasta dishes with ricotta cheese.

Buffalo Cauliflower Another favorite veggie dish also features cauliflower, and it is just as easy as the mushroom soup. Other Veggie Tricks A few florets of cauliflower go undetected in a protein smoothie. Casein Cookies Pictured Above Casein seems to be a staple across RP plans.

And… Casein Pudding Some days I did not want to wait around for even an easy mug brownie, and on those days, I made casein pudding. Share this: Twitter Facebook.

Like Loading Thank you Kristen Like Liked by 1 person. Thank you for your response. I appreciate it. Hi did you count the fat in tofu 9p,5f,1c per serving in your meals? Leave a comment Cancel reply. Comment Reblog Subscribe Subscribed.

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Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website. The same can be said about going plant-based when your goal is to gain weight , build muscle , become a bodybuilder, or simply get swol as the kids like to say. Vegan, high-raw, alkaline. Eating that way is great. Lots of strange ingredients, low-temperature cooking, and very little starchy goodness for the pasta lovers among us.

For meat-eaters looking to make a change without causing their families to rebel , the chasm between this type of diet and their current one is huge. The answer is that protein is in all plant foods , just generally in lower quantities.

This list represents some common foods that will help meet the needs of most endurance athletes. Want more? Check out my vegan grocery list for athletes.

And to simplify it even further, I build my meals around seven plant-based foods I believe are worth eating every day. But in general, especially for endurance athletes, such ratios can be met with a variety of food sources. In other words, take your favorite endurance diet numbers and make them work without meat.

Endurance diets tend to be high in carbohydrate anyway, making a vegetarian or vegan approach especially well-suited. If you aim to hit these numbers with a plant-based diet, you should be just fine. About as much as it takes to feel comfortably full, but not stuffed. As athletes, we have the luxury of eating more calories than more sedentary people.

We need more calories, in fact. If your goal is weight loss, or if you train more or less than I do, your needs will be different than mine. Figure out what size meals work for you.

How you eat before, during, and after your workouts is especially important on any diet. For lots of guidelines and recipes for unprocessed, vegan workout foods, see Workout Nutrition Do vegan athletes need supplements?

Fair question. It is present in soil, but soil these days is often depleted. Vitamin D and two omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA are also recommended by many doctors. Both are available from natural sources the sun, and algae , but many people can benefit from supplementing their diet with more.

What they and most plant-based omega-3 sources provide is ALA — which some people can convert into DHA and EPA, but not everyone.

To be on the safe side, since DHA and EPA are crucial for brain health, my family and I supplement with these. Finally, I also take iodine, zinc, vitamin K2, and selenium — foods that you can find in several plant foods, just not in abundance, and sometimes with questions about bioavailability.

But to get started with some vegetarian and vegan recipes , check out:. So there you have it: A workable plant-based diet for endurance and strength athletes.

For LOTS more, check out The Plant-Based Athlete: A Game-Changing Approach to Peak Performance — in stores June 15th! Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Great post- especially love the section on staples.

My diet is fairly similar, but I aim for a higher percentage of protein. And I agree on the lower protein- it helps significantly! Danielle, I noticed the same thing. Just huge improvements in my speed and endurance a month after I stopped eating meat. Your name is fine! Or siblings.

Thanks very much for posting this list today. Erin C. Thanks for listing the ideas and recommendations! I know that fueling properly is so important! In her opinion, diets that lack meat are stupid. I should send her this post 😛 I also agree with the lesser protein!

When my mother came to the US, she was stunned at the amount of protein being consumed by Americans. Her diet had consisted mostly of fats and carbs. Over 30 years later, she swears her body is still in shock, lol.

If people want to follow, great. If not, fine. Where did your mother come here from? But with all the fat that went along with it, all the fat that was a part of it, my body was really anything but strong and healthy. Bloated and tired is more like it.

You knock out meat and dairy for just a day or two and your body starts humming, your energy level makes you think you are on an illegal drug. Why did I drink the milk from a cow?

Why did I eat dead animal flesh? Not trying to turn anybody off, but those are 2 valid questions. They are valid questions Tom I realise this is an old post.

Our greatest energy source is the sun, and plants get a lot of their energy directly from the sun. It makes sense that one would feel lighter, and once used to a plant-based diet would also have more endurance because you actually start to need less.

Mostly carbs fruits, vegetables, fresh baked breads, etc. Not so much on the protein. I love reading your blog. Even though I am a meatmeat athlete 🙂 I dont really consume all that much these days Im just loathe to surrender my beloved beef jerky…. Hey MizFit, I used to love beef jerky!

But alas, not for me. Great post, Matt! I would love to see you post a menu from a typical week. Nicki, thanks for the idea.

I am just starting to learn to run, barefoot style, and a vegetarian newbie. I know that because I still have a lot of weight to lose that I will have to tweak a few things, but it would still be helpful for me. Did you already post one somewhere that I missed? I still have about 60 lbs to lose to meet my goal, but I am feeling stronger and better all around since going vegetarian.

I have a very similar diet, although I do not limit eggs. I also have the luxury of getting them straight from the farm literally and meeting the chickens! For me, not eating dairy is super important. My runs definitely suffer if I eat it.

I think people need to realize that switching to a vegetarian diet is going to be trial and error- you have to figure out what works for you!

And got sick. And then it CLICKED for me. It was an epiphany. Other people are the same way with bread, eggs, certain fruits, etc. but reaping the benefits nonetheless. My name is Anthony, and I have been vegan for 7 months now and I agree with Bridget there is allot of trial and error.

One of the things that I found was I was not getting enough carbs. This is my daily routine……. I do change up the potatoes for pasta and brown rice for variety and I through in steamed veggies if I have the time.

The fruit smoothies are usually the organics mixed berries from Safeway which contain strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, and I throw in some frozen pineapple and some ground flax. I usually do my workouts at 1pm so I have two meals on board before the workout and the 3pm meal makes a great post workout meal.

I have never felt and looked better and I came from being on pain management for multiple spinal cord surgeries and sever chronic pain. The vegan diet has been nothing short of amazing for me. Ok all your posts got my attention and I ordered Thrive, I just read it this weekend and I like the concept…I think I understand better now his thoughts, but in some ways it does feel to strict or too raw for my tastes.

This post was good to help remind me to lean in to it and keep finding ways to make it work best for me. RunToTheFinish, yeah I like to think of Thrive as the benchmark that I strive to get as close as possible to while still enjoying the food that I love.

The principles are great, so you can keep them in mind while you choose your meals, and the smoothie and gel recipes are the most valuable part, for me.

Hey there,love thee blog been following for long now, i just cant seem to lose weight. My diet reflects your a lot. Keep up the great work. Chris, thanks for such a nice comment. Congratulations on taking that challenge! This is great info. for newbies. I think they often believe that becoming vegetarian is harder than it really is.

I think the key is variety, eating lots of different whole foods ensures all bases are covered. Awesome post! But this post is really helpful in giving me ideas of what I should be eating. I do know that when I went vegan, my energy greatly improved, and my sleeping patterns became so much more regular.

At annual exams, I have consistently showed great cholesterol numbers with no deficiencies. Lisa, g? Do you know of any research that supports the idea for athletes? Many government- and organization-recommended protein amounts seem reasonable, but then when authors talk to athletes, they say athletes need so much more.

Thanks for the list Matt! Once I became vegan, I noticed even more significant gains. Any animal fat is a big No, No for me. Great post Matt! We need to get together someday and come up with an action plan for Harford County.

It sucks to be veg here. What do you think? I just ran a 5k near D. for an animal sanctuary and noticed they had several vegan running clubs there. Joe, a Harford County vegan or vegetarian, for me running club is a great idea.

I keep trying to enter my email address to download the book but every time I enter a it goes right away??? Well first of all, I love the post! Thanks for writing it — it is very informative, especially for a newbie vegetarian and a newbie athlete.

Also, I appreciate the caloric breakdown… I thought I should be eating a lot more protein and after reading this I Googled it and realized that I was off. I should obviously still include it, but I was going a little overboard with protein and neglecting the carbs!

Perfect timing! I just recently cut our red meat, pork and chicken still working on fish and shrimp and this is a great guideline. Also helpful would be maybe a day or two of your typical meals, if you feel comfortable 🙂 Thanks! Matt, I have had a similar experience as you.

About a year ago I started following the Thrive diet fairly religiously and noticed gains. HOWEVER, I always wonder whether it was Thrive or the fact that I was no longer following the standard american diet.

I have since transitioned to a modified Paleo diet and have not noticed any drops in performance yet. BTW, first comment, but I love your site! It makes sense that almost any well thought-out diet is going to be better over the standard Western diet.

this was an excellent read thank you so much! saving this for future refernce, i have a 14km run in aug this will help alot. Getting a wide arrange of food is definitely essential. Do you have any suggestions for getting the necessary nutrients on the go?

For example, do you suggest always keeping something like Vega powder on-hand or making nutrient-rich smoothies with local fruits and veggies?

Raam, the nomad thing is awesome! I just checked out your blog. The idea of bringing Vega powder along to put in smoothies is certainly a way to get a lot of good, necessary nutrients. Almost all of their products cost more than a dollar per serving. Check out my post on pinole.

You might be able to adapt it with local ingredients or to add nutrients that you think are necessary. Thanks, Matt! That suggestion is fantastic. Looking forward to learning more. Also, check our Mike Wardian as another vegetarian endurance athlete. Your foods list looks very similar to what I prefer to eat.

I do have a bit more low fat organic dairy, organic cage free locally sourced eggs, and processed soy in my diet. Those foods are still in my diet since my husband is not a vegetarian and they keep him more satisfied eating a vegetarian diet. Cooking with some of those foods keeps him from eating meat except on holidays.

I used to eat a lot of that stuff when I first became a vegetarian 18 years ago, but slowly over time transitioned to a more vegan diet. I think the title is Mexican vegetarian chili with rice. It does look good! that list there that you have? thats MY list… :O i am pleased as punch too since i came up with my list all on my own!!!!

well from reading a lot of blogs, but eventually it came down to exactly what you wrote. i am anxiously awaiting my No Meat Athlete shirt 🙁. But I survived 8 years of competitive h. But I agree with others who commented — you have to find what works for you. And I have to say…for some people, that means eating meat.

Thanks for such a great breakdown!! Good points, Lauren. Great article! I am also of the opinion that we need far less protein than is being touted out there, provided of course that we consume high quality carbs and not junk. Matt, a thought-provoking post. After years of steadily decreasing meat consumption resulting from healthy diet concerns, I went vegetarian late last year.

At that time, I could no longer reconcile meat consumption with my views on the environment and humane treatment of animals.

Shortly after going vegetarian, I started training for my first marathon, which I completed on May 1. Training on a vegetarian diet, my running was stronger than ever, and my pace improved by 1 to 2 minutes per mile.

The trend has continued in my post-marathon training. I attributed the improvements mostly to the training program itself, partially to increased cross-training, core and upper body work, and partially to a little extra weight loss during peak training mileage. It very well may be that the vegetarian diet itself was also a major contributor to the improved performance.

At the very least, it has been totally compatible with building strength and endurance! Hey Vern, thanks for sharing your story. Not so different from mine, except that I was already a runner. And I became so much stronger as a runner after I became vegetarian.

Glad to see you have a blog to help spread the word! Fitness Model Competition I am entering 1 possibly 2 fitness model competitions this Oct 23rd or Nov 6th and am going to enter as a Vegan.

I will keep you posted on my progress and my workouts — lots of weight training and endurance cardio. Wish me luck! Matt- I love your blog! I am also a vegan runner. I was a runner before I was vegan but I think the 2 go perfectly hand in hand. I am also a blogger, residing in San Diego.

Where do you live? Thanks for all you do!! Love your blog. I am new to the world of vegan and running. Hi I am a football player and I want to eat more vegetarian meals.

I am concerned about lower protein amounts in my foods. This article will help me to know that it is possible.

Do you have some tips for this? possible vegetables that help facilitate this better. Hershel Walker is vegetarian now, right? And hemp is good for smoothies and energy bar recipes. lots of helpful tips. I think for the most part i eat well balanced meals of course without meat. I am working on cutting out the cheese and eggs though.

Following a cross-sectional design, distance runners completed a survey online , including a thorough assessment of training behaviors with generic training details and periodization specifics in three phases: 1. an intermediary and rebound stage, 2. a main preparatory stage, and 3. once I am finished up my 12 weeks just before the Phoenix Marathon!!!

These have been my staple carbs on RP for several reasons: 1 they fit perfectly in my template; 2 they are easy to portion; 3 they are easy to take on the go, even on a run in portioned plastic baggies and can be eaten without a bowl or spoon; 4 my husband will eat them; 5 they are easy to customize with unsweetened coconut, chia seeds, etc.

Add 4 cups steel cut oats, 8 cups of water, some salt, a dash of vanilla, and a sprinkle of cinnamon to a slow cooker. Cook for up to 8 hours can be done overnight, but really only needs like 4 hrs. Note: At one point, we tried to be cheap and make slow cooker oats with regular rolled oats, and it was a terrible failure.

Luckily, we were able to find steel cut for a good price on Amazon. As I got the hang of RP, I realized that tofu was going to be key to my success on the diet as a vegetarian. It is an awesome protein source without a bunch of carbs, and it is filling.

A stir fry is, in my opinion, the easiest of the easy tofu dishes. I buy some firm or extra firm tofu, cut it up or even crumble it, add some RP-approved seasonings, add heat, and stir. I had no issues cooking my tofu without oil in a non-stick pan. But what about those seasonings? I bought the ginger and garlic in those little easy squeeze bottles.

This dish is hard to mess up. Just be sure to cook the tofu until it at least starts to get some color — raw tofu is pretty gross.

But, really, a casserole is just a layered and baked dish. Although I found myself able to enjoy tofu stir fry almost daily, I did want to mix things up a bit. Enter: the tofu casserole. My best one so far was Tex-Mex themed and contained cubed butternut squash, diced tomatoes I used canned , taco seasoning again, I just bought this, but you could make your own , black beans canned!

Remember, count both carbs and proteins in the beans. But I think I ended up with one good sized squash, two blocks of tofu, and one can of beans. Layer the ingredients I did squash then beans then tofu then tomatoes and bake until crusty on the top.

I love baked pasta dishes with ricotta cheese. I came up with a tofu and ricotta casserole. I baked it all until the top got golden brown. Delicious enjoyed with some low-cal shiratake noodles, with some bread, chickpeas, or a little pasta if you are allotted enough carbs , or alone!

I made a similar casserole with a tofu ricotta blend on top of butternut squash, plus some added thyme, and it was also delicious. I used some TVP, beans, and of course protein powders. And eggs. A lot of eggs. If you are vegan, skip this part. Egg whites are filling so much volume! and pretty versatile, but I got really sick of egg white omelettes and frittatas.

And I was craving food that reminded me of my beloved carbs, which were pretty well restricted on this diet. So I decided to try making meringues, which are basically cookies made out of egg whites.

But anyway — meringues. In a clean bowl, mix egg whites, splenda or stevia, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Mix with a hand mixer. Keep mixing. Mix more. When the eggs are super frothy and form stiff peaks, use a spatula to spoon blobs onto a parchment or silpat-lined cookie tray if you want to get fancy, use a piping bag or a baggy with a hole cut in it to make nice rounds.

I tried baking these at different temperatures and for different lengths of time. They are more toasted-marshmallow-like if you cook them at degrees or more and let them get golden brown. The inside will still be soft, such that the meringues might collapse a bit outside of the oven.

For a crunchier, drier meringue, cook at or below for a longer period. At the lower temperature, I still like mine to get some color, but the inside will be more fully cooked than otherwise.

I think all my veggie-making energy got diverted to tofu. But I did come up with one trick: veggie soups. Vegetarian or not, a poorly planned diet with an extreme exercise routine is not a winning combination.

The obvious is opting for a whole-food replacement, but the easy way and not-so-healthy is opting for highly-processed products. As an endurance athlete, minimally processed foods, created by mother earth, should weigh heavy in your food choices when it comes to composing a healthy plant strong diet.

Quality protein builds muscle and helps rebuild tissue. Adequate protein consumption keeps you satisfied at meal and snack time. It is not necessary to make complete proteins every time you eat but you should be eating frequently enough throughout the day in order to continuously nourish the body.

Macro and micronutrients play a very important role in energy production. As an endurance athlete, your exercise routine is quite extreme which inevitably stresses many metabolic pathways where micronutrients must be appropriately available.

A few of the most common nutrients that may be inadequately consumed or deficient in a restrictive diet include B12, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, and iron. Adequate intake of B vitamins will ensure optimal energy production. Additionally, B vitamins are required for red blood cell production, protein synthesis and tissue repair.

Plant-strong sources of Vitamin B12 include: eggs, milk, nutritional yeast, and fortified foods. Adequate intake of zinc will assist in the growth, building, and repair of muscle tissue as well as boosting the immune system and supporting energy production.

Plant-strong sources of zinc include: legumes, nuts, soy, whole grains, and seeds. Adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D are important for bone growth, maintenance, and repair, as well as, to assist in muscle contraction, nerve conduction and healthy blood clotting. Inadequate intakes can increase the risk of low bone mineral density and stress fractures.

Amenorrheic female athletes or athletes with popular restrictive diets that avoid calcium-rich-containing foods should be concerned about their bone health.

Plant-strong sources of calcium include: yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, milk, mushrooms, fortified foods, dark leafy greens and soybeans. Adequate intake of iron is necessary for energy production. For endurance athletes, oxygen carrying capacity is critical and iron supports normal functioning of the nervous and immune system.

Specific to female endurance athletes, low iron can be very prevalent for a number of reasons. Female endurance athletes and runners often demonstrate low ferritin levels with or without low iron e.

iron deficiency anemia or iron deficiency, respectively. Iron deficiency can impair muscle function, increase risk for injury and illness, and limit athletic potential. ferritin, Hgb, Hct, TIBC. Athletes should not supplement with iron unless advised by a physician, based on a lab test.

Plant strong sources of iron include: fortified foods e.