A meatless, or vegetarian, diet can be as nutritious as a diet that contains meat, with adequate planning, according to the "Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants." This approach includes eating a variety of foods that together provide all the nutrients your body needs, including protein. Meatless diets can provide ample amounts of energy while conferring health benefits such as decreased obesity and risk of chronic diseases. Eating a vegetarian diet may, in fact, improve energy levels while decreasing the risk of chronic preventable diseases that can sap your energy. Check with your doctor before making significant changes to your eating patterns.
Energy for Your Body
The way your body utilizes the food you eat for energy is known as metabolism. The quality or speed of your metabolism, according to the Mayo Clinic, is determined by your height, weight, gender and age. Weight gain is caused by illness such as thyroid disease or simply by eating too many calories. Although your body requires adequate amounts of amino acids that make up proteins, there's no difference between the amino acids you consume from meat and those you consume from meatless sources. Thus, changing the way your body uses the foods you eat and eating them in the right combinations is critical to your energy levels.
Getting Enough Energy
You may be concerned that you won't have enough energy when eating a meatless diet, however, the evidence does not support this notion. Colorado State University explains that the majority of vegetarians consume enough food to meet their daily caloric needs. People who eat meatless diets, however, do consume fewer calories overall and are less likely to become obese, in contrast to their meat-eating counterparts. Planning nutritious menus with a wide variety of foods, they explain, generally provides all of the nutrition you need to meet your energy needs. If you find yourself low on energy when eating a meatless diet, consider monitoring your caloric and nutrient intake to make sure you're eating enough. If you're concerned about lack of energy, see your doctor to check for underlying medical conditions such as thyroid disease.
Meatless Diet and Athletes
By the nature of their activity, athletes have different, and higher, caloric requirements than people who don't train for athletic events. For individuals who are strength training, animal protein is often touted as the sole means by which muscles can grow. According to Kristine Clark, director of sports nutrition at Penn State University, the healthiness and effectiveness of any athletic diet depends on the quality of the foods consumed. She adds that she is unaware of research that supports a meat-eating over a meatless diet for athletic performance. A 1998 study published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" found that the higher carbohydrate content of a meatless diet actually provides more energy combined with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease to endurance athletes.
Considerations
Meatless diets can confer energy benefits for athletes and non-athletes. Additionally, according to Sports Science, research does not support any decrease in energy levels in athletes who eat a meatless diet. When researchers compared the diets of endurance runners to their speed, they found no difference between meatless and meat-eating athletes. Well planned meatless diets, therefore, appear to provide as much energy as diets that contain meat. However, according to Clark, meatless diets can also cause weight gain and energy depletion, particularly if the foods you eat aren't healthy. Eating doughnuts for breakfast is a meatless choice but certainly isn't one that will provide nutrition and long-term energy.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Metabolism and Weight Loss: How You Burn Calories
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Vegetarian Dietary Practices and Endurance Performance.; D.C. Nieman; 1988
- "Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants"; Is A Vegetarian Diet Healthy?; Katie Iverson; 2007
- Colorado State University: Vegetarian Diets
- Sports Science: Effect of Vegetarian Diets on Performance in Strength Sports
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