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The VegPlate for Sports: A Plant-Based Food Guide for Athletes
Luciana Baroni1, Ettore Pelosi2,3, Francesca Giampieri4
1Scientific Society for Vegetarian Nutrition, 30171 Venice, Italy.
Nutrients
|April 13, 2023
Summary
A new vegetarian food guide, VegPlate for Sports, offers tailored dietary plans for athletes. This guide ensures adequate nutrition for vegetarian athletes, supporting performance and health without disadvantages compared to omnivorous diets.
Area of Science:
- Sports Nutrition
- Dietary Planning
- Vegetarianism in Athletics
Background:
- Nutrition is crucial for athletic adaptation, performance, and recovery.
- Vegetarian diets (lacto-ovo, vegan) are increasingly popular, but specific sports nutrition guidelines are lacking.
- Excluding meat does not hinder athletic performance and may offer general health benefits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a practical dietary planning tool for vegetarian athletes.
- To adapt the validated VegPlate method for sports nutrition needs.
- To provide weight-based recommendations for vegetarian athletes.
Main Methods:
- Conceived the VegPlate for Sports, a vegetarian food guide (VFG).
- Based the VFG on the established VegPlate facilitating method.
- Designed the VFG according to Italian dietary reference intakes (DRIs).
Main Results:
- VegPlate for Sports is suitable for male and female vegetarian athletes.
- The guide provides weight-based, adequate dietary planning.
- It accommodates both lacto-ovo and vegan dietary patterns.
Conclusions:
- VegPlate for Sports is a practical tool for nutrition professionals.
- It enables diet planning based on energy, carbohydrate (CHO), and protein (PRO) needs.
- The tool supports athletes from 50 to 90 Kg body weight (BW).
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