Discussion Board

Greetings all

I have gradually been getting stricter with this diet over the past two years or so, and am now at the point where I think I'm close to full time McDougalling.

My biggest problem now is with DH who was quite a serious weightlifter in his 20's, has read widely in the popular media (fitness magazines etc) and is still v. interested in fitness. We are starting to have arguments over food. In particular he believes that protein needs will not be met by the McDougall diet particularly in people who want to put on muscle mass.

He has put out the challenge to me to come up with evidence of high performance athletes who are McDougalling. His argument is that with all the science and money behind high performance athletes, if the McDougall diet was the way to go, then this is the diet that would be chosen by the majority of elites.

Is anyone able to point me to information regarding protein needs for athletes (DH is an engineer and will be impressed by scientific evidence!) and some examples of elite athletes who are McDougalling? I did see the recent NY Times article about the ultra matharon runner but there are problems with this example - 1) he is an endurance athlete and even my partner would agree that in this instance high-carb makes sense and 2) the person in the article (can't remember his name off hand) also supplemented his diet with protein shakes. I have also told him about Carl Lewis but DH reckons Mr Lewis wouldn't have been eating this way when in his prime...

Advice would be much appreciated as family harmony is starting to become severely compromised by this issue!

thanks
Stephanie

Stephanie,

A quick Google of vegan athletes brought up quite a list. You could go that route.

But here's the thing. Is your husband an elite athlete with serious athletic goals? Is he thus seriously examining every single other thing he eats to create the ultimate physique for his sport?

The protein packing is largely a function of the food supplement industry. Actually, a friend of mine who has written a book exploding the protein mythology worked for 7 years in the food supplement industry and eventually left the field partially because he could see how the dollar was driving the supplement world. Same with the "several protein shakes and bars" over the course of the day. Who stands to gain? Not the farmer's market.

Another search brought up a "Vegan bodybuilding and fitness" site. If your husband is seriously interested in finding out about this, apparently there are plenty of resources!

In addition - there are no doubt references on the PCRM site, as there were a couple of elite athletes involved in the 21-day kickstart we did there in March and January.

Sorry to hear it has become a family harmony issue. Hopefully the burden has not all fallen upon your shoulders

AND I'm betting that others right here in McD. will come by and contribute!


Lani

Thank you Lani for such a quick response. I will refer to Google and see what's there and if what's there will be enough to convince him!

And yes it has fallen on my shoulders (except he claims to have found a WHO paper which says that previous estimates of protein requirements (of approx 30g/day) have been seriously underestimated and that protein req'ments are more like 1-1.3g/kg body weight...)

Also just to clarify, when you say:



...even if he was, would this mean a change in diet to include more protein? I thought protein needs, even when one has serious athletic goals could be met by the McD diet...

thanks again
Stephanie

...even if he was, would this mean a change in diet to include more protein? I thought protein needs, even when one has serious athletic goals could be met by the McD diet...

thanks again
Stephanie[/quote]

Hi Stephanie,

No, I don't mean a change to boost the protein. My point is in the "examining every single other thing" part of my comment. It's not uncommon for people to get all fired up about the need for lots of protein while being shortsighted about many other elements of their diets and habits that would be more critical to their health and fitness goals. I must admit to a bit of sarcasm there and didn't mean to confuse!

Lani

Carl Lewis won his Olympic gold medal as a follower of the McDougall program.

Scott Jurek, one of the top ultrarunners in the world, is vegan.

Rip Esselstyn, competitive triathlete and vegan (and a hottie).

Rich Roll, ultramarathoner

http://www.richroll.com/

Hey Nonya and Noni! Thanks for popping in to add to the conversation!

Lani

Thanks guys - DH starting to come around a little! He was impressed with Rich Roll in particular...as was I

Very cool team!

Let's keep the list growing and I'll create a blogpost out of it so it will be all in one place!

Thanks each for your contributions,
Lani

I am a weightlifter in my 60s and have lifted since my teens. It is difficult to make the "intellectual" transition from eating lots of animal protein to a strict vegetarian diet; however, the more I learn the easier it has become. I posted this article on diet and protein on my blog that may help your husband: http://michaelresanders.wordpress.com/

Thank you Steelhead - much food for thought!

Thanks Gabriele - I haven't heard of the Food Revolution (I don't think) but I will look into it. I leave a McD book lying around and despite prodding it hasn't made him shift yet...maybe the Food Revolution will do the trick.

Carroll,

It might be helpful to note that many high performance athletes, vegan or not, spend hours each day training and need lots of readily available fuel. When eating plants and starches, these meals can take time to eat (one of the beauties of it all!) but if dashing between athletic endeavors, convenient meal replacements in the form of bars and shakes may have their place rather than having you go without fuel. So maybe when you see a vegan athlete mention "supplements", this is part of the picture.

Lani

Perhaps a message to one of the athletes who is eating plant and starch-based would have a reference that would assist.

Lani

Carrol, you know who might be a great resource is Rip Esselstyn. As an athlete himself (and what counts in your definition as "athlete"?) he may be the perfect resource. Have you really run the gamut of vegan athletes? Another resource might be veganfitness.net: healthy and compassionate living. Though maybe you've already investigated there.

Lani