By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Thirteen years ago, Vegetarian Sports Nutrition, by VRG advisor Enette Larson-Meyer, was a ground-breaking book about sports nutrition for vegetarians. Now, Dr. Larson-Meyer has teamed up with Matt Ruscigno, a vegan registered dietitian to create the update to Vegetarian Sports Nutrition, newly titled Plant-Based Sports Nutrition.

The authors provide a comprehensive review of sports nutrition topics including building muscle without meat, determining the right amount of carbohydrate and fat, promoting bone health, reducing muscle cramps, managing weight, and choosing food and fluids before, during, and after events. Each topic includes a summary of the latest research as well as practical information. The book ends with a collection of flexible recipes that provide lots of choices for busy athletes.

This extensively updated book should be required reading for athletes of all abilities whether vegan, vegetarian, or considering being vegetarian or vegan. Plant-Based Sports Nutrition could also serve as a great resource for coaches, trainers, and dietitians who work with vegetarian athletes.

Plant-Based Sports Nutrition (ISBN: 978-1-4925-6864-3) is published by Human Kinetics.  It has 334 pages and retails for $24.95.