by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Eating a healthy diet offers benefits to athletes during training, performance, and recovery. A variety of visual food guides designed for athletes have been developed to help athletes choose a nutritionally adequate diet. Typically, these food guides feature animal-based foods. Since many athletes are vegan, vegetarian, or frequently eat vegan or vegetarian meals, conventional food guides don’t meet their needs.
Surabhi Airi, MS with the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs’ Sport Nutrition Graduate Program in collaboration with the US Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Food and Nutrition Services, developed The Vegan/Vegetarian Athlete’s Plate® as a guide for athletes. This tool helps athletes build meals that meet international sports nutrition recommendations. It features a plate divided into sectors, indicating what proportion of the plate should be devoted to plant proteins, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables during easy, moderate and hard training. For example, during moderate training, approximately a third of the plate should be whole grains, a third plant proteins, and a third vegetables. Seasonal and local fruits can be eaten in addition along with 1 to 2 Tablespoons of fats. Vitamin D, vitamin B12, and zinc supplements should be considered.
The Vegetarian/Vegan Athlete’s Plate® is available for download to be used for educational purposes only:
Easy Vegetarian/Vegan Athlete’s Plate®
Moderate Vegetarian/Vegan Athlete’s Plate®
Hard Vegetarian/Vegan Athlete’s Plate®
To read more about vegan diets for athletes see: Athletes & Vegan/Vegetarian Diets