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Plant-Based Diet

The Plant-Based Athlete Diet

A plant-based diet plan for endurance athletes is really not all that different from a normal (healthy) diet, with the exception, of course, of the meat and animal products. If you’re switching from eating McDonald’s every day, then sure, it’s going to take some getting used to. But if you eat lots of nutritious, whole foods as it is, there really aren’t all that many adjustments you need to make to go vegetarian, and from there, to go plant-based.


You can take it as far as you want, and some vegetarian and vegan athletes tend toward raw and gluten-free diets, citing even greater energy gains.


But of course, you don’t have to take it that far to see the benefits. There are differing degrees of health in plant-based diets, and mine includes a lot of delicious cooked foods that people following more traditional diets would eat.

Overview of plant-based Diets

The popularity of plant-based diets including vegetarian and vegan lifestyles has increased over the years. In 2019, approximately 2.5 million Australians reported following a plant-based diet. Many Australians may choose to follow a plant-based diet due to ethical, personal, religious, health, economic or environmental reasons.

Definitions of plant-based diets

It’s important to distinguish the differences as this is likely to result in more or less risk of developing nutritional deficiencies. Vegetarian diets generally exclude all animal flesh butin addition, some may choose to consume dairy and eggs (lacto-ovo), eggs only (ovo) and dairy only (lacto).


Well-constructed and planned vegetarian and vegan diets can be achieved, however, athletes and regular exercisers need to be well equipped with knowledge to
substitute with suitable alternatives to prevent nutrient deficiencies and ensure that they recover well from exercise.