There is a misconception that you have to be a big meat eater to be a successful body builder. But with a good understanding of nutrition and a well-designed diet plan, you can easily build muscle without meat.
The main food source of all body builders is protein and it is wrongly believed that vegetarians cannot get enough of it on a vegetarian diet.
Good sources of vegetarian protein include eggs, Soya, beans, grains and dairy products. All these will provide muscle-building protein.
It is also advisable for vegetarians to take supplement drinks, high in whey protein, essential vitamins and minerals. In fact all body builders would benefit from additional supplements, as it is very difficult to get their daily allowance from food alone due to their intensive training routines. Meat eaters or not!
It can also be argued that vegetarians can build muscle quicker than meat-eaters because their diet is full of quick digested, high metabolic food such as fruit, vegetables and whole grains were as meat can actually slow down metabolism due to the extra energy used to digest it.
It would be wise for any vegetarian who decides to become a body builder to have a word with a qualified nutritionist. They will be able to design a diet that not only fulfils a body builder’s nutritional requirements for building muscle mass but also provides variety and taste.
It has been found that overall vegetarians are healthy than meat eaters. They eat less saturated and trans fats and therefore have much better cholesterol readings and also have lower blood pressure and much lower blood sugar counts.
So to go back to the beginning, can vegetarians be body builders? Most certainly.