It is no secret that protein is an essential nutrient for the growth, repair and maintenance of lean muscle tissue. If you don't consume enough protein (more importantly the essential amino acids) you'll be more prone to sacrificing lean muscle especially when on a lower calorie diet.
If you're a vegetarian looking to lose weight or building lean muscle pay special attention here. Muscle tissue preservation is an absolute MUST if you want to decrease body fat and maintain good health. Low calorie diets (especially those lacking enough protein) will create muscle loss and make fat loss very, very difficult.
Let me explain why.
Vegetarians have to pay extra attention making sure they're getting in enough protein.
The main regulator of your metabolism is your thyroid. The most common cause of a sluggish metabolism is a decrease in thyroid hormone. There are a few reasons why your thyroid levels would drop. First, thyroid levels adjust to the amount of muscle in the body.
When you lose muscle the thyroid gland secretes less. Not completing resistance training and hormonal shifts (ex. menopause) will both lead to muscle loss.
Second, low calorie diets will cause your thyroid levels to drop.
Thirdly, protein deficiency, more specifically amino acid deficiency will create a decrease in thyroid secretion.
So then..if you're a vegetarian on a low calorie diet not paying much attention to your protein intake you're much more prone to suffer muscle loss, a decrease in thyroid production and yes a lower metabolism.
Not a good combination if you're trying to lose weight while building or maintaining lean muscle.
As a vegetarian you need to plan your meals out with some thought in order to get in the essential amino acids from protein your body needs. You can produce 10 of the 20 amino acids on your own but the others must be supplied from the food you eat.
Vegetarians who don't get complete amino acid profiles from their diet will breakdown their own lean muscle to get protein.
Failure to obtain enough of even 1 of the 10 essential amino acids, those that we cannot make, will result in your body breaking down muscle tissue to obtain the one amino acid that is needed.
Unlike fat and starch, the human body does not store excess amino acids for later use. The amino acids MUST come from our diets.
Plant proteins (with the exception of soybean) are incomplete because they lack one or more essential amino acids. What you can do however is eat plant proteins in combinations so amino acids that one food may be lacking is covered by the other food and vice versa.
Here are some examples of plant based food combinations that can help your body receive complete protein (meaning the amino acid profile is not lacking).
- Tofu & Rice
- Beans & Rice
- Lentils & Rice
- Corn Tortilla & Black or Pinto Beans
- Peanut Butter on Whole Grain Bread
- Pasta & Beans
Even though soy protein is a complete protein, I highly recommend if you're vegetarian you look for other ways to add protein in your diet. See my post on soy protein for more information on why.
Depending on what type of vegetarian you are you can also look at getting protein from.
- Eggs
- Almonds
- Peanuts
- Cashews
- Sunflower Seeds
- Sesame Seeds
- Peanut Butter
- Beans/
- Lentils
- whey protein powder
- spirulilna
- Barlean's Greens
- rice protein powder
I know there are many advantages to a vegetarian diet and although I do not endorse one way or the other (to each his own) I believe you can be healthy by always looking to eat a variety of whole, natural foods regardless of your preferences (the way God intended us to).
As a vegetarian it's just important you recognize that most plant proteins are incomplete and food combinations (eating a wide variety of plant proteins) is essential if you want to maintain and continue to build lean muscle tissue.
You simply cannot eat only fruit, grains and some leafy greens and expect to get in the essential amino acids your body needs.
I hope this article helped you see the importance of protein for the vegetarian and gave you some insight on how to combine foods for complete proteins.
Shane Doll is a certified Charleston personal trainer, fat loss expert, speaker, and founder of Shaping Concepts Fitness Training Studios. Learn more how you can receive a FREE personal training trial and experience the Shaping Concepts difference for yourself.