Vegan Climbing Food
- May 2010
- Simple Living Climb Vegan Training
Steph,
Totally awesome blog, lots of good photos! Do you have any good suggestions for climber-friendly vegan diet? What do you do on longer expeditions, where the only things available are basics like nuts, rice, beans, fruits and veggies? Also, any on-the-wall and base-camp snack ideas?
Cheers,
Sam
Hi Steph!
My name is Nadya, I’m from Ukraine. I wanted to ask you about advantages and especially disadvantages of being a climber-and-vegetarian.
I don’t eat meat and fish for 1 year beacuse I don’t want and I feel that I don’t really need it. I eat cheeses, nuts, vegetables and grains and feel pretty fine. But I’ve noticed some changes in climbing which I can connect with not eating meat.
For example, this summer my friend and I were in the Caucasus mountains (Russia) to climb. It wasn’t my first time there and previously I never felt such awfully during the walks with a backpack. And this summer it was the first time, when it was difficult for me. Thank’s god, it was only during the first part of our trip, but anyway…
A friend o’mine, who also doesn’t eat meat, warries that a year ago he could do 24 pull ups with 10kilo of additional weight, and now he hardly does 15. And we didn’t stop training since that time.
Have you ever notices some similar changes in your body? And how is it possible to deal with them? To become as powerful as you were before and not to damage your body.
Thanks and all the best!
Nadya
Dear Nadya and Sam,
It seems like most people agree on general good nutrition: avoid all processed/pre-made “foods,” and eat simply. If you eat whole foods, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and soy, avoiding artificial sweeteners (I would include refined sugar and corn syrup there), you are going to be healthier and perform better.
It’s hard to know for sure about performance decrease under a vegan diet, because a lot of people go vegetarian, but then are still eating processed foods and things like white flour and white sugar, rather than a balanced, whole foods diet, and this will definitely result in decreased performance and energy. But I’m not sure what your experience has been, exactly. Eating animal products is a shortcut to energy, even if the diet as a whole is less than optimum, which I think is why it works well enough for people in general. But in my experience, eating a good, well-rounded vegan diet is better for performance and health. I think overall, it’s good to make thoughtful decisions about food, rather than being guided by taste buds, habit or convenience. And to be aware of what works for you.
But maybe you could look over your eating habits, and eliminate sugar and processed foods, and replace those with whole grains and fruits and vegetables. Also, think about how much soy and legumes you eat, because those are important nutritionally. For myself too, sometimes I slack with my supplements (especially B vitamins) and notice I feel a little run down, which reminds me to get back on it and take them. I take B vitamins, calcium, biotin, lysine and iron. I really notice the difference when I take them consistently. Most people are susceptible to B deficiency, especially if you are very active.
To answer your question Sam, when I have been in a place like Pakistan, I have been pretty happy with the expedition food choices, because I love spicy dal and rice. That’s mostly what you get in that part of the world anyway.
It seems like wall food is almost always vegetarian for the most part anyway, unless you eat beef jerky and cheese, but I eat soy jerky.
Usually if I am going in the backcountry or on a wall, I take:
breakfast: ginger tea, earl grey tea or coffee, powdered soy milk
muesli and powdered soy milk (hot or cold)
climbing food: nuts, Mixed Nuts Mojo bars, margarita flavor Clif Bloks, almond butter, soy jerky, dried fruit
dinner: lentil soup, brown rice ramen, crackers with soy cheese, nutritional yeast
The main thing lacking is vegetables and fruit, but this is usually only for a few days at a time.
🙂 Steph
Great post Steph. I firmly believe that you can perform just as good, if not better on a vegetarian diet than a meat based diet. Your crag food sounds a lot like what I take, although I make my own raw energy bars. For Nadya and Sam I would also suggest dates as a good crag food. They are high in carbs and calories – one of my favorite energy foods.
Oh, and I agree, the key to a healthy vegetarian diet is cutting out the processed crap. I have one vegetarian climber friend who isn’t that healthy and slightly overweight. If he actually ate healthy he would be doing much better. Just because you are veg. doesn’t mean you can eat all the candy and other junk you want.
Thanks for the suggestion Caleb! I really like dried bananas too–the whole, chewy ones. What’s your bar recipe?
i couldn’t agree more! when i’m eating like a SMART vegan (whole foods, little/no processed crap), i feel great, need less caffeine, and perform really well. when i eat like a DUMB vegan (anything without animal stuff in it), i notice that my energy bounces, my endurance suffers & i don’t perform as well.
(after reading caleb’s comments about his “non-healthy” vegetarian friend, i’m wondering when we’ve climbed together…)
Steph, as a vegan climber, I typically go with such items as Clif Mojo bars, trail mixes, hummus and pita, PB&J, red pepper + tempeh + hummus flat bread samiches, and more.
When backpacking, Mary Janes Farm (available on Amazon and at REI, to name a few) makes some awesome vegan dishes. They’re clearly labeled right on the front as Vegan, don’t have those annoying oxygen packets inside, are reasonably priced, all you have to do is just add a cup or so of boiling water, and the pouches can be burned in a fire (where fires are permitted)
Hope that helps! 🙂
Thanks for the good suggestions! Sounds yummy 🙂
A recent NYT article on vegan ultramarathon runner Jurek has some interesting things to say about athletes and veganism, too!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/sports/13runner.html?ref=nutrition
scott jurek is awesome.
I got myself a home bread machine which I love!
I can now make whole bread with nuts, sunflower seeds, sesame, flax seeds.
I feel so much better with this new diet.
Thanks for this post!
To Nadya:
I’m not a vegan but I do fell no need to eat meat in “regular” life. Everythig changes when I do hard work (no metter running, hard packpacking or climbing long alpine routes).
Without meat I “recover” much longer.
It will be ridiculous to say (especialy here) there is no way to be a strong climber without meat 🙂
I just trying to say that it’s not as simple as just stop eating meat.
Hi all
Im a vegetarian and do a little bit of climbing, and reading this blog im afraid no one as of yet has hit the nail on the head as to why Nadya’s friend could not do as many reps as he/ she used to and why there is a greater feeling of tiredness etc.
Yes you can obviously get the same amount of carbs and protein as a meat eater, and in general the health of a vegetarian is greater than someone who east meat. However you cannot get the creatine that your muscles need for endurance. Create is made by the body and stored in the muscles, but since its only dietary sauce is either a supplement or meat then vegetarians have depleted stores of creatine in their muscles and thus they cannot have the same amount of muscle endurance as someone who eats meat (unless you supplement) This does not affect ones health in anyway, but it does affect the muscle recuperation time and endurance a great deal.
Basically you burn off the creatine in you muscles which enables you to do more reps, when this is used up you need to recuperate and wait until your body as made more. Thus is we don’t eat meat, we won’t have the same muscle endurance without at least some kind of creatine supplement as someone who does eat meat. I have just found this out and will be trying to find a reasonable source of creatine to add to my diet.
Although i don’t like the idea of supplementing with creatine, for me it is preferable to eating meat.
It is explained a little better in the links I’ve put below.
Hope this helps 🙂
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/creatine-vegetarians.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzGJnbBay90
Sweet gratitude may be the greatest book I’ve ever read on the subject of vegan delicious eats in this beautiful life. http://www.cafegratitudestore.com/sweetgratitude.html
You are an amazing inspiration and yes, truly lovely.
Thank you for everything.
Cheers!
Thanks for the recommendation!
Dude, Rustam Gelmanov doesn’t eat meat. He was raw vegan for a long time. I’m sure he is 100 times stronger, than you!
Hey Steph,
What brand of vitamins do you use?
Marissa
here are some of I like: https://stephdavis.co/blog/vegan-supplements/