"Where do you get your protein?"

[woot]

So TKD (or others who have given up meat and dairy), I'm curious--where do you get your iron from?
While I don't abstain from meat, I don't eat a lot of it, I rarely drink milk (except for chocolate milk after runs), and I would guess that I eat a lot more fruits and vegetables than most. I thought that I was getting all of my basic nutrients until I started tracking calories and nutrients closely on my phone, and found that while I get plenty of vitamins, I have to really think about it to get my calcium and I almost never get enough iron. If I didn't do any dairy (or yogurt or cheese), I don't know how I would get calcium and it's really hard to get enough iron without red meat. There are plant sources of iron, but they don't absorb as well as animal sources, and the good ones are so few that I'd get sick of them quickly. You can get iron in cold cereal (which is fortified), but I don't consider that a very healthy habit (besides that, you've given up milk...). So I take a multivitamin, a solution that I don't think is very ideal, but it's where I'm at right now.
Do any of you vegetarians/vegans track your nutrients? Do you just take a vitamin to fill in the gaps?

I do take a good multi, but one without iron. Guys don't really need a bunch of iron since they're not usually bleeding very much, and I'm sure I get plenty from all the spinach, beans, and lentils I eat. It's pretty amazing how nutrient rich those foods are. e.g.: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+cup+lentils

I eat lots of dairy so calcium isn't an issue, but I do think that the dairy lobby has unduly associated calcium with dairy and nothing else, when in reality calcium shows up in all sorts of vegetables.

[jay santos]

Since I started into getting fit, losing weight, and then crossing over into weight lifting, and bulking and cutting phases, I have been on a diet of:

bulking:
protein: one gram per lb of body weight per day (about 200 grams--that's a lot of protein and I usually have to supplement with a few protein shakes a day to get it all in)
fat: try to keep it down but don't obsess
carbs: a lot or a little to equal my total calorie a goal: a lot when i'm bulking, a little when i'm cutting

Not to humblebrag, but I've had great success with this. My protein intake may be unnecessarily high, but everything I read seems to indicate it's the right approach.

[TripletDaddy]

Since I started into getting fit, losing weight, and then crossing over into weight lifting, and bulking and cutting phases, I have been on a diet of:

bulking:
protein: one gram per lb of body weight per day (about 200 grams--that's a lot of protein and I usually have to supplement with a few protein shakes a day to get it all in)
fat: try to keep it down but don't obsess
carbs: a lot or a little to equal my total calorie a goal: a lot when i'm bulking, a little when i'm cutting

Not to humblebrag, but I've had great success with this. My protein intake may be unnecessarily high, but everything I read seems to indicate it's the right approach.

how long do you bulk? and how many pounds do you put on during the cycle? subsequently, how long do you cut?

[jay santos]

Since I started into getting fit, losing weight, and then crossing over into weight lifting, and bulking and cutting phases, I have been on a diet of:

protein: one gram per lb of body weight per day (about 200 grams--that's a lot of protein and I usually have to supplement with a few protein shakes a day to get it all in)
fat: try to keep it down but don't obsess
carbs: a lot or a little to equal my total calorie a goal: a lot when i'm bulking, a little when i'm cutting

Not to humblebrag, but I've had great success with this. My protein intake may be unnecessarily high, but everything I read seems to indicate it's the right approach.

[jay santos]

Since I started into getting fit, losing weight, and then crossing over into weight lifting, and bulking and cutting phases, I have been on a diet of:

protein: one gram per lb of body weight per day (about 200 grams--that's a lot of protein and I usually have to supplement with a few protein shakes a day to get it all in)
fat: try to keep it down but don't obsess
carbs: a lot or a little to equal my total calorie a goal: a lot when i'm bulking, a little when i'm cutting

Not to humblebrag, but I've had great success with this. My protein intake may be unnecessarily high, but everything I read seems to indicate it's the right approach.

Strange I went to edit and it made a duplicate post.

[ERCougar]

I do take a good multi, but one without iron. Guys don't really need a bunch of iron since they're not usually bleeding very much, and I'm sure I get plenty from all the spinach, beans, and lentils I eat. It's pretty amazing how nutrient rich those foods are. e.g.: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+cup+lentils

I eat lots of dairy so calcium isn't an issue, but I do think that the dairy lobby has unduly associated calcium with dairy and nothing else, when in reality calcium shows up in all sorts of vegetables.

I know vegetarians have their answers to these things--just eat a cup of lentils at every meal-but practically speaking, it just doesn't work for me. Same with calcium-sure,i know there are other sources, but when I lok at my relatively veggie-full diet,i almost never get enough calcium without really working at it, and the easiest place to get it is dairy.
I also realize that men don't need as much iron (or calcium) as women, but which gender makes up the majority of vegetarians?
Our bodies just don't seem very well suited to a vegetarian diet.

[jay santos]

how long do you bulk? and how many pounds do you put on during the cycle? subsequently, how long do you cut?

As you know, Pelagius is the man with the answers. I've done it just a little. After cutting down to 185 and about 13% from 225 30%, I bulked up to about 200. That was a 8 week thing and I think I gained too much fat. Then I cut down to 192 or so, slowly over a few months. Then starting in October, I've been winter bulking. I'm up to almost 210 now. I'm ready to cut. I plan to cut at a rate of 1.5 lbs per week for maybe 10 weeks and then maintain. That's the goal. I'm not as disciplined as I was at first. I hope I have the discipline to make it through the cut. If I do, the MILF's at the Spanish Fork pool are gonna freak out when I enter the joint in July.

[Flystripper]

I feel the same after eating at this one hole-in-wall authentic mexican place on the other side of town. It gives me the runs as well. That's how I know it is authentic.

I feel the same after a cup of coffee. Too bad the mints don't work.

[taekwondave]

So TKD (or others who have given up meat and dairy), I'm curious--where do you get your iron from?
While I don't abstain from meat, I don't eat a lot of it, I rarely drink milk (except for chocolate milk after runs), and I would guess that I eat a lot more fruits and vegetables than most. I thought that I was getting all of my basic nutrients until I started tracking calories and nutrients closely on my phone, and found that while I get plenty of vitamins, I have to really think about it to get my calcium and I almost never get enough iron. If I didn't do any dairy (or yogurt or cheese), I don't know how I would get calcium and it's really hard to get enough iron without red meat. There are plant sources of iron, but they don't absorb as well as animal sources, and the good ones are so few that I'd get sick of them quickly. You can get iron in cold cereal (which is fortified), but I don't consider that a very healthy habit (besides that, you've given up milk...). So I take a multivitamin, a solution that I don't think is very ideal, but it's where I'm at right now.
Do any of you vegetarians/vegans track your nutrients? Do you just take a vitamin to fill in the gaps?

I don't have an answer for you. The fact is I feel great. I don't know if my phone would agree with me if I bought an app for it, but I don't really care what my phone says when so many illnesses and problems I had while I ate meat magically disappeared when I stopped.

I don't pretend to know what really goes on inside the human body like so many people out there do, but I've yet to notice a single NEGATIVE side effect to leaving off eating meat (I've been off it for 6 years now) or dairy (I've been off it for like six months now?). And (and this is the part that will bug everyone on the board that is bodybuilding) I have absolutely no problem putting on lean muscle. Like I said before, my absolute maximum weight I ever got to before was 165. Simply by upping my caloric intake and pushing my muscles to the point of failure so I ACTUALLY get sore every time, plus plenty of sleep, I've upped it to 180 in three months and even though I can't tell by looking in the mirror that I've changed all that much, it seems everyone else can because they keep bringing it up. So, I know that most magazines and "experts" will tell you that plant protein sucks and doesn't work as well as animal protein, and I can't dispute that because I don't eat meat so I can't really compare, but plant protein appears to be working just fine for me. I've never looked like this.

Now, regarding the issue of sustainability? Perhaps cutting meat and dairy out of most people's lifestyle isn't realistic long-term. Then again, those that I've spoken to that have done it have told me they've noticed what I noticed, which was that the longer they were off meat, the less appetizing it became to them. I've noticed and I've heard it said by others as well that your tastes actually change with the behavior. My dad has been trying it for a few months now and he once called to tell me how awesome his Dorito's tasted. He couldn't believe it. He said it was like a flavor palette opened up that he didn't know he had and everything he ate was actually TASTING better. And that was just after four weeks.

So, you can read all you want. But if you ask me, the proof is in the pudding. (Non-dairy pudding, of course. )

[taekwondave]

You know, I forgot about this, and I don't know if it serves to answer your question regarding minerals or not, but if I'm feeling sluggish after a workout I love to take a dash or two of sea salt in a glass of orange juice. That usually livens me right back up. Plus the salt actually makes the juice taste BETTER to me. I've heard that salt is what brings the sweet flavor out in cookies, chocolate milk too. Apparently it makes ALL sweet things taste better?

[filsdepac]

You know, I forgot about this, and I don't know if it serves to answer your question regarding minerals or not, but if I'm feeling sluggish after a workout I love to take a dash or two of sea salt in a glass of orange juice. That usually livens me right back up. Plus the salt actually makes the juice taste BETTER to me. I've heard that salt is what brings the sweet flavor out in cookies, chocolate milk too. Apparently it makes ALL sweet things taste better?

Stop the presses, salt enhances flavor??????

[cowboy]

How this abominable thread continues to live is a mystery to me. Y'all just need to have a coke and a burger and quit thinking so much.

[TripletDaddy]

How this abominable thread continues to live is a mystery to me. Y'all just need to have a coke and a burger and quit thinking so much.

dont worry dude. there are many of us that find this anti-juicy delicious steak thread to be an abomination.

[Babs]

dont worry dude. there are many of us that find this anti-juicy delicious steak thread to be an abomination.

this from the guy that tried to order a yogurt platter at the Lonestar Steakhouse.

[TripletDaddy]

this from the guy that tried to order a yogurt platter at the Lonestar Steakhouse.

i ordered fruit.

stfu.

dont you have some sort of moot court meeting or something to go to?