Muscle Building Vegetarian - Can Veggie Lovers Build Muscle?

by Ryan M Hall Fat Loss Expert and Author of The 20/20/20 Diet

The general belief among most vegetarians is that you can't build muscle as a vegetarian. This of course isn't true, however, you will face the hurdle that your body requires large amounts of protein to build muscle. Since most people take in the majority of your protein from animals, how can you get past this and still build muscle?

1. Protein

Soy is the perfect source of protein for many vegetarian bodybuilders. This is because soy products such as tofu, edamame, and soy milk provide all 8 essential amino acids required by your body to build and rebuild muscle. Soy milk can be used to replace cows milk in any recipe, and tofu is a great meat replacement for most chicken or turkey based dishes. In fact, soy has more protein content than beef.

Nuts like walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and pistachio nuts are a great source of both protein and healthy fats for vegetarians. Keep a jar or package around to snack on at all times and you can be sure to get enough protein through the day.

One of the first ways most body builders ensure that they get enough protein is with protein shakes and supplements. Most of these protein shakes are soy or whey based and can offer upwards of 21 grams of protein in each serving. Adding these to your diet will give your body the protein it requires.

2. Vitamins and Minerals

If you are eating a balanced diet, you should be getting most of your necessary vitamins and minerals. That being said, many vegetarians suffer from a vitamin B12 deficiency. This is because vitamin B12 is primarily found in meat. You can take a good multivitamin, or use a B12 Supplement along with your normal eating habits. If you choose to drink on of the meal replacement shakes mentioned above, you will be getting about 1/3 of your needed vitamins from each of them.

3. Fats

Eating a good portion of nuts each day will make sure that you are getting plenty of good fats, but you may still need more essential fatty acids as they are most commonly found in meat. If you want to make sure that you get these fatty acids, add a tablespoon or so of flax seed oil to your diet as it is the best source of an essential amino acid called linolenic acid.

Making the changes mentioned above will ensure that you can build muscle as a vegetarian. These dietary changes will get your body ready for gaining lean muscle and give you proper nutrition to go along with a good muscle building program.

If you want to build muscle without spending hours in the gym or wasting your time with useless workouts, claim your copy of the 20/20/20 Diet and Muscle Building plan and start building your dream body today!

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About The Author:

Ryan M Hall is the Author of the 20/20/20 Diet found at his site:
http://www.202020Diet.com

He specializes in helping overweight people lose 10, 15, or even 20 lbs in 20 days with a simple diet and 20 minute exercise plan that he personally used to lose over 95 lbs of pure fat.
No Pills, No Gimmicks, Just Results

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