A Vegan Diet for Mixed Martial Arts?

[socalfusions]

I posted this in the martial arts forum but theres not a lot of traffic and it seemed appropriate here.

 

This subject has been on my mind daily for a long time now, I've really not seen a lot of talk about it which is why I decided to make this thread. In a sport like MMA it would appear you'd want every advantage you could get and a highly alkaline vegan diet seems like it would be superior to an acidic omnivorous diet where most mmartists get their protein from animal products.

 

Off the top of my head I would say you'd have stronger and healthier skin which would prevent cuts, you'd have a faster recovery time, more endurance and stronger bones from the diet being very alkaline, more bloodflow to your vital organs from cholesterol free foods, ability to control your weight easier from much cleaner foods and an overall better sense of well being.

 

I'd love to hear everyone else's facts, thoughts and beliefs towards this subject as there are only a handful of vegan mmartists professionally fighting and I believe as the sport evolves so will the diets of those participating.

[Couture547]

That would be the case assuming a vegan diet is the best diet for human athletes, but many would argue other wise. I don't really know the answer either way all i know is the best of the best of all sports with few exceptions are on a omni diet.

Plus being vegan doesn't automatically make you healthier or more alkaline. actually a good number of vegans i've met personally aren't very healthy looking nor athletic in the least. There's a right and a wrong way to do a omni diet and a vegan diet and i truly believe a bad omni diet is healthier for someone then a bad vegan diet. A good vegan diet vs. a good omni i think is debatable. The reason i say that about a the too bad diets is the fact that the majority of the worst stuff people eat happens to fall into the vegan foods. Oils, GMO's, Pesticides, HFCS, flours, sugars ect, so eliminating all that would make a diet healthy regardless of meat vs. no meat.

[veggieprincess]

Couture is right. A Vegan diet can be done wrong (and often is) and make you more unhealthy.

 

It can also be very very healthy and great for Martial Arts if done right.

 

You'd have to do your research. And yes, there's is something to be said for the low acid, high alkaline ratio in a Vegan diet which provides lots of health benefits.

 

If you stay away from all flour and most sugar, keep the veggie, protein and healthy fats high, do your research on proper supplementation for Vegans, you can thrive in the sport.

[medman]

Just ask Ben Saunders and Mac Danzig, both of whom are currently vegan to my knowledge.

 

I think the whole point of this forum is to show that healthy, fit, even competitive athletes can do it while vegan. However, I don't think there would be any significant performance benefit in the ring/octagon vs a well-balanced omni diet (like a Mediterranean diet). Training, skill, and the mental side of the game play too big a role. It doesn't matter if your skin is a bit healthier if you've been mounted and are eating elbows.

 

I think everyone here would agree that a well-balanced vegan diet can fuel the most intense training, and certainly wouldn't hold someone back. I'm just not convinced that a fighter would see any significant improvement, so long as their current diet is healthy (e.g. not McDonalds twice a day).