viva_vanessa

So I'm sure most of you have seen that dietary nitrates (not the kind from processed meats) improve sports performance if taken before a workout. Arugula, kale, rhubarb and other leafy greens are high in nitrates, the problem is, if I wanted to consume enough nitrates from one of these, I'd have to eat a boat load of fiber before I workout. That is not ideal for me. So I thought, perhaps I will juice and consume the juice 30 min before my workout..... but juicing is so strenuous and requires so much clean up. Also, time wise, I can't always coordinate that. So my question is, does anyone know if I can get nitrates from powdered kale and arugula, like a green powder? Has anyone tried supplementing with these? Are the nitrates preserved through the processing? Please let me know if you know anything about green powders! Thanks!

Welcome! Glad you made the switch

My skin looked better after a week! And I think it's also really cool that since I have no meat in my kitchen, there's less worries about switching cutting boards and knives and where I store things in the fridge. Most of the dangers in food safety come from meat and animal products IMO

I think starting bodybuilding at 74 makes you quite the inspiration! Good Luck!!

I've never encountered anyone with this problem lol. My first question would be how much body fat% are you? You might not have as much muscle as you think you do. You didn't mention that you do any strength training, so I'm not sure that you have that much. What kind of martial arts do you do? Are we talking something like muay thai or something like bjj? would also not advise losing too much muscle because that is what keeps your bones strong and your body functional. BUT if you are serious about losing muscle and you are lean to the point that losing muscle would be more beneficial than fat, than I would suggest doing things counterintuitively. Losing weight period will sacrifice some muscle mass. When we are trying to lose fat, we do certain things to prevent as much muscle loss as possible. So essentially, you want to continue trying to lose weight just cut out all the precautionary measures. Things like post- workout shakes, BCAAs, beta-alanine, creatine..etc. Lots of cardio, running as opposed to cycling. And reduce your carbs... what? I know crazy but muscle is made up of glycogen and glycogen is made up of carbs. So any reduction in carbs would decrease the muscle mass. I wouldn't suggest getting too light to the point that you need to sacrifice lean body mass. It's not in your best interest and will take a toll on performance.

I used to work 14 -16 hour days while i was competing, so eating 6 times a day. Most of my meals would be eaten away from home. I wasn't vegan then, but I can tell you that you just have to get used to eating things cold. I got soo used to it that now I eat my leftovers cold all the time lol. To make things easier, I eat the same thing for lunch all week. So a great investment would be a crockpot! Toss in beans and veggies with seasonings in your crockpot and make a big pot of protein power. Divide it into 5 servings and meal prep is made super easy. Hope that helps!

Hey guys, Just introducing myself . My name is Vanessa and I have been vegan for two months! I used to compete in bikini division NPC but stopped about a year and a half ago to focus on life. So I had developed kind of a nasty habit of eating wayyyy too much meat, eggs and whey. Gross. A couple months ago, I saw the light and quit it cold turkey. I lived in Miami until last week and now live in Houston. Looking forward to meeting other plant-powered athletes. -Vanessa