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lake district canary

Player diets

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Sports nutrition is a fascinating subject is a an important part in preparing sportsmen for battle and the lastest scientific research points to a whole food plant based diet as the way forwards for everyone.   Does anyone know if the players' diet is mainly plant based, or indeed even no meat at all?   I know Russ was a vegan, partly for health reasons, but the old fashioned idea that you need meat for protein has been proved to be false....so are any of the players vegetarian or vegan, or is the advice they are given pointing in that direction?  

There is a war of words going on about the rights and wrongs of different diets,  keto, raw food, Mcdougall and his whole food diets and plenty of others.  Intermittent fasting is also supposed to be beneficial too.  I just wondered how progressive the food/nutrition side of things is at the football club, after all, they are pretty well up to speed everywhere else.  

 

 

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I wouldn't bother coming on here and asking people about vegan diets, Lakey!

As you can see, nobody has answered yet and I'm willing to bet that we have a LOT of red blooded males, with red blood all over their faces as they chomp into a live rabbit.

For the record, I'm vegetarian and have been for 21 years. I eat vegan/plant based a lot of the time but I struggle without a cuppa with milk in!

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I'll see your 21 years and raise you another 10! Still clinging on to life...

I agree about the milk in tea - and cheese! Without animal protein, you need to combine at least two different sources of plant protein to get "complete" protein in your diet which IMHO makes veganism a significantly more complex commitment.

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Thanks for that, both.  Actually, I think I've found out some answers here -

  https://www.goal.com/en/news/vegan-footballers-diets-health-benefits-players-who-have-cut/l2z310of3pl71kjxn3aive0nn

https://www.menshealth.com/uk/nutrition/a26656882/chris-smalling-vegan-diet/

Interesting to see that stopping eating meat is becoming more prevalent. I guess it is going to be the way forwards for many players.  I recently stopped meat altogether and it feels good just stopping, regardless of any health benefits there might be......and other food has all of a sudden become a whole lot tastier! 

Edited by lake district canary
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3 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Thanks for that, both.  Actually, I think I've found out some answers here -

  https://www.goal.com/en/news/vegan-footballers-diets-health-benefits-players-who-have-cut/l2z310of3pl71kjxn3aive0nn

https://www.menshealth.com/uk/nutrition/a26656882/chris-smalling-vegan-diet/

Interesting to see that stopping eating meat is becoming more prevalent. I guess it is going to be the way forwards for many players.  I recently stopped meat altogether and it feels good just stopping, regardless of any health benefits there might be......and other food has all of a sudden become a whole lot tastier! 

I wonder if  the fact that you've just stopped eating meat has anything to do with your sudden interest in players diets?

I would guess 99% of footballers eat meat. Why wouldn't they?

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3 minutes ago, Rock The Boat said:

I wonder if  the fact that you've just stopped eating meat has anything to do with your sudden interest in players diets?

I would guess 99% of footballers eat meat. Why wouldn't they?

Yes, you are right, it is a subject that interests me.  But it is a fascinating subject and I have read up and studied all the different diets out there to see what would be best and concluded the whole food plant based diet is the way to go - and I wondered what happens in football, where diet and correct nutrition is vital.  I would guess there are many footballers who have learned quite a lot from their clubs' doctors/nutritionists and the trend is definitely to eat less meat.  

As for 99% of footballers eating meat, maybe there's more who have given up than you think. I thought Russ was fairly unique in the respect of being vegan, but it seems there are plenty out there.  Just googling "football players vegan" throws up some interesting stuff.   Aguero and Messi, Defoe, Russ, Perez to name a few.

 

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2 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Yes, you are right, it is a subject that interests me.  But it is a fascinating subject and I have read up and studied all the different diets out there to see what would be best and concluded the whole food plant based diet is the way to go - and I wondered what happens in football, where diet and correct nutrition is vital.  I would guess there are many footballers who have learned quite a lot from their clubs' doctors/nutritionists and the trend is definitely to eat less meat.  

As for 99% of footballers eating meat, maybe there's more who have given up than you think. I thought Russ was fairly unique in the respect of being vegan, but it seems there are plenty out there.  Just googling "football players vegan" throws up some interesting stuff.   Aguero and Messi, Defoe, Russ, Perez to name a few.

 

Very few. Why did you conclude the whole food plant based diet is the way to go? What is whole food anyway? Two half portions?

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2 minutes ago, Rock The Boat said:

Very few. Why did you conclude the whole food plant based diet is the way to go? What is whole food anyway? Two half portions?

Have been going off meat for years, plus sticking to whole foods is reckoned to be healthier - plus I don't like the way animals are treated in food production.  Once you start looking into it, the science is irefutable....although the dairy and meat industries will try and persuade you otherwise.....   

Whole foods?  From wiki -

Whole foods are plant foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Examples of whole foods include whole grains, tubers, legumes, fruits, vegetables.

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The flip side of the case for whole food is if you look at processed food, it largely mirrors what’s believed to be wrong with the modern diet. High is saturated fat, carbs, sugar and salt. Sadly, if you want to eat healthily, the best thing is to prepare your own food.

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Different diets work better for different people. I tried intermittent fasting after hearing about the benefits and after a few days was completely exhausted, felt like I was on a sleeping tablet and as I was too languid to work out I lost a bit of muscle mass alongside fat, which i didn't need to lose and it took 2 days of normal eating to return to normal. Never again.

 

The club will probably have personalised diet plans for each player depending on their needs. The only absolutes for a healthy diet are a low amount of sugar/salt, not eating round the clock (ie no midnight or 2 am snacks) and getting at least 20-30 portions of fruit/veg a week. So I'd imagine every player is at least sticking to those rules. But I bet Emi Bunedia and Todd Cantwell's diets will look a lot different to say Grant Hanley's because they're tailored towards the needs of the individual, instead of having one, perfect diet plan that works for the whole squad.

Edited by Christoph Stiepermann

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Interesting film / documentary coming out on this subject featuring arnie and many other athletes. Think this will shed more light on the debate. Definitely all for veganisn and plant based nutrition myself.

 

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3 minutes ago, Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB said:

I tried being a veggie a few years back, was doing OK but those of you that are vegetarian will probably know what caused me to fall of the wagon..........

 

Let me guess..... Bacon Butty?

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8 minutes ago, wcorkcanary said:

Let me guess..... Bacon Butty?

I think pretty much every ex-vegetarian I know blames their downfall on a bacon butty, normally with a hangover.

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Would happily pass on bacon but there's no way I couldn't ever eat chicken again. Or beef, for that matter. Basically, I will never be a vegetarian!

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Funny, I’ve never really missed steak. What did bother me when I was first a vegetarian 30+ years ago was there was no veggie junk food.  The best you could get was a packet of Sosmix from Holland and Barrett. It’s fair to say it was sausage in shape only.

 

Now Greggs are selling vegan sausage rolls! But tell that to young vegans today, and they won’t believe you.

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I was a veggie for several years when I was younger, then changed my diet to eating meat/ fish that was either ethically raised, hunted or angled for. This was the ideal diet.... For me, as within half a mile I had access to wild salmon and sea trout, a few miles away is the sea , with fish , shrimp, crab , .mussel etc. We grow a lot of our own vegetables and have an acquaintance that raises truly free range  chicken for the table.  The highlight of my dietary year is a couple of hunting trips into north cork /South Kerry to fill the freezer with venison. I know this kind of meat eating is not available to everyone, but there are more and more opportunities nowadays to buy wild/ responsibility sourced meat / fish etc.  Locally we have an organic duck farm, that even manages to export the bill and feet of their ducks to China ...as  premium product.......in fact , as they put it, they only bit they can't use is the quack!!.

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I'm trying to do a couple of days a week veggie if possible but I just find veggie meals often leave me hungry unless the portions are huge. Had an amazing veggie burger recently though.

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14 minutes ago, Nuff Said said:

I think pretty much every ex-vegetarian I know blames their downfall on a bacon butty, normally with a hangover.

When I was a veggie, I used to make a pretty tasty substitute using my favourite bread for bacon butty, filing it with fried, slightly salted sesame and sunflower seed, a little ketchup and hey presto!!  Also works with brown sauce believe it not. It seems to satisfy that BB craving.

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I've been flirting with vegetarianism for a couple of years now. I have the occasional relapse where I will eat meat, and I fairly liberally eat fish and seafood. My motivation is primarily about the environmental and ethical implications of industrial meat farming. I would never eat battery farmed chicken or eggs. 

The trouble is, I just feel hungry most of the time and I only really feel satisfied by food on the rare occasions that I do eat meat. It's an unfortunate dichotomy that I'm physically compelled to act against my own morals.

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2 hours ago, BobLoz3 said:

I wouldn't bother coming on here and asking people about vegan diets, Lakey!

As you can see, nobody has answered yet and I'm willing to bet that we have a LOT of red blooded males, with red blood all over their faces as they chomp into a live rabbit.

For the record, I'm vegetarian and have been for 21 years. I eat vegan/plant based a lot of the time but I struggle without a cuppa with milk in!

Try a slice of lemon instead. Far more refreshing

 

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2 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

Try a slice of lemon instead. Far more refreshing

 

Yes! I have friends who literally just drink hot water and lemon! Very nice indeed...

I'm ok with it now. I have been a herbivore for a while and if I decide to take that next step and move to purely plant based it will be my decision. It's one I've toyed with for some time and I've just found it a little trickier to make that move.

Regardless, I think being dogmatic about this sort of thing is pretty dumb. There are so many virtue signalling vegans out there that it rather annoys me. Almost seems for a lot of them it's more about the fashion... Fitting in with a certain crowd etc. Also lots of business people who have made a killing out of the trend, despite not fully believing in it themselves. That's fine and all...we all like money I guess! I just think it's a little hypocritical.

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5 minutes ago, BobLoz3 said:

Yes! I have friends who literally just drink hot water and lemon! Very nice indeed...

I'm ok with it now. I have been a herbivore for a while and if I decide to take that next step and move to purely plant based it will be my decision. It's one I've toyed with for some time and I've just found it a little trickier to make that move.

Regardless, I think being dogmatic about this sort of thing is pretty dumb. There are so many virtue signalling vegans out there that it rather annoys me. Almost seems for a lot of them it's more about the fashion... Fitting in with a certain crowd etc. Also lots of business people who have made a killing out of the trend, despite not fully believing in it themselves. That's fine and all...we all like money I guess! I just think it's a little hypocritical.

Sounds like a good attitude to have- I've had to block a couple of vegans on social media who insist on posting about nothing but it all day every day. Equally there are quite a few meat eaters who seem to take people going vegan as a personal affront (see Piers Morgan and his weird reaction to the vegan sausage rolls).

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