Success With A Vegan Fighter Diet
The Vegan Fighter Diet is a new trend in the UFC and is building MMA champions.
When you think of building muscle, tough guys and what fules their bodies, I’m willing to bet that veggie power Vegan Fighter Diet isn’t what you had in mind.
A MMA fighter diet without meat, one that’s all plant based!
This is what some of the best in the business are doing. Some of the toughest guys around doing battle in the octagon are snacking on carrot sticks and celery. Gone are the slabs of protein rich red meat and other typical mass building foods.
It seems as though the new trend with some of the UFC fighters is the vegetarian MMA diet. And it has proved successful for some.
One UFC fighter said this about his old diet…
“I would eat three meals a day with meat, and meat was the main part of every meal. I’d eat two steaks for dinner almost every night.”
Things are much different now. UFC fighter Jon Fitch gets ready for his next fight and training, all without meat. This fighter has dropped meat from his diet all together. And this was coming from a number 2 or 3 UFC Fighter in the welterweight. Until now Fitch grew up on steak and potatoes.
But now all that has changed…
Training for his fights now, Fitch has adopted a new fighter diet along with a few other UFC guys. The new MMA diet has gone vegetarian. Even thought there are a lot of quality vegan protein options available, they haven’t gone vegan. Fish, eggs, and whey protein are still part of their competition and training diet.
Among those who have adopted this new vegetarian diet plan are:
- Jake Shields
- Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz
- Ultimate Fighter winner Nate Diaz
- UFC Champ Mac Danzig.
UFC fighter Shields may be the trail blazer when it comes to ditching the meat and leading this new trend to the typical fighter diet. A vegetarian diet for a fighter is new to many, but not Jake Shields,
“I’ve been this way all my life,”
He grew up in a vegetarian household where both his parents had always been vegetarians. A meatless diet has always been an everyday occurrence for this UFC fighter and nothing different.
Like anything different there are always people who have pushed the issue with Shields, but he let his success in sport quiet the nay syers.
Other UFC fighters too
Diaz, now 27, hasn’t always been a vegetarian. His vegetarian diet plan was adopted as a teenager. Sheilds attributes his great conditioning in part to his vegetarian MMA diet saying…
“nobody can train as hard or as long as me and Nick Diaz, so that seems to indicate something.”
The 2018 documentary The Game Changes, has created a stir. UK, UFC fighter James Wilks, promotes a plant-based diet for high-performance athletes. It has a lot of people talking about adopting a Vegan Diet.
The Game Changes: Official Trailer
When a fighter eliminates meat, and chooses to go with a vegetarian diet, there are a few considerations that make it a little more difficult requiring more thought.
When you eat more fresh vegetables the lack preservatives will require you to make more trips to the grocery store.
Cutting back on meat and increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables does require you to eat more often because it doesn’t contain as many calories as high fat foods. Frequent eating on the road is often more difficult so you need to plan a little more.
You also have to consider your micro and macronutrient levels. Vegan diets often lack the following:
- Omega-3 fatty acids (so do non-vegans)
- Vitamin B12
- Iron
- Zinc
- Calcium
UFC Fighter’s Vegetarian Diet
Jake Shields’s No Meat Diet
Sample of Jake Shields vegetarian diet:
- Breakfast:
- Oatmeal with fresh fruit or sweet maple syrup
- 1st Snack:
- A mix of nuts and fresh fruit
- Lunch:
- Stir-fry and brown rice or a veggie burger or sandwich
- Post-workout:
- A soy-based protein or a pea/rice based vegan protein shake
- Supper
- Eggs or a burrito, vegetables, toast or a tortilla, and a variety of potato or quinoa
- Evening Snack:
- Cereal and almond milk or crackers and hummus
Jon Fitch and His Daily Vegan Fighter Diet
Fitch is another vegetarian convert. Seeing the success of fellow fighter Shields
lead the transformation decision to go with a vegetarian fighter diet all that easier, and he couldn’t be happier with his choice. Prior to a big fight he cut back on meat and increased vegetables. In just two weeks Fitch was feeling a noticeable improvement in training.
Fitch said…
“In every kind of testing to see where I’m at, strength, speed, conditioning, I’m either right at or well ahead of the best marks I’ve ever had at this stage of training. A few weeks ago, we were concerned I was peaking too fast. I’d kick the shit out of myself at the same stage of training for any of my previous fights.”
What Fitch has found to be of the most benefit to him in this new MMA diet is his recovery time. Fitch believes this ne fighter diet has been responsible for the best camp he has had to date, saying he had never felt flat on training day.
Mac Danzig on his diet
“I experimented with a vegan diet for about a year, but once I started training full-time for fighting, I believed what certain people said and started eating chicken again because I thought that I had to have some kind of animal protein in order to be a successful athlete. It was crazy because my diet was still pretty much vegan, except for chicken about three times a week. It never sat right with me. I would still go through spells where I just couldn’t eat it, and about 2 years ago, I read a Mike Mahler article, and I said, That’s it, I can do it too, and I started 100 percent vegan again for life and I’ve never looked back. I feel great.”
UFC Fighter Mac Danzig’s Vegan Fighter Diet
Here’s an example of a typical (non-weight cutting) training day:
- Breakfast:
- Oatmeal and soy yogurt with fruit.
- Snack:
- almonds and dried cranberries
- Lunch:
- Barley salad sautéed zucchini and mushroom and ‘garden’ flavor tempeh with curry dipping sauce.
- Midday Snack:
- Vega shake, Clif Builder Bar.
- Snack:
- Tortilla chips and Guacamole
- Dinner:
- Brown rice pasta with fresh portabello’s and eggplant and marinara sauce.
- Late night Snack:
- Coconut sorbet with pineapples
For these guys it can be difficult to maintain muscle size and strength that is why they sometimes turn to a Vegetarian Bodybuilding meal plan.
How To Create Your Own Muscle Building Vegan Fighter Diet Meal Plan
Packing on lean muscle is a long and difficult process. Going vegan means you’ll have to pay more attention to what goes in your belly. Here’s a quick guide to planning your meals so you pack on lean muscle while staying vegan.
- Calories – It all starts with knowing your calorie requirements. If you don’t get enough calories you’ll never see a change in muscle mass.
- Macros – Excluding animal products from your diet means it’s more difficult to get the recommended 40/40/20 macronutrient split. Start with protein, then look at fat. Carbs are easy. Quality vegan protein sources include: legumes like peas, beans, and potatoes; nuts like pistachios, walnuts, and almonds; and of course there’s vegan protein powders. Aim for 1g or protein per pound of body weight, or 40% of your calories. Avocados are a great source of fat.
Not every MMA fighter is going to jump on the band wagon and adopt a vegetarian diet, but for those who have, it has been very successful.
Vegetarian Recipe Book ——>>
Who knows, after the other fighters see the success of these guys, we may see every guy in the UFC switch to a Vegan Fighter Diet.