You've decided to make the switch to some style of a vegetarian diet. Will your exercise performance suffer? What about your energy levels? Can you still develop body-firming muscle even though you're not eating animal protein?

Put your fears aside.Vegetarian diets are typically high in carbohydrates and low in fat. That's the perfect prescription for exercisers and athletes. With 60 to 65 percent of your diet coming from carb-packed grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, there's no way your performance will drop off. And you can certainly get 15-20 percent of your calories as protein to pack on plenty of muscle. But you do have to plan your diet well.

And just for clarity-sake, although research has taught us that eating too much of animal-based foods may result in the development of chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer, the problem is not that eating any amount of these foods is bad for you. But if you make animal foods the center of your diet, you just don't have enough room left to eat all the fabulous plant foods like grains, beans, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables necessary to ward off disease.

During the past decade millions of Americans have switched to a vegetarian style of eating. Their vegetarian diets fall within a large range of eating styles. So now you have a decision to make: what type of vegetarian do you want to be?

• Almost-vegetarians eat dairy foods, eggs, poultry and fish, but avoid red meat.
• Pesco-vegetarians eat dairy foods, eggs and fish, but no other animal flesh.
• Lacto-ovo-vegetarians eat dairy foods and eggs, but exclude animal flesh.
• Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy foods but no eggs or animal flesh.
• Ovo-vegetarians eat eggs but no dairy foods or animal flesh.
• Vegans eat no animal foods of any type.

Any of these styles will offer you the opportunity to expand the amount of plant foods in your diet and still meet your own desires for food, taste and performance.

Ensuring The Proper Nutrients
Changing from a meat-centered to a plant-centered diet is not as simple as just eliminating the meat. The trick is to make sure you're not skimping on any nutrients as you cut out certain foods. Vegans run the greatest risk of deficiencies because several vital nutrients including protein, vitamins B12 and D, iron, zinc, and calcium, are found in highest qualities or most significant amounts primarily in meat, eggs and dairy products.

Special Focus On Protein and Carbohydrate For Women
Even women need to eat enough protein. The guys have this part down, but women have not focused on protein needs. When you are training your protein requirement is just the same as his, so join in on the protein fun. Protein is required not only for the maintenance, replacement, and growth of body tissues, but it is used to make the hormones that regulate your metabolism, maintain the body's water balance, protect against disease, transport nutrients in and out of cells, carry oxygen and regulate blood clotting. If you don't eat enough high quality protein during training you just won't achieve your sculpting goals. And when you are not eating any animal sources of protein, you need to eat about 10 percent more protein to cover the variation in the quality of protein from only plant sources (see sidebar).

When it comes to carbohydrates, don't be misled by fads. The research is clear: if you want to train hard and long, you need plenty of carbohydrate to achieve your goals. Eating a vegetarian-style diet will make this easy. Plant-based foods are great sources of all the different carbohydrates and fibers that will keep you healthy and fuel intense workouts.

Planning Your Diet
To get enough calories and nutrients, vegetarians should eat at least 1,800 calories a day, with the minimum number of servings from the following food groups:

Almost-vegetarians, pesco-vegetarians, and lacto-ovo vegetarians:

• 6-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice, and pasta
• 3-5 servings of vegetables
• 2-4 servings of fruit
• 2-3 servings of milk, yogurt, and cheese
• 2-3 servings of poultry, fish, dried beans, eggs, and nuts

Lacto-vegetarians:

• 8-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice, and pasta
• 3-5 servings of vegetables
• 3-4 servings of fruit
• 2-3 servings of milk and yogurt
• 1-2 servings of low-fat cheese
• 4-6 servings of dried beans and peas
• 2-4 servings of nuts and seeds
• supplement or use products fortified with iron and zinc

Vegans:

• 8-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice, and pasta
• 4-6 servings of vegetables
• 3-4 servings of fruit
• 6-8 servings of dried beans and peas
• 3-5 servings of nuts and seeds
• supplement or use products fortified with vitamins B12 and D, iron, zinc, and calcium

Serving size guidelines:

A Gold Medal Lifetime
You are now on the road to improving your performance, and your life. Many successful athletes have chosen a vegetarian lifestyle. Not only could they perform at peak levels during their athletic careers, but they have maintained good health and longevity throughout the rest of their lives.

Bean Dip
Beans are great energy for that get-up-and-go feeling. This dip makes an easy packable lunch for work or trailside.

2 cups canned pinto beans, drained
½ cup chopped fresh seeded tomatoes (drain off excess liquid)
½ cup nonfat yogurt, drained
½ tablespoon minced chives
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ chili, seeded, such as jalapeno or serrano
¼ cup fresh cilantro

1. Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth.
2. Served chilled with tortillas.

For 3 servings each serving contains: 181 calories, 2 grams fat, 12 grams protein, 1 mg cholesterol, 30 grams carbohydrate
Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Marco Polo Orzo
Pasta originated in China and was brought back to Italy by Marco Polo. This dish combines traditional Chinese vegetables with a Mediterranean pasta treat. The mango, while not one of the fruits brought back to Italy by Marco Polo, provides beta-carotene for a high-antioxidant bonus.

¼ cup sugar
¼ cup hoisin sauce
½ cup rice wine
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 slices ginger, approximately 1/8" thick, peeled and minced
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 small Oriental eggplants, diced
1 mango, peeled and cut into ½" cubes
2 cups snow peas
4 ounces Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
8 ounces orzo (small rice-shaped pasta), cooked according to package directions
3 scallions, chopped

1. In a bowl combine the sugar, hoisin sauce, rice wine, garlic, and ginger and mix until well blended. Set aside.
2. In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium heat until hot (about 2 minutes). Add the eggplants, mango, snowpeas, and mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
3. Add the orzo and the hoisin sauce mixture and mix thoroughly. Continue cooking over medium heat for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir the scallions into the mixture and serve immediately.

For 3 servings each serving contains: 640 calories, 7 grams fat, 16 grams protein, 0 mg cholesterol, 121 grams carbohydrate
Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Szechuan Stuffed Red Peppers
Our version of the Eastern European stuffed pepper owes more to the Szechuan region of China than to Budapest. While Szechuan cooking is usually assumed to be hot, this mild sauce complements the stuffed peppers to perfection.

Szechuan Sauce
2 tbs tamari sauce or regular soy sauce
2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs apple cider
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon plum sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Stuffed Red Peppers
1 cup raw long-grain brown or white rice
No-stick cooking spray
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons finely chopped green bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
6 ounces firm tofu, crumbled
3 small red bell peppers, stem and seeds removed
4 medium tomatoes, quartered

1. To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
2. Cook rice using ½ cup less water than recommended on the package, until the water is absorbed and the rice is almost tender.
3. Spray a nonstick skillet and add the oil. Heat over medium-high heat and add the chopped vegetables. Cook, stirring, until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the rice, tofu, ¼ cup of Szechuan sauce. Mix well.
4. Slightly trim the bottoms of the peppers so that they can stand upright. Stuff the filling into the peppers, and stand the peppers upright in one layer in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Push the tomatoes all around the peppers, squeezing the tomatoes slightly to release some juice.
5. Bring the tomato juice on the peppers to a boil over medium heat, cover tightly reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for about 30 minutes or until the peppers are tender.
6. Remove the peppers to a serving dish and keep warm. Puree half of the pan juices and 2 tablespoons of the Szechuan sauce in a blender. Pour the pureed mixture over and around the peppers and serve immediately.

For 3 servings each serving contains: 413 calories, 10 grams fat, 13 grams protein, 0 mg cholesterol, 72 grams carbohydrate
Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Swiss Chard Torta
This layered casserole is a wonderful source of phytoestrogens and antioxidants.

1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ cup water
12 leaves Swiss chard
3 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
2 large eggs, beaten
8 ounces nonfat soy sausage, cooked and crumbled
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Place lemon juice and water in a microwave safe dish with a lid. Add the Swiss chard and steam, covered, in the microwave oven on high for 3 minutes or until the chard wilts.
2. Coat the potatoes with the beaten eggs. Layer a baking dish with 1 layer of Swiss chard, followed by the potatoes and sausage. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
3. Continue layering until all of the ingredients are used up. The top layer can be either sausage or potato, but not Swiss chard.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes on 375 degrees or until the potatoes are tender.

For 3 servings each serving contains: 254 calories, 3 grams fat, 20 grams protein, 125 mg cholesterol, 38 grams carbohydrate
Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

High-Performance Brownies
The secret is the prune butter; cutting the fat and spiking the carbs.

2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
½ cup prune butter
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
No-stick cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine all the ingredients except the cooking spray, coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray, and pour in the batter.
3. Bake for 30 minutes.

For 8 servings each serving contains: 193 calories, 5 grams fat, 3 grams protein, 47 mg cholesterol, 36 grams carbohydrates
Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

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