Can vegetarians be athletes

Many athletes are vegetarian. Getting enough protein is not an issue, because there are many sources of natural and unnatural protein available to vegetarians. Eating plenty of eggs and pulses should be a suitable substitute.

There is a wikipedia page of vegetarian athletes, which also links to a page of vegan athletes, the link is below.

Although cutting out meat would reduce protein intake from meat sources, often eating eggs and cheese and pulses rebalances the diet. More of an issue is iron and B12, and when vegetarians become unhealthy it's probably because they haven't made the changes to their diet to get enough protein, iron and B12. Any exclusion diet must be changed to allow for the item being excluded.

For more information click on the related links below.