Sport Muscle Fatigue

Sport Fitness
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RedJade

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Hi, I am new here and my situation is a bit unusual because my diet is not typical. I am a raw vegan which means I do neat eat any cooked, processed or refined foods, nor additives like salt or sugar. I basically only eat raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. I admit to not being 100% raw however as I still consume limited amounts of soy products and some grain products like whole grain cereal and sprouted grain bread. I'm 5'7" and 112 pounds and am trying to tone up. I run 6 miles 5 days a week, and bike 12-15 miles 3 times a week and sometimes do a long 40 mile ride on the weekends. I also do weights at home and yoga.

Since I switched to the raw diet from the typical vegan diet in January my stamina and strength has improved dramatically, but lately I've been experiencing muscle fatigue like I've never before experienced, and a weak shaky feeling a few hours after my workout in my limbs. I thought perhaps I was not getting enough protein. Also I'm not sure what the best thing to eat for my post workout meal, I seem to always crave cereal. Here's an example of my daily food intake: (don't make fun of my green smoothies :D )

Morning: Smoothie made with 1 tblsp flax seeds, 1 banana, 1 mango, and 2 cups of spinach

run 6 miles

Post workout snack: shredded wheat cereal with soymilk and raisins

stretch, and 30-40 minutes of weights (I don't lift heavy just 10 pounders)

Lunch: Very large turnip green, spinach, apple, celery, and walnut salad. dressing= 1tsp olive oil and dash of vinegar.
16oz of carrot juice
toast with 1 tblsp raw almond butter

snack: smoothie made with 1 banana and 2 cups chopped kale.

snack2: handful of baby carrots

Dinner: Shredded beets, parsley and Napa cabbage salad.
1 cup raw soybeans
1 glass soymilk

On the days I bike I would eat a bit more. Any help is greatly appreciated Thanks.

-Erika
 
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i cant help you on the fatigue part, but i've always been fascinated with this diet. i've wanted to try it myself and hope to eventually. i can see it will take a bit of planning. how do you like it?
 
Muscle fatigue among vegetarians and vegans can occur as a result of Acetyl L-Carnitine deficiencies, a nutrient which is found most predominantly in meats. There is research to support this theory as well as to deny it, but it might be worth looking into.

You will also want to look into how much Iron and B-Vitamins you're getting from your diet - as vegans are sometimes deficient in these important nutrients.

You can eat spirulina to get many of these nutrients. L-Carnitine only comes from non-Vegan sources, however, like eggs, dairy, and meats. It is produced in small amounts by the body, but I don't know if that's sufficient.

By the way, I don't really know much about any of that -- what are the advantages of a vegan over vegetarian diet (unless it's purely an ethical issue), and healthwise, what's the difference between a raw vegan diet and a standard vegan diet?
 
shimmering said:
i cant help you on the fatigue part, but i've always been fascinated with this diet. i've wanted to try it myself and hope to eventually. i can see it will take a bit of planning. how do you like it?
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Hi Shimmering, Since becoming a raw vegan my allergies have completely disappeared. I used to wake up with headaches almost every morning from seasonal allergies or sinusitus (was never sure what it was), but they seemed to have disappeared. I also have more energy and sleep better at night. I think this lifestyle is great but there are a lot of different schools of thought out there about what to eat and what not to eat and a lot of misinformation which is why I have not gone completely 100% raw yet. I think the key in this diet is to make sure you get enough greens, as they provide calcium, iron and essential amino acids. I put leafy greens in my smoothies, they look scary but all you taste is the fruit. It's a great way to get your needed minerals without having to chew like a cow all day. There are some misinformed raw vegan who advocate only eating fruit and nuts and they are now discovering that their teeth are in terrible condition and there bones are thin. They are the fanatical ones. I think variety of fresh fruits and vegetables (emphasis on greens) and limited fats (nuts and seeds) is the best ratio for me.
 
Fil said:
Muscle fatigue among vegetarians and vegans can occur as a result of Acetyl L-Carnitine deficiencies, a nutrient which is found most predominantly in meats. There is research to support this theory as well as to deny it, but it might be worth looking into.

You will also want to look into how much Iron and B-Vitamins you're getting from your diet - as vegans are sometimes deficient in these important nutrients.

You can eat spirulina to get many of these nutrients. L-Carnitine only comes from non-Vegan sources, however, like eggs, dairy, and meats. It is produced in small amounts by the body, but I don't know if that's sufficient.

By the way, I don't really know much about any of that -- what are the advantages of a vegan over vegetarian diet (unless it's purely an ethical issue), and healthwise, what's the difference between a raw vegan diet and a standard vegan diet?
Click to expand...

Hi Fil, I try to check how I am meeting my RDA periodically on fitday.com and seem to be doing great on everything except B12 and zinc which I supplement. I get all the other B vitamins in great amounts including iron but I supplement that one too, because I've heard iron needs for female athletes are greater. I am Vegan for health as well as moral reasons, but even if I wasn't Vegan I'm severely allergic to milk. I've heard a little about this L-carnitine before, I'll have to read into that a bit more. Spirulina is an excellent idea and am thinking of incorporating that in my diet. The difference between a raw vegan diet and a typical vegan diet is that I do not cook my food. Cooking denatures, and depleats the nutrients of food. Fresh raw fruits and vegetables are the purest vitamin sources available, once you cook them they become more difficult to digest. You can read some more info about this here: or here:
 
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Ahhh, I was aware of the denaturization of food, I wasn't aware that that was the purpose of the diet - nutrition is my business, after all :) Thanks for the info.

A little aside: San Diego rocks my socks. I live in the Bay Area, go down there from time to time. Last time, I think, was for Comicon last year. We took the wrong lightrail through downtown a couple times. YAY CALI!
 
I love the Bay area that's where I want to live. Actually my college is in San Francisco, I'm an online student at the Academy of Art University.
 
Snap. The North Bay is where it's at (for house parties at least, which is what I'm all about). I just turned 21 last September, and lucky for me, the SJ downtown scene is exploding.

Admittedly, they're all suburbanites posing downtown, but hey, I'm a suburbanite too, so who am I to judge?
 
I found some more info on L-Carnitine
"L-carnitine occurs naturally in animal products. Generally, only very small amounts of it are found in plants, with few exceptions, such as avocado and some fermented soy products. L-carnitine is synthesized in the human body, chiefly in the liver and kidneys, from the essential amino acids L-lysine and L-methionine. Carnitine can be manufactured by the body if sufficient amounts of iron, vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), and vitamin C. Inadequate intake of any of these nutrients can result in a carnitine deficiency."

So in my case I need to eat more avocados and tempeh and keep a watch on my B vitamins. I think the L-carnitine may really be the issue with me. When I first went raw I was eating a lot of avocados, but because they are so fattening I stopped eating them so much lately. I wonder if there is an L-carnitine supplement that is derived from vegetable sources.
 
Note that avocados contain good fats, and since you do need to get fat from some source (fat is a very important energy source that we use on a daily basis) avocados are a good one.
 
Yeah I know fats are good, I was just worried that in addition to the flax seeds and the nuts I was eating they would be too much fat. But I will just cut down on nuts in favor of avocados.
I found a vegetarian L-carnitine supplement for any vegetarians that might view this thread.

I'm sure there are others out there, I'm going to check my health food store. At least now I know there is a vegetarian formula for this supplement. I've also read that L-carnitine assists weight loss, so hey maybe I'll lose some weight too.
 
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