Vegetarian Triathletes?

I too am a vegetarian or perhaps an aquatarian, I do eat things that live in the sea.

My fave website for recipies (as is Harmony's I've noticed) is www.allrecipes.com
Its amazing has a vegetarian section and people rate all the recipes there so it's pretty hard to go wrong.

Another book to check out might be Flip Sheltons "Green" - modern vegetarian cooking. She is/was an Aussie triathlete (has completed numerous ironman events) who's also a vege! Try this link abc.net.au/overnights/recipes/recipesbychef.htm - links to her recipies weren't working for me, they might work for you though!

Good luck!

I would recommend the website fatfree.com. They have tons of recipes for vegetarians and vegans. While I do not personally follow a totally fat free diet, all the recipes are easily modified for your eating style. If you eat dairy I totally recommend the spinach dip. I made it on Thanksgiving using a fat free sour cream and low fat cream cheese so there was hardly any fat...but the flavor is huge so no one could tell. No one believed me that it was low fat! I have also had great success with their baked oatmeal. I'm going to try the fat free chewy chocolate cookies

If you haven't discovered it yet I would recommend Vegetarian Chilli - hardly any fat and tons of great protein. I have only seen Heinz and Nalley's in my grocery store. But I like to throw a can of the chilli in with cooked spaghetti and some spaghetti sauce-- easy and instant chilli macaroni. And in my opinion its better the next day so it makes for great leftovers.

I have to second the Brendan Brazier site. Especially the common problems encountered by vegan athletes...some of it won't apply to people who haven't cut dairy out of their diets, but a really really good guide to food that you should probably incorporate into your diet if you haven't already.

I went vegetarian about a year and 1/2 ago at the same time I started eating 6 small meals a day, and started tri training about 6 months ago. I suspect that any special dietary tips would depend on what distance you're training for, how balanced your diet is already (ie, if you're a "pasta, cheese and bread" vegetarian or if you have a well-rounded diet), and what level of activity you're used to on your present diet. The only thing I've done differently is to add Spiru-Teen protein drink after workouts and try to pay more attention to my protein intake, but I'm only doing an hour a day of training, 6x a week, which is hardly pushing beyond the limits of what normal food intake can cope with.

Cheers & good luck

Here's a breakfast tip.
For breakfast, I eat a peanut butter sandwich (toasted, on whole wheat bread) with a small handful of multigrain cheerios thrown in for vitamins and extra crunch. The wheat and peanuts combine to provide a complete protein. And best of all, it keeps hunger at bay for quite a while.
- R

I have previously avoided alot of the vegetarian substitutes that are out there now because they have been so expensive and well I just thought it was weird to have a vegetarian hotdog. Although, I have previously enjoyed the veggie burgers. Anyway, there was a sale last week on the vegetarian sandwich "meats" and so I decided to be adventurous and try the Smart Source Vegetarian Ham. Much to my surprise it was really good, tasted just like I remember ham tasting (althought its bee 14 years so my taste buds could be fooling me) but it was really good. 1 serving is fat free, has 14 g of protein and low in cals (sorry can't remember the exact calories). So if you need a good sandwich "meat" I totally recommend the Smart Source brand. I think I'm going to grab the "turkey" or "chicken" if its still on sale.

Has anyone tried any really good veggie substitute brands they can recommend?

Yeah, I've been vegetarian for 14 years too and have forgotten what meat tastes like. But I like the substitutes. My favorite veggie burger is the Boca burger. I also like the Chik'n patties and nuggets by Morningstar Farms. Morningstar Farms also has a good fake bacon. They even put the white strips on it! LOL. I like to put the fake bacon on the Boca burger along with sauteed mushrooms and Swiss cheese. The fake bacon also works well in BLTs. I've never been a hotdog fan, but my vegetarian husband likes "Smart Dogs". The Smart folks also make fake salami (another favorite of my husband's), fake turkey, fake chicken, and fake ham. They also do a fake ground beef for tacos & spaghetti sauce.