Do vegetarians make successful athletes?

Free range dairy and egg critters live better than I do! (At least the ones here in W)

I've been vegetarian for a couple of years.  This season has been the first time I've felt like maybe I'm not getting enough of something..ie feeling run down, can't do my workouts, etc.

BUT-I'm also working almost full time, so I have been lazy about my diet, relying more and more on convenience foods a la Morningstar Farms instead of cooking . 

I threw a couple of "meat meals" in, and I did feel better, but I'm not sure that the two things are related.  It could have been plenty of other things. 

If you are worried about protien, you can just pick up some Whey Protien.  It's dairy though.  I use shortly after workouts. 

I wouldn't worry about protien at all for endurance athletes. If you are a body builder well thats a different story although Bill Pearl (look him up) is vegatarian and the man is huge! The guy who has won the western states 100 for the past 7 years as well as the badwater marathon last year is a vegan. I don't bring these people up to say that they won because they are veg but only that it wont hold you back. You can live a very healthy life and thrive as an athlete on a veg diet.

If you are looking for other motivation that it is the right choice look up Dr. Dean Ornish. He has reversed heart disease and Type II Diabeties in every patitent that he has ever treated that sticks to his diet (Vegan low fat).

If you want protien eat a lot of nuts and beans. I make a huge pot of beans in the slow cooker each week and then use them throughout the week as a way to get some extra protien. I also have smooties in morning which i put hemp protien powder in (I also get a bunch of the omega's from it too).

Oh and one more thing, although I like PETA looking at their website for unbiased information is like looking at exxon's for facts on global warming

Thanks for the pot of beans tip, that is a good idea!

LOL re: the PETA website. I'm doing this for ethical reasons, but good gawd, they are a little over the top.

I was at an industry event over the weekend (I'm a conference producer/meeting planner) and they served veal and fois gras. Two of the most ethically offensive foods available aside from, maybe, serving roasted golden retriever puppy.

mmm... golden retriever puppy

I'm an ethical vegan myself and when I turned veg I was the most unhealthy man around.

I was a meat and potatos kinda guy and ate my cheese bugers with extra cheese and mayo hold the veggies. I lived off bread and cheese for the first month until I finally slapped myself and decided I needed to try these vegtable things. I ate my first salad at the ripe age of 21! No Joke. Now I've been vegan for 4 years and I feel better then ever. In fact I'm pretty grossed out by meat now. Although when I made the jump I was craving cheese burgers all the time!

I still from time to time crave cheese though and have broken down and got a slice of pizza. I always feel gross after and the crazing goes away for several months.