What a Vegan Gymnast Eats in a Day

The sound of "vegan athlete" always scares people for some reason. Actually, "vegan" in general scares people. Most people question if I'm getting enough protein and calories to support my intense training. I make sure to get enough protein and calories by eating beans, nuts and nut butters, protein shakes, lentils, and oats. And sometimes my "snack" will be an entire meal. I just listen to my body. If I'm feeling hungry, I eat and I will keep eating until I feel full enough. I allow myself to eat whatever I want as long as the food is vegan and low in sugar. 

Why are you vegan? 
I'm vegan because I feel like I have more energy with this lifestyle. I was vegan up until 12 years old, and then started eating animal products because I felt like that was what I needed to do in order to gain weight. Thinking about it now, I realize that I was having a growth spurt and just needed to eat more food! I remember that I used to sleep a lot when I was on the "eat whatever you want" diet and barely had enough energy for a gymnastics practice lasting 4 hours. Before I started eating animal products, I don't remember sleeping so much and I had a lot more energy. When I was 14, I went back to the vegan lifestyle after watching the documentary What the Health by Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn on Netflix. My sister went back to being vegan several months before I did and had inspired me to adopt this lifestyle. After a few months of being vegan, I found that my energy levels went up, and the number of hours of sleep that I needed went down. Four years later, I'm still vegan and I am training the most I have ever trained (28 hours/week) besides working on my college degree and helping my dad out on his investments. In my entire life, I have never felt like I have had this kind of energy and motivation, and I believe it's because of my lifestyle and eating habits. 


What I eat in a day:

Breakfast: I usually have oatmeal sweetened with stevia extract and topped with lots of fruit and walnuts. Sometimes my mom makes oatmeal pancakes, which I will also top with berries and walnuts, and drizzle on a bit of maple syrup. To drink, I usually have a glass of water, and sometimes I'll have a cup of decaf coffee or Earl Grey tea. 




Lunch: My lunch varies. This is where I'll either have leftovers, which is mainly soup, from the previous night, a sweet potato with avocado, vegan tacos or a burrito, Amy's microwavable vegan entrees, canned soup with toast, or a vegan sandwich/sub. Basically, I eat anything in our kitchen that looks good to me. 

Here I'm having lentil soup from Pacific Foods. It was really good!



Snack: I usually eat it a couple hours before the gym if I'm feeling hungry. I'll have a protein smoothie made with vegan protein powder, almond milk, almond butter, frozen bananas, and sometimes oats. If I'm still hungry, I'll also have a vegan protein bar. 


My delicious protein smoothie made with chocolate protein powder, powdered peanut butter, and vanilla almond milk.  



Dinner: I usually make different flavors of soup. The latest soup that I made was Sausage and Potato soup with Spinach. In this recipe, it calls for a cup of almond milk, but we put a 1/4 cup of cashew cream in it instead. 
On occasion, when my family gets tired of soup, I'll make them of my favorite entrees: Chickpea Gravy with Biscuits. 


Here's a picture of the Chickpea Gravy with Biscuits. Really yummy!



This isn't strictly what I eat every day; sometimes I eat more and sometimes I eat less depending on how I feel. If I get hungry in-between meals, I'll make myself another protein smoothie or have a protein bar. 

Comment below if you want a recipe for my oatmeal or protein smoothie. Or you can comment what you eat in a day. Thanks for reading!




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