I eat a high-protein diet, usually consuming 20 - 30g a meal if I can. This means I eat a lot of meat, and during competition diet, I eat a ridiculous amount of meat. Since I want out of The Meatrix, and freerange, micro-farmed animals raised and killed responsibly are as lean in the market as they are in their nutritional profiles (I mean give me grass-fed buffalo, and wild game all day, everyday, and no complaints here, but I'm not rich yet.), I've been looking into incorporating some non-meat alternatives into my lifestyle. Besides, preparing all this meat is a real pain. I've no intention of going back to vegetarianism, but it sure would be nice to lighten up on the flesh-eating a bit.
Here's a round-up of what I've found. Comments welcome, especially recipe resource recommendations.
David Ogilvie at Vegetarian Network Victoria (Australia) has an informative page with good links. This bit I find useful:
"The best plant source of protein is legumes, including lentils, kidney beans, chick peas, split peas, lima beans, mung beans, baked beans etc., and soy products such as tempeh. The highest source per 100 grams is cooked soy beans, with 13.5 grams of protein.
"What I often do is buy a large range of dried legumes from the local health food shop. (Eating a variety of legumes at the one time maximizes the range of amino acids consumed.) I mix them all together and soak 2-3 cups of the mixture overnight. I then boil them up that evening. When cooked I drain them and use some straight away in the meal I am preparing that night, and I keep the rest in the fridge for the following few days. The cooked legumes can be added to many dishes, e.g. soups, casseroles etc. to enhance the protein content, or even put at the side of meals (I guess a bit like the meat in 'meat and 3 veg'!). I love them just on their own, warmed up and simply served with some tamari and flax seed oil poured over the top. (This is really nice, and the flax is a good source of omega 3 essential fatty acids!)"
Steve Holt has a site about himself, a vegetarian bodybuilder (He considers himself the veg. bb). Mostly I liked his pre-comp menu.
Here are straightforward tables, lists from vegetarian society of UK
And into the netherworld of veganism, from the Vegan Resource Group comes a quickie on protein staples: "Vegan sources include: potatoes, whole wheat bread, rice, broccoli, spinach, almonds, peas, chickpeas, peanut butter, tofu, soy milk, lentils, kale..."
The wilderness of Bodybuilding.com has some articles, but I haven't found anything substantial in the list of hyperlinks yet.
James Collier at muscletalk UK offers:
"I feel that isolated soya protein is an absolute must for the vegan bodybuilder. Other great protein sources which vegetarians and vegans can enjoy are mixed beans, baked beans, hummus, tofu, quorn, textured vegetable protein (TVP), soya, coconut, oat and rice milk, and many more. Often these products do have a reasonable carbohydrate content too, useful for gaining weight, and are low in fat."
There are also menus on that page, but they mostly rely on commercial protein powder drinks.
The only books I found specific enough to be of interest were
Carl Lewis presents Very Vegetarian by Jannequin Bennett -- a vegan
book with recipes. Lewis tried going vegan while in his athletic prime and liked it.
Muscle Menus Vegetarian by MuscleTalk Moderators Nicole Bremner (Nikki) and James Collier. One can download this e-book with its 130 recipes for $25, which I find wildly expensive for any e-book, let alone a relatively thin recipe book.
