Customer Reviews

Vegetarian Sports Nutrition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a college sports dietitian, I have been using this book with my vegetarian athletes (and non-athletes) for some time now. I like the way the author uses a conversational tone to cover the scientific and evidence-based information. Most books with this caliber of information are very dry reading. She gives professional-level details to determine an athlete's nutrition needs, but also gives a more general means of calculating calories and foods to supply adequate carbs, protein and fats via the vegetarian pyramid.

My favorite part of the book is Chapter 14, with its many practical suggestions for quick and easy meals and snacks. I think that it, by itself, is worth the price of the book. The suggestions are great for busy vegetarians (which includes all athletes and most other non-athlete vegetarians I know). The nutrition athletes need is translated into foods they can easily get hold of, prepare (if necessary), and actually eat. The author does a great job of giving vegetarians lots of do-able options.

D. Enette Larson-Meyer has some very impressing credentials. A PhD, a registered dietitian, an expert on nutrition and exercise, and an athlete. And reading her book indicates that she's a very intelligent person, who knows how to write and make herself clear. Undoubtedly she could have written one of the best books ever about vegetarian nutrition for athletes and non-athletes.
Sadly, this is not the case. "Vegetarian Sports Nutrition" is missing the essentials. The book deals with generalizations and eschews specifics. This in NOT the book to teach you what to eat or how to eat. Actually, any moderately reasonable vegetarian website would probably give you much more helpful information. The only recommendation I took with me from that book was: "Invest in storage canisters." I was expecting much more.
I cannot recommend this book, but I do hope that Larson-Meyer would write another one, to share with vegetarians and athletes her undeniably vast knowledge, experience and know-how.

Excellent book! All of the information I ever wanted about being vegetarian plus tips concerning sports nutrition compiled in one source. (I've been veggie for 15 yrs.) I did my first sprint triathlon this past summer, and am looking forward to all of the help of the nutritional advice for my next, longer distance race. I definitely recommend it!

I found this book to be very informative.
It was very helpful in finding areas in my diet that need to be improved in relation to nurtition.

My husband and I have been ovo-lacto vegetarians for 13 years and have been reviewing vegetarian meal plans for quite a while. The information in this book reads like a stream of consciousness journal and at times the author contradicts herself. We did not find her argument and meal plans she presents as something we wanted to implement. Since she refers to the USDA pyramid for Vegetarians, it is just as useful to create a profile on that website.

I bought the book to investigate improvements to my diet, especially to increase the plant parts of my meals. I found the book highly confusing, jumping from one end of the topic to another and using a lot of 'should', 'may' or other highly ambiguous recommendations. I also didn't like the interchangeable use of specific terms such as 'a diet is too high on fat....' which doesn't clarify what type of fat. Or 'associated with greater risk for chronic diseases', which doesn't clarify if the author is talking about heart and vascular disease or cancer or whatever.

As a summary, I would say the book is full of popular mambo jambo with no clear precise scientific organization of topics or recommendations.

Waste of time!