Plant-Based Nutrition for Athletes

Plant-Based Nutrition for Athletes

How you fuel can be the difference between a new personal best and a mediocre-at-best training session. It’s the competitive advantage that takes your training to the next level. That’s the principle that Vega was founded on and is what drove us to create the Vega Sport® Nutrition System, a series of plant-based sport nutrition products designed to help you optimize every stage of your training.

Read more to learn about the importance of supporting your training with the right nutrition, and how Vega Sport® can help fuel your goals.

YOUR PRE-WORKOUT ENERGY:

 Before you start your session, you’ll want to fuel your body. We offer up two options: one for people who like to fuel with food, and one for people who get fired up with a pre-workout drink.

DRINK IT:

Vega Sport® Premium Energizer offers up fast-acting caffeine and simple carbohydrates from coconut palm sugar and brown rice syrup. We use organic coffee fruit extract, sourced from the fruit of the coffee plant, as well as caffeine from green tea. Caffeine’s effect depends on the individual, but it’s been found to help you focus on your session.

Coconut palm sugar and brown rice syrup are premium carbohydrate sources. Coconut sugar retains more nutrients than white sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

Brown rice syrup is composed nearly entirely of glucose. Glucose is a fast-acting energy source, because glucose can be metabolized by every cell in the body: fructose can only be metabolized in significant amounts by the liver. When glucose – which is stored as glycogen – is depleted, muscles can become fatigued. Consuming carbs may help prevent hitting the wall due to lack of glycogen.

If you’re looking for something sugar-free, we’ve got you covered. Choose Vega Sport® Sugar-Free Energizer for all the caffeine and none of the carbs.

EAT IT:

If you prefer to fuel with food vs. a pre-workout drink, try Vega Sport® Energy Bites. These bites have one purpose: to help fuel your workout (whether it’s high-intensity or a longer endurance session) with 0g added sugar (not a low-calorie food). That’s why we rely primarily on carbohydrates and fat as our energy source in Vega Sport® Energy Bites, just like your body does during a workout. Get quick-acting carbs from dates, MCT oil from coconut, unsaturated fats from cashew butter and more.

 

YOUR MID- WORKOUT HYDRATION

When sweat starts to drip off your face, you’re not just losing water, you’re also losing electrolytes. The amount of water and electrolytes you lose depends on the temperature, humidity and type of activity.

Rather than wait until you start to feel dizzy, or start cramping, hydrate consistently throughout your workout with Vega Sport® Hydrator. It’ll help you replenish your electrolytes and also provides vitamin C, without loading up on sugar or preservatives. Electrolytes help regulate our https://myvega.com/products/vega-sport-hydratorfluid balance, blood pH, heart, nerve, and muscle function. An adequate supply of electrolytes is required to keep all systems running smoothly.

We designed Vega Sport® Hydrator as a mid-workout hydration assist. That’s why every serving has higher levels of sodium (230mg) than potassium (115mg), magnesium (20mg), or calcium (50mg) – sweat contains substantial amounts of sodium, with lesser amounts of other electrolytes.*

 

YOUR POST-WORKOUT RECOVERY

After training, your body needs carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen stores, and protein to support muscle repair. Carbohydrates help replenish muscle glycogen; you can choose simple options like toast with nut butter or a simple smoothie, or you can quickly mix up a serving of Vega Sport® Recovery. Recovery offers up 16g carbohydrates from whole grain brown rice sweetener, which is a simple carbohydrate that helps replenish muscle glycogen

Tissue and cell regeneration is an ongoing process that continues on after our workouts are done. Our body converts the protein consumed in our diets into amino acids to be used to repair and rebuild muscles – as we all know, that’s especially important after training.

That’s why Vega Sport® Premium Protein includes 30g plant-based protein, including 5g BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. We’ve also curated plant-based ingredients specifically for post workout recovery – like tart cherry.

Shop the full Vega Sport® Nutrition System and fuel your goals pre-, mid-, and post-workout