Thanks for the article.

While we don’t think that a typical vegetarian diet will help most people thrive, we’ve also not trying to “convert” you to meat-eating Paleo… For your daughter: we still think that she’d be best served by a diet that excluded those problematic grains and legumes, but we’d recommend adding plenty of healthy fats from coconut, olives/EVOO, avocado, and some nuts. The problem with her elimination of grains and legumes isn’t the elimination of those problematic foods – it’s the general caloric deficit that she is running without them (leading to excessive weight loss). Add a lot more healthy fats, and maybe some of the more protein-dense (though still suboptimal) vegetarian foods like tempeh, miso, or tofu, or some processed hemp/pea protein. Those are all less-than-great choices, but it might help her support her active lifestyle. Thanks for being a parent that really supports an active lifestyle in their kids, and leads by example.

One thing that concerns me about the dogmatism I hear from the community is the effect it has had on my 15 year old daughter. She has been vegetarian her entire life and is six feet tall, 140 pounds, solid and strong. However, she is now trying to do “Paleo” by eliminating grains, and legumes from her vegetarian diet. She is losing a lot of weight not getting fitter-stronger-faster in doing this. I appreciate your respectful attitude and wish more people would take this approach, especially with children and teenagers. Forcefully telling kids that they and their families are “wrong” feels, to me, frankly, wrong.

In our vast practical experience working directly with CrossFitting clients, we’ve yet to see a single person truly achieve optimal health on a strict vegetarian regimen. And ALL have improved when they introduced some high quality animal products into their diets. But then again, we’re not doctors. (Maybe for our clients, however, that’s for the best.)

@Mae: Thank you for your testimonial. That has been our experience too, although as we said, we are more than open to working within whatever parameters our clients have set for themselves. We appreciate your contribution here!

My husband’s in med-school. It’s hilarious to hear people talk about the “unhealthiness” of a vegetarian diet when heart disease is America’s number one killer and food from animals is the number one contributor to arterial plaque.

I just wish somebody would be honest and say “I eat it because I like the taste of it” and leave all that other nonsense to the meat-heads who believe everything their high school football coach told them.

Try all the doctors that recommend cutting out meat, dairy & eggs for heart health. My own father was steered in that direction after his heart attack. Not that I’m saying doctors necessarily know what they’re talking about when it comes to nutrition, especially not vegetarian nutrition. I think we’ve all heard about how little training your average GP has in that field. When you look at it like that, perhaps it doesn’t really matter that you’ve heard that doctors advise vegetarian patients to start scarfing down ribs?

I hope vegetarians and vegans who HAVE researched their diet don’t back down from what they know: veg*nism and Crossfit can fit together very well, and as Anu mentions above, adopting a better diet is going to improve your health and athletic performance without necessarily compromising your religious, ethical, or environmental beliefs.

And yes, Emily M., nutritionally educated veg*ns do exist, we’re just not necessarily the ones bringing it up in conversation because we’re 18 and recently decided to subsist on a diet of spaghetti from the can and white rice because our favourite band did an ad for PETA. Maybe get out and meet a few more before you start throwing out statisics you pulled from your nether regions?

You may also want to take into account that the western world is set up for meat eaters, not veg*ns; we have to work a lot harder than you to get proper dietary information and advice. It’s only natural that our process of discovery might take longer. Luckily, many new vegetarians will at least try to lay their hands on information about their new diet, unlike people raised omnivorous who may never need to seek it out.

“So in the same vein as not preaching the Paleo Gospel, we’re not out to “rebut” the “arguments” for vegetarianism. We simply strive to present valuable information to people about how to live happier, healthier (and less confrontational!) lives, and let them decide for themselves what is the best path for them.”

Dallas and Melissa – I appreciate your attitude toward veg*n Crossfitters interested in nutrition: understanding and accepting of other diets while still trying to keep everyone as healthy as possible.