No Meat Athlete, Revised and Expanded: A Plant-Based Nutrition and Training Guide for Every Fitness Level―Beginner to Beyond [Includes More Than 60 Recipes!]

Bought for a gift, but very very glad to get this. Reported it was awesome

We’re new to this lifestyle. Our family of 4 eat mainly vegan, and I’m hoping to get our athletic daughters to become vegan as well. Love the information in this book.

Whether an experienced athlete or a true novice, No Meat Athlete is an excellent reference for vegans and aspiring vegans. Author Matt Frazier had tried and kept failing to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Yet, after transitioning to a vegan diet, even while he just recovered from a knee injury, Frazier improved on his personal best by ten minutes and finally achieved his goal of qualifying for Boston. He believes it was his vegan diet that allowed him this success, and his book shares his techniques. No Meat Athlete contains two sections, one that covers plant-based nutrition for athletes, the other offering a training strategy. The first discusses problems with our modern diet and describes how vegan diets can surmount these issues. Based on current science, guest writer Leo Babauta outlines strategies for successfully changing habits of behavior, such as adopting a plant-free diet. Frazier offers ten food rules, such as choosing whole foods and drinking smoothies. (I think I follow 0% of these rules.) How to approach a vegan diet and how it relates to vegan athletes’ needs are discussed in detail before turning to cooking techniques. Sixty recipes in categories such as “Substantial Soups and Salads,” “Main-Event Meals,” and “Sneaky-Healthy Desserts” are optimized for athletes. Frazier provides a personal introduction to each dish which made them more interesting to me. Though many of the recipies look tasty, they seem more complicated and labor intensive than I prefer, though I think I can handle the low-ingredient count S’Nuts and Simple Indian Street Bread. While I know these types of books don't traditionally have photographs, that didn't mean I didn't miss having them. I was hopeful the second section, Running on Plants, would inspire me. While I am well-intentioned, I’m a couch potato at heart. Frazier provides a number of practical tips to making running a habit and learning to love it. Honestly, these approaches are good for any new runners, vegan or not and make running long races seem attainable. Robert Cheeke, a vegan bodybuilder, contributed a chapter on a 12-week strength training plan. Frazier includes detailed training plans for 5Ks, 10 Ks, half marathons, and marathons. These resources make even me feel like adopting a running program is possible. While the nutritional information in part I is relevant for athletes of all stripes, the programs outlined in part II are geared toward runners, so the word “athlete” in the title is a bit of an overgeneralization, though No-Meat Runner certainly doesn’t have the same ring! Instead, this book should appeal to active people interested in adopting a plant-based diet, to vegans (and others) interested in how to develop a running practice, or people who fall in both categories. I’m not sure I can overcome my couch potato inertia, but if any book could do it, this is the one! I was especially pleased to see the author is donating a portion of his royalties to one of the greatest non-profit organizations in the country, The Farm Sanctuary.

Muy util información, buen libro para cualquier atleta que sigue una dieta basada en plantas

Love this book! After seeing the movie The Game Changer, we decided to try more plant based. And this book has truly helped to make the transition.

I'm so glad there's recipes available for athletes who don't eat meat and I look forward to applying this more in my sport.

I loved this book! I am very inspired by Matt's teachings and this book will continue to be a resource for healthy eating and training!

Matt Frazier’s No Meat Athlete is a good resource for either athletes considering becoming vegan or vegans wanting to become more active, especially if they want to become runners. Frazier offers good advice at the beginning, especially in two forms: start (which might seem obvious, but he explains that a lot of people get too hung up on the plan, but never actually start), and make it a habit. I confess that I became a vegetarian overnight without a plan around 10 years ago. I’m still trying to make that plan and make sure I eat healthily. The other thing he advocates is eating whole foods, which can be easily forgotten in this world of convenient foods. As we have probably learned, convenient foods are not the healthiest. Most of the recipes are fresh and welcome takes on old favorites. There are the ubiquitous smoothies, which I will never ever make because they are caloric and never filling (my personal bias, which has been stated on this blog more than once). I’m sure someone can argue otherwise. Included in the recipes are several bean and rice recipes, which look enticing, and as Frazier says, they encompass the full range of amino acids. After the recipes, Frazier has sections on how to become a runner, including instructions on proper running technique, and a guide to strength training as well as a section on how to form and achieve your goals. For the beginner, I think this is a well-written and thought-out guide to becoming both vegan and athletic, with the focus on running. I think a nice addition would have been a few menu plans as a guide for beginning vegans who are changing their way of eating so that they could visualize what a healthful daily menu would look like. All in all, this is a good resource. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vegetarian my whole life still very interesting and informative. Non vegetarian friends have borrowed this for help with fitness goals and the like so seems useful for all ages and diet choice individuals.

Great resource

It’s ok, there’s not much in here that a few blogs wouldn’t provide. The pages aren’t glossy or in colour and no pictures of recipes. It should have been edited to be more concise, perhaps to 2/3 its current length. The guidance on running form is short and simple. There is no evidence presented that supports the better recovery reported by the author when using a plant based diet. It’s saving grace may be the advice on planning to phase out meat and very short summaries on running form. For athletes there are much better options that are more informative including Anatomy for runners or running rewired, and for endurance nutrition ‘feed zone portables’ is much more informative. Ben Greenfields book on endurance training is more thorough, albeit filled with pseudoscience. If you’re a couch potato and eat whatever’s easy and tasty and you you want to lead a healthier lifestyle this would add value as a basic guide that’s easy to follow. Otherwise I’d give this a pass.

Didn’t really like this book, there a no colour photos of any of the recipes. Found it a bit boring.

Quite basic really.