FAQ/Resources

This section is a work in progress so it'll start off small and we'll add some stuff to it. Sections coming soon will involve some more guidance on diet, for example, which we get a lot of questions about.

Some of the links below are affiliate links which means that when you click on the link and you buy things a portion of the sale goes to help greatveganathletes.com. I’ve marked those ones with an *.

Table of Contents

Why Vegan?

What’s a good resource for becoming vegan?

Where can I get cheap vegan protein powder?

How much protein do I need? Is it different if I do strength training?

I’m into running/triathlons and am interested in going vegan. Any other sites I should look at?

Any info about vegan trainers/sneakers and athletic shoes?

Are there any vegan dieticians?

 

Why vegan?

People go vegan for reasons related to animal crueltyenvironmentfood securityhealth and spiritual reasons.  Often it’s a combination of two or more of these reasons, and you can find out more by clicking on the links above.

You can also find more here.

 

What’s a good resource for becoming vegan?

The Vegan Easy website and 30 Day Vegan Easy Challenge are a great place to start your vegan journey. On the 30 Day Challenge you get daily informative emails and a full meal plan. There’s even a 7 Day Health & Fitness Meal Plan with options to tailor your meals to Strength, Endurance or Wellbeing/weight-loss. The website has informative articles about health and hundreds of recipes to try. In particular check out the Vegan Health & Fitness section.

 

Where can I get cheap vegan protein powder?

Tons of places. Okay so here’s some ideas for North America and the EU. If you have ideas for other parts of the world let us know!

Europe

If you’re based in Europe we’d strongly recommend you have a look at Myprotein’s europe site.* That link will take you to our list of discounts for them. I like myprotein mainly because the prices are very good and all the vegan stuff is clearly labelled with a wee sign next to it. In terms of protein powder our Communications Director gets the Vegan Blend unflavoured but he’s a bit of a freak, most people choose to get it flavoured.

Every time you buy from MyProtein through that link it supports the site so please feel free to reuse it

North America

True Nutrition Back when some of our team lived in the USA, they used to get stuff from these guys. They have a pretty cool tool that I haven’t seen elsewhere which let’s you create your own custom blend and then order it in bulk.

We are planning on joining the True Nutrition affiliate program but they are currently putting it together. So yeah currently we don’t get anything if you go buy stuff there but I wanted to go ahead and include the link already because the custom blend thing is very cool and the prices are good.

Vegan companies selling protein powder

So Myprotein and TrueNutrition are great but are, sadly, not vegan companies, and we understand some of you would rather buy from a vegan company. The good news is that there’s no shortage of vegan companies selling protein powder. The bad news is it’ll cost you a bit more than Myprotein or TrueNutrition. If that’s not a problem then read on.

Bodybuilding.com* sell a ton of products by various vegan companies like Vega, Sunwarrior and so on. They have stocks in various parts of the world so you should be able to buy stuff from them whereever you live and pay local postage. That link will take you straight to all their vegan protein powders but they have other vegan stuff. Just put vegan in the search box when you get there. As with Myprotein, a percentage of the sale goes to support this website.

 

How much protein do I need? Is it different if I do strength training?

The recommended daily intake for healthy, adult individuals is 0.8 grams of protein per kilo lean body weight. If you’re trying to build muscle and strength a more optimal recommendation is closer to 2 grams per kilo lean body weight.

If you want to dig deeper, Athlegan has an article on vegan protein.

 

I’m into running/triathlons and am interested in going vegan. Any other sites I should look at?

Luckily for you there are a ton of resources.

Here’s a whole site devoted to plant based running called No Meat Athlete* That link will take you to a bunch of books by Matt that runs the site. The link is starred because a percentage of book sales goes to support our site if you buy Matt’s books. Obviously if you want to buy a book great but if money is a bit tight then if you click the header on that page it’ll take you to the rest of the site where there’s a lot of great free advice.

There’s also a regular Twitter chat called #VegRunChat

If you live in the UK, There’s a UK wide vegan running club. Their t-shirts are pretty nice. You may have seen pictures of them at races.

 

Any info about vegan trainers/sneakers and athletic shoes?

There’s a ton of info here on Vegan8’s site  I’d write more but I worry it’d go out of date! Anyway here at GVA obviously we like shoes to be non-sweatshop too so worth noting that our Communications Director really likes his Ethletic’s shoes for deadlifting. They are Chuck Taylor low top style ones.

If you’re after olympic/squat shoes have a look on https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/   All their equipment is vegan and they have warehouses in Europe, UK and USA. My own Strength Shop Lions are still going strong many years on. They are a shiny blue!

 

Are there any vegan Dieticians?

Yes. Our favourite is Jack Norris because he lifts weights, is honest and is (obviously) vegan. His blog and books are essential reading if you want to stay healthy in the long term.

If you’re just getting started with a vegan diet consider getting his book*. It’s a really thorough coverage of the basics you need to know about things like B12, Calcium and so on. I’ve bought it for several friends who just turned vegan. The book is pretty cheap but if you are stuck for money at least make sure to read his blog thoroughly.