The Anabolic Diet When You Don’t Eat Cheese Or Red Meat

Aug 22nd, 2007 by Mehdi

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Here are a few posts the other readers recommend you check out.

You can have several reasons for not eating cheese or red meat:

Veganism or Vegetarianism. You don’t eat animal products.
Food allergies. Dairy products often cause problems.
Religion. No pork for Muslims, no beef for Hindus,…

Whatever your reason, let’s see if you can follow the Anabolic Diet when you don’t eat cheese or red meat.

Testosterone. The Anabolic Diet naturally increases your testosterone levels. Benefits of higher testosterone levels include:

Increased muscle mass
Increased strength
More energy
Enhanced libido

The Anabolic Diet’s secret to high testosterone levels? Saturated fat.

Saturated Fat. Saturated fat is high in cholesterol. Cholesterol increases your testosterone levels. That’s why you need saturated fat on the Anabolic Diet.

Balance your fat intake with fish oil & olive oil. Fish oil also raises testosterone levels. But keep in mind that the bulk of your fat intake should come from saturated fat. The more the better.

Saturated fat is present in red meat, cheese, eggs & butter.

Alternatives. If you don’t eat cheese or red meat, your only sources of saturated fat are:

Eggs
Butter

You have 101 foods to eat on the Anabolic Diet. But when you drop red meat & cheese things get hard. At 3000kcal, you’ll need 200g fat daily.

Let’s take you get 30g fish oil & 30g olive oil — which is a lot — that leaves you with 140g saturated fat. Close to 140 eggs. If you can eat that much eggs day in day out: congratulations you’re tougher than I am.

What You Should Do. You don’t eat cheese or you don’t eat red meat. What can you do?

No Cheese. Eat more red meat. This will be more expensive.
No Red Meat. Eat more cheese. Watch for food allergies.
No Cheese & No Red Meat. Choose another diet.

You can get away with not eating cheese OR not eating red meat. But if you’re a vegetarian or vegan the Anabolic Diet is not for you. Change lifestyle or change diet.

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18 Responses to “The Anabolic Diet When You Don’t Eat Cheese Or Red Meat”

on 22 Aug 2007 at 6:53 pm1jb

I really appreciate the way you are very straightforward - even telling your readers what is or is not right for them. Rather than trying to come up with a crazy diet plan you simply tell it as it is. Keep it up.
on 22 Aug 2007 at 7:06 pm2Anonymous

Hello Mehdi et al.

Maybe all hope is not lost. Other sources of saturated fat can be found in:

COCONUT OIL ( perhaps not ideal but still worth considering )
PALM OIL ( or even better PALM SHORTENING )

If you’re willing to consider these options then you’re probably daring enough to just mix it with protein powder ( can’t handle 30 eggs - why not try “whole egg powder” ? ) and wash the whole thing back in warm to hot water ( so the saturated fat will not clump ! )

Sticking to an ideology / ” ism ” will be tough as ideologies do not seem to work for the long haul. However there should be no problems with a religious path - you’re only partially limited by things which you might want to avoid anyway (e.g. Jews and Muslims are prohibitted from pork but many others choose to avoid it altogether based on a host of other considerations)

If one views food as fuel, the anabolic diet is all that much easier to stomach.

And hey, there’s always the weekend.
on 22 Aug 2007 at 8:03 pm3rissam

Thanks for the article. Beef is out of question for me and never tried pork.
Open to lamb though…And just love dairy, poultry and fish….
Question is how much cottage cheese should I consume daily to make up for lack of saturated fat?
on 22 Aug 2007 at 8:50 pm4Joe

Thank you for this post. I posted a comment in one of your earlier posts about how vegans/people who don’t eat meat or dairy products can go on this diet, and you have answered it.

Anyway, I’ve been reading a lot about cholesterol and saturated fats, and now I am starting to realize why I’ve been so tired, depressed and unable to concentrate for the past few months. I figured it was because I didn’t exercise enough, but it’s likely because of my low-fat diet. I will do more research on saturated fats and cholesterol and see where I stand.

Two good pages in particular:
http://www.aspartame.ca/page_oho1.htm
http://chetday.com/saturatedfatscholesterol.htm

The only thing I advise is that you include more sources and links to scientific studies in your posts.
on 23 Aug 2007 at 3:38 am5galapogos

fyi 1 medium egg only has 4g of TOTAL fat, only 1g of which is saturated, so you’d need about 140 medium eggs, not 30, to make up that balance of 140g of saturated fat(if saturated fat is what you’re concerned with and not total fat.)

Coconut oil is a saturated fat, but it’s also a MCT rather than a LCT, and isn’t recommended in the Anabolic Diet because it gets metabolized faster, hence bypassing the pathways that the diet intended.

And many thing with the word “shortening” in it contains trans fat, so be careful of palm shortening. Check the ingredients and nutrition information first…

Other than beef, there’s always other meat, like game meat
For example, duck/goose fat is about 30% saturated. Then there’s also lamb, venison, rabbit, etc…
on 23 Aug 2007 at 12:52 pm6Mehdi

Thanks Jb. Diets are solutions to problems. To make it work, it should become a lifestyle. Time, money, personal taste,… all come into consideration. The Anabolic Diet is no different.
on 23 Aug 2007 at 1:14 pm7Mehdi

Anonymous. Coconut & palm oil could be used, but they have their own disadvantages. As Galapagos explains very well below: coconut is not advised on the Anabolic Diet.

Everybody problem has a solution, but every solution also gives new problems. Each has to weigh to pro’s vs. the con’s.
on 23 Aug 2007 at 1:18 pm8Mehdi

Cottage cheese doesn’t work on the Anabolic Diet. It’s low fat & has carbs. Go for full fat cheese (cheddar, emmental, mozarella,…). This article was made for you Rissam. I assumed you didn’t eat beef. Go for lamb, lots of it. If you want to be on the Anabolic Diet of course.
on 23 Aug 2007 at 1:26 pm9Mehdi

I remember your post Joe. I’ve prepared a post about my thoughts on veganism/vegeterianism btw. You gave me the idea, thanks for this.

My advice is to do the test. You can read as much as you want. Until you put the knowledge into practice, you’re nowhere. Again: I don’t want to give too much studies. I only want to “show the path” of what works for me.

You can find studies proving or contradicting everything. I believe there’s nothing wrong with dietary cholesterol, but that it is needed for health. However I’d say the majority is too stubborn to accept the idea, to change their beliefs about cholesterol in general. Even if you give them studies.

Appearently, you’re openminded Joe. You did your own research. Put it into practice. Test it 2 months. Compare how you feel. Do bloodtests. Then report back.

I’ve bookmarked the pages you posted, I’ll read them later. Thanks for sharing.
on 23 Aug 2007 at 1:27 pm10Mehdi

You’re right about the eggs & saturated fat content. When too fast with my calculations. I correct the post. Thanks Galapagos.
on 23 Aug 2007 at 7:54 pm11rissam

Thanks a ton Mehdi….I was hoping some day you would have an article on the same with readers chiming in…My prayers were answered
OK shall try to work on a Lamb and Mutton diet shortly….
on 23 Aug 2007 at 10:20 pm12Mehdi

You’re welcome Rissam. Ask more questions/post more comments in the future. I want this blog to have articles about what interests you. Only way I can do this is by you asking questions & post comments.
Good luck with the lamb & mutton diet
on 24 Aug 2007 at 3:30 am13sweener

I’ve been following the site now for about a month but have not put the anabolic diet into practice because I choose not to eat red meat. This article helped answer a lot of doubts I had. I’m still debating constantly about red meat because of simplicity and getting the full benefits of the diet. Keep up the great work Mehdi, I look forward to the daily articles. Can’t wait for the home gym information and also what are you suggestions on beverages? I tend to get tired of just water all day and typically drink tea using stevia as a sweetner.
on 24 Aug 2007 at 10:42 am14Mehdi

Thanks for the kind words Sweener. I’m aware that not everybody wants to eat (red) meat. I’m preparing a post on veganism/vegeteranism too.

Beverages. Watch out with artificial sweeteners (like aspartam). Green tea is good, but watch out with the caffeine content if you drink it a lot.
on 25 Aug 2007 at 6:03 am15Marc

Hey Mehdi,

Thanks for writing this blog, it has been a guiding post for me in my workouts and nutrition. Your work is appreciated.

Being a vegetarian( I eat eggs and diary) I still find it hard to keep up with my own diet (while not even on the anabolic diet yet). The protein requirements, etc. While I feel I am following a fairly strict diet, I also believe I am not seeing the results I desire. I drink whey protein shakes 1-3 times daily and take fish oil (4-6 caplets every morning) but feel like I am not making any progress.

I do squats, deadlifts, benchpress, pullups, chinups, lat pull downs, pushups, and clean & presses for my weight training; and do 20-30 min of cardio workouts (mostly interval training) on the days I don’t lift.

However, I work out at home and do not have a smith machine or anything like that…so weight increase is difficult given that in order to improve my squat I must also improve my clean & press. Is there any way around this?

All that to say I would like to go on the anabolic diet but am wondering how it is possible being a vegetarian…and whether you have any advice to me in regards to my strength training problem…

Thanks a ton Mehdi
on 25 Aug 2007 at 10:41 am16Mehdi

Thanks for the motivating words on StrongLifts.com. Knowing that the blog is helpful for you & others, gives me a reason to continue.

One problem with veganism or vegeterarianism in your case is testosterone. Testosterone levels are influenced by cholesterol intake (saturated fat). What food is high in cholesterol? Red meat.

I wrote this a lot: you need to to weigh the pro’s vs. the con’s. If you have problems eating animal meat, I respect that. But know that it has it downside, especially when strength & muscle mass is the goal. You’ll never find a vegeterian or vegan with testosterone levels as high as someone who eats a lot of red meat. Do the test: blood test before & after switching to a diet high in red meat.

Strength Training. You don’t need a smith machine. What you need is a . Think of it as an investement. It’s also safer. In the meanwhile you can clean & press the weight or perform a steinborn lift.

You’re approach looks ok to me. You’re doing the right exercises. Contact me with more info: what progress do you expect but aren’t you getting? I’ll help you out as much as I can.
on 28 Aug 2007 at 7:43 pm17Harsh

Joe,
I think this article will be helpful to you:
http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/images.html?page=article_protein
on 31 Aug 2007 at 9:12 pm18Mehdi

Great link Harsh.

Btw Joe. The problem is not getting protein. The problem is what kind of protein you’re getting as a vegeterian/vegan, and the results they give you. You’ll get detailed info in one of my future posts.

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