and contains a variety of plant-protein foods such as legumes, grains, nuts and seeds. Vegetarians need not be concerned with eating "complementary proteins" at each meal but rather over the course of a day (28). Vegetarian diets contain on average 12.5% of energy from protein while vegan diets contain 11% (7). A 80 kg male athlete consuming 3600 calories would receive 1.41 g/kg of protein from the average vegetarian diet and 1.2 g/kg of protein from the average vegan diet. A 50 kg female gymnast consuming 2200 kcal/d would receive 1.38 g/kg from a vegetarian diet and 1.21 g/kg from a vegan diet. Therefore, most vegetarian athletes meet the requirements for endurance training without special meal planning. Strength trained athletes (weight lifters, wrestlers, football players or field throwers), or those with high training levels or low energy intakes may need to include more protein-rich foods. This is easily accomplished by encouraging the athlete to add 1 to 3 servings of protein-rich foods to their current diet (e.g., soy milk shake, lentils onto spaghetti sauce, tofu added to stir-fry or garbanzo beans to salad).Fat. Dietary fat should make up the remainder of energy intake after CHO and protein needs are met. The American and Canadian Dietetic Associations recommend that <30 % of total energy intake should come from fat (19). Recently, several studies stirred some controversy, particularly in the lay public, with the suggestion that highly-trained athletes may perform better on "high-fat" diets (29,30). When compared to previous studies showing beneficial effects of high-CHO, low-fat diets (8,10-12,15-18), these studies (29,30) assigned a longer dietary manipulation period (1-2 weeks vs. 1-3 days) and had the subjects continue heavy training during the manipulation period. While this fat loading research seems to contradict previous work, it is worth noting that the studies have some methodological flaws (i.e., one was not randomized, both used only 5-6 subjects, both did not see consistent metabolic responses to support the concept that the high-fat diet produced the improvement) (31). On the other hand, these studies may suggest that diets chronically too low in fat ( 15%) are not best during heavy training. In both studies, the high-CHO diet contained only 12-15% energy from fat compared to the high-fat diet that was 38% in one study (30) and 70% in the other (29). Muoio, et al (30) speculated that a certain amount of fat may be required to maintain intramuscular triglyceride stores which may serve as an important fuel during heavy exercise (32). Certainly further research is warranted.Some athletes, particularly endurance-trained groups (runners and triathletes), may go overboard with the desire to consume a high-CHO diet and consume too little fat. Similarly, while extremely low-fat (<10%) vegetarian diets recommended by Ornish et al (33) may be beneficial to those with a personal or family history of cardiovascular disease (i.e., the post-MI recreational runner), they may be too restrictive for athletes during heavy training. Higher intakes of fat -- particularly from mono- and polyunsaturated sources-- may actually be beneficial, providing CHO and protein needs are met. Incorporating more high-fat foods such as