Athletes, who do not eat non vegetarian food stuffs, should take extra care to bring sufficient nutrients of various forms to maintain a healthy and fit body to prepare for strenuous activities. Vegetarian athletes are more likely to have considerable deficiencies of nutrients in the form of iron, zinc etc.

Also, proteins have biggest concerns in an athletic body. Vegetarian athletes should try to include more proteins from plant sources including soy. For meeting the iron requirements in an athletic body, leafy vegetables should be largely used to compensate the absence of iron from meats and sea foods. Dried fruits and lentils can also aid in increasing the iron content of the body.