Keto for vegetarians - any tips?
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42carrots
Posts: 97 Member
Apologies in advance if this is a controversial topic! I've learned relatively recently that I likely have a medical condition that includes insulin resistance, and it appears as though trying to limit carbs as much as possible is probably a good option. The problem is that I'm also a vegetarian, and I'm not sure if it's even really possible to follow a keto diet as a vegetarian, is it?
Currently my diet consists mainly of lots of vegetables, fruits in moderation, and I make sure I get enough protein through things like tofu, tempeh, tofurky type "fake meat" products, eggs, cheese (lots of cottage cheese), yogurt, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, and I do eat a little bit of fish sometimes. Obviously I need to find a way to work way more fats into my diet if I were to make the change to keto. I've read however, that ideally meat is pretty much central, and beans and legumes are discouraged as even though they're high in fibre, they're also high carb. I feel like it wouldn't be healthy for me to avoid bean and lentils as I don't eat meat and they're very nutritious, so I figured I'd try to compromise and increase fats in my diet, and just eat beans and lentils more moderately (I don't actually eat a ton of them, but definitely don't avoid them).
I read that you should ideally limit carb intake to 50g/day but I was playing around with my macros and I'm not sure I can quite manage that yet. The closest I could get that seems sustainable at this point is setting carbs to 100g and fibre to 40g, so if I hit the fibre macro it's really 100g-40g=60g (unless I'm completely misunderstanding this whole concept, which I know is quite possible!)
I'm kind of attached to having a bowl of cereal every day (just one cup of Nature's Path heritage flakes - low sugar, high fibre, as far as cereal goes, but that's 32g carbs - 7 fibre, which works out to half of the 50g recommended carb intake per day, yikes) and the occasional slice (ok, or two or three) of pizza, but I'd be willing to mostly cut these things out if it were really worthwhile.
Just wondering if there are others who follow a vegetarian (or more accurately pescatarian) diet that is also low carb - if so, please share your tips! I hope you don't mind me coming here to ask what are probably overly basic questions, I'm just in the early stages of learning about this and you seem like a friendly and knowledgeable group, hope you don't mind me attempting to draw from your proverbial well of knowledge.
Currently my diet consists mainly of lots of vegetables, fruits in moderation, and I make sure I get enough protein through things like tofu, tempeh, tofurky type "fake meat" products, eggs, cheese (lots of cottage cheese), yogurt, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, and I do eat a little bit of fish sometimes. Obviously I need to find a way to work way more fats into my diet if I were to make the change to keto. I've read however, that ideally meat is pretty much central, and beans and legumes are discouraged as even though they're high in fibre, they're also high carb. I feel like it wouldn't be healthy for me to avoid bean and lentils as I don't eat meat and they're very nutritious, so I figured I'd try to compromise and increase fats in my diet, and just eat beans and lentils more moderately (I don't actually eat a ton of them, but definitely don't avoid them).
I read that you should ideally limit carb intake to 50g/day but I was playing around with my macros and I'm not sure I can quite manage that yet. The closest I could get that seems sustainable at this point is setting carbs to 100g and fibre to 40g, so if I hit the fibre macro it's really 100g-40g=60g (unless I'm completely misunderstanding this whole concept, which I know is quite possible!)
I'm kind of attached to having a bowl of cereal every day (just one cup of Nature's Path heritage flakes - low sugar, high fibre, as far as cereal goes, but that's 32g carbs - 7 fibre, which works out to half of the 50g recommended carb intake per day, yikes) and the occasional slice (ok, or two or three) of pizza, but I'd be willing to mostly cut these things out if it were really worthwhile.
Just wondering if there are others who follow a vegetarian (or more accurately pescatarian) diet that is also low carb - if so, please share your tips! I hope you don't mind me coming here to ask what are probably overly basic questions, I'm just in the early stages of learning about this and you seem like a friendly and knowledgeable group, hope you don't mind me attempting to draw from your proverbial well of knowledge.
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There are probably ways that you could, and I do understand about the beans as they do have protien, but I imagine you would need to give up the cereal and pizza. At 100g of carbs that would definitely be lower carb than average, not sure you would hit ketosis though. I will let others weigh in on this as I am fairly new at this.0
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I *think*, if you do a combination of dairy (I'm not sure how much dairy you do...you mentioned cheese), eggs and fish with your veg intake you *should* be able to pull it off, but it would take some work, and fiddling with macros/foods.
Keto isn't necessarily centered around meat, per se...but more around elimination of sugars, bad carbs, (yes fructose / fruit) etc., while increasing your fat intake to switch your body's main source of energy burned (from glucose to fat). Protein intake is to be moderate....not over the top. Of course one of the benefits to those of us that enjoy meat, is that its no longer "off the table" (sorry about the pun), as it is on the SAD. You could easily add fat with things like cold nut and seed oils in salads, coconut and palm oil, ghee, and olive oil.
You could use a calculator to figure out what your macros might be (depending on your personal goals) and then look at how you eat currently, and what you would need to do to get there.
http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com
Agree with Iam about dumping the cereal and pizza, regardless of the tack you choose, and if you are not comfortable going as low as 50g of carbs per day (or lower), you may want to look into something like paleo instead - perhaps as a precursor. Vegetarians that consume eggs and fish really are already eating a picture perfect paleo diet (in my meager opinion). Many have found that paleo alone will help reverse/put into remission many disorders (insulin resistance, metabolic disorders, inflammation...etc.).
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
Whatever you do, it should be something that is sustainable for you in the long term, for you to reap any real benefit.
*2 cents*
Good Luck!!!0 -
One more note...I'd try to make sure that the protein (and other foods) you do intake is as much from whole foods as possible....it will be digested and absorbed better.
Unless of course your tofurkies are of the free-range/cage free varietal.
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Thanks for the advice! I do eat mostly whole foods, and only quite recently introduced the whole grain cereal and fake meats to try to increase my fibre and protein intake, respectively. So I'm not overly set on having to eat these foods, will probably just eat what I have left and move on to less carby pastures, so to speak, haaah. I did make a cauliflower pizza crust the other day and it was actually pretty surprisingly delicious, so it helps to have that substitute (a little labour intensive but small price to pay for feeling better).
I'm just a shade over 5'5" and 129lbs, but I have a small frame so looking to drop about 5 more and then try to figure out maintenance, which will add about 400 more cals/day. I've become so used to a relatively low fat diet (my daily intake for the past few months has been around 1340) that it's taking me a little time to wrap my mind around making a sustainable shift, but I think it's doable. I reset my calorie goal and macros to:
1400cals
20% carb (70g)
20% protein (70g)
30% fat (93g)
I made a meal plan for tomorrow that comes in at 101 carbs - 29 fibre = 72g net, so just a couple over. Fat is still too low though (25g under) and protein 7g under. Sugar comes in at 31g which seems okay. I don't want to waste the foods I currently have so this is partly just wanting to use things up, after which point I should be able to get closer to the macros, and work on decreasing carbs to maybe around half the current amount, or 10%. Does this all make sense? Am I missing anything? Any further tips or advice? Really appreciate your input, thank you
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Avocados will be one of your best friends, most likely, and again, add oil or cream based dressings to salads or dips for vegetables. Butter is another good source of fat.
Eggs and fish will make it easier to get protein in. If you're not ethically opposed to it, you may also benefit from eating pork, chicken, or other meat on occasion (the Okinawans ate a fair amount of pork as part of their traditional diet, FWIW). It's up to you, though (no judgement from me, but getting nearly all of your protein from just eggs and fish seems a bit boring to me).
You might find this article of interest -- http://drhyman.com/blog/2014/11/07/pegan-paleo-vegan/0 -
I was a vegetarian and was not able to go low carb enough to get into nutritional ketosis, but I'm not a big fan of cheese, didn't eat fish and there are only so many avocados one can eat. Choosing high fat cheeses and fish will make it easier for you, plus lots of butter, olive oil, coconut oil. Do you really need keto or just low carb?
Be very careful with faux meats and any other processed foods. Tofurky sausages are 10g carbs for 16g protein, and MorningStar Veggie Burger has 13g carbs for 1(!)g protein. And this is in what they say is one serving, I always had at least two.
Good luck!0 -
hahaha oops, thanks for pointing that out.The missing 30% I fill with chewed up tin cans, didn't know where that would fit in. (It should be 60% fat)0 -
Ok, you all crack me up, what with free range tofurkies (please tell me it doesn't fly!!) and the ever elusive but oh so vital tin can macro.0
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Hey there, I am a vegetarian doing keto, so far successfully--about 3 weeks into it now, and losing. You are welcome to add me and take a peek at my diary. I eat mostly whole foods and the occasional Atkins shake or Morningstar Farms product, but I really hate eating that kind of thing. Eggs, nuts, cheese, avocados, spinach, tofu, heavy cream, coconut oil, and some sauces I make from scratch that are dairy/butter/cream based--these are my staples, with some variety in veggies. I am getting about 44g/carbs daily, with Net Carbs at about 25. Take a look at my food notes if you're interested 0
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Hmmm, scratch that about the diary, for the most part anyway. I had my diary set to two eating times: 6 to noon, and noon to midnight. I decided to just set it to one long list, and now that I've done that most of the food I logged is gone, and the numbers showing are incorrect. But today and yesterday are accurate
ETA: Never mind, I just reset it to 6 to noon and noon to midnight and all has been restored. I am still learning the technical side of things here 0 -
I am vegetarian also. Try fatty coffee, fat bombs and a pizza crust made with cream cheese, eggs and parmesan cheese. There are lots of great recipes online.0
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My friend is vegetarian and limits her carbs to 15-20g a day and feels better than she has in years, remember it's high fat not protein. She's lost 10 lbs in 14 days0
