Eating too many carbs as a vegetarian

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  • krissyreminisce
    krissyreminisce Posts: 284 Member
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    I've been having the opposite problem lately. :frowning: I can't seem to get enough these past two weeks.
  • shl000
    shl000 Posts: 9 Member
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    I have the same concerns as OP, and from what I assume, similar type of diet. Because lately I've been trying to "cut", I've been limiting rice and pasta to twice a week, trying to stay away from bread all together, and having post workout smoothies with plant based protein powders (vega or hemp pro) Seems to be working. This is what I mostly eat:

    -Variety of salads with different type of cruciferous vegetables or sea weed.

    -Tofu and tempeh. I try to get different kinds of tofu-not just in firmness- every time I'm near East Asian markets.

    Speaking from my own experience, I'm from a part of the world where soy is a staple in every meal, and have not heard of these digestion problems mentioned. (I have heard of its affect on estrogen levels, but that's a whole different story.) But if this is the case for some people, maybe tempeh might be a better option because it's fermented, which means probiotics.

    -Lentils, mungbeans, chickpeas. I find these to be the more nutritious and the cheapest.
    rosamonreal wrote: »
    Just looking for advice and help. I actually just started my vegan diet (im on week 1). I noticed decrease in energy and most importantly im feeling faint. Get dizzy and kinda feel shakey. Is this something normal with transition or can I do something to help prevent this? Please help anyone

    This is not normal at all. Maybe you're not eating enough, or are allergic to something. Many people decide to go vegan and either eat only carb/sugar loaded junk, or over-processed and fake meats. Hope this is not what you're doing.

  • ambermoon18
    ambermoon18 Posts: 2 Member
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    rosamonreal wrote: »
    Just looking for advice and help. I actually just started my vegan diet (im on week 1). I noticed decrease in energy and most importantly im feeling faint. Get dizzy and kinda feel shakey. Is this something normal with transition or can I do something to help prevent this? Please help anyone

    I had this issue when I was trying to do a low-carb vegan diet, but mostly I think I just wasn't paying attention to having a well rounded balanced diet. You are probably missing something or are not eating enough calories. If you can have little healthy snacks every 2-3 hours, you may notice a difference.
  • scaryg53
    scaryg53 Posts: 268 Member
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    I'm always way over on carbs, but I don't worry about it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    By way over do you mean way over MFP's default...because it's pretty much just to obligatory 50% carbs setting...it's not gospel...you can change it to be whatever you want it to be.

    Most vegetarians I know have relatively high carb diets because they eat a lot of veg and grains and other plant based things that tend to be carbohydrates. To balance things out, eat more nuts and things like avocado to basically up your fat a bit. Also, eggs are decent sources of protein...and most of my vegetarian friends also eat fish
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    and most of my vegetarian friends also eat fish

    I believe your pescetarian friends eat fish.
  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
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    I'm a vegetarian. I eat only 40% of my calories from carbs. I don't eat rice, grain or flour. Egg whites, greek yogurt, protein shakes to make sure I get 30% of my calories from protein.
  • knitsteel
    knitsteel Posts: 8 Member
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    So what's the right carb percentage to put down for a vegetarian, flexitarian, or pescetarian diet? I'm flexitarian and still find that I go over on carbs every day without eating any outright sugar other than honey in my morning coffee. Is there really a benefit to the default values or any good reason to stick with the default carb and sugar levels as long as I stay within my calorie goal?
  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
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    I think it can depend on your goal also. I'm trying to build muscle, so I'm getting at leat .8 to 1 gram of protein per pound. So I keep mine at 40% since I'm weight training. Lifting without adequate protein can cause muscle loss.
    Another calculation besides the .8-1 for protein, I've seen .45 x weight for fat intake, then the rest carbs. I use 30P-30F-40C. It's what I'm comfortable with.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    and most of my vegetarian friends also eat fish

    I believe your pescetarian friends eat fish.

    I don't know...they call themselves vegetarians. I'm not too into labels and such though...I eat all the foods.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    knitsteel wrote: »
    So what's the right carb percentage to put down for a vegetarian, flexitarian, or pescetarian diet? I'm flexitarian and still find that I go over on carbs every day without eating any outright sugar other than honey in my morning coffee. Is there really a benefit to the default values or any good reason to stick with the default carb and sugar levels as long as I stay within my calorie goal?

    There isn't any "right". Macro ratios are a very individualized thing. I personally perform best when I'm eating moderate amounts of all three. Carbs aren't the devil...fat isn't the devil...protein doesn't have any miracle fat loss properties, etc.

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    I avoid grains because I get more protein from lentils and beans.
  • SciranBG
    SciranBG Posts: 97 Member
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    Lol at the eggs and fish "vegetarians".

    For the actual question, I haven't seen anyone mention nutritional yeast (nooch) or subbing out regular bread for ezekiel bread.

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