Vegan/vegetarian losing weight

myoctober

Hi there
My family have just gone vegetarian/vegan. Im trying to lose weight but want to make sure my kids are getting enough protein etc

dr100

You don't have to go vegetarian or vegan to lose weight. I tried it and ended up sacrificing muscle instead of all fat. That did happen to me because I was mostly eating proccesed vegetarian foods and not getting enough protein but still.

godlikepoetyes

If you want your kids to eat vegan, this can be tricky. Go and see a good nutritionist. This is usually not very expensive and can put your mind at ease. As for vegetarian, getting plenty of protein is not at all difficult. So Delicious has 5 x Protein Almond Milk. Nonfat Greek yogurt cannot be beat for protein. Eggs are excellent all the way round. I have been a vegan, but after a year and a half found it too restrictive. I eat eat now, but must days I don't. I use skim milk. I eat low-fat cheeses. Eggs. People in America are pretty nuts about protein. Even bananas have protein! Bread. Oatmeal. Beans. Peas. Grains. Nuts!! If you eat a variety of good foods, you should have no problem and your kids will thrive.

dopeysmelly

It's pretty easy to eat vegan/veggie and meet protein requirements (iron and calcium need more planning IMO). Like PP said, you don't need a ton of protein and it is everywhere.

If you're concerned tofu, seitan and tempeh are good sources, and beans and lentils. I usually have some sort of bean at every meal, either as simply cooked or tofu or soy milk for example.

Vegan for Life is a good book I'd recommend.

RodaRose

Lentils, chick peas, black beans, pinto beans, cheese, milk, eggs, yogurt, nuts, tofu, peanut butter, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, broccoli, yellow squash, kale . . . .
=====
Bean chili and tacos, eggs and tofu and these --
http://www.cookinglight.com/food/vegetarian/vegetarian-meals/view-all

bellabonbons

I have been a vegetarian for 11 years and I have great muscle tone I have all my protein needs met. And by becoming a vegetarian on my blood values became perfect.

redraidergirl2009

Protein is very easy to get on a vegetarian diet. Here's a list of some common sources, TBH you don't need alot of protein, most people around 45-65 grams a day is enough. If you want to lose weight focus on calories and making good food choices. Remember, cakes and cookies are vegetarian too, but not healthy.

http://www.eatthis.com/lose-weight-build-muscle-with-complete-proteins

melonaulait

Focus on eating a variety of whole plant foods. Sounds like a great change for your family!

tanyaltrl

You don't need as much protein as we're told to have in western society. Its the meat and dairy industry influencing the government that made the protein requirements so high. The World Health Organization states we only need 5% of our diet from protein. You can get this easily from whole foods plant based diet. Legumes/tofu/nuts are totally optional. Look up Dr. McDougall, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. T Colin Campbell, Dr. Esselstyn...theres so many more this is just to start off. Many kids thrive on vegan diets

janejellyroll

You may find this article interesting: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/protein

Summary: Ensure you're including lysine-rich foods in your diet and it will be pretty easy to ensure you and your familly are getting enough protein.

AnnPT77

tanyaltrl wrote: »

You don't need as much protein as we're told to have in western society. Its the meat and dairy industry influencing the government that made the protein requirements so high. The World Health Organization states we only need 5% of our diet from protein. You can get this easily from whole foods plant based diet. Legumes/tofu/nuts are totally optional. Look up Dr. McDougall, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. T Colin Campbell, Dr. Esselstyn...theres so many more this is just to start off. Many kids thrive on vegan diets

From Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation on Protein and Amino Acid Requirements in Human Nutrition
(2002 : Geneva, Switzerland)

The requirement indicated by the meta-analysis (6) (a median requirement of
105 mg nitrogen/kg per day or 0.66 g/kg per day of protein) can be accepted
as the best estimate of a population average requirement for healthy adults.
Although there is considerable uncertainty about the true between-individual
variability, the safe level was identified as the 97.5th percentile of the population
distribution of requirement, i.e. 133 mg nitrogen/kg per day, or 0.83
g/kg per day protein. Thus 0.83 g/kg per day protein would be expected
to meet the requirements of most (97.5%) of the healthy adult population.

I can't speak for others, but that's substantially more than 5% of calories for me (and yes, I do see that the recommendation is based on body weight in kilograms, not pounds). Plus those are the recommendations for adults; the g/kg recommendation for children varies by age, and is higher.

Note: I'm not disagreeing that one can get a healthy amount of protein on a vegan diet. (I'm vegetarian myself, though not vegan.) One can, and I'm sure can achieve healthy levels for children as well. But I recommend that anyone do his/her own research in primary sources to be comfortable with what that healthy level is.