Less Meat

Anaaremade

Any ideas for meat substitutions? I don't like eating meat too much. Can anyone suggest how I can get in more vege's or the like and get enough protein without having to eat meat and consume too many carbs?

sammyliftsandeats

Do you eat eggs? They are a good source of protein and fats.

Up your fats by adding butter or making cream sauces for your vegetables.

Avocados are good for fats.

Do you eat fish? They are a good source of protein.

lodro

invest in a good quality protein supplement. takes all the guesswork out of it. in my case it means I eat a wider variety of vegetables

Dragonwolf

What are your reasons for not liking to eat "too much" meat? You don't have to respond here, but it's likely a good idea to sit and think about it.

If it's health concerns, I wouldn't worry about it. We as a species got to where we are because of meat, and we thrive on it (generally speaking). Most of the research out there regarding nutrition in general is faulty at best, and most of the stuff that says "x is bad for you" is done in isolation, in the context of the standard American diet, and/or on animals for whom that thing is not their natural diet.

Ethics re: factory farms -- find your local farmers and farmer's markets. Eat local, know where your food comes from and how it was raised and handled. Also, consider locally native animals, if possible (ie - for me in the midwest US, that's whitetail deer and bison). They are better equipped to handle the local climate, requiring fewer resources to raise. (Really, these are good ideas for plant food, too.)

Other ethics, environment, politics -- I won't go there, nor will I argue. I'm sure you know what they say about religion and politics.

If you still feel that reducing or even eventually eliminating your meat intake is what you want to do, then you might have to increase your carb allotment a fair bit, because all of the plant-based protein sources are packaged with some amount of carbs (minus processed soy, maybe). Most have a fair bit of fiber, so counting net (total minus fiber) vs total carbs is also a wise idea. Fats are going to come from things like avocado, coconut, and olive (and butter, if you still include it), and nuts and seeds to a lesser degree.

If you're just going to keep your meat intake low, then increase the quality as high as you can. Bivalves (oysters, mussels, etc) are fantastic little nutrient powerhouses. We're talking many times over your daily value for things like B12 and a host of other nutrients. Organ meat in general is good, too, for similar reasons. Seriously, liver knocks the socks off of most of the plant super foods for nutrient density (and it has the added bonus that its nutrients are highly available to our bodies).

Riche120

I haven't found any meat substitutes that are low carb yet that I like. I mostly eat vegetables in cream or cheese sauces. Eggs and nuts are good to add too. Pinterest has a lot of recipes if you search Keto-vegetarian.

kpk54

Greek yogurt and legumes are high in protein but kinda high in carbs. Especially legumes.

landiodo

Sometimes I make mug bread with whey protein powder so I don't have to eat so much meat. I eat a lot of hummus too.

ladipoet

Whey protein isolate is your friend when it comes to baking. So is gelatin. Both are sources of protein and very low carb. Mid last week I made up a batch of low carb sugar cookies because I get tired of trying to get all my protein from one source of meat. A few days ago, I made up a batch of low carb gummy candies. Both the sugar cookies and gummy candies taste a lot better to me than meat or eggs plus the fact that they are sweet makes me feel like I'm getting a treat even though I'm still getting protein and some healthy fat in with them too. Sometimes you gotta think outside the box.

Majcolorado

I use Humapro tablets when I'm not in the mood to eat a lot of meat. They go great with BPC, too.