New reco for vegetarian diet: high protein, moderate carb food options for

BodyTemple23

Is anyone willing to share their weekly meal plan for a vegetarian diet with protein-rich foods? Mine seem to have more carbs (brown rice 1 cup per meal, 2 multigrain gluten-free rotis) unless I eat eggs that day, plus I drink a protein shake.

I'm an Indian. So my food intake is geared toward dal, roti, sabji, beans, etc.

I'm toying with the idea of adding fish and chicken to my diet, but I never had them. So, I find the idea a bit hard.

Thanks!

AnnPT77

I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, targeting 100g protein minimum (on maintenance calories), usually get 110g or so. It was a little less while losing and on lower calories, but still around 80s-90s grams daily. For reference, I'm female, 5'5" (165 cm), started out at 183 pounds (83 kg), currently around 130 pounds (59 kg).

Personally, I wouldn't consider doing actually low carb, because I lost weight fine without doing it, and so many nutrient dense foods that contribute protein also have carbs (like all of the beans/legumes).

I'm not Indian, but eat a lot of things that would be staples in Indian vegetarian food in my understanding. I probably eat more traditional soy foods - tempeh, tofu, tofu noodles, edamame (cooked or dry roasted) - than would be common in that cuisine. I do eat quite a lot of dairy, especially Greek yogurt, kefir, skim milk, cottage cheese and other calorie-efficient cheeses. I don't eat very many eggs, and don't use protein powder or protein bars. (I don't think there's anything wrong with those, I just don't find them tasty/satisfying.) Similarly, I rarely eat any of the modern fake meats. (I never liked meat in the first place!)

I don't have a meal plan, though. I eat oatmeal with Greek yogurt, walnuts, peanut butter powder, berries, cinnamon, hemp hearts and milled flax seed for either breakfast or lunch pretty much every day. With that, I have coffee with lots of hot skim milk. If I don't have that for breakfast, I have skim milk, a glass of kefir, and an Ezekiel pita (sprouted bread with a little more protein than most) with peanut butter.

Dinners vary lots, but include very large amounts of veggies/fruits - usually 800g or more of them daily. The dinner protein is usually some combination of tempeh, tofu, red lentil pasta, calorie-efficient cheese, or beans of some kind. Occasionally I eat seitan (gluten). Other than as mentioned above, I don't eat much bread or grain. When I have snacks, they usually are either fruit or something with protein (like crispy chickpeas or broadbeans, some calorie-efficient cheese, or occasionally a hard-boiled egg).

I have a pretty high calorie goal in maintenance for a woman my age (1850 calories + all exercise calories, usually another 250-500 calories from exercise). When I was losing, it was more like 1400-1600 + exercise calories.

If you want to see what I eat at a more detailed level, my diary is open to friends and I accept friend requests (even though I'm kind of a crummy/inattentive MFP friend). You're welcome to send me a friend request if you like. I don't log every day anymore, but still log a lot of the time. Though I don't do much on my timeline, I do answer private messages or questions on my timeline.

I hope something in there may be helpful!

BodyTemple23

@AnnPT77 thank you! That's very detailed. Sending you a friend request now.

BodyTemple23

@AnnPT77 clicking on your name throws a user not found error.

Can you please send me a friend request?

AnnPT77

BodyTemple23 wrote: »

@AnnPT77 clicking on your name throws a user not found error.

Can you please send me a friend request?

Sure. You should have it now.

I'm no diet paragon, but maybe you can get some ideas.

kshama2001

I'm not a vegetarian, but I did live for a year in a yoga center and two in an ashram, both vegetarian, heavy on Indian food. One was in Massachusetts and the other in New York.

• More dal and beans and less rice and roti. (We just had roti on special occasions. We celebrated all the Hindu, Jewish, and Christian holidays, so there were a LOT of special occasions, but the Official Roti Makers only came a few times per year and I don't recall the staff making roti.)
• We served a lot of tofu and tempeh.
• You didn't mention dairy, but more of that if you eat it. I eat a lot of low fat or fat free cottage cheese - lots of protein bang for the calorie buck.
• More eggs.

If you do the above, you should be able to hit your protein goal without adding fish or chicken

BodyTemple23

@kshama2001 thank you. That's helpful to know.

My request came from the place that I'm unable to lose weight. I have a pause in my weight loss efforts. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Based on what I read, increasing protein may help. I was born into a vegetarian family and had terrible eating habits. I'm into Ayurveda, and Ayurveda recommends fish/meat for occasional corrections of imbalances in the body (food as a medicine). I don't intend to become a nonvegetarian, but what if I could give my body just a lil boast until the imbalances are corrected? I might be wrong here

kshama2001

BodyTemple23 wrote: »

@kshama2001 thank you. That's helpful to know.

My request came from the place that I'm unable to lose weight. I have a pause in my weight loss efforts. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Based on what I read, increasing protein may help. I was born into a vegetarian family and had terrible eating habits. I'm into Ayurveda, and Ayurveda recommends fish/meat for occasional corrections of imbalances in the body (food as a medicine). I don't intend to become a nonvegetarian, but what if I could give my body just a lil boast until the imbalances are corrected? I might be wrong here

Increasing protein often does help people with satiety, which makes it easier to create a calorie deficit. I still think you can get plenty of protein without fish/chicken, but it could certainly be easier with these. However, if you are an ethical vegetarian, I really don't want to encourage this path.

Consider seitan:

https://www.eatingwell.com/article/8050521/what-is-seitan-and-is-it-healthy/

...You may be surprised to learn that seitan rivals animal-based protein sources. For instance, 2 ounces of seitan has the same amount of protein as a 2-ounce serving of chicken breast.

Compared to plant-based protein options, a 2-ounce serving of seitan provides 4 grams more protein than 1 cup of edamame, 7 grams more than 2 ounces of firm tofu and 6 grams more than 2 ounces of tempeh.

While seitan is an excellent protein source for vegetarians and vegans, it is an incomplete protein, meaning it doesn't provide all the essential amino acids like soy foods such as tempeh and tofu. According to a 2021 article in Food Chemistry, seitan is low in lysine, an essential amino acid for growth that's commonly found in animal-based products. While combining plant-protein sources to make a complete protein is unnecessary, it's important to vary those sources throughout your day to ensure you don't miss out on essential amino acids.

xrj22

I would focus on making sure you are getting enough protein (at least 60 - 70 g per day, maybe more depending on your size and activity level). Then make sure that you are eating health whole-foods. If a lot of your carbs are coming from added sugar, white flour, white rice, etc. then it is not healthy. If you are restricting calories (or decreasing the amount of food you eat), you would probably not be getting enough fiber and nutrition. On the other hand, if you are eating carbs in the form of whole grains, legumes, beans, peas, etc. I would not worry if your carb #'s look high. Also, you might consider just eating the way you are, but with less rice and breads. They fill you up and add calories without adding much nutrition (even if whole grain).

BodyTemple23

Thank you! I'm a healthy eater. I gave up flour and white rice over a decade ago.

I was a sugar addict and do spiral, but I have been sugar sober for 90 days.

My diet is clean but lacks protein. My protein intake is about 45 grams, and carbs about 200 grams. That isn't good.