Vegetarian & Carbs ... Meal Plans / Ideas?

svf86

I've been a vegetarian for about 4 years now, after losing a significant amount of weight i'm stuck, happy but stuck. I consume way too many carbs. Bread, pasta, pizza, pasta, bread, cheese ... I'm the worlds worst vegetarian to say the least, I don't consume enough veggies so we could start there. It comes to a point where I just don't know where to start, for the past 4 years I haven't known where to start. What to make in the morning, noon, night. I just knew to not eat meat.

Does anyone have any good meal plans, healthy healthy eating plans or good examples of meal plans that helped them lose weight and continue to eat healthy in a vegetarian lifestyle?

crossarmant

I'm a vegan, have been for 7 years now, so none of these recipes have any dairy or eggs in them. I was around 245 lbs when I made the switch and have been sitting around 170lbs since. I try to follow a general nutrition guideline of including a bean, a green, and a grain (or other nutrient dense, slow carb) into most of my dishes:

Try sprouting your own beans or seeds, eat them in low carb wraps (I use David's Lavash, only 100 calories for a whole wrap) with a lot of fresh greens (I use kale, chard, dandelion, or spinach), peppers, olives, and a little tahini.

Try snacking on nuts and fruit; trail mix is a great pick-me-up on a busy day but can be easy to over do.

Spaghetti squash and pasta sauce w/ some mushrooms/TVP

Chana Masala - Indian chickpea and tomato curry served with brown rice or millet.

Cuban style black beans with guacamole and sweet potatoes.

A big bowl of kale with a tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and nutritional yeast sauce.

Tofu, broccoli, mung bean sprouts, carrots, onions, and bok choy stir fry with a little ginger/garlic and soy sauce or liquid aminos as a sauce; sometimes I'll stir in a spoon of crunch peanut butter to give it a different flavor. Serve with either brown rice, quinoa, millet, or other type of whole grain.

Mujadara - middle eastern lentils and rice; flavored with caramelized onions and garlic, cumin, pepper, chili powder, and a dash of cinnamon.

Smoky tempeh and collards - combine soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, liquid smoke, chili powder, garlic, and vegetable broth; marinate tempeh for a bit in the sauce, broil. Use extra marinade to cook collard greens down. Serve with a complex starch of your choice; I like brown rice or jerk seasoned sweet potatoes or yucca root.

I also sprinkle a blend of flax, hemp, and chia seeds on a lot of my wraps, salads, or oatmeal as a way to get a little extra protein, healthy lipids, and minerals.


Hope those help, feel free to look at my own log for ideas if you want.

Squidgeypaws007

bumping to see what responses you get - I have a very similar issue

CassieReannan

Hey,

I've been vegetarian since childhood and know how you feel! If you like you can add me to look at my diary. I usually make stir fries, veggie slices, omlettes, fried rices, healthy pizzas and sandwiches.. etc.

littlekitty3

It's not the carbs. I've been a vegetarian for over 10 years. Vegan for 5 months.
Its possibly the "veg*n junk food" you're eating.

Eat more whole foods is really the basics of a good plant based lifestyle.
When I stopped eating dairy I instantly lost weight, let that be a start

technicolormermaid

I've been a vegetarian for six and a half years! I've been in the exact, same boat as you. I ate cheese sticks, chips, fries, nachos, everything fried and unhealthy.

A few ideas for healthy eating...
Breakfast: A Flatout Light Original wrap with a slice a fat free cheese, and a Morningstar Farms "sausage" patty shredded up inside. SO DELICIOUS, holy crap. I eat it with a Chobani Simply 100 yogurt and the whole meal is 300 calories with tons of protein.

I eat plenty of meat substitutes. They include mostly Morningstar Farms stuff, and also tempeh and black bean burgers. When you're first starting to "diet," you will probably just want to stick to your calorie limit but still eat the foods you like. Then you'll notice that the foods you like are insanely packed with calories, and you'll want to eat veggies because you can eat WAY more of them than the bread and pasta and cheese.

I'm still pretty terrible in that I eat mostly frozen veggies and meals, but as I am learning more about food and eating healthy, I am trying to veer away from that more. It's hard to get started, but start somewhere. Even if it's just counting calories.

francesjdae

I stopped eating meat when I turned 21 5 months ago & began with the same problem: I increased my carbs (& not the great kinds) in order to put off the hunger that occurred from not eating meat. Although I felt great accomplishing a challenge which is eliminating meat from my diet, I noticed I wasn't getting any leaner. I reflected on my diet and 1 month ago realized it was because of all the breads and sweets I increased in my diet; a huge increase in fat and carbs & a huge decrease in protein (NOT good).

Since then, I am in the process of eliminating bread out of my diet unless it is whole wheat. I eat brown Indian basmati rice for my rice, or Quinoa (high in protein). Since I was lacking in protein I've thus increased my tofu intake, incorporated whey protein, and eat more salmon, opposed to simply tilapia & shrimp (yes, I still eat seafood).
I would suggest doing research for eating a healthy veg. diet with foods high in nutritional value and reducing foods you know are just junk.

There are plenty of great veg. recipes floating on the internet.
Hope this helps.

jacekborek

Hi Guys,

many thanks for all tips. I am vegetarian too. I try to keep my daily intake within 1500 kcal limit but find it very hard recently and have noticed that I should eat much more protein. I do not eat any ready made food (veggie burgers, etc.) as it is junk food as well so I cook everything for myself. Can you advice me which products you would suggest to eat more proteins and also to speed up my weight lose as I have lost 34.5kg now and my weight has stopped and need to find something that will speed up the process.

I go to the gym 3-4 times a week plus run 10k x 2-3 times a week.

Any suggestions most welcome

Thank you

angel7472

Seitan. As long as you arent allergic to gluten. Its a wheat gluten by product. Contains 75-80 of protein. Learn to make your own its super easy. I just posted a recipe for this just this week. My recipe contains no salt and 51g of protein per serving. You can add your own seasonings to your taste. I made mine chili flavored and put bbq on it. You can also buy it at the store but its chock full of salt.

KardioKim

I'm a vegan, have been for 7 years now, so none of these recipes have any dairy or eggs in them. I was around 245 lbs when I made the switch and have been sitting around 170lbs since. I try to follow a general nutrition guideline of including a bean, a green, and a grain (or other nutrient dense, slow carb) into most of my dishes:

Try sprouting your own beans or seeds, eat them in low carb wraps (I use David's Lavash, only 100 calories for a whole wrap) with a lot of fresh greens (I use kale, chard, dandelion, or spinach), peppers, olives, and a little tahini.

Try snacking on nuts and fruit; trail mix is a great pick-me-up on a busy day but can be easy to over do.

Spaghetti squash and pasta sauce w/ some mushrooms/TVP

Chana Masala - Indian chickpea and tomato curry served with brown rice or millet.

Cuban style black beans with guacamole and sweet potatoes.

A big bowl of kale with a tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and nutritional yeast sauce.

Tofu, broccoli, mung bean sprouts, carrots, onions, and bok choy stir fry with a little ginger/garlic and soy sauce or liquid aminos as a sauce; sometimes I'll stir in a spoon of crunch peanut butter to give it a different flavor. Serve with either brown rice, quinoa, millet, or other type of whole grain.

Mujadara - middle eastern lentils and rice; flavored with caramelized onions and garlic, cumin, pepper, chili powder, and a dash of cinnamon.

Smoky tempeh and collards - combine soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, liquid smoke, chili powder, garlic, and vegetable broth; marinate tempeh for a bit in the sauce, broil. Use extra marinade to cook collard greens down. Serve with a complex starch of your choice; I like brown rice or jerk seasoned sweet potatoes or yucca root.

I also sprinkle a blend of flax, hemp, and chia seeds on a lot of my wraps, salads, or oatmeal as a way to get a little extra protein, healthy lipids, and minerals.


Hope those help, feel free to look at my own log for ideas if you want.

KardioKim

There's some good stuff here.

Spaghetti squash is the bomb. So is steamed cauliflower or broccoli with some Daiya cheese.

The junk is gonna get you every time. Ditch it and you'll feel better.

elliej

Life long veggie here. I think your man above's idea of green+grain+bean is pretty awesome for a starting point.

Also you can still eat all the carbs but make sure they aren't taking up 3/4 of your plate - buy a portion plate or even just print one out to keep in the kitchen?

Remember that protein helps keep you full, and plenty of veggies have it too (spinach, broccoli). Some vegetarian converts do have to think about the protein they're consuming rather than doing it automatically as they would have with meat but surely you're making mostly the same food? Just make sure that what ever you're using to substitute the 'meat' part has a nice amount of protein in or that you're paring it with higher protein veg/grains (like quinoa).

svf86

Wow thank you everyone!

EmoJew

Im a veggie and my diary is open if you wanna look. Also, there's a group here for veggies, and they regularly have recipes etc.

Msdwyer17

I've been a vegetarian for about 4 years now, after losing a significant amount of weight i'm stuck, happy but stuck. I consume way too many carbs. Bread, pasta, pizza, pasta, bread, cheese ... I'm the worlds worst vegetarian to say the least, I don't consume enough veggies so we could start there. It comes to a point where I just don't know where to start, for the past 4 years I haven't known where to start. What to make in the morning, noon, night. I just knew to not eat meat.

Does anyone have any good meal plans, healthy healthy eating plans or good examples of meal plans that helped them lose weight and continue to eat healthy in a vegetarian lifestyle?

You need good carbs and more protein. Try

Breakfast: try porridge for breakfast with berries, a teaspoon of honey and cinnamon
Lunch: try quinoa- a grain that gives more protein if you don't want to give up grains, choose quinoa a vegetable of choice & some healthy vinaigrette or something.
Snack: try Greek yoghurt. 170g has 18g protein for 97 calories. Or a handful of nuts.
Dinner: how about tofu, sweet potato & vegetables or sweet potato chips if you want it to feel more like 'junk' food.

etscher

If you eat one serving of starch or carbs at a time, you shouldn't go over your allowance for the day. However, keeping those processed carbs out of your house completely will be the first step to avoiding eating them.

I've been a vegetarian for about 2 years now, and I've found that if I'm going to eat starch or grain, I will always go with a whole grain. Visit the bulk section of your grocery store, and you will find a lot of different grains and legumes to experiment with. They will also give you more diverse and complex flavors that make meals more interesting.

Have you ever tried different types of squash? Lately I've been into roasting a half of a butternut squash in the oven, and then topping it with different things like beans, salsa, sour cream, avocados and tomatoes. A small side salad or vegetable on the side, and it makes for a filling and delicious meal.

A good rule of thumb I use is that AT LEAST half of my plate should be fruits/vegetables. I usually do a quarter of the plate raw fruit and a quarter of the plate steamed veggies, and the other half is the main meal I made. This helps to ensure that you are diversifying your plate and incorporating more fruits and veggies into your diet.

Rocbola

The best foods have no recipes. Peel and eat, or chop and eat.

Fruit makes the best breakfast. A big salad full of green leafy vegetables should be eaten at least once a day. Other good foods are veggie soups, steamed veggies, roasted veggies, rice and bean based dishes, etc, and those recipes can all be found online. Pinterest has been a good source or recipes lately.

hmodrow

I LOVE happyherbivore.com lots of free recipes on there with nutrition info. She also has 4 cookbooks I use ALL THE TIME!

fatfreevegan.com is good too.

Jump4Fitness

Like the other suggestions, I use spaghetti squash or shirataki noodles (shirataki noodles are a great replacement for pasta). Dempsey bodywise wraps or lettuce leaves as wraps rather than bread. I use unsweetened almond milk instead of milk, soy cheese rather than cheese, etc.There are some great recipes with Vegetarian Times.

ac2285

one recommendation would be to buy a veggie spiraliser, and make carrot/ zucchini/ sweet potato noodles, and use them in salads, pasta dishes and so forth.

i'll often mix about half the amount of pasta i used to eat with approx. 400g worth of zucchini noodles, i'll throw the zucchini noodles in the pasta sauce while it's cooking and then throw the regular pasta in when it's cooked.

it makes a HUGE bowl. even though i know it's mostly just zucchini there's something psychologically very satisfying about the fact it looks like an enormous bowl of pasta

Mangopickle

Try avoiding wheat, rice and potato for a while and branch out into all the other carbs and flours. All the beans...cutlass, Lima, Bambara, black, kidney, cranberry, fava, cannelloni, great northern, etc. chickpea flour, sorghum flour, oat, quinoa, amaranth, millet. I no longer eat wheat, rice or potato. They are my Kryptonite foods. I eat reams of other lower glycemic carbs. I can control all these carbs...and that sounds as if it is your issue.

kikilita

Being that I'm gluten intolerant, I didn't really kick up my carbs (wanted to, but gluten free stuff is too pricey and half of it has eggs or milk in it - I went vegan).

There are vegan/vegetarian groups you can join on myfitnesspal and they have recipe recommendations. Raw is usually best, but obviously not everyone switches to that (I'm not 100% raw).

Some blogs w/ recipes galores: spicedblueberryshake, ohsheglows, thisrawsomeveganlife, rawon10, peta, compassion over killing, glutenfreevegan, vegandad, stayingvegan, tofupress, etc. you can also use eathismuch.com and change the settings to vegetarian or vegan.

Also, get familiar with your produce section! Eat those tomatoes, rainbow chard, spinach, starfruit, papaya, peaches, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, ginger root, green onions, apples, bananas, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, mangoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, bok choy, avocados, lettuce, kale, red chard, raspberries, etc. Go to whole foods, get some agave nectar (or honey), try out nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, flax seed, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, get walnuts, cashews, almonds, store some black beans, get some tofu-- try hiyayakko (tofu with soy sauce, green onions, and grated ginger root, little preparation, looks good and tastes good). Get some soy sauce. Go to a Banana Leaf or look up vegetarian or vegan eats you have in your area. Look at the community market, they usually have tons of vegetarian/vegan stuff.

Just get stuff and start throwing it together! One day I brought a starfruit salad to work (you cut the starfruit and it's just star shapes automatically) with blueberries, diced tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, sliced strawberries, and sliced starfruit and I got so many compliments and told how "fancy" it was. It seriously took me less than five minutes to throw it all in a container. And it tasted super good, too!

Mash up some avocado with agave nectar, stir until you have a sauce type consistency, spread it on a chard leaf, dice up tomatoes, onions, ground up some walnuts, and throw those in it, maybe dice some cucumbers, and throw them on the chard leaf and roll it up!

Get some rice paper from the grocery store (usually in the international aisles, marked "asian cuisine" if you're in America- if not, I'm sure you can figure out where it's out in your grocery store). Just plain rice paper that you got soak in cold water for a few seconds (around 15). Fill it with blueberries, kale, raspberries, carrots, avocado, then told it up like a burrito and you have a summer roll up.

Watch some youtube videos on how to make sushi and make vegetarian rolls (with carrots, avocados, and celery, usually-- though you can pretty much put whatever you want in there).

Start carrying bananas and apples with you or whatever your favorite fruit it!

ETA: Oh, yeah, and DEFINITELY get some quinoa, that stuff is AMAZING. One time I ate it with spinach and tomatoes and had so much energy, I went a walked outside for an hour.

Hope this helps!!

kjflaherty

Happy Herbivore books! Also, make sure you are doing well with your protein, it will really help with the carb cravings. I know ppl have problems with the fake meats, but I love them and they definitely help keep me full. I love Beyond Meat, Light Life, and Gardein products. ChocolatecoveredKatie.com if you want some low cal dessert ideas. I like her baked oatmeals too!

Good luck!

missyahall2

I was a vegetarian for 10 years and I got up to over 270 pounds at one time. I transitioned back to meat after developing iron-deficiency anemia. I am currently testing it out again now that I have lost the weight. I may transition into 80% veg 20% meat permenantly. BLAH BLAH BLAH, I created a Pinterest page that has lots of healthy options. You can see some of the good stuff that's out there on the page below. You don't have to follow me or anything, but you can see some of the goodies that are available.

http://www.pinterest.com/missyahall2/

bajoyba

I'm a vegetarian as well and have been for about 4.5 years now. I gained weight for a couple of years before I joined MFP and learned how to eat more appropriate servings of things like bread and cheese.

My go-to meals are taco salad (vegetarian refried beans, black beans, lots of lettuce, diced onion, salsa, melted cheese, and a single serving of tortilla chips crushed over the top) and stir fry (baked seasoned tofu or seitan, steamed veggies, and a serving of brown rice, drizzled with my choice of sauce).

When I have pasta for dinner, I cook a single serving of pasta noodles and bump up the volume with spinach, zucchini, and squash.

I've made protein my number one focus, and that seems to have automatically cut back on my carbs a bit and balanced out my macros. If you make an effort to incorporate more veggies into your diet, your diet may balance out as well.

My diary is open, and you're welcome to have a look.

moondazed

I've been a vegetarian for about 8 years.. For most of that time I mostly ate bread, pizza, and other processed and junky foods. For some reason people assume that being a vegetarian means instantly being healthier, but that is the farthest thing from the truth! Now, my meals each day usually follow the same structure and have been working awesome for me. I've been staying at a steady low weight and have lots of energy.I find eating carb heavy (with fruits) in the mornings keep my full all day.

Breakfast: oatmeal with protein powder and fruit, fruit smoothie w/ protein powder, or egg/tofu scramble w/ toast and veggies

luch: salad w/protein, 3 ingredient pancake (30g of protein and barely 300 calories!!), soup, cauliflower rice

dinner: salad or stri fry with/ veggie meat or some sort of protein

Some low calorie/carb foods I've found and love to eat: pb2 (45 calories and 5g of protein!!!), mushroom or zuchini noodles, Joseph's Flax Pita Bread (50 calories w/ 5g of protein)