Help me balance my carbs please!

What ratio are you set at?
I'm at 45/25/30...which is to say 135g/75g/40g (which is great for me, might not be for you but it couldn't hurt to play around with the percentages). You are also welcome to check out my food diary. I'm lacto/ovo/pesco.
Hope Banks chimes in on this I'd like to know his take.

Since you eat dairy try eating more eggs. I'll make a half dozen hard boiled eggs at a time and one of them with a salad at times or carry them around as a quick protein snack.

Other high protien vegi things I eat are:

Quorn Products (little salsa on top and baked is really yummy)
Boca burgers (little high in fat though)
Trader Joe's Vegitarian Corn Dogs
Morning Star Pizza Burgers ( only 120 calories)
Trader Joe's Indian flavored Marsala Vegi burgers

I know eggs are a good source of protein, but I can only eat them occasionally - and I really don't like just plain hard boiled eggs. I will usually eat an omelet on the weekends, but eggs are just not a favorite of mine. And, I'm really trying to stray from frozen, processed foods and I'm finding that soy upsets my stomach. Don't have a Trader Joe's anywhere near me and I've heard of the Quorn products, but no store near me carries them.

I can't eat eggs by themselves (have to be in cake, lol)...I'm just not a fan of the egg substitutes (that's the only reason I'm ovo).

Check the Quorn website to see if there is a store near you. Also, the products will be in the frozen section.

edit-Quorn prodects have NO soy in them.

On my food plan, the food lovers fat loss program, they say carbs should be between 30 to 45 g per meal. Proteins should bve between 15 and 30 grams per meal.

However, in the vegetarian section, it says you still need to adequate amounts of protein from non-animal sources to keep your body in fat burning mode. It's also important to avoid consuming too many fast carbs. If your meal contains an obvious protein source like soy, tempeh, tofu, textured vegetable protein, or protein powder (or eggs, dairy, fish or chicken if your diet includes them), then it is simple. You follow the portion guidelines of adding a fast carb (rice 1/2 cup /potato 1 cup, bread 2 palm size, etc) and a slow carb (veggies mostly at 1 cup).

If your meal does not include one of those proteins above, then you need to construct your meal from fast and slow carbs. Making sure that those foods contain a total of at least 15 grams of protein at every meal. The optimum range for protein for a woman is between 15 to 30 grams per meal.

For example, on average, a slice of 100% whole wheat bread has about 4 grams of protein. If you add a couple of tbps of peanut butter* at 4 grams per tbps then finish it off with some jam and a 1/2 cup of refried beans at 6.9 grams of protein, you've got a meal that contains 23 grams of protein. A cup of high fiber cereal ike nature's path optimum power has 8 grams of protein. add a cup of low fat milk at 12 grams and you've got a quick meatless meal with a total of 20 grams of protein, plenty of protein to switch your body into fat burning mode.

*while the recommended serving size for peanut butter is one tbps, vegetarians will sometimes need to exceed advised fat levels slightly to get adequate amounts of protein. because of this, it is particulary important for people following a vegetarian diet to keep careful watch on their total daily intake of fat.

The other challenge for vegetarians is that since your meals are often made up of foods that are primarily carbs (even if they contain some protein) it is very easy to consume too many fast carbs to maintain the proper proportions of a meal. In fact, since the primary component of so many V meals is a fast carb like pasta or rice, often with no protein source to balance it out, it is easy to see how V can run into trouble. In situations where your meal does NOT include a protein like soy, tofu or eggs, use additional slow carbs to provide the additional protein you need rather than adding more fast carbs. Ideally, choose slow carbs that are highest in protein like beans, peas and other legumes. Remember it is the fast carbs that are most likely to switch your body into fat storing mode. Slow carbs have far less affect on your glycemic profile. as long as you keep your fast carbs to one portion and then get your supplemental protein from additional portions of slow carbs, you'll still maintain the right balance.

Example of a balance V plate:
Fast carb - rice - total protein = 2 g
slow carb - beans - total protein = 7.5 g
slow carb - chick peas - total protein = 7 g

Hope this helps! If you want to find out more about the food plan, go to myfoodlovers.com.
Christine

I'm flattered at the mention, although I'm not sure how much help I can be, not being a vegetarian myself, I don't really have to focus on protein consumption very much.

I'll ask why you're at 40/30/30 though, most vegetarians are usually around 50% for their carbs, it's really tough to balance it out when your carbs are that low.

I guess if you're looking for foods that are high protein, low fat, and low carbs, well the one thing you say you almost never eat would be the one thing I would recommend, I.E. Fish. Most white fish has no carbs and basically no (or very little) fat, drop some lite progresso bread crumbs on it, some lemon juice, and bake, and you have a nice dinner.

I realize doing this every day isn't an option for most, but it's something that's not overly expensive, and you could probably do it for 2 or 3 nights a week.

I'm flattered at the mention, although I'm not sure how much help I can be, not being a vegetarian myself, I don't really have to focus on protein consumption very much.

I'll ask why you're at 40/30/30 though, most vegetarians are usually around 50% for their carbs, it's really tough to balance it out when your carbs are that low.

I guess if you're looking for foods that are high protein, low fat, and low carbs, well the one thing you say you almost never eat would be the one thing I would recommend, I.E. Fish. Most white fish has no carbs and basically no (or very little) fat, drop some lite progresso bread crumbs on it, some lemon juice, and bake, and you have a nice dinner.

I realize doing this every day isn't an option for most, but it's something that's not overly expensive, and you could probably do it for 2 or 3 nights a week.

I took some stupid quiz online that told me I should be at 40/30/30 - stupid, I know :blushing:, especially considering it was in no way geared for vegetarians. Changing the carbs to 50 would help quite a bit - what would you recommend for the fat/protein? Would 20 be too low for protein? Do I need to go an equal 25/25? I can definately try and incorporate more fish into my diet - I'll shoot for 1-2x per week to start.

Now, today for example, I'm doing fine on carbs (still have some left), under on protein (like always) and over on fat. But, most of my fat comes from "healthier" fats. I'm trying to eat more of these because I have a hard time getting all of my calories consumed in a day. How bad is it if I'm over in fat if the majority of them are "good"?

Sorry for the rambling and all of the questions, I'm just trying to find the right balance for myself and it's a much harder task than anticipated!

50/25/25 is fine, or 50/30/20 is ok (carbs/protein/fat) or even 50/20/30 is respectable, there is usually a little leeway in this, as our bodies will use it, most people eat far more protein then they need, which just ends up being converted to energy and fat anyway.

Oh, and being over in poly-unsaturated fats and mono-unsaturated fats is fine, I mean, within reason, being over by 5 or 6 grams is fine, but if you're over by like 35 or 40 grams, well, you're probably not doing yourself any favors, but even then, if you're still within your calories, it's not tragic, not really.

How do you change the ratio? In the food diary?

Thanks!