Vegetarian w/ PCOS considering a change (think: meat)

The foods people eat on "paleo" diets are nothing like what our ancestors ate as we did not breed and cross-breed plants like we do now, or eat a lot of large animals. Get tested for gluten intolerance, food allergies ect..

I know! It feels like no matter what you eat in this country it's tainted by industry, too. It's a bit of a minefield!

How much meat did you eat before going vegetarian? For me, meat was never really the center of my plate. I would eat a burger every two months maybe and the most meat I ate was usually pepperoni or something.

I remember very distinctly that I ate quite a bit of lean meat prior to 1997. No bacon, corned beef (gross), or anything like that. Lean pork chops, lean steak with the fat cut off, salmon, chicken, at least a serving of one of these once a day. I remember that I HATED fat on my meats. It was gross and gave me tummy aches. The other stuff didn't seem to bother me, though.

Do you currently eat eggs? If not, you might consider that first before going for meat. If you do go for meat, there are beef/pork suppliers who have grassfed/open range animals, which imo are both more humane and healthier.

What worked better than anything else to get my PCOS under control was regular martial arts practice. I would feel absolutely terrible before I went, but something about the community and the sheer enjoyment would have me leaving (in the evenings) totally exhausted but a little high. After some time (1.5 years?) of training regularly, I found that my blood sugars were absolutely normal and if I felt like it, I could go all day without food and then eat in the evenings without feeling terrible. This is all before I started counting calories, so I hadn't lost any weight, but I was very definitely healthier. My monthlies also are far more regular than they are before -- I no longer need BCP to stay regular.

I do currently eat eggs. I am a "lazy vegetarian" - or a pollo-pescetarian. I definitely need to up my activity levels. I have actually joined a walking group through my school and that starts next week for a six week session. I'll check to see if the rec center offers something like what you described once the semester starts.

I'm bit confused on why you think going back to meat diet will help your issues? It's easy to reduce carbs on a vegetarian diet...or rather didn't you say in a later post you are actually pescatarian?

Most people don't know what a pescatarian is. I have asserted from my initial post (please re-read it if you don't believe me) that I do incorporate fish and occasionally some poultry into my current diet. I have been ovo-lacto/lacto-ovo, as well as vegan. Of the last 17 years, I have only been eating fish and foul for the last 5.

I kind of sense that you are a veg*n. The only people I know who get indignant about pescatarians calling themselves "vegetarians" are, themselves, vegetarians. (For the record, most pescatarians only associate themselves with veg*ns to make it easier to explain their diet to the mammal meat eating masses who tend to get perplexed by the label. In essence, we don't do it for people who already know the difference.)

Please do not be defensive of the lifestyle, as I agree that it is the ideal, most ecologically friendly, most compassionate way to eat.

I have been a vegetarian of one stripe or another for the better part of twenty years. I am not inexperienced about this subject. It is easy to reduce carbs on a veg*n diet, BUT it is damned near impossible to get carbs as low as I need to in order to get my blood sugar where I want it, AND eliminate wheat (which I'm sensitive to), AND eliminate soy (which has phytoestrogens that could also be messing with my PCOS). The problem is, with these last considerations, it becomes almost impossible to eat enough protein on my current diet. Even the protein sources in a veg*n diet are relatively higher in carbohydrates than meat.

Here is a list of popular veg*n protein sources and why I shouldn't eat them as the basis of my diet any longer. I know that these are incredibly healthy and they taste delicious. I have been living off of this stuff for years...but I am still fat and my blood sugar is all f'ed up because I don't metabolize sugar like the average person does. A little bit of carbs go a LONG way when you're a diabetic.

Tempeh (soy), Soybeans (soy), Seitan (wheat/gluten), Lentils (I love 'em, but they are high in carbs), Black beans (ditto; I these, but they're very high in carbs), Kidney beans (ditto), Chickpeas (ditto), Pinto beans - and let's just say all legumes (high fiber, but also high carb), Veggie burger (has almost a full serving of carbs according to the American Diabetes Association - a full serving is 15 grams), Tofu (soy), Quinoa (a 1/2 cup has 17g carbs), Peas (high carb), Textured Vegetable Protein - TVP (a 1/2 cup has 14 g of carbs, which is almost a full serving), Peanut butter (also high carb; even the unsweetened kind has about 6g carbs for 2 tbsp),
Veggie dog (again, these have sugar in them), and you probably get the point.

Now, I know a little bit of carbs - especially ones high in fiber like those listed above - aren't going to hurt me, and in fact, are quite good for me. The problem comes in when you start to build meals out of all of this stuff. If the veggies and fruit have sugar and even the proteins have carbs (which is not generally the case with meat protein) then before you know it - BOOM - I am eating too many carbs, my blood sugar spikes, I get really tired and pass out, and my whole day is shot.

I am trying to avoid becoming insulin dependent here. The reason why I am considering meat is because of this desperation. I am a 32 year old type two diabetic. This is no joke.

Do you also have PCOS or are you diabetic? If you are, and have specific advice on how to eliminate most of the carbs from my diet while maintaining this lifestyle, I would be absolutely thrilled to hear it. For real - no snarkiness intended in that statement at all. Otherwise, please keep your scrutiny to a minimum until you've walked a mile in these very frustrated, overweight, and morally vexed shoes.

Also, kindly note that a vegetarian does not eat any kind of flesh. No mammals. No birds. No fish nor seafood. Zip. Nada. Nothing that ever had eyes. There is no 'kind of' or 'part-time' when it comes to a vegetarian lifestyle. It's like saying you sometimes smoke. You either do or you don't. I'm just saying because I keep reading this and it is incorrect. I don't mean to be rude either and if come across as being rude, I apologize.

Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat – red meat, poultry, seafood and the flesh of any other animal.

I know ALL of this. Please read the whole thread before chiming in with such a smug, unhelpful, self-serving response.