Low Carb Vegetarians... any luck?

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soulcake99
soulcake99 Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I thought I might try low carb, but I am a vegetarian and I'm not sure how this would work. I'm also not incredibly great at nutrition.

Please share your success if you have had any. Thanks!
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Replies

  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Not a vegetarian but I have an enduring interest in food. I suggest trying to do both is too hard. Instead, how about focusing on higher-protein, higher-fat vegetarian? Find ways to include more legumes in your diet.

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  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    It dawned on me that I had meat once in three days, getting my protein from a Mexican quinoa casserole one evening, and Hungarian bean soup the next. Oh, except for the back bacon in the soup. Cheater.

    I'm planning on a baked tofu stir fry tonight.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    OP...you'd basically have to do a high fat diet...lots of nuts, seeds, avocados, etc. IMO, it's pretty impractical...but that's just me.

    If it were me, I'd just focus on getting better, balanced nutrition.
  • andrikosDE
    andrikosDE Posts: 383 Member
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    soulcake99 wrote: »
    So I thought I might try low carb, but I am a vegetarian and I'm not sure how this would work. I'm also not incredibly great at nutrition.

    Please share your success if you have had any. Thanks!

    With just one sentence you managed to communicate 3 restrictions you put on yourself:
    1) vegetarianism (understandable)
    2) low carbs (why? Any health issues?)
    3) "not great at nutrition" (fixable with effort)

    Unless you have your personal chef, I'd say you put 3 obstacles in your way to good nutrition.
    I.e. doomed to failure.
  • crepes_
    crepes_ Posts: 583 Member
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    Lots of nuts, avocados, and oils. Cheeses galore! My favorite go-tos for that are tofu lasagna bake (slice the tofu thinly and use it instead of the noodles, everything else the same and you can use chopped up mushrooms for a 'meaty' consistency) and cheesy cauliflower stirfry (oil, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes with seasonings of your choice in a skillet. Add full fat cream cheese until it melts and everything gets all gooey.)

    You can also add in beans if you don't care about carbs being a little higher. They have protein and fiber. Good stuff. Beans, a low carb wrap, seasoned tofu, and some cheese makes a fine burrito substitute.
  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
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    I don't know why you want to go low carb but keep in mind that whole vegetables (and fruit) have a balance of carbs and fiber. That isn't the same as processed carbs that have all the fiber and nutrition removed.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Eggs !
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    I was before. It was tough. I ate a lot of eggs, veggie burgers, quorn, tofu, and other vegetarian "meats" and a lot of stuffed vegetables.
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,195 Member
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    Low carb vegetarian really is not possible. Even moderate carb vegetarian is quite challenging and unlikely to lead to a balanced diet.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    If you're an ovo/lacto vegetarian, being a low carbing veggie is entirely possible.

    Cottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt, tofu, and eggs are all loaded with protein and relatively low in carbs. Add in plenty of leafy greens, some berries, nuts and avocado and you have a low carb plan.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Almonds and macadamia are nuts that are somewhat lowish carbs.
  • SLE0803
    SLE0803 Posts: 145 Member
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    I'm a vegetarian. I focus more on protien centered meals rather than low carb. I recently started eating eggs again, so some of my protiens come from eggs. Other than eggs I eat a lot of beans in various forms and quinoa. I eat nuts as snacks. I don't eat dairy due to an allergy. I've lost 20lbs(ish) so far.
  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    soulcake99 wrote: »
    So I thought I might try low carb, but I am a vegetarian and I'm not sure how this would work. I'm also not incredibly great at nutrition.

    Please share your success if you have had any. Thanks!

    Hi

    I'm vegetarian for religious reasons (I do eat dairy, but no meat, fish, eggs)

    It means I can't go for the steaks and bacon and eggs.

    I eat a lot of vegetables, salad, a bit of nut butter and I use a plant based protein powder for proteins and mct oils to supplement fats. Make sure you get enough fibre, drink enough etc

    And I use a vitamin supplement, watch my electrolytes and my water intake.

  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    Low carb vegetarian really is not possible. Even moderate carb vegetarian is quite challenging and unlikely to lead to a balanced diet.

    Depends on what you want to heal. I'm highly insulin resistant, so high carb is out of the question for me.
  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    beemerphile1 wrote: »
    I don't know why you want to go low carb but keep in mind that whole vegetables (and fruit) have a balance of carbs and fiber. That isn't the same as processed carbs that have all the fiber and nutrition removed.


    Especially with fruit, that's not true. Better to eat vegetables than fruit. Fructose is fructose and will be processed as such, no matter what the source is.

    It's about glycemic load, not glycemic index.
  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    andrikosDE wrote: »
    soulcake99 wrote: »
    So I thought I might try low carb, but I am a vegetarian and I'm not sure how this would work. I'm also not incredibly great at nutrition.

    Please share your success if you have had any. Thanks!

    With just one sentence you managed to communicate 3 restrictions you put on yourself:
    1) vegetarianism (understandable)
    2) low carbs (why? Any health issues?)
    3) "not great at nutrition" (fixable with effort)

    Unless you have your personal chef, I'd say you put 3 obstacles in your way to good nutrition.
    I.e. doomed to failure.

    That's a sweeping statement if ever there was one.



  • jessica_sodenkamp
    jessica_sodenkamp Posts: 34 Member
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    High carb vegan and thriving over here! :D7ta8m59c2c1x.jpg
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  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    Yes, that's nice if you have the metabolism to handle the insulin response. If you don't, and many people don't, it's another matter. Few people realize that insulin resistance now hits up to 50% of the population. So this is fit for how your metabolism works, at the moment. When I was on your diet, approximately, my blood pressure and triglycerides were through the roof and I gained a lot of weight in fat, much of it of the visceral kind and my cholesterol was frightening. We'll see how you do after 50.
  • jessica_sodenkamp
    jessica_sodenkamp Posts: 34 Member
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    lodro wrote: »
    Yes, that's nice if you have the metabolism to handle the insulin response. If you don't, and many people don't, it's another matter. Few people realize that insulin resistance now hits up to 50% of the population. So this is fit for how your metabolism works, at the moment. When I was on your diet, approximately, my blood pressure and triglycerides were through the roof and I gained a lot of weight in fat, much of it of the visceral kind and my cholesterol was frightening. We'll see how you do after 50.

    Going on 100 here!
    One things that a most people overlook is how the high (and even moderate) consumption of fats in the diet keeps blood sugar high by coating the cells and not allowing glucose to exit efficiently. High fat + high carbs = nightmare for the body. But when you lower the fat (especially from animal sources)...carbs no longer become an issue. By lowering the fat in his diet my diabetic father-in-law has experienced improvements with his levels!
  • andrikosDE
    andrikosDE Posts: 383 Member
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    lodro wrote: »
    andrikosDE wrote: »
    soulcake99 wrote: »
    So I thought I might try low carb, but I am a vegetarian and I'm not sure how this would work. I'm also not incredibly great at nutrition.

    Please share your success if you have had any. Thanks!

    With just one sentence you managed to communicate 3 restrictions you put on yourself:
    1) vegetarianism (understandable)
    2) low carbs (why? Any health issues?)
    3) "not great at nutrition" (fixable with effort)

    Unless you have your personal chef, I'd say you put 3 obstacles in your way to good nutrition.
    I.e. doomed to failure.

    That's a sweeping statement if ever there was one.



    If you say so.
    Instead of casting aspersions, please explain how you expect someone who's:
    1) superficially acquainted with the subtleties of nutrition,
    2) has already restricted herself from animal proteins/fats/micros (honorably perhaps but a restriction nevertheless)
    3) and is now seeking to further restrict herself to low carb (no medical reason given) vegetarianism.

    Keep in mind that all the above restrictions would have to become a sustainable lifestyle (not a fad diet that is doomed to failure like all others) that would provide all the required macros and micros for good physical mental health and energy.


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