Need Vegetarian Diet Advice

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

Id say your fat is quite low, and you dont get a lot of vegetables.

You are at the low end of healthy weight, so if you want to change your shape, I'd suggest looking in to recomp - eating at maintenance, and starting resistance training so you can slowly gain muscle whilst losing fat without weight loss.

Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »

Roast your vegetables in a little fat. Easy way to add more variety to your diet.

Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-roast-any-vegetable-101221

MsChucktowski wrote: »

It's great that you seem to be hitting your protein goals quite easily! Other nutrients that are important for vegetarians to focus on are iron (found in soy products, beans, grains...), zinc (beans, legumes, nuts, seeds...) and omega-3 (flax, hemp, walnuts...).

Also, if you don't consume a lot of dairy and eggs, you may not get enough vitamin B12.

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

mcrcrazedfan wrote: »

Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »

Roast your vegetables in a little fat. Easy way to add more variety to your diet.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will have to go get some butter ha

The smoking (burning) point of butter is pretty low. You might want to use olive oil for roasting, but you could add a pat of butter to the veggies after they come out of the oven.

Other kill-two-birds-with-one-stone ideas for more fat and more veggies (oops, sorry, poor choice of metaphor for vegetarian thread):

Add veggies* (tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach) to whole egg omelet; include full-fat cheese if you like).

Are those lunches meant to be salads? Add more veggies to them (tomatoes, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, radishes, celery, chopped cruciferous veggies, cooked peas, green beans or other legumes), and dress with a little olive oil (in a vinaigrette, if you like).


In general, you may have to experiment with different vegetables prepared different ways. You may like some raw but not cooked, and others vice versa. Prep options: raw in bite sizes, shredded raw (like cabbage in cole slaw -- it changes the texture -- I like shredded raw carrots much more than raw carrots cut in sticks or "coins"), roasted, steamed, grilled, sauteed or stir-fried, in salads, in soups, cooked in casseroles, pureed after cooking and then added to soups, sauces, and casseroles. ... I feel like I'm Forrest Gump's doomed friend Bubba listing all the ways to eat shrimp.


*Yes, I know tomatoes and bell peppers are biologically fruits and mushrooms are fungi, but we're talking nutrition here.

yayamom3 wrote: »

Roasting veggies in olive oil makes them delicious! Drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar after roasting, and it makes them amazing! Also, since you're a picky eater, I highly recommend roasting and then pureeing some veggies (cauliflower, sweet potatoes, carrots, garbanzo beans, etc.) So yum!