Low Carb Vegetarian?

So in the past, I've been incredibly successful on a low-carb diet and since I've been doing a low calorie, I've been feeling worse and worse (mood-wise) when I eat breads, pastas, etc.  Plus I've been talking to one of my friends and just found out she lost 80 pounds recently on a vegetarian style Atkins diet.  I'm thinking about doing that.

When I did the diet before, I never counted calories, etc.  I just ate a lot of meat substitutes, cheeses, etc., and I lost 20 pounds a month for 3 months.  The low carb lifestyle was good for me because eating a lot of carbohydrates never made me feel good.. Unless it's brown rice or a piece of wheat bread (I don't even like the taste of wheat bread), I get moody for some reason when I eat white flour.  I kept it off for a few years until I started a new medication and got sent away to a boarding school where I was required to eat 90% of everything on my plate (they served the same thing to everyone, no choosing what we were allowed to eat), which is partly the reason I am at the weight I am now, even two years later.

My question is, is anyone doing a vegetarian low carb diet?  If so, do you count your calories or just your carbs?  How are you doing on the diet?  What are your opinions of low-carb diets and lifestyles?

I'm not currently doing a low carb vegetarian diet, but I've definitely considered it. I feel like I pump my body full of so many carbs, and even if they're good for me, I'm still not getting enough fat and probably not enough protein every day. I'm thinking I should cut back on the carbs and introduce more sources of fat and protein.

So I'm curious about your vegetarian version of low-carb dieting. How does it work? Do you feel satisfied and healthy on it?

I'm actually sticking with low-calorie for this week and using the week to do research on recipes, health stuff, etc., for a low-carb diet, and I will officially start it one week from today.

I've done some research already, and to follow the basic Atkins style plan, you have less than 20 carbs for a few weeks and then you up your carb doseage a little bit until you're 10 pounds away from your goal, and then you start adapting to a low-carb lifestyle, not just the diet.  Basically a lot of things suggested are tofu (some people suggested cutting tofu into noodle shapes and making a cheese sauce for mac & cheese), the Morningstar meat substitues (their "Grillers", "Meal Starters", etc.. basically anything besides their breaded chicken patties and nuggets and stuff), and cheeses.  I'm huge on the meat substitutes and cheese.. I love it and that's what I miss the most about being on a low-calorie diet.  I am eating meat substitutes, but life is nothing without a lot of cheese!  They have low carb tortillas that you can make wraps on, etc.  And I honestly won't miss fruit at all.  And my favorite veggies, broccoli and cauliflower, can be eaten on the diet.

We'll see what happens.. I'm totally open to any suggestions!

Have you considered that you might have a wheat intolerance or gluten intolerance and that might be why carbs make you feel unwell, worthwhile checking out as there are so many gluten free options around now.

Obviously you are wanting a vegetarian atkins which is great, because regular atkins can make people horribly sick due to the fact that high protein diets can cause high cholesterol and blood pressure problems with too much meat eat and eggs and fatty foods.

Have you tried Eat to Live? It's not low carb per say, but most of the carbs come from fresh fruits, vegetables and legumes. In the initial 6 weeks phase, you're restricted to eating only one serving of grains a day (or none if you choose). I dropped almost 60 pounds in 4 months. It seemed pretty daunting at first, but it's oddly very satiating. I'm about to do it hardcore again, because my recent fascination with baking has caused me to put on a few pounds, though I've largely kept off all the weight I've lost.

Anyway, the book is Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. You can probably find it at your local library.

Original Post by lisajb74:

Have you considered that you might have a wheat intolerance or gluten intolerance and that might be why carbs make you feel unwell, worthwhile checking out as there are so many gluten free options around now

My mom actually suggested I may have a wheat or gluten intolerance.. it's not a terrible feeling, I just don't feel good when I eat white flour like I do when I would eat basically anything else.  It's just kind of a very yucky feeling.. hard to explain I guess.

In that case, rather than going the over-simplified route of getting rid of all carbohydrates... which after all covers a lot of good, healthy vegetarian foods such as fruit, vegetables, pulses/legumes, nuts, seeds, rice..... why not replace flour-based products such as bread, pastries and pasta only?  You'd be able to establish if you had a particular intolerance to gluten and you'd be less at risk of nutritional deficiencies that way as well.

You still need to count calories or trim portion-sizes if you adopt a lower-carbohydrate diet...   "Energy in vs energy out" is ultimately what determines whether you lose weight.

What the hell kind of boarding school did you go to? That's awful, I'd have had a fit and gotten expelled.

I've been wondering this too. I'm trying to up  my protein intake and lower my carb intake to build muscle. Where do you find those morningstar grillers you were talking about? My grocery store has veggie burgers which still have a lot of carbs, and the breaded chicken substitutes you mentioned. Do they have non breaded chicken substitutes?

Original Post by danaofdoom:

What the hell kind of boarding school did you go to? That's awful, I'd have had a fit and gotten expelled. Where do you find those morningstar grillers you were talking about? Do they have non breaded chicken substitutes?

Well it was a "therapeutic boarding school".  My parents should've just sent me to rehab if they were that worried.  I'm 3 years sober now, but that boarding school scarred me for life.  If you're curious about it, it's called Copper Canyon Academy and it's located in Rimrock, AZ.  If you google search it, you can see more about it.. their website, of course, is all positive, but I think they have some anti-CCA pages as well from girls who went there.  They tried to make me eat meat, too.  It was horrid.

I get the grillers from Vons.  Food 4 Less has them as well.  I know Vons (which is a Safeway chain) will have them and so will Albertsons (I think it's Supervalu now?).. Ralphs (Kroger) has them too, but they're very expensive there.  Morningstar does have "chicken breasts", but I haven't seen them in many grocery stores.  I think I got them once or twice from a small vegetarian grocery store that used to be in my area.  They were one of those "fad" stores and unfortunately didn't make it past the first year of business!

Oh I understand. Sorry I questioned that I feel rude now. I was just thinking of like, getting sent away to school the way some people I know have been sent away. Not for any theraputic reason. Most of these people have talked about how ridiculously strict the school was. I'm sorry you had to go through that experience.

Thanks for the advice. I know where to find a Safeway (which I've been told has vegan marshmallows! ) and a Kroger. I'll definately give them a look.

Haha, it's okay =]  It was just the first school they came across and it was probably the worst choice of them all!  They didn't bother reading any of the reviews.. it was awful.  They focused too much on making girls' thought process different and they didn't focus enough on why girls actually use drugs.

Good luck on finding the veggie products!  Morningstar honestly is the best brand around, in my opinion.  Nate's or Nathan's or something like that has INCREDIBLE "beef" style taquitos too, but I love mexican food so.. haha.

With respect, I can't see the point of a vegetarian Atkins diet. The whole reason for the success of the diet was carnivores being allowed to stuff themselves with their favourite, previously forbidden foods: steak, pork chops, bacon, sausages - all no-no's on the low-fat diet.

The best thing about being vegetarian is chowing down on carbs: bread, pasta, potatoes...YUM!  Its the sauces and spreads that are the killers.

I'd honestly rather be eating a veggie burger than pasta.  Honestly, white flour makes me feel like crap, especially lately, and I don't like the taste of wheat bread or other products that much at all, so it's not worth indulging in, even in small portions.  Soy products and cheese are my weaknesses.. I love the fake "feef", I call them strips, and there isn't a day that goes by where I don't crave cheese!  I'd rather do it this way because otherwise, I am eating too much white flour, feeling like crap, and not getting enough protein due to my budget (my husband is between jobs and I haven't started my new one yet, very low on savings and my expensive tuition is due soon), I just can't buy the healthy/lower calorie pastas, rices, breads, yogurts, and fruit is getting expensive, even at the bargain stores, so cutting down on what I would be eating fruitwise will help.  I'd rather just opt for the low carb stuff.  That way my hubby can eat some of it too instead of having to buy separate dinners every night!

*white* carbs make me feel like crap too.  I just think they're too processed and the human body really wasn't made to eat food like that.  But for the same reason, you want to be careful not to eat Morning Star every day either.  I'm not saying don't eat MS, but some of their products have hfcs which isn't good in high amounts.  You might want to try quinoa, a great protein source, and can be sub'd for rice in just about any recipie.  There's also bulgar, which I think taste great. 

Instead of Morning Star burgers, have you ever tried to make your own black bean burgers?  Black beans are cheap, so it won't hurt your budget, and if it's just two of you, one recipie usually makes enough for more then one dinner's worth.  If you want the recipe just message me.  Another idea is try some health food store like Whole Foods (if you can find one).  They can be expensive, but not if you shop the bulk bins!

Cutting out refined and white carbs is always good. You may also have an intolerance if you experience quite extreme symptoms when you eat those kinds of foods. They're not really good for anyone, though.

I think moderate carbohydrate is the best... around 30-40% of your diet (good carbs). Going any lower than that, such as on Atkins style diets, is very unhealthy and can be dangerous. Do you lose lots of weight? YES!!! Do you get healthy? No! Especially now that people are doing them for longer and longer periods.

The American Heart Association states: "Individuals who follow these diets are therefore at risk for compromised vitamin and mineral intake, as well as potential cardiac, renal [kidney], bone, and liver abnormalities overall."[254] Low carb diets like the Atkins diet may also hasten the onset of type II diabetes.[519] In short, concluded the September 2004 review in The Lancet,[524] "low-carbohydrate diets cannot be recommended."[525]

It's good in terms of weight loss to cut down on carbs if you eat a high carb diet... but Atkins style diets are not a good idea. I know there are many people who lose lots of weight and rave about the benfits of Atkins, but they don't really know what they're doing to their bodies. You can't always feel nutritional deficiencies and things that are harming your body... most people are deficient in a few vitamins/minerals, so they are used to feeling not 100%. Be careful!!! and goodluck :)

Original Post by vejitarian:

With respect, I can't see the point of a vegetarian Atkins diet. The whole reason for the success of the diet was carnivores being allowed to stuff themselves with their favourite, previously forbidden foods: steak, pork chops, bacon, sausages - all no-no's on the low-fat diet.

The best thing about being vegetarian is chowing down on carbs: bread, pasta, potatoes...YUM!  Its the sauces and spreads that are the killers.

I'm the same way, I'm SUPER against low carb diets, even if they're vegetarian. Carbs are seriously not the enemy. Of course sugar and white flour aren't good for you and they happen to be carbs, so people assume all carbs are bad. I agree that I love being able to eat some whole wheat pasta for dinner w/o feeling guilty because it's what vegetarians eat! I get a TON of carbs- but they're all from fruit, veg, whole grains, etc and it doesn't inhibit my weight loss as all.

Like it was mentioned before it's possible you have an intolerance. Or maybe you're just eating too much at once? Whole grains make you feel more full so maybe it's just that full feeling that gets to you?

Original Post by helloelloello:

Going any lower than that, such as on Atkins style diets, is very unhealthy and can be dangerous.

The American Heart Association states: "Individuals who follow these diets are therefore at risk for compromised vitamin and mineral intake, as well as potential cardiac, renal [kidney], bone, and liver abnormalities overall."[254] Low carb diets like the Atkins diet may also hasten the onset of type II diabetes.[519] In short, concluded the September 2004 review in The Lancet,[524] "low-carbohydrate diets cannot be recommended."[525]

 Actually the studies that the AHA is gathering their data from for these statements are actually 30% - 40% carbs - their definition of low carb, not Atkins style low carb. There are very few studies done of true 'low carb' and those that have been done have been ignored by the AHA and general nutritional world because the results don't support the current dogma of fat/cholesteral causing heart disease hypothesis. The research is very splotchy to justify their claims, and there is actually evidence showing the exact opposite of what they claim. There is quite a bit of evidence that shows that very low cholesteral is corelated to increased death. Also, that lowering cholesteral might lower chances of a heart attack but that lowering cholesteral increases risk of death from other problems.

There is zero evidence that a person with normal kidney function with have any problems with a high protien diet.  Only if you are already exeriencing renal failure does this become a factor.

There are also many cultures, such as the Inuit, who ate zero carbs, no veggies, no fruits, only protien and fat for generations and experience virtually no heart disease, no diabeties, and no vitamin deficiency (no scurvy or any other vitamin difficiency disease) none of the conditions which the AHA warn of. It's only once the 30% - 40% or higher carb content is added to their diets that we see these diseases appear.

i'm a lacto-veggie low-carber

i don't bother with the atkins archetype though....it's total **** for veggies, imo. basically what i do is have as many veggies as i want, moderate fruit(i watch the sugars, whether natural or not), for meals i have some kinda protein(cheese, beans or veggie meat substitute) and veggies, usually stirfried in whatever sauce i want(i dont bother worrying about the carb content so long as the sauce isn't too sugary or anything) or a salad in whatever dressing i want, sprinkled with parmesan or nutritional yeast.

although i'm lacto-veggie i still keep the milk products at bay and i think it helps, for me at least. i remember atkins recommended foods like heavy cream, cream cheese, etc... this upsets my stomach, way too hard to digest, so i basically just have the occasional cheesestring or parmesan cheese...sometimes yogurt.

send me a message if you ever want support/advice!

~J2H

I don't eat bread and pasta. I don't count calories since I stick to vegetables, fruits, rice, almonds, cheese, and beans. Everyday I run on the treadmill and do circuit training. I do it 7 days a week now but it will be difficult when I go away to school. Although, I think the hotel I am staying at has a fitness center. I know my diet is going to change drastically because i am going to be on a meal plan. Probably will have to workout more early mornings or late nights.

Since I suffer from PCOS , I have been following a modified low carb diet for the past few months. I have been a vegetarian all my life so didn't have to make any effort there. I try to keep my carb intake below 120g per day. I stick to whole grains and berries/ tart fruits for my carb intake. I eat lots of beans. tofu, nuts and yogurt. I also eat all types of vegetables with smaller portions of the starchy kind. So far I have seen a gradual decline in my PCOS symptoms and also lost 20 lbs. I don't feel as hungry and tired. I also plan for a week every couple of months where I eat a high carb diet just to keep my metabolism going. I do count my calories though (1300-1400). Makes no sense to eat excess calories, just because they were low carb.

I was just about to ask a similar question...

I have a mild case of PCOS that I was treated for with metformin so I could get pregnant. here I am 6 months after baby girl was born, watching what I'm eating (no white bread, not much rice/pasta/potatoes, not much sugar) and my blood sugar is even higher than it was before! Going back on metformin...

but my doc recommended I cut even more carbs...

Ugh. So frustrating. I want to get enough protein but it's hard to keep carbs low if most protein is from non meat/dairy sources.

Also, I'm breastfeeding so I need to eat 2000 calories a day (based on weight and activity level) to maintain my milk supply. That's actually hard to do.

I wish I had some advice to share. I want to keep checking out this thread, maybe we can help each other out. I'll keep track of what I'm eating and post some more in another week or so...