Vegan with too many carbs!

Hi!

I have been vegan since january and am thrilled with my decision, but it seems like every day over 50% of my intake is from carbs!  Is this 'too many?'  Perhaps I should make an effort to eat more tofu, as my protein intake seems to be a little too low.

Anyone have any other vegan suggestions on how to get a decent lot of protein and no carbs?  I guess beans and lentils...

Congratulations on your success.  I'm a vegetarian that is always trying to go vegan...and finding it too hard!

I think 50% is actually a pretty good carb percentage, but if you are looking for more protein, have you tried edamame? Yum.  Also, nuts and nut butters, and adding in a few more grams here and there with protein-fortified versions of what you already eat (hi-pro vegan breads and cereals, or sprinkling your salads with chickpeas and kidney beans, etc.)

By the way, I love the cookbook "How it All Vegan" -- great funky vegan recipes that are pretty easy.  You might find some good stuff in there.

Good luck!

50% is a good number.  Carbs are how your body gets energy.  You don't want to eat "no carbs".  You just have to realize there is a difference between good carbs and bad carbs... Good carbs are whole foods, bad carbs are processed foods.  As long as you are getting most or all of your carbs from veggies, whole grains, and fruits and not from processed, refined carbs (such as white flour, sugar, white rice, potato chips, junky, fried foods, etc) then you are doing just fine!

You don't need to put a lot of energy into "getting enough protein" since every food has protein in it.  If you still want some that are high in protein, try spinach and broccoli, nuts, tofu, beans, and quinoa.

also, try experimenting with tvp (textured vegetable protein), quorn, and seiten for your protein needs.

Actually, 50% sounds kind of low to me, although exact percentages aren't really critical.  I think that the quality of the protein, the carbs, and the fat are actually much more significant than the relative percentages of each.  That is, not all carbs are created equal, and its much healthier to get your carbs from whole natural foods, than from candy (candies are carbs) or other empty calorie junk foods.  In other words, most of the calories in a food might technically be carbs, but we would say that they are 'empty calories' if they don't provide much in the way of vitamins, minerals, and phyto-nutrients (these are called 'micro-nutrients').  The same thing goes for protein and fat.  We should be eating protein and fat that is of a high quality, i.e. dense in all the important micro-nutrients that are essential to our health.

 

Hi All.

Try to uptake veggies. Fill your diet with fresh fruit, soy yoghurt, veggies, salads, nuts- lots of antioxidants and vitamins

Often when people try to become vegan, there is a transition when they are trying to figure out how it works. I always snack on fruits and veggies during the day. The I will make power shakes (e.g. blend frozen berries, banana, soyprotein, ice ) with fruits and protein which is almost like a dessert. I would say 1/2 your calories from carbs is ok. I aim for 4 servings a day.