vegetarian & low-carb meal plans?

Question

for health reasons, i'm going as low-carb as i can handle. does anyone know of any regimes i could find with full-on meal plans for the first few days (at least) until i adjust to the switch?

i'm not looking for food recommendations as much as a way to put it all together without the fruits and whole grains (and even some of the vegetables) that i'm used to eating.

thanks!

after much discussion with medical professionals, it has been determined that i may be carbohydrate-sensitive (who knew there was such a thing). even though i remain active and pretty vigilant about my food choices, my weight is still at a very unhealthy level. i refuse to go the surgical route, and the pcp thinks that this may be worth a shot.

i am not cutting out carbs altogether! i don't believe in self-negation of any sort. but my diet now is very carb-rich between whole grains and fruits alone.

just looking for options, you know? nothing that qualifies as a "fad" or even a "diet" for that matter. just tweaking the lifestyle to see if it makes a difference. thanks!

Answer 1

Unless you consume a lot of dairy, eggs, and packaged analogues--which i do NOT recommend--all vegetarian foods have some carbs. I think the low-carb diet is one of the biggest scams to come down the pike, and according to Michael Greger's "Carbophobia," it's been recycled more than once.

You want to eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. They're good for you. Quinoa (a South American grain) is considered a perfect plant protein. It's simple carbs you want to avoid--the stuff with plain white flour, high fructose corn syrup, simple sugars. Yes, fruits have sugar, but they also are rich in antioxidants.

To quote Foamy Squirrel, there's something wrong with a diet that tells you you can eat three burgers and a pound of bacon, but you can't have an apple because it has carbs.

Answer 2

I'm wondering what health benefits you're hoping to reap by going as low-carb as you can handle? Carbohydrates are the body's preferred fuel. You can burn fat for fuel, but your brain and nervous system can't use it. You can burn protein for fuel, but it has to be stripped of it's amine group first, putting a lot of stress on your liver and kidneys. A diet high in complex carbohydrates (the fruits, vegetables and whole grains you mentioned) and low in animal protein is the healthiest, preventing and even reversing heart disease and diebetes. The low-carb craze is nutritional bunk and caught on simply because it allows people to feel like they're doing something healthy just by eating the same old high meat, high fat diet as they were already eating. If you want to reduce carbs in a healthy way, try cutting out as much refined flour and sugar as you can. You can do this by picking whole grain breads and pastas instead of white, and cutting down on convenience food (which tends to have added sugars) and eating more whole, unprocessed foods instead.

Answer 3

I follow a high-fat, low-carb vegan diet (since for those of us who live in reality, calories, especially calories from carbs, which are immediately-stored as adipose tissue if not burned, govern weight loss/gain/maintenance). I highly recommend associating yourself with nuts/seeds and butters made from them. Fats satiate and promote weight loss. I love making a creamy alfredo sauce with cashews, for instance. Also recommend getting a spiralizer, with which you can turn just about any vegetable into NOODLES- I use mine at least once a day- just Google it.