Think of changing to vegetarian; suggestions????
 

Ok, I am 44 and still overweight, but I have lost 100+ pounds and still dropping.

I have done a good job of changing my eating habits and watching calories and volume. I will still have a bad day, but not very often.

I read the book "The China Study" and it really had me thinking about my diet and what I could do to improve my overall health, in combination with what I am already doing. My diet is not anywhere close to a vegetarian diet at this point, but my meat intake has dropped tremendously. I will still have dairy, so that may mean I will not be vegetarian to some people and others it will be just fine.

My concern, or questions on changing, is what foods will I need to eat a lot of to keep my protein levels up, and not have too many calories?

Is there a good web site or two, that will give good meal preparation techniques for fixing vegetarian meals without preaching to you?

My wife is a great cook, but our menu plan always involves a meat of some kind. I know she will never get away from it totally, and maybe I shouldn't either, but maybe make 6 days a week completely without meat, and leave Sunday for a meat meal.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and please don't start complaining about the book, if that is your intentions, please just don't post.

Hey guy,
good for you getting more healthy. I was a vegitarian for years. It was great and I felt awesome about it. Mostly I ate a bunch of Tofu and beans like lentils and black beans for protein. There are lots of great ways to prepare vegitarian food with protein and if your family doesn't know it's vegitarian they might not even notice. However, for someone who has been a heavy meat eater, I would recomend not cutting out fish. Fish is an awesome, often low fat way to get loads of protein (and it makes your brain happy). Fish is also an easier transition for a meat home. Stuff like Salmon, Swordfish, Tuna, and other white fishes can be prepared to taste a bunch like meat (I haven't had meat in a while so I could be totally off here). The point is, vegitarian is an extreme that you might want to work towards rather than diving into. It sounds like you are doing really well, but make sure to stay healthy.

Good luck.

I eat tuna fish sandwiches now, but I am really working hard towards a low to no meat diet. I don't think I will dive right into it, because it is very hard with our daughter's schedule to eat great wherever we are. We are starting to take our own sandwiches to ball games and things, but still, that is turkey, ham or tuna. We are taking fruits with us also, but trying to eat on a decent schedule while traveling to basketball, volleyball, softball, tennis 4 - 6 nights a week, makes it somewhat difficult. And if you have ever been to these events, vegetables and fruits are rare to find. Some tournaments may have a fruit bag or something.

There are fat vegetarians.

Live by the measuring cup. Thats how I have lost weight. Limit your portions and add time on the bike.
Its completely simple- you must create a calorie deficiency. Burn more than you eat. I bet you could
eat chicken fried steak with gravy and still lose weight if you ate the right portion size.

I already understand the calorie deficiency part, but with some of the reading I have been doing, suggests that a vegetarian diet would be better for my body and that is what I am doing. I could eat ice cream for every meal and lose weight. I wouldn't have much for anything good going into my body, but it could be done. That is not my question.

I was a vegetarian for a while, and I found it really hard to not make cheese my main substitute for meat, and that isn't very healthy. Just be careful of that, especially if you eat in restaurants. Rice & beans together is the classic vegetarian solution for whole protein, but beyond that, I don't have any input.

What I really wanted to say was: 100 pounds already!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS and good job!

I've been an ovo-lacto-pisco-vegetarian for 35 years. Meaning I can eat eggs, dairy products, fish and shellfish. It works. Fish and shellfish are good for you, plus what are you going to eat in a restaurant? Buy any cookbooks by Molly Katzen. Design your meals around your carbo - potato, rice, pasta, or other grain - not around the meat. That's the big change.

For information about vegetarian protein sources, read Diet for a Small Planet. For recipes based on that book, get Recipes for a Small Planet. If you still feel you aren't getting enough protein, supplement with whey protein. You'll need to be doing a lot of mileage before you'll need a supplement, though.

I am the same as CarbonFiber. I was a vegetarian for 2 years and recently added tuna and wild-caught Alaskan salmon into the weekly diet because of the reported health benefits. Personally, I think it's better to not eat meat in a restaurant. I am very picky about the source and the item is usually fried and or slathered in butter and doesn't taste very good. Many restaurants will just substitute cheese as the 'meat' for their veggie dishes. I am lucky to have a few choices that try to serve actual vegetarian meals instead of just the meat dish with extra cheese. You have to watch that restaurant veggie meals will also try to carb you off into the atmosphere because most places haven't gotten into the veggie proteins yet.

You could probably find substitutes for most meats. I make my own bean burgers since the pre-made stuff isn't that tasty (IMO). Nate's makes good veggie meatballs and I like using Quorn brand for ground 'beef'. Then you have your choices of seitan, tofu and tempeh. The Quorn products are made with fungal proteins and have been reported to cause stomach issues in some people. I don't purchase many meat substitutes since they are super processed and usually not that healthy (though I make concessions for Riblets occasionally!) and Boca is owned by Philip-Morris.

There's some pretty bad advice in this thread.

Try this recent thread for some better info: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=372371

We rarely eat out at restaurants, but I have also been with people that ask for an extra helping of broccoli, instead of the meat, or remove the meat from the meat sause for Italian. I will look into the books listed above.

The 100 pounds came off pretty easily, as I changed my diet and exercise, or as I like to say, I have made a life style change and may make more. When I talked about going vegetarian at the basketball game last night, everybody looked at me like I was going nuts.

If you can swing getting a cook book, I'd recommend:

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

I've recently gone mostly veggie, and have done a fair bit of cooking from the book. It's a good primer, and not too preachy at all. Recipes are all fairly healthy, and the basics are easy enough. There are also nice suggestions on how to add variety to certain dishes.

Mollie Katzen is another good place to look.

Thanks, I will look into those also.

My wife surprised me and converted to cooking meatless/dairy-less. Congratulations on both the weight loss and reading the book. It's not an easy read.

I was already trending meatless for a couple of decades, but Campbell convinced me to go almost full Vegan. It was mostly the association with prostate cancer and dairy. I've exhausted the two known cures and decided that I needed to hedge my bets. I don't regret it as we eat very well both at home and daily at restaurants. It's amazing how you can tailor menu items if your considerate of the staff.

Note that Campbell's data does not argue for going totally animal-product free, but for keeping the amount low, like less than say 10% of the calories. He acknowledges that. It's up to the reader to decide of course. Also, he is badly mistaken on his concept that you just eat a lot of plant food and nutrition will pretty much take care of itself. That might be true if you are a couch potato, but not if you are physically active.

For the nutrition perspective, suggest Ryan's Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes, 2nd edition. Easy to read and provides guidance and cautions for vegans. I've studied nutrition for decades and it's the best out there.


Suggest also reading Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the prevention of Cancer, A Global Perspective, second expert report. I didn't book-mark it, but i think you can download (free) all 537 pages here http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi...0.2005.00470.x

I have yet to read it myself. It's been kept very quiet in the US media. An article on it in the Economist said that it recommended less than 16 oz of red meat per week and minimize supplements.


Al

Why is this other thread so much better, other than the stupid ***** debate on whether eating meat is smart, environmentally friendly, or just for those lard butt, TV watching, idiots????

It costs $39.00 to download the report, but thanks anyway. I will look at the other things though.

Since sunday night my wife and I are trying nothing but veggie style dinners
1st was a veggie style patty
2nd was a veggie style casserole
3rd was also a veggie style casserole wrapped in philo dough.

gotta say i found them quite delicious/filling and hopefully we will continue.

I will call her and get the name/title of the veggie cook book.

Very interesting. I and several friends downloaded it free about 2 months ago.

Al

1,000 low-fat vegetatian receipts
by Sue Spitler
third edition
with Linda R. Yoakam,R.D. M.S

How big is the file?

Can it be emailed?

Great article.

I don't get the chicken tho... He could have just as easily increased his protein with vegan sources.

Check out VeggieBoards, specifically the recipies section and I guarantee you'll find many things. Check out the rest of the board too for related questions, and you won't get preached at as long as you don't go around making provocative statements. Good luck!

Congratulations on the weight loss! I know you've probably gotten more advice than you can handle at this point, but I wanted to disagree with Carbonfiberboy: do not structure your meal around your carbohydrate! The best thing for your body, especially if you are a cyclist, is to get lots of protein. Continue to structure your meal around your protein or veggie. Veggie protein is easy to get. Eggs are fantastic for you, and you can't go wrong with low-fat dairy. Beans and nuts are also tops--even nut butters are great if you buy natural and don't gorge. There's lots that can be done with soy as well, like freezer-aisle veggie burgers and tofu. Wheat based proteins are also easy, like whey powder in fruit smoothies or milk and seitan, which you can make at home. I agree with whoever advocated fish up there, too. Just be careful not to replace your meat with flour! Good luck.

started on a vegetarian diet around 13yrs old... once you get goin it's easy to stay off the meat! eat beans for protein.. fake meat and tofu isn't very good for your digestion imo... a 700 calorie meal of lentils and rice can give you around 30g of protein easily... some say most americans get far too much protein... i never really worry about protein unless i go for a really hard ride, then i ingest some protein powder mix, chocolate, yum... as a vegetarian you can eat cheese, but imo cheese isn't good for you and should be kept to a rare treat... my fault lies with snacking on cookies and cakes and etc, lol...