Quote:
Originally Posted by Shobha
Hi.
I'm lacto ovo vegetarian. I'm also mildly hypo thyroid so avoid all soy and soy derivatives.
I currently dont follow a "low-carb" plan, only a moderately low/medium one. But if you had to follow a low one - 50-100 gm carbs in a day sort of thing, what can you eat. A lot of menus, suggestions I see are centred abround TVP and soy. But without those, what can you eat ?
On a true Atkins-like plan, most of the vegetables and fruits I eat today would be out. I guess I could still eat eggs, cream, yogurt, cheese etc.
But what else ?
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Hi Shobha,
I think you are misquoting Atkins, to be honest. Atkins is famous for the "Induction" phase of his plan which is very very low in carbs, i.e. 20g or under per day. However, he recommends that this only be followed for about two weeks and that you then increase your carbs by, I think, 5g per day, per week, till you discover what your "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing" is. He says that this can be anywhere between 15 and 90g of carbs per day.
Other experts in the field would also say that to lose weight on an LC diet, you need to keep your carbs under 100g; to maintain your weight, stay between 100-150g per day.
At the moment, due to mild adrenal fatigue, I am avoiding carb-free meals and my carb level is generally just under 100g per day (and I still lose, just slowly!!!). I eat pulses, non-gluten grains, rice, potatoes, starchy veggies, just in relatively small portions.
If I were to follow a vegetarian LC diet, it would have a lot of eggs and dairy, as well as plenty of nuts and seeds (preferably soaked and dried, but I haven't got round to buying a dehydrator yet), the above-mentioned starchy foods, say 20-30g per main meal, and lots of low-carb green veggies. I would also look for a good variety of fats and would use ghee, olive oil, butter and coconut oil in my cooking.
I think I would also make a lot of nut or seed-based rissoles, nut roasts and so on.
In fact, now that I think of it, there's
plenty of foods to eat on a vegetarian LC diet!!!
I just eat meat because, one, I like it and, two, the protein and other nutrients in meat and organ meats (zinc, copper, iron etc) are much better absorbed by humans when they come in the form of meat than from plant sources.
If you use plant sources, it would be advisable to take a lot of care with their preparation to optimize absorption. I think I would also take supplements and use digestive enzymes to help absorption and increase intake of substances such as zinc, copper and iron.
The phytic acids in grains work as enzyme inhibitors, bind to minerals and metals and are then excreted in the form of phytates. This is why I would definitely look to making idli and dhosa and suchlike, if I were an LC vegetarian.
amanda