Oops! Well maybe the flax crackers would do the trick.

"Is this a good rule to stick to, or do you think it's irrelevant if it's essentially carbless and all fat and protein?" I don't really know, but everyone I've ever asked about this who is thin and in good shape doesn't eat after 7 or 8 pm. I can't sleep if I'm hungry so...not sure about that. I probably wouldn't do carbs right before bed because they make me hungry.

"Why does she suggest carbs in the morning?"
They give you energy and you have all day to burn them off.

"I think what may help you is how you are combining your carbs/proteins."
"Give me more details if you think it's something I can apply to how I'm eating"
You can get her books at the library and just read what she says about combining foods, and about carbs. The first one is called Eat Great, Lose Weight and the second Get Skinny on Fabulous Food by Suzanne Somers. What I would do is look at everything you eat, figure out what is a carb and what is a protein - and see how you are combining them. You might be one of the carb sensitive types that would lose weight easier if you were to keep them separate - which would mean switching up some of your recipes ... experiment for a week and see if it works for you. I understand about doing carbs pre and post workout. You could just make sure your timing is right before switching back to protein.
I hope this helps - and good luck!
You've actually inspired me to try a vegan meal once a week.
- Kat

I wrote in the above post "figure out what is a carb and what is a protein " - what I mean by that is take a look at what Suzanne says in her books - use her list as to what is called a carb - her lists are designed by what works in combining. I had an ex who was a type I diabetic who drank because "there aren't any carbs in alcohol" - as I watched his blood sugar drop like a bomb every time and then I'd get the fallout - I'm sure you understand what I am saying - some things act like a carb in your body even if they say zero carbs.
Kat

I don't think the egg or replacer is necessary in that recipe as flax is already a good binder itself. Gound flax paste actually IS a commonly used binder by vegans, so I hink it wold do just fine without it. And those flax cracker sound interesting. I've never heard of such a thing! Probably because the idea of low-carbing is as foreign to most vegans as veganism is to most low-carbers! Funny how that works.

This is a rule I always tried to stick to, but I broke it fairly often. But I feel it did help a lot when I was strict about it. I would actually be hungry when I woke up. I'm going to stick with it for now unless I find out something different. No food within 2 hours of sleeping, maybe even 3.


Definitely not. I'm ending my days with the fat/pro seed drink. It does have a small amount of carbs, though (even though it has a glycemic load of zero), so this has me thinking that I should err more on the side of 3 hours before bed.


That's what I figured. It's similar to what a lot of bodybuilders do. They call if "frontloading" because you load more of your carbs into the front of the day. A lot of bodybuilders also frontload calories in general. I can see it making sense, but what I can also see making sense (and what I've been doing so far this week) is to try to prolong the ketone-burning you achieve overnight by depriving your body of carbs for an additional 3-4 hours after waking. And what I started doing this week is eating the majority of my carbs pre- and post-workout because I feel like I'm maximizing the usefulness of the carbs that way by using them for energy during the workout as well as for replenishment of glycogen stores afterward (which is very important for weightlifting). So far, so good. As long as my weight goes down this week...


I'll give it some thought. Yesterday I did basically fat and carbs (with a little protein) as a pre-workout meal. I hear what you're saying about keeping the carbs separate, and I can see it making some sense. I'm just not sure what I would eat that doesn't also contain a decent amount of either fat or protein. Does she offer guidlines on how much fat or protein is too much to be including with your carbs? So far I have been eating all of my carbs with a good amount of either fat or protein (usually both) to keep the insulin response low.


Cool! Let me know how it goes.


For sure. I don't drink (except for the occasional red wine), so that's not a problem. Alcohol definitely messes with your insulin/metabolic regulation, so I almost always avoid it. I also avoid diet soda and most artificial sweeteners for the same reason (raises insulin, make you crave carbs). The ony sweetener I use is stevia (TruVia) and I don't even use that much anymore. Are there any other ones you can think of offhand that I should know about?

"try to prolong the ketone-burning you achieve overnight by depriving your body of carbs for an additional 3-4 hours after waking."
I've heard this from many many sources - and probably your mom tells you the same thing! They say eating breakfast (not waiting hours) is better because if you don't eat 2-3 hrs before bed, then 7-8 hours of sleep (yes I hear some people actually get that!), then waiting 3-4 more hours before eating - that is like 16 hrs without food and your body thinks you are starving so it will hang onto the weight it has because it doesn't know when food is coming again.

" stevia - TruVia"..."Are there any other ones you can think of offhand that I should know about?"
I get my stevia from a bulk jar at the local health food store so I don't know what brand it is. There is a product called Just Like Sugar that looks and bakes like sugar www.just like sugar inc. com (no spaces) and Suzanne Somers has her product Somersweet that I really like. It also looks and bakes like sugar and tastes better than JLS. I use sweeteners pretty sparingly.

"Does she offer guidlines on how much fat or protein is too much to be including with your carbs?"
Yes there are guidelines. She doesn't mix carbs with proteins at all. Proteins and fats go together and you wait 3 hours before switching over to a carb/nonfat meal and vice versa.

So do you cook? What is your favorite vegan meal? Is there vegan comfort food?

"also changed my daily low-carb meal to a high-protein vegan one with the help of Robin Robertson's "Carb Conscious Vegetarian" cookbook." Just saw this in a post by a new person- have you seen this cookbook?

I totally agree with this under "normal" circumstances i.e. not on a low-carb diet. Eating breakfast is definitely important. But doesn't the whole ketosis/trying to run your body on stored fat thing change this?

Maybe I need to clarify something: I'm never delaying breakfast in the face of hunger. I only do it if I'm not hungry. I guess I just figure that I must be running on stored fat at that point if I'm not hungry. Back when I was dieting on a "normal"/semi-starvation diet, I would wake up ravenous. Then I think the traditional "eat breakfast right away" logic holds sway.


Oh, so the carb meals are zero fat? I don't think I could hack that. But maybe I'll try it once I start upping my carb intake.


Oh, most definitely! I've been told I'm actually quite good. That's probably a least partly to blame for my weight gain. I know some vegans that don't really know their way around a kitchen at all,and they just kinda eat a little bit here and there, and it actually seems to help them stay trim.

Yeah, I cook all sorts of things. The main types of cuisine I do are Indian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Mediterranean/Middle Eastern and Italian. I also do "fusion" of all of those quite freely as I think a lot of times the similarities between them are greater than their difference (Indian and Thai are quite similar in a lot of ways as are Italian and Mediterranean/Middle Eastern). But I've been cooking less since dieting. But I'll get back into it more once I start incorporating more carbs again. But it will definitely be a challenge to try to adapt some of the dishes to be lower carb. But with some of them it will just come down to increasing the protein content of the curry/stir fry/protein and vegetable and fat portion of it and hen just taking it really easy on the rice.


Wow, that's tough to answer. I love chana masala a lot. Pot stickers. Bean, seitan and vegetable tamales. Falafel. I make an awesome dish with tempeh, red peppers, mushrooms, sweet potato, ginger and sesame seeds (served over rice) that is fantastic. I also love Indian fried foods like samosa, pakora, vada. Dosa and sambar are also awesome. Okay, getting too hungry thinking about it! Oh, and soups! Vegan minestrone is awesome and my all-time fave is my vegan peanut butter three bean chili (and both of those soups are actually pretty suitable to low-carbing, now that I think about it!).


Heard of it, haven't seen it. Let me know if you get it.

So I'm just starting the fourth week of my diet. First week I lost 2.3 pounds, second week 2.1 and last week just 0.6. I'm a little bit disappointed that I didn't lose more weight last week, but I'm also not all that concerned about if for a few reasons. I understand that it's fairly normal to lose a lot of water weight (and some glycogen weight) the first two weeks, so I'm sure that was part of the reason for the greater loss at the beginning. This last week I increased my intake of potassium and sodium (two things which aid in water retention) after learning how important they are to athletic performance (especially while low-carbing). And I can tell that it's definitely been working, so I probably just gained back some of the water weight, which I'm fine with. Also, the increased protein intake (as well as just better nutrition all around) may have stimulated some new muscle growth (well... and the weightlifting, of course) and I'm more than okay with that. So, even though the number on the scale didn't move down a whole lot this last week, I'm still pretty pleased with the results I'm getting. My weight last Monday is +1.8 from what it is this Monday, so I should be able to bring my low for the week even lower than last week's. My wife says my stomach and chest are looking more trim and defined, so this confirmed for me what I'd been noticing myself (dips and pushups also help!).

As far as the diet goes, the only major change I've made is that I'm shooting for 100 carbs or less each day now. Last week I had a few days that were in the 70-80 range, but also a few days where I wasn't sure on the total (because of eating out), but I'm still reasonably sure I was under 100. Friday I think I was even under 60. I also changed up the ratios of my seed drink (less sesame) and brought down the total weight by about 17% (150 calories). I also decided to drink 60% of it in the morning and 40% of it at night, instead of 50/50. I also doubled my intake of nutritional yeast to help make up for some of the zinc I was losing by decreasing my sesame intake.

I also did more experimenting with exercise last week. I ran two 5Ks (Wednesday and Friday) and brought my time down by a minute each time, so that's good. It seems the low-carbing thing is not affecting that too much (the increased potassium and salt also seem to help). I decided to split up my weightlifting routines. I was previously doing lifting M, W, F and running Tu, Th, but I moved a lot of my smaller strength exercises to Tu, Th (pushups, dips, curls, raises) before my run. I think this was a good move because I can put more energy into my heavy stuff without being dog tired by the time I get to the smaller stuff. And when I do the smaller stuff, I'm going into it fresh. I also went bike camping this weekend, riding 30 miles each way (with c. 40 lbs. of gear). I was somewhat concerned that I'd have to increase my carb intake a lot to get through the rides, but I kept it pretty low-carb. I just ate a lot of cashews (pretty carby for nuts) and a few handfuls of raisins is all. I think I might have actually been under 100 both days. Biking is not all that demanding if you take it fairly slow and take breaks often. I also drank lots of water, ate enough fat and salt, supplemented potassium, and had some caffeine. The experience was encouraging because now I know I can still do the active things I like to do while eating (pretty) low-carb.

I also started analyzing my weight in a slightly new way. Up until now what I've been doing is weighing myself (almost) every morning and logging it. I have Excel formulas set up to spit out my low, average, and high weights for the week. I find that this is WAY more accurate than just paying attention to how low you can get your weight every morning or weighing in on Sundays or whatever. Fluctuations of 1-2 pounds is normal. Average weight is really more important, and if your average weight is showing a consistent trend downward, it's pretty much guaranteed that your high weight and low weight will do the same thing if given enough time. What I added this last week is what I call the "modified average" which is just my average weight of all days excluding my highest weight for the week (which so far has always been on Monday or Tuesday). I just think this provides a more accurate picture of what's happening because I tend to drop down as the week goes on, so it didn't seem "fair" to have that high weight on Monday or Tuesday inflating my raw average. In any case, I believe having more than one way to assess progress is good. I think people can make themselves crazy when all they pay attention to is the number on the scale every day (or once a week). Not to mention they can do stupid, counter-productive things like skimp on water before a weigh-in (as if this will ever keep weight down long-term).

So my average weight loss per week right now is 1.7 pounds. I suspect that average will get smaller as I go on, but I'm okay with that. But assuming it stays the same, I should be to my goal weight around May 20th, which would be fantastic. If my average loss drops down quite a bit, say down to just one pound a week, I will still hit my goal weight by 6/17 (which coincides with some major weightlifting and exercise goals). Now, if I'm losing less than a pound a week, I may need to rethink some things. I'll definitely need to consider what kind of gains I'm making with weightlifting to see if maybe I'm "shifting" weight (i.e. losing fat, gaining muscle), in which case losing less than a pound a week could be perfectly acceptable.

"But doesn't the whole ketosis/trying to run your body on stored fat thing change this?"
I don't know - I read Atkins years ago (the very first low carb book I'd encountered) and I don't recall how that all works.
" the carb meals are zero fat?"
Yes. You can do things like hummus and whole grain tortillas or wraps and veggies, cannelli bean spread on whole grain toast, whole grain pasta with some kind of veggie sauce as long as you don't use fats in it. You get the idea.
I love falafel! And I used to make Tempeh gravy over brown rice, that was a staple. It was actually nutritional yeast gravy from Laurel's Kitchen cookbook.
Robin Robertson has 3 vegetarian cookbooks out - I ordered them from the library. One is the low carb and one is a slow cooker cookbook.
It sounds like you are tweaking your plan pretty well - keep up the good work!

Start of week 5 and everything is going pretty well.

Last week I lost 1.7 pounds, so the pace actually picked up! And I even had a little bit of cheating on Saturday evening (went out for pizza to celebrate getting a new job).

I also pretty much stopped counting everything. I know how much protein I need and I know (basically) how much I need to restrict carbs, so the counting became unnecessary. I still need to look up nutritional info online for certain things, and I still need to look at my spreadsheets to make sure I'm getting enough of certain V&M, but it's been really cool to be able to kind of relax the attitude toward it all.

I'm still keeping it between about 70-100 carbs per day, protein between 110 and 130. Eat your seeds, greens, yeast and beans/tofu, eat basically as much vegetables as you want, eat a little bit of "carby" carbs if you want, and everything else pretty much just takes care of itself!

I've also got my wife more on board with the program now, too, so that's cool. Last night I made a low(ish)-carb salad and she loved it! It was just fried cashews, onions, garlic, tomatoes, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, a little bit of brown and wild rice, and a LOT of parsley. It was sooooo good. She isn't fully on board with low-carbing by any means, but she has a better understanding of why I'm doing it and how it all works (practically as well as biologically), so she's more understanding of my "weird" eating habits.

I'm also continuing to make progress with weightlifting and running, so that just confirms for me that the weight loss is healthy weight loss (i.e. fat, not lean body mass)!

Glad you and your wife are finding your way - it helps to have someone on board with you. In case you didn't find them, there is a low carb vegetarian group on this site. I got the cookbook, haven't looked at it yet - I got her slow cooker cookbook but it wasn't something useful to me.
Kat

I'm not sure what you mean. I've been in the vegetarian discussion thread section . Is that what you mean? Or is there something else?

The group is under Vegetarian Low Carbers - probably the same thread you are describing. There are groups like South Beachers, Atkins people, etc.
It sounds like you've found your way here So I wish you success in your goals and happy Vegan cooking.
Kat

I'm really impressed by this. I couldn't do vegan, but before Atkins I had a largely vegetarian diet, and I made the transition to low-carb easily.. Looking back on it, I just added in tofu, more oils, and more light vegetables, and I cut out the starchier choices. It was really quite easy, as Dr. Atkins' lists are so comprehensive. However, by choice, I started to eat more fish and shellfish, so the Atkins diet has changed my eating patterns, even though it wasn't essential. I thought I had a healthy diet before, because it was so full of good vegetables, unrefined foods, etc. but I wasn't careful enough about the nutritional balance of my diet, so I think my current diet is far more healthy. Reading Dr. Atkins book, plus doing low-carb, which kinda contradicts the official dietary advice, has resulted in me being a lot more "savvy" about food in general, through getting more clued up through internet pod-casts, articles, videos, etc. which ultimately can only be a good thing. If I did decide to eat purely vegetarian again, I'd be far better armed and educated to make better food choices.

I'm delighted that this diet is working for you, and I hope that you'll consider sharing some of your recipes in the recipe section of the forum, as there are probably very few purely vegan main meals.