i have been a vegan for approx 15 years but the last 4 years (since my 2nd child) i have been gaining weight - problay due to my love of pasta and potatoes - and my chocolate habit!!! i would love to try a low carb diet but i am not sure where to start. i have the atkins and the south beach diet plans/ books but i am soooo confused! can you substiture the veggie burgers in place of the real meat?? how is everyone getting the protein that these diets are calling for? i love veggies but i get little to no protein at all now. i am sooo tired and i think this may have alot to do with it! can anyone help me with the atkins veggie style????

Welcome to the forum, sriley! I'm new here too and I'm new to Atkins as well. I've been getting most of my protein from milk, cheese, and eggs because I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian, although I don't really know my way around here yet I know that vegetarian low-carbing is totally possible....and there are lots of em here

Nice to meet you and welcome!

Hi Sriley!

I think a lot of vegetarians do have that problem of too much pasta, rice, and potatoes and the like! I know I sure did!! You can eat veggie meat substitutes to get protein and they just plain taste good. I would just not eat the ones with breading like the chicken ones til later on when you are finishing with premaintenance.

To get protein you can use those or tofu, but I must admit I probably don't get quite the recommended amount. Some other things now have extra protein in them such as low carb tortillas and low carb pasta.

Good luck, whatever you eat I'm sure it will be more protein than you did before!

I'm not a vegetarian, but was for 6 years. The pasta deal got me too. Just needed that protein!

You're a vegan, so eggs and dairy are out for protein, I suppose. If I were you, I'd try to find a great soy protein powder to make shakes with. WestSoy has great unsweetened and Splenda sweetened soy milks that are low carb also. Tofu is obviously a good choice and many veggie products (such as Boca burgers) are quite low carb. Look for ones that are mainly textured proteins as opposed to wheat.

I wouldn't recommend Atkins induction for you, but the second phase of Atkins (OWL) or Protein Power would work well. Then you could still eat lots of veggies.

Hope that helps a bit. There are very successful veggies on here, so I'm sure it can be done!

Hi Sriley and welcome. It's easy to get enough protein on a vegan diet. There are nuts and seeds, Tofu, Unsweetened soy milk (I make my own). There are soy versions of sour cream and cream cheese, (Make Sure You Read The Labels) I personally have a soy cookbook and make my own (because I'm cheap and refuse to pay the price.) There is TVP, and soy cheese. Boca Burgers LomaLinda makes meat substitutes, as does Worthington. Make sure you subtract the fiber from the carb count on the label. Be sure you get plenty of low carb veggies and a moderate amount of low sugar fruit. I follow Protein Power, and I cannot believe the amount of energy I have. Good luck to you, and let us know how your progress is coming along. Judy

Hiya Everyone,
I'm a little confused re subtracting the fibre content from the carb content so that a usable carb content is achieved...somehow my brain wont accept that its not cheating, and that it will be having more carbs than it should...how can I convince myself that I will be doing the 20gms per day correctly by doing this calculation????

The fiber is undigestible carbs. So, it doesn't affect insulin levels. You are not cheating! Fiber also helps "sweep" out the GI tract to keep it healthy.