Menu Critique, Please - Low Carb Vegetarian
 

Hi Everyone,
I posted this elsewhere, but thought I might get some opinions from the vegetarian low carbers out there.

I've been trying to come up with a low carb menu that will work for me. The last round of lowcarbing I did was as a meat-eater, so I'm having some trouble figuring out how I can make vegetarian and low carb work for me. I've been trying to tweak things and try them out but nothing has worked so far.

I think I did learn a few things about myself in the process, though, that might help me now: I do better when I balance vegetarian proteins and not overdo the dairy (as I don't lose weight with too much dairy); I do better when I eat frequent small meals rather than large ones; I am super busy right now, trying to build my career as an online instructor and replenish my checking account, so I need meals that aren't too time consuming but at the same time, that get me into the kitchen to do some cooking as I love to cook and it provides a great break from my work; and absolutely no chocolate! Not even LC chocolate or cocoa-related desserts :lol: . I think chocolate is more of a binge trigger for me than sugar!

So here's the menu I want to try for the next week just to see how I react to it. I'm providing serving sizes just to give an idea of what I'm thinking of:

Morning: tofu scramble with veggies and 3 oz tofu; 1/2 cup yogurt with 1 tbsp nut butter and xylitol
Mid-Morning: Egg salad or deviled eggs made from 2 eggs and a bit of mayo, with veggies
Afternoon: 1/2 cup TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) with veggies and 1 oz cheese and spices
Mid-Afternoon (if hungry): 1 oz nuts and 1 oz cheese or mozzarella stick
Evening: Salad with 1 small avocado/1/2 large avocado and homemade vinigrette
Night: 1/2 cup yogurt with 1 tbsp nut butter and xylitol; another ounce of nuts if I feel like something crunchy

I'm not doing any specific low carb plan, so I'm not on any specific carb count, but just trying to keep to low carb food.

Any thoughts on how this looks, in terms of balance? Any thoughts from vegetarians?

Tam

Looks pretty balanced to me. Trying shaking things up a bit with Edamame, canned soy beans, and lots of cruciferous veggies. The protein in soy beans is complete, meaning that it has all the essential amino acids in it. Soy doesn't need to be balanced like you do with beans and rice or toast and peanut butter. Toasted soy beans make a nice crunchy snack.

No foods really have to be "balanced" in a vegetarian diet. That's an old wives tale. The body stores amino acids, so you don't need to have all 8 essential ones at once.



I'm sure your diet is fine. You have so many animal products that there's no real need to be worried.