Hi Everyone,
I was surfing another low carb message board and someone posted the question of whether Atkins was doable as a lacto-ovo vegetarianism. Someone answered by posting this information she found on another site:
"The diet is not recommended for lacto-ovo vegetarians, since it cannot be done as successfully without protein derived from animal products. Also, vegans cannot follow this diet, since a vegan diet is too high in carbohydrates, according to Atkins. Instead, he recommends vegetarians with a serious weight problem give up vegetarianism, or at least include fish in their diet."
Excuse me??? So I posted this response:
"I'm sorry, but this absolute garbage. While it's true that doing Induction-level carbs would be difficult as a lacto-ovo vegetarian, it's absolute BS that lowcarbing (and even Atkins) cannot be done as a lacto-ovo. Do a search for vegetarian low carb and you'll find several links that explain just how to do it. In addition, Rose Eliot's book "The Vegetarian Low Carb Diet" gives a blueprint that is exactly like Atkins and is vegetarian.
I've been on and off lowcarbing for a few years as a vegetarian (currently back on) and I have had no problem doing low carb including dairy and soy products. You can even do it as a vegan, as long as you're willing to go higher than Induction-level carbs (and even Atkins doesn't recommend staying at 20 carbs for the long term). I've tried doing vegan low carb before and was able to get to 60 carbs per day which is still considered low carb.
I highly doubt that Atkins or any other medical doctor would recommend that someone "give up" vegetarianism to do low carb. That's just plain insensitivity not to mention unethical practice in my eyes. Vegetarianism isn't just a food choice, it usually involves much more, such as ethics, health, and environment. It's not just a matter of "giving it up" because you're trying to lose weight.
Incidentally, I just read somewhere that the book "Atkins Advantage" addresses vegetarianism and gives some tips on how to do Atkins as a vegetarianism.
I didn't mean to rant here, but it really annoys me when I read people who obviously have no clue about low carbing assume that it is not doable for vegetarians (and I'm not talking here about jerseygrl who posted the note - I'm talking about the person who wrote it ). True, low carbing has always been associated with a high level of meat eating, but many low carbers don't just rely on meat for their protein. It's similar to the BS that goes around about low carbers not eating veggies. Take a look sometime at sample menus people post on the boards and you'll see that many integrate plenty of veggies."
OK, so I got a little heated
.
But seriously, can we please kill this misconception that vegetarian low carbing cannot be done???
Tam