Fri, May-30-08, 15:53
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Senior Member
Posts: 244
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Plan: Protein Power
Stats: 216/166/150
BF:45%/33.5%/28%
Progress: 76%
Location: CNY
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stonefiddl, I would just be very careful that you don't short yourself calories, especially fat calories, while trying to low carb as a vegan. For instance, what is the macronutrient breakdown of your vegan chili? Is it mainly protein and fat, with a max of 15-20g effective carbs per serving? If it's not--if it's more like an equal amount of carbs and protein, with minimal fat, then you won't produce ketones from eating it because your body won't look to either fat or protein for fuel. It will look first to the carbs, because they're easier (whether that's the right first choice for better health or not.)
The only vegan protein sources that are minimal carb are things like vital wheat gluten and soy protein isolate. Nearly every other vegan protein source is either 1:1 or 2:1 grams of protein:carb. If you want to ensure that your body uses fat for fuel, you have to provide it with enough fat (both dietary and body fat) to allow that to happen. When you're vegan, it's too easy to let dietary fat sources drop before your body is truly metabolizing body fat for fuel, and if that happens, your body will still be stuck looking first to carbs--especially if, as often happens, you are also not taking in enough protein per pound of LBM either.
Low carb as a vegan means that you need to ensure you are getting at minimum 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass, AND an equivalent amount of dietary fat--as well as limiting carbs. It's tricky, but it can be done.
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