Low-carb vegan meals

[Fantail]

Hi,

I’m a T1 diabetic who was diagnosed 3 years ago. Because my onset was as an adult I have a slow onset. I control by using a low-carb diet and take metformin. My hb1ac is at non-diabetic levels (so my control is excellent).

I eat on average 50g carbs a day. This excludes most grains, legumes etc which are traditional sources of protein for vegans.

However, I feel exceedingly guilty about the amount of animal products I eat, for environmental reasons.

I would like to reduce the amount of meat, eggs and diary I eat, but need ideas for meals with a good amount of fat so that I stay full and don’t lose weight.

Does anyone eat low carb at my level of carb intake? How do you make it work and still make sure you get the nutrients that you need without having to supplement everything.

I am a good cook and eat pretty much everything. I like to avoid processed food as much as possible.

Thanks!

[plantsplantsplants]

Honestly, in your shoes (and I say this as a vegan!), I wouldn't cut out all animal products but just cut out red meat and dairy, which are the biggest environmental offenders. Your health is so important, and a diet with fish, eggs and poultry sounds like it would reduce your impact without risking upsetting your well managed condition. If the environment is your main motive, there are probably significant other areas in your life you can tackle your carbon footprint while staying healthy.

Having said that, nuts are an excellent source of fat and a reasonable source of protein; perhaps you could base some meals around those? (Disclaimer: I know nothing about carbs!)

[Fere]

Have look around this bard, if you can't find separate topic ask your questions there, lots of very knowledgeable MN-ers there www.mumsnet.com/Talk/low_carb_bootcamp

[plantsplantsplants]

Also, remember that cutting down on animal products isn't the only way to reduce the environmental impact of your diet. We avoid all palm oil, and make efforts to eat seasonally and locally, with a minimum of food waste, and where food isn't over packaged. There are generally speaking lots of ways to reduce your impact! We are currently cutting down on crisps ( for non biodegradable, non-recyclable packaging of a product with basically no nutritional value), coffee (big source of deforestation and air miles) and fizzy drinks (packaging/they're heavy so will use a lot of fuel being shipped around).

[Bookaholic73]

I tried to do a vegan low carb diet and it was incredibly difficult.
My advice would be to cut out red meat but not white meat or dairy.

[goingdownsouth]

Rose Elliot has a low carb vegetarian cookbook.

[C8H10N4O2]

Nomeat Athlete has been blogging on this subject for some years now and may have some useful tips. From memory he uses quite a few protein powders but that may be for the athletic activity:

www.nomeatathlete.com/recipes/

I've used a few recipes from this site for visiting low carbers:

lowcarb-vegan.net/

VegWeb also has some low carb recipes which you can find by searching for the higher protein ingredients.

I'd also second Rose Elliot books - generally fairly practical recipes.

If this is a medical recommendation do you have access to a proper dietician to help you balance? There are many sites of dubious repute on this subject, seperating out those which have qualified input can be quite difficult.

[ppeatfruit]

I do low carb not no carb. I cut out wheat but eat rye or spelt bread 2 slices a day with olive and almond or pnut butter and salad. There is a lot of protein in nuts and greens like broccolli and carrots. I mke stock for veg soups with flaked yeast, yeast is 50% protein. I also eat whole organic rice and quinoa . I don't have any health problems Can you eat tofu? that's great for vegans.

[Fantail]

Unfortunately rice causes havoc for blood sugar levels. I can do a couple of table spoons of quinoa, from memory it is about 50g carbs per 100g. I can do one slice of lower carb bread at a time, so that’s about 8g carb per slice. I do eat tofu though.

Thanks for all these recommendations, I’m going to order Rose Elliot’s books.

I worked intensively with a nutritionist when I was diagnosed and credit her with getting me back to being healthy.

Thanks for being so kind. I work in an industry where being vegan or vegetarian is very common and have been challenged in the past for eating animal products.

[gassylady]

Don’t allow people in your industry to push you into being vegan if that is not your preference. Tell them you are acting on medical advice - and to mind there own business

[LiliesAndChocolate]

Diet has a huge impact on your wellbeing in general so adopting a diet because of someone or external pressure will somehow negatively impact you.

In the same way, you could easily have vegan lunches, with soups and salads/bowl for lunch and whatever you need or like for dinner.

I follow a low protein plant based diet and I assure you it is extremely hard to keep the protein low, so in your shoes, I wouldn't worry about protein . A single tablespoon of nutritional yeast (which vegans need for the B vitamins) will shoot up your protein intake , tofu is actually quite high in protein and a low lower in carbs than what people think, almonds, walnuts are high in fat and low in carbs.

I would recommend you made a second visit to your nutritionist, because if you take the vegan pathway, there are far more nutritional issues to address than only carbs and proteins.

You need to supplement for your B12, and I would also recommend a plant based source of Omega 3, because I was eating more than 850% the recommended daily intake of plant based omega 3 (flaxseed, chiaseeds and walnuts every single day) but when I did the blood test, I was dangerously low, as in the brain shrinkage low, then your iron, vitamin D, calcium, iodine and so on.

Can I add to every vegan reading this, to request the omega 3 index test even if not covered by health system, because getting demented if no joking matter. I paid 60 Australian $ for it (roughly 30 pounds) and my GP had not only never prescribed it but not even seen one in his 20 year career.

Use cronometer cronometer.com for the carb - protein - fat and all the micronutrients intake of food. It is free. On my phone I also have a paid one, called wholesome www.wholesomeapp.com it gives polyphenols as well and recipes offered by users. I paid a one off of 4$ (2 pounds)

[Fantail]

I am allergic to fish so already supplement with Omega 3 and also Vit D. There’s also some evidence to suggest that supplementing with both can prolong a T1 honeymoon period.

I do eat a lot of green veg because it is low carb. Some nuts, I do limit because they are high calorie and also addictive! I also include seeds like pumpkin.

I plan what I eat a lot as I find it easier to manage a restricted diet that way. I do have some nutritional yeast at home as I made a tofu quiche for a pot luck lunch a while ago.

It is very hard being a T1 because every medical professional is so fixated on your carb intake. However after 3 years there’s some more trust there now as I’ve proved myself!