Considering vegetarianism. Is it bad to eat too much Quorn?

[Goshdarn]

I use Q sausages and mince anyways.

But have recently been snacking on their cocktail sausages, faux scotch eggs and chicken dipper type things.

I really need to keep my protein up but have really gone off meat.

Would it be unhealthy to eat, say 50g worth of quorn protein a day?

I'm vegetarian and quite like Quorn, but it is highly processed, so I try to save it for a treat - I definitely don't eat it daily (I find that it can upset my stomach if I eat too much).

Your issue is going to be your bariatric surgery, so the traditional forms of protein that veggies / vegans will have in their diets such as nuts, legumes, lentils etc might not be suitable. Other forms, such as cheese / eggs and tofu or tempeh may be better.

In your instance, I would start thinking about a 'transitional' diet over about six months to work out what you can or can't tolerate - start out with two/three meat-free days and build up from there, introducing new foods as you go along

I highly recommend a good vegetarian cookbook to get you started - I'm a big fan of both Rose Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian and Rukmini Iyer's The Green Roasting Tin.

High protein vegetarian staples for me are: cottage cheese, Skyr yoghurt, egg whites (a godsend!), squeaky bean pretend chicken pieces, peas and the occasional bit of protein powder/protein bars. Also good to have tempeh and tofu - the best rule of thumb is to incorporate variety into your meals so you get everything you need.

I'd recommend Joe Wickes book for veggie recipes. One of the ones I tried, a veggie bake, was 30g of vegetarian protein a portion, mostly via mozzarella.

No. I'm at target now so trying maintain, maybe even gain a little.

You should really be eating 1g of protein for every pound of (ideal) body weight

It is really hard to get the right amount (and constitution) of protein on a vegetarian diet.

I know people will say you can bla bla. But consistently and protein that your body can actually use - rare.

Also agree with pp. All these meat replacement products are absolutely nutritionally garbage, marketed with a green happy label to make you feel good about yourself, when the reality is ultra processed crap.

If you are really going to do it and strip your body of essential nutrients only found in animal products, eat lots of eggs. Like 5/6 day.

Eggs and lentils/beans are great sources of protein, and the latter in particular are key ingredients of very flavourful cuisines, such as Indian and Middle Eastern.

However, you seem to have gone off meat because you are a bit bored. So, unless you are really committed to becoming vegetarian, why not explore some different ways of cooking meat, especially chicken?

I love tray bakes because by varying the vegetables and the flavourings it is possible to create lots of different dishes, mainly using chicken thighs. Lentils as a base for different salads, i.e. different ingredients and a variety of dressings, also alleviate the boredom.

There's no way I could eat 6 eggs a day. I struggle after 1 😂

Sorry where did you get that I was bored?

The thought of eating meat makes me feel sick. Any bit of grissle has me heaving and often vomiting (not ideal when I've worked hard to get the protein in)

It's not boredom, I find meat gross now

Ive been a veggie for 30 odd years and very rarely have Quorn.
There's loads of ways to increase protein.
Are you staying veggie or going vegan eventually?
I mostly have thinks like chai seeds, nut butters, quinoa, home made humus, tempeh tofu, full fat Greek yogurt, kefir. I sometimes add protein powder to a peanut Butter and banana smoothie if im on the go.
There's loads of great Instagram pages to follow for receipe ideas for high protein, veggie/ vegan ideas.
Meanwhile there's thiswww.myprotein.com/thezone/nutrition/top-vegetarian-protein-sources/?affil=mpppc_campaign=71700000079906104&adtype=&product_id=&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_viWBhD8ARIsAH1mCd7pDmHqlPG1hfiBqP3pnxtSFRJjM1SQ5ZrD9qf_-hZKRAYnmSb6sjEaApcVEALw_wcB

The myprotein webpage takes a few seconds to open but takes to you to a good information page.

It is processed but people consume vast quantities of processed food, even meat eaters.

I eat lots of Greek yogurt, eggs (nice in a curry or boiled as a snack), tofu (siken blends into any sauce. Makes nice sandwich spread), homemade hummus, bean and lentil dishes, pea protein powder, nuts (cashew stirfry).

I’m not vegetarian but I eat very little meat.

I avoid quorn and tofu like the plague though - ugh.

I don’t eat mince and sausages because I don’t like them. So I don’t see the point of fake mince and sausage flavoured stuff - that’s the worst of all worlds.

Cheese eggs lentils and pulses and nuts are all great sources of protein

We very rarely have quorn ( although not actually vegetarian we tend to eat meat once a week )

Thankyou.

I don't want to be vegan, no.

I do care about animal welfare but its more the fact that if I eat something meat based and get a crunchy bit I can't eat meat for days. It just makes me feel so physically sick.

So I enjoy veggie food so much more because I know there won't be any nasty surprises.

Red meat isn't exactly good for you

0.8 g per kg of weight so less than half what a PP said

( ie not 1 g per pound of body weight )

About 50g protein needed

I yoghurt = 20g so I think you could easily get to the right amount on a veggie diet

The protein industry and protein diet industry would have you on much more

Can all the meat-angelists stop whingeing already, OP has quite clearly said it makes her vomit and grossed out. Cheers 😁

Is it just volume of food which is driving the need for high density proteins? I'm a life long veggie and rarely use quorn but I use a lot of pulses and nuts which may fill you up too much.

Tofu and tempeh are high in protein and may help vary the diet as they go with a wide variety of flavours. Low fat dairy foods might also help. Which foods work best for you in terms of digestibility and quantity?

It's just the requirements of a post sleeve diet. High protein, low carb.

But I don't do great with lots of dairy. It makes me nauseated. Milkshake, milk, a whole yogurt etc

Everything else I'm pretty OK with. (bar sugar!)

Red meat isn't exactly good for you

Thing is, that isn't true, there's been a concerted politicised push to drive that narrative but there's no actual medical evidence. It would be remarkable if it was, as well, given that we've been eating it as long as human history.

Granted, countries that eat a lot of beef laced with growth hormones and stuffed full of maize on feedlots arent' going to be producing meat that's nutritionally ideal but that's not the case in the UK.

It's completely unprocessed and nutritionally dense.

Fine if the OP doesn't fancy it but to suggest it's unhealthy is nonsense.

The link between red meat and various cancers is I believe well understood

Processed meat even more so

Just because we always ate it in some cultures doesn't mean it's associated with long healthy lives

@Scianel It truly horrifies me how this 'red meat is bad for you' mantra is so accepted.

Then to say to replace it with quorn or tofu?!? I wonder where all logic and reasoning has gone.

No that's processed meat specifically, or rather the nitrates and nitrites added - one can buy nitrate-free processed meat though.
There isn't a well-established link between fresh meat and cancers at all. It was found as not having a definitive link to colo-rectal cancers, and large-scale epidemiological studies on dietary practices are notoriously unreliable anyway.

It's not just about cultural practice, we've eaten meat longer than any other foodstuff we consume anywhere on the globe, we were eating meat before we domesticated crops.

I don't know about that- have never eaten it- but just wanted to know why the OP can't just eat lentils, eggs, nuts, cheese for protein instead of fake food. Like many cultures do. Get an Indian cookbook. 50 different ways to get vegetable protein.

@hamstersarse it's incredible. How anyone could believe that a completely unprocessed foodstuff that humans have eaten since the dawn of time is somehow unhealthy but a processed facsimile is healthy, I have no idea, but I suppose the profit margins are far better on the latter so there's quite the vested interest in making as many people as possible believe it.