Can I do Low Carb diet - am Veggie?

[Spice17]

Sorry, bear with me, first time in the diets topic, so apologies if I'm being annoying/breaking some unspoken rules

Anyway, I'm veggie but have heard how good this diet is, would love to try it but is it actually possible? Everyone I mention it to pulls a face and says 'what would you eat?!'

Also (and am very sorry for this one) I know nothing about it - where can I find the basic principles? Are they here or should I JFGI?

Thank you very much in advance.

You can do it, I think it's more challenging though, you'll end up eating a lot of eggs and cheese, some nuts, no pulses at all! Fake meats, as long as they aren't full of sugar.

There are probably lots of online resources if you google. Rose Elliot has a book which I think is pretty grim and lacking in imagination but on the flip side they are simple. Celia brooks brown has a book too, which is much more imaginative. I started out veggie low carbing but ended up eating meat, it's been quite a journey!

Thanks so much Snow, I did Google it in the end and I know what you mean about Rose Elliot's recipes - it put me right off! Will search out Celia Brooks Brown.

At the moment I can think of about 1 tasty breakfast (Omlette) and about 3 salads and then I'm stuck (I know I won't do it if I'm not enjoying the alternative foods).

I was a bit with the extent of it - no chickpeas, pulses etc.

Anything's worth a try, DD is 7 months old now, no more excuses!

PS Here's the salad idea I had in case anyone wants to try it (someone made it for me, it was lovely)

Green bean, Butternut Squash, artichoke and olive salad with a garlic olive oil dressing - hope all those things are allowed.

It tasted sooooo good.

Spice - I'm vege and I'm doing 5:2 instead - DH is doing Dukan but the protein options for vegetarians are so limited on that that I have avoided it.

Thanks Mistle, have heard of that one too, will have a look at the topic :)

you absolutely can do a low carb diet as a vegetarian. it's not just bacon and steak, i promise! there are lots of vegetarians on the bootcamp threads.

low carbing has made me much more creative with vegetable side dishes, so you hopefully wouldn't be bored (the meat is often the least interesting part of my plate now!).

have a look through the recipes on this thread - there are plenty of vegetarian ones. my current favourite is roasted courgette, aubergine, peppers and mushrooms with tons of halloumi and olive oil and lemon juice

eggs for breakfast in their various forms are lovely, but you can always have full fat greek yoghurt instead, or leftovers from another meal, or avocado mashed up with olive oil. one of the people on the bootcamp thread is a vegetarian who doesn't eat eggs and she manages to keep variety in her meals

Thanks Willie.

Have been shopping today and purchased food that I can start the diet with on Monday (am doing that because I'll be drinking tomorrow - last hurrah!)

Can you drink? Eventually?

Depends on how strict you want to be. The lowest carb alcohol is clear spirits like vodka and gin, and soda water is a low carb mixer if you want to avoid artificial sweeteners (as in slimline tonic or diet coke). I do drink white wine and red wine from time to time. It is a good idea to cut out alcohol for a couple of weeks at first though, and maybe to save it for weekends in moderation thereafter. Apart from health aspects, your body uses alcohol for fuel very readily above fat, so you could well stall your weight loss by drinking too much

My breakfasts are: cheese omelette or veggie sausages with grilled muchrooms or greek yogurt with mized seeds and chopped nuts.

Main meals I'm mainly having a big salad with things like: roast veg, feta avocado, smoked tofu or a vegetable frittata (e.g with courgette, spinach, feta, mushroom etc) or something like quorn pieces with green veg in a cheese sauce made with full fat soft cheese with some grated cheese stirred in or a creamy pesto sauce.

Nice veggie breakfasts are: Scrambled tofu cooked in Swiss marigold veg bouillon; portobello mushrooms topped with poached eggs and hollandaise; spinach and cheese omelette; or bulletproof coffee.

You probably shouldn't eat butternut squash, it's quite carby. You can eat goats' cheese salad though, or stir fries with shirataki noodles, or cauliflower pizza (way more delicious than it sounds), crustless quiche, Quorn casseroles, soup etc etc. there are loads of options, you just have to start thinking about cooking a little bit differently.

Another veggie low carber here

It is undoubtably easier for meat eaters, but totally do-able for veggies, especially if you eat eggs.

Come and join us on the Biwi Bootcamp thread! Lots of support & brilliant meal ideas etc.

Breakfast - most days I have an avocado chopped up, with a chunk of cheddar cheese (probably 60g) chopped up and topped with a good helping of Food Doctor savory seeds. Though yesterday and today I had Total (full fat) yogurt (about 130g) with almonds (about 50g). Occasionally at the weekend I might have a pan full of mushrooms in butter and either some veggie bacon or veggie sausages.

I'm eating more soy/quorn than I ever used to - but you need to eat protein when you eat this way and there really are very few low carb veggie protein options.

Lots of gorgeous high fat veggie stirfries.
Lovely soups.
I love that normally, but wonder if it would get old...