egg-free vegetarian, new to low carb - help!!

[fidgetsnowfly]

Hello everyone - I'm completely new to low carbing, having been the original yoyo dieter most of my life. I have to say that so far I love it and feel more in control of my eating than I ever have - no hunger and cravings that I'm used to on low fat diets.

I'm struggling though with being vegetarian and hating eggs. So far I have not cut out nuts, as I'm not sure what else I can eat. I haven't limited dairy either. I do have a lot of weight to lose, so hoping this will be enough to get me started and that I can get stricter later if necessary as I get used to it. My previous diet was very carb-heavy, so this is a huge change for me.

Will it really be enough?

I'm watching with interests for any answers. I can't stand eggs and most of the breakfasts seem to revolve around them. Just the thought of eggs for breakfast makes me nauseous!

You SO need to talk to ChippingIn, the original egg-free vegetarian low-carber. She seems to be checking in on the visiting the "soft start to bootcamp" thread.

OK - a shameless cut and paste from ChippingIn's post on that other thread:

"I wont lie to you, it is hard to do as a veggie, though quite a bit easier if you eat eggs (I don't), especially if you are trying to keep dairy to a minimum. I don't enjoy cooking either, which really doesn't help! I tend to have much the same thing most days -

B - whole avocado, Food Doctor seeds (& cheddar cheese if I haven't convinced myself it stalls me)

L - rocket, raddish, raw mushrooms, ( a few sneaky cherry tomatoes sometimes too!) with Food Doctor seeds and either basil infused tofu (Taipan ready to eat), cheese or cold veggie sausage (cauldron are the lowest carb I have found). Vegetarian egg free mayo.

D - (a variety of veg from) brocolli, courgettes, spinach, peppers, aubergines, mushrooms, leeks, cauliflower, bok choy in either a cheese or mushroom sauce (saute mushrooms with cream or cream with cheese) or stir fry or roasted - but mostly with cheese sauce, though I am going to try to change that a bit this time to reduce the dairy. I tend to make a huge batch of this then take portions and cook them in the fry pan with more butter so it's a bit 'bubble & squeak' ish, then add either a few raw or blanched veg for a bit of a crunch.

Red pepper cut in half with pesto, mushrooms, blue cheese then cooked in the oven for half an hour is also really good.

Some people find soup good, but I don't find it does the job for dinner without bread, I need to 'eat' so I don't have it.

My saviours are Food Doctor seeds & Kingsland Roasted & Salted Almonds (from Costco) though I am going to try not to be so dependent on them this time."

Eva - thank you for letting me know about this thread :)

I was going to start a thread asking for any non egg eating vegetarians to come and chat!!

Hi :o I'm also a vegetarian, have decided to reduce carbs for health reasons after reading Peter Attia's blog.

Just marking my place on this thread while I have a read through the rest of the low carb section

lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/vegetarian/a/veganlowcarb.htm

Thank you soooo much :-) I feel healthier and more in control than ever, so I'm sticking with it - soon I'll have to get over my phobia of weighing myself, so I'll be able to see what works!

Hi I am also veggie/low carb/no egg & it's very tough! I thought low carb was just not eating as much bread, creak, fruit but it goes way beyond that & I am finding it muddling & boring! so I am having to rethink my plans for weight loss.

I am eating mostly stir frys, vegetable aubergine lasagne, soups, stuffed peppers, ratatouille, Moroccan veg with cheese sauce and salads.

If anyone has any breakfast ideas that don't involve mushrooms could you pass them along please. I skip breakfast most mornings because I can't think of anything to make.

I eat quite a lot of cauldren vegetarian sausages, but I suspect such things are disapproved of since they are artificial foods?

Hi Thants :)

Fidget - it's nice to feel healthy & in control isn't it! Just get on the scales!! But also either take note of your 'tight' clothes or measure. You really can lose multiple inches without anything showing on the scales while low carbing :) Water replaces fat in the cells and so you weight the same but water is heavier than fat so you are slimmer... and eventually the water goes too, so your weight catches down with your inches

LadyMary - Hi to you too! It is hard & boring, I cannot dispute that! However, if it works I can deal with that. I have a whole avocade & a good shovel of Food Doctor Savory Seeds for breakfast (and sometimes cheese with it, depending on whether I think 'it's stalling me or it makes no difference'.

Suzanne - That depends on which 'plan' you are following and who you listen to. Briffa explains why they aren't good for you and I agree. However, he also says you need protein but doesn't explain how us non egg eating vegetarians are supposed to do that other than using protein powder. I'm not a fan. I try not to eat too much tofu/quorn/soy but it does get to the stage where if you cut out much more you become 'low food'!! I tend to buy more of the marinated tofu pieces (cauldron) and the chicken style pieces (pieces not fillets) of quorn as they are only 1g of carbs per 100g.

Can we try between us to keep this 'bumped' - then hopefully we'll find a few more N/E V LCers :)

Last week I did low carb dinners as a trial and made lentil loaf (onion, lentils, egg - don't mind it when it's cooked - paprika etc, herbs) and had it with steamed veg and then made veggie curries with daal on the side. I know lentils are quite carby but what I was trying to do was remove the classic carbs like potatoes, pasta and rice and see how I went.

Great thread. Keep it linked to the Bootcamp thread as I know there are several vegetarians trying to low carb!

BIWI - helped to keep us 'bumped' - please

fatpony - How did you find it last week?

Lentils are 17.5g per 100g so it will probably be quite hard for your body to change to burning fat instead of carbs if you are eating them.

pulses are about 20% carb on average but then they are pretty slow release I think?

Chipping yes there are so many conflicting opinions from the low carb 'guru's' as to what is and isnt ok to eat, I'm not exactly following any particular plan just reading around and trying to get a good overview whilst I experiment with my own diet.

although I've always been very health conscious and aware of the need to control insulin this is the first time I've really looked into the health benefits of low carb

I'm currently reading these blogs:
high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.co.uk/
coolinginflammation.blogspot.co.uk/
eatingacademy.com/

none of them are especially vegetarian orientated, very interesting but I'm also somewhat
I'm sure I'll figure it out and find my own conclusions eventually :o

Hello, can I join you... I'm trying the low carb bootcamp for the first time. I'm veggie and I do eat eggs, but I really do not want to eat eggs every meal so I'd like idea.

madness of course you can, as you can see we need a few more posters - round up the troops!!