balancing vegetarian diet?!
I have chosen a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, so that I may have eggs for protien, and not have to worry about egg substitutes or being vegan when on the road or staying with relatives (we are military and frequently travel) which seems to be well nigh impossible (hard enough being veggie!) (However, I only buy cage-free, hormone-free eggs, as again, the hormones were causing me to break out. For milk, I only eat it on my cereal or in recipies (soups, etc) that may call for it-any fancy coffees, cappuccinos, etc. I make I do make with soy milk so that I am not drinking extra cholesterol/hormones). Since then I have also become concerned with the health of commercial meat, etc. I've never liked anything really but fish and turkey, so giving it up was not that big of a deal.
When I first began to experiment I felt great--had meat or fish maybe once a week, usually only salmon or turkey. But the last two weeks, conciously cutting those out, I have been starving. I feel like my body is always craving food. I know this diet is healthy, but I need help learning how to balance it and also how to intake more calories, since I am fit and not sedentary, I burn more, and from what I understand, even on days when I am not working out my muscles still burn more. This was not a problem before I went vegetarian, but I was continually breaking out from meats (even meat from "organic" type cafes--I really think my body just doesn't digest meat well). I would like to find a way to meet my caloric needs while still not eating meat.
Here is a typical day for me:
--Breakfast: Grape Nuts (cereal) bowl, or pecan/grain cerea, or shredded wheat (no sugar), glass of trop 50 OJ.
--Lunch: leftovers from night before, examples: wheat pasta with homemade veggie sauce and grain roll, or a soup, possibly a chili or stew or something like minestrone from week before that made a lot.
Dinner--usually a one-dish meal that I can add meat to for my husband (he's a carnivore lol). Examples: black bean burritos, meatless shepherd's pie (with tvp for me), "breakfast" omletes or scrambled eggs with veggies, or whatever he wants to put in his, veggie chili, pasta with a variety of sauces and veggies added, chicken added for him (I do not cook the chicken in, I cook it in a separate pot and then add it when it's on his plate so it's not mixing with mine).
Snacks: Fruit (kiwi, banana with PB), almonds, celery with PB, carrots, etc. I eat very little "junk" food, but often find I am not full.
Question is: how can I make this more balanced so I am not hungry ALL THE TIME? Is it a caloric intake thing, or balance, or both? Are there any books or websites that I can learn more about veggie nutrition so that I am getting what I need? I do not want to take a vitamin supplement, as it interfers with the birth control pill, hahaha, so I need to learn how to do it right. Books? Websites? Meal plans until I learn better?
Answers:
This is a protein issue. Hunger is sated by chemical reactions after protein is digested in the stomach. The best way for vegans (or anybody who doesn't want to eat a big meal to avoid hunger) is to drink a protein dense juice or shake. You can make protein shakes from vegan protein powders such as soy protein isolate. That should help the feeling of being hungry without adding too much extra energy to your intake. You only need to increase your caloric intake if you lose weight.
The good news is it won't take long to go through this transition, your body is just more used to getting a big whack of protein when you eat fro a corpse and it thinks there must be a problem, so it tells you to keep eating in case there will be no more food for a while. Remember we evolved in environments where food wasn't always available, so putting on fat is the best way to survive a famine. The adaptation is that when a resource becomes scarce, the body drives us to load up on whatever we can get to avoid catastrophe. Because our body doesn't know that food isn't scarce, and loading up is the catastrophe.
Good luck xx
vegan biologist
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The hormones added to animal feed can cause many health problems. Good for you for recognizing that. Also keep in mind that hydrogenated oils and other trans fats added to many food, including so called vegetarian foods, cause many health problems too. Acne is only one of them, and a less serious one.
You can still enjoy wholesome foods like beef, chicken and others by only buying and eating organically grown meats. The reason you might be hungry all the time is because your diet lacks healthy fats and protein like those from meat and poultry.
I agree that it is a lack of protein. I use a protein supplement. Are you eating
white pastas or other refined products? Please try to avoid those. Remember there constituents of soy beans that effect female hormones, so be aware of that.
It is good that you use beans and legumes other than soy. Soy is better for menopause. It can interfere with thyroid function, too, so beware of relying on it to much.
It could be that you need some more healthy fats. I am vegetarian for 45 years now. I do take fish oil as flax or hemp oils don't do quite the same thing for me.
Use good quality olive oil. Oil slows your digestion and is important in many ways, as long as you choose the right kind.
For basic information on nutrition:
www.nutritiondata.com
www.calorieking.com
These are general site on nutrition, but you need to know the basics of how much
protein, fats, carbs you need, especially if you run or do extended hard exercise.
I'd guess that it's a caloric thing. Vegetables don't have a lot of calories compared to meat. There's a ton of information online about the vegetarian diet. Sadly, much of it is inaccurate. These days vegetarianism has pretty well been taken over by animal rights groups. They believe dishonesty is ok as long as it "saves" an animal's life. If you felt good eating a bit of turkey and salmon, why quit?
The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) is one of those groups. They do have useful information, just don't buy into the animal abuse, animal rights, etc., propaganda: http://www.vrg.org/
VeganHealth is more honest than VRG, IMO, and it gives you information on specific nutrients you should be watchful about in a veg*n diet: http://www.veganhealth.org/
VegWeb has lots of recipes: http://vegweb.com/
This site has vegetarian recipes: http://allrecipes.com/
Eat rich leaves (kale, spinach, greens)
Eat soft fruit (watermelon, grapefruit, papaya)
Eat hard fruit (seeds, nuts)
Those three are the complete perfect human diet. Add whatever else you want in moderation as long as you eat a healthy amount of the three.
Good health!
