Help! Vegetarian and weight loss!?!
Help! Vegetarian and weight loss!?
I am a vegetarian-no meat fish etc., but I do eat diary. I have a problem tho. I am trying to lose weight, but it is really hard for a few reasons. I think I am taking in too much fat, because diary is mainly where I get my protein. I do not control the grocery shopping list, which means 1)if I want special veggie foods (tofu, veggie burger, etc.) I have to buy it myself, 2) I don't always have the veggies and fruit I need in my diet. But at the same time, I cook dinner for the rest of my family, who are not vegetarians. I am getting desperate here!
Answers:
i am a vegetarian who is overweight also from cheese and ice cream.. i have taken to eating soy ice cream it has less than half the calories of Ben and Jerry's.....
you are going to have to buy foods for yourself... i know that stinks but if you aren't in control of the grocery shopping list then that is what you have to do...
use soy milk or lowfat regular milk.....(skim)
cut out cheese completely and you will lose a lot of weight....
buy fresh fruits and veggies or frozen strawberries and make your own smoothie with frozen berries and a fresh banana....
good luck!
i also have to cook for the rest of my family who aren't vegetarians..... but they will eat a vegetarian meal if i cook it ... like vegetarian shepards pie is a real good one for meat eaters....
Read this book: So What Can I Eat?! by Elisa Zied. She goes into detail about what we typically need to maintain weight and to lose weight safely and keep it off. She breaks down everything you need to eat in a typical day. For example, I've been following her book and I require 1.5 servings of fruit, 2.5 servings of veggies, 3 serv of whole grains, 3 serv of "other" grains (white bread, white rice, etc), 5 servings of meat/beans (tofu included), 3 serv of dairy and 5 tsp of oil. With 200 calories of descretionary stuff (candy, cakes, wine, etc)
This gives you a great idea of what you need to eat to stay healthy as well as to lose weight. It's different for each person so I'd definitely get her book and check it out. Dairy is not a bad thing. It's very good for you. But, skip the whole milk or 2% and go with either 1% or skim. There are some great options out there now, like Skim Plus or Skinny Cow that make great tasting Skim milk that is thicker and more like whole milk. And, the added bonus of those milks is they are Ultra high Pasturized which means they last longer. And, the Skim Plus also has no hormones added. A big plus in my book. Low fat yogurt and lowfat cheeses are good for you, too. A great snack to get that in is a part skim mozzarella stick. Fills you up more than a cookie would, too!
As for the "Meat" section, you can replace that with beans and tofu for your protien. There are plenty of great foods out there that you can make with beans and tofu. I just recently took a Healthy Cooking class and we learned to make things with tofu. I thought that would be awful but it was REALLY good! We made a Caesar Salad with silken tofu that tasted better than any dressing I've ever had. And a milkless mousse that was to DIE for! Cooking Light magazine has some amazing recipes and they do have a section for vegetarian cooking. Check out their website, too. See the links below.
My favorite snack is chick peas (garbonzo beans) they are so good for you, too. They are great in salads, too. Also, incorporate nuts into your diet. Walnuts are a good source of Omega 3's and they are yummy! Just a handful a day is all you need. You don't have to get too much prepakaged stuff that costs more for good vegetarain foods. Check out the websites like Cooking Light, Food TV, etc. for some good recipes and easy stuff, too. That way you can prepare your cooking in advance and have the stuff on hand to help you out.
Good Luck!
exercise!!
Great sources of protein are beans and peanuts tool. Dairy products are great for protein but as you said, high in fat...
I had the same problem a few years ago when I first became a vegetarian and as odd as it sounds I find that food combinations was the biggest problem.
When you eat protein, your body uses a certain type of acid to digest this, and when you eat things such as carbs your body uses alkaline or something to digest this. However, when you eat protein sources with carbs the two digestive acids neutralize each other, take forever to digest and get stored as fat on the body.
Eat protein sources with lots of fruit and veggies. And you don;t have to have protein with every meal, eat a baked potato as your main dinner portion with lots of veggies and salad. Sounds strange but it worked wonders for me!!
I can't remember the name of this diet, but my ex boyfriend's mother in law was on it...this person studied the effects of different types of food in the digestive tract -- how they interacted, etc. Combinations of dairy and vegetables were very favorable for weight loss -- and the receipies were quite good. I wish I knew more about it for you - but see if you can find some information online about it.
you are not over weith because of dairy. it sounds l;ike you dont get enought exercise. the most important part of weight loss is acivity diet counts but drinking 4 glasses of whole milk a day will not make you fat if you do not exercise.
Get off the dairy products, switch from white grain products to whole wheat, and exercise.
I recommend you pick up a copy of "Breaking the Food Seduction" By: Dr. Neal Barnard.
Vegatarians are not the skinny-weak freaks everyone makes us out to be. You need to assert yourself. If you're doing the cooking, then you should at least do the shopping list if not the shopping. Check out: www.ppk.com for recipes, forums, etc... Cutting dairy would be wise. There are enough soymilk and ricemilk products out there of quality that you won't know the difference on the table. It depends on where you live, but your omni-guests should eat whatever you cook for them!