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Have you tried the special K diet?

High-protein veggie diet -- anybody tried it?

  • High-protein vegetarian diet -- am I the first to try this? Because of a genuine addiction to bread and pure carbohydrate foods like rice and pasta (perhaps even an oversensitivity), I'm trying a high-protein diet. I haven't eaten meat since being a teenager so it's also vegetarian. I don't eat fish either. Essentially my food consists of vegetables and salads with a good portion of protein: cheese, egg, beans, pulses, tofu, nuts and so on (or a combination). It's working pretty well so far and I'm enjoying it. It requires imagination in the kitchen but I'm coping. My guiding principle is to make the core of each meal a duet of protein and fiber, in the form of vegetables/salad. So no omelette without spinach and mushrooms, for example, and preferably served on a bed of salad leaves. What I want to know is: Has anybody else tried this? I'd like to read more and get some recipe ideas. With the zillions of diet books out there, somebody must have written about it. You could call this a diet that simply avoids pure carb foods but it definitely ISN'T Atkins. The closest I can find is the Glycaemic Index diet, but I'm avoiding ANYTHING that's even moderate GI, such as peas or sweetcorn, and even fruit (I'm confident I get enough fibre in the vegetables I eat). For instance, a GI dieter will allow themselves soya and linseed bread, but that's out for me. In GI terms, I'm keeping myself below around 40GI points. In fact, when taken collectively, most meals are far less.

  • Answer:

    http://www.radiantrecovery.com and the accompanying http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684850141/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ address the issue you have (carbohydrate & sugar addiction) and how to alter your diet accordingly, in many of the same ways you already have - increasing protein and vegetables, and eliminating simple carbs. However, the program incorporates whole grains such as brown rice rather than eliminating them altogether. It doesn't advocate vegetarianism but has resources available for those who are vegetarians (such as http://www.radiantrecovery.com/resourcecenter/vegetarians.htm and the listserv on http://www.radiantrecovery.com/list_serves.htm called "radiantvegetarians."). I myself have been following this program for nearly seven years and it has truly changed my life.

long haired lover from liverpool at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

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http://www.ivu.org/recipes/ The recipes with beans/pulses as the base are loaded with protein and fiber.

a robot made out of meat

So late to the thread, but I couldn't resist. I used to eat a lot of cashew creme sauce at a vegan restaurant I used to work at and I constantly lust after it. Not exactly a whole meal, and I must admit I ate it on pasta, but you can use it anywhere you might use a custard, bechamel or alfredo sauce. The recipe was something along the lines of: Add raw cashews and unsweetened soy or rice milk to blender. Blend. You can add fruit, maple syrup, vanilla, chocolate, nutritional yeast, curry, or garlic powder to make it sweet or savory.

quelindo

Quite by chance I came across a book in a second-hand store: The New High Protein Diet, by Dr Charles Clark. This echoes exactly my thinking about this diet and explains everything in quasi-scientific detail. Incidentally, it's working really well and I've lost around six pounds so far. If you're thinking about giving this a go then it's probably the best book to look at. Pub 2002 in the UK by Vermilion (Random House); ISBN 0091884268.

long haired lover from liverpool

I realize most South Beach Diet recipes utilize the "easy" source of protein that is lean meats, but your diet sounds an awful lot like it (at least Phase 1) otherwise. Yes, it does, eldiem. Thanks. I've never studied the South Beach Diet because of its meatiness but it really does seem a mirror of what I'm doing, although I'm not being as restrictive re: fat -- I have normal cheese, for example, although am being sensible and not deliberately eating fatty foods. I guess my best advice for anybody else who wants to give this a go is to use the SB diet as guidance; for example, note the fact it doesn't allow carrots. I myself had figured this out because carrots can be pretty sweet -- enough to make Carrot Cake, for example.

long haired lover from liverpool

Your diet also reminds me of the raw food diets. I think the only difference would be the egg (they do eat some beans, I think after sprouting them or something). Might check out http://www.rawfoodchef.com/ looking for recipes.

salvia

I realize most South Beach Diet recipes utilize the "easy" source of protein that is lean meats, but your diet sounds an awful lot like it (at least Phase 1) otherwise. I bet you can find some vegetarian recipes on South Beach Diet forums and the like. A forum I've used in the past is at http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum. Note: they've got just about any diet plan you can think of there, and a community to go with.

eldiem

I did this with 40/30/30 "Zone" CHO/pro/fat ratios a while back. With respect, what I'm doing is different. I assume that CHO stands for "carbohydrate". I'm not purposefully eating any carbohydrate. Any I do eat is coming incidentally from vegetables, or things like beans and pulses, which are usually around 50/50 carbohydrate/protein (although they also have a lot of fibre, so their net carbohydrate quantity is lessened). I also eat Quorn, which has a similar mix.

long haired lover from liverpool

I did this with 40/30/30 "Zone" CHO/pro/fat ratios a while back. Ended up eating soy products with every meal. I planned it out on mix-and-match index cards. Worked well in terms of weight loss and energy levels, but got boring quickly. Also not sure how good all that soy is for someone. Easier as a vegetarian than a vegan, and easier still once I started eating meat again.

objdoc

I'm a vegetarian who does the do the high protein thing periodically. I do mix in a bit of brown rice and whole grain pasta though, so I get some complex carbs. Indian and Asian food are your friends. I make saag paneer and matar paneer and substitute tofu instead of panner. I frequently eat these without rice or with a little brown rice. I do a lot of stir fries with veggies and soy. I cook lots of tofu, tempeh and beans simmered in sauces and mixed with vegetables. Get a crock pot and make soups from dried beans and add stuff like chard and kale. The only bad thing, in my experience, from eating like this is that it is a diet with a large potential for creating vast amounts of horrific farting. So stock up on beeno! On a positive note, I lose weight when I am able to eat like this every day.

pluckysparrow

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