Tag Archives: high protein

Vegetarians Can Do Low-Carb Diets TOO

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A Skinny-Rules reader asked a good question about what to do as a vegetarian!  Thank you for this question!

The Skinny-Rules follows mostly a Paleo diet, but it is basically a high-protein, low carb diet.  So, this can be done as a vegetarian.

protein

Being a vegetarian is a sticky issue with weight loss.   You have to eat veggies that are lower on the carb scale. Here is a site that shows vegetables from lowest to high in the carbs.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatveg.htm

Also, remember that starches that grow underground have a lot of sugar/starch. And stick with vegetables highest in protein, like broccoli and spinach.

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/vegetables-high-in-protein.php.

Watch soy. It is genetically modified. ALL of it. You can have beans, but watch the carb content.

GREAT SOURCES OF PROTEIN FOR VEGETARIANS:

  • A good protein for vegetarian is eggs.  6g of protein per egg and less than 1g of carbs per egg.
  • Another good source is Greek Yogurt at about 18g of protein per 6 oz, lower in carbs.  Also, UNSWEETENED almond milk is low in carbs (less than 1g of carbs per cup, but only 1g of protein…but still lower in carbs than milk.
  • Cheese is a good source of protein (low-fat).  A skinny cheese stick is about 6 grams of protein, and only 1g of carb.
  • Nuts are high in carbs, but also high in protein.  Just count out what you are eating.  For example, a cup of almonds is 20g of carbs, but it is also 20g of protein.  You have to read labels.
  •  Look at almond butter, etc– as well.  2 tablespoons is 6g of carbs and 7g of protein.
  • Low-carb protein shakes and bars, as I have blogged about many times.   Trader Joes and other health food stores carry protein powder to put into shakes.
  • Trader Joes has a low carb, high protein shake that I recommend.  Vanilla or Chocolate with a whopping 35g of protein and only 4g of carbs.  This is a GREAT way to get in your needed protein.

pure-protein-shake

Everyone is different in their protein needs.  For someone my size, I need about 43-97g of protein per day.  You can calculate your own needs with an online calculator.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blproteincalculators.htm

So, learn about what foods are high in proteins and make sure you get them daily.  I would think that if you had Egg Beaters or egg whites mixed in with regular eggs (Egg Beaters 3 tbsp is 5g of protein, less than 1g of carbs)….you could make a nice spinach and low-fat cheese omelette and get a lot of protein in that.  In a small omelette, you can get about 13 grams of protein and only a few carbs.

Remember:  The meat-eater has to eat 6 times a day, every 3-4 hours to keep the metabolism going.  The vegetarian might have to do it even more often to keep up with the need of protein to keep the metabolism going.

Carbs Can Cause You Do Be Fat, Have Acne and Wrinkles!

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http://www.dailyglow.com/skin/are-carbs-bad-for-your-skin.html?pos=1&xid=nl_TodaysHighlightFromDailyGlow_20130729

According to dermatologist, Dr. Jessica Wu, carbohydrates are an important source of energy, but people eat too much of them and not enough protein.  This can lead to high blood sugar and insulin levels, which then can make your body store fat and can affect the appearance of your skin.

Problem:

Besides making you gain weight or have trouble losing weight, carbs can cause acne and wrinkles!

Carbs (such as bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, muffins, and other baked goods) can aggravate acne breakouts.A high carb diet can cause an increase of androgens (“male” hormones that stimulate oil glands and cause acne) after just one week.  Carbs are also broken down into glucose (blood sugar), which interacts with proteins in the skin, stimulating enzymes that break down collagen and elastic tissue and resulting in thinner skin that’s more likely to wrinkle.

acne

The solution:

Avoid refined grains, such as white toast, pastries, white rice, and white pasta.  Instead, choose whole-grain products, which are digested more slowly, thereby producing less dramatic blood sugar elevations. In fact, the most important key to keeping your blood sugar balanced is the composition of the carbs you eat. In other words, it’s good to add chicken to your pasta, or peanut butter to your toast, but it’s much more important that your pasta be made of whole wheat and that you choose brown instead of white rice, and whole-wheat bread instead of pastries or muffins.  AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, if you are going to eat grains, keep it at a minimum and count carbs because if you want to stay thin, then you should not be having more than 100g of carbs a day (50-100g).

goodcarbs