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Friday, June 3, 2011

Low-carb vegetarian diet does not mean "no-food" diet

As most of you know I was forced encouraged by my doctor to give up cut back on the number of carbohydrates that I eat per day. As a vegetarian this seemed like a daunting task. What was I supposed to eat? How would I get enough protein at every meal to ensure that I wasn't starving when my only high protein choices are soy and eggs?

After a couple of weeks of whining my creative cooking juices began to flow. Here are a few meals that I have prepared without grains, sugar, potatoes or any of those other bad white stuff. 

Fried green tomatoes on a bed of zucchini and yellow squash noodles drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction. It was yummy. JR loved the reduction so much that he wants it on everything. I think I'll try a port or Pinot Noir reduction next. I used almond flour to bread the tomatoes though soy flour would have worked well enough. I find I don't like to use soy flour all that often so almond flour works well.

Veggie eggs Benedict on a bed of veggie bacon sauteed spinach and grape tomatoes. This was a Saturday morning brunch thing. Very good. Really! How can you go wrong with homemade hollandaise sauce?

Portabella mushrooms stuffed pizza style. I was craving pizza one night. This satisfied. 

Cream of wild mushroom soup. Arrowroot my friends. Learn to embrace it. 

Cheese souffle stuffed mushroom caps. We had these on Wednesday night. They were awesome! I'm going to work on this recipe a bit before I share it. The taste was perfect but the presentation was a little wonky. I also want to work on the mushroom to souffle ratio.

All in all we've had some very wonderful food lately without all the carbs. Though the 'proof will be in the pudding' when I go into the doctor's to have my glucose levels checked again. I will tell you that I have lost 15 of those 20 ugly pounds that I gained since moving to Texas. That made me very happy. I also don't feel deprived of food. I'm getting more than enough protein and haven't succumbed to lethargy.

I think the one thing that I proved was that lowering your carbs will let you lose weight and that vegetarians can safely go on a low-carb diet. It may take a bit more ingenuity but it can be done. 

Love,
M

9 comments:

  1. You know I'm with you 1000% on this one. ;) The illusion that the Standard American Diet has more variety than one without grains, GMO soy, refined sugars and industrial oil is simply that - an illusion.

    Now, if I can just make it through these 30 wine-free days without killing someone, I'll be good.

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  2. Jan: Good luck with the no wine thing. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it. I have cut done to 1 glass of wine on Fridays and Saturdays only.

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  3. Thats odd. I was about to ask you if you had a good veggie website for those moving to less meat. Any books I've Looked at either demand a level of fanaticism to the cause or have a condiment room in the house. I felt deprived reading them when I thought of my three foot by ten inch shelf of spice and herbs.
    What I'm looking for is about ten knock-em out of the park dishes that will replace meat dishes as I'm feeling that lethargy you were on about.

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  4. Vince: I'll put together 10 of my favorites and send them to you.

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  5. I'm proud of you! I'm working on my food program here. Sometimes its hard.

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

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  6. Perfect timing for my back to blogging! I am looking to make food a focal point of my summer. Healthier eating, growing a bit of a garden. You and Jan will help me a lot on your blogs.

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  7. My mom raised us vegetarian. We ate a lot of rice and beans...good luck! I think I would die without carbs!

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  8. Holy crap Michele, that's awesome that you lost 15lbs! And feel better! The meals all sound delicious, I wouldn't feel like I was missing out.

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  9. That-a girl! Wheat is murder - stay away from the grains and the weight drops off so easily! Make sure you get lots of good oils (coconut, olive,nut oils), avocados,nuts (not peanuts - they are legumes), butter and dairy if you eat them to keep sated. The big benefit of GOOD fats to me is that they sate me and keep me from eating crap I shouldn't eat!

    You go girl! Next thing you know I'll be grilling a steak for you - just let me know when! Tuna steak? Cheese Steak?

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