Veggie addicted to carbs.....help!

DigiGal

Hey guys,

so ive been going to the gym for the past two weeks and really getting into the excercise, but i know that if I'm going to lose the weight and see results over the next 6 months that I'm going to need to change some bad food habits.

Female, 19
weight; 9.5st
height 5.4
Looking to lose 1st and tone up

Breakfast: I always have some sort of carb for breakfast. Bagels mostly, sometimes those egg waffles from aldi covered in honey
I also have a glass of warm water with honey


Lunch: college canteen, usually another bagel, or a roll, or bar of choc.
Can someone please suggest some easy meals to bring to college that are cheap and easy to make. That dont include carbs? Everyone keeps suggesting pasta salad ????

Dinner; being a veggie I have rice, or paste, or pizza, or fajitas, or other carb based food usually with quorn chicken or some sort of jarred sauces?
I dont know what else to make, im at a loss. I dont like plain sort of lettuce and tomato salads and I know my OH wouldnt be into that for dinner everday

Snacks;often crackers and a severe addiction to fizzy drinks.

Can anyone suggest maybe some vegetarian dishes or recipies, or things available in shops that arent full of carbs, and maybe a way of kicking my fizzy drink cravings?

Thanks a mill

ps; please dont ask me to stop being a vegetarian, i have a heart condition and cannot eat red meat anyway so i cut the rest out, i really dont want to make an issue out of it

G86

I'm a veggie and I find it hard to keep the carbs down too, but I can give you a run down of what I'd normally eat sure and you can see if there's anything you can take from it. Bear in mind my diet needs alot of work in order to bring the carb count down, but it's just to give you a few ideas.:)

Bread (especially bagels), pasta, wraps and rice are generally no-no's for me, I try to avoid them as much as possible, I just find that they make my stomach feel really bloated and horrible! I used to eat pasta every evening so cutting it out was hard but once I did I saw a big difference in my weight.

Generally this is what I'd eat:

Brekkie: 2 Oatabix with Soya Milk or Porridge

11am: 2 oatcakes with almond butter or an apple or some nuts

1pm: Veg Soup or a Mixed bean and cous cous salad

6pm: Banana/Oat Bar

8pm: Sweet Potato and loads of Veg (turnips/broccoli/sprouts/green beans etc.) - boiled or roasted or a Veg Stir Fry with Sweet and Sour sauce (I find sharwoods is pretty good as it's fairly low in sugar compared to others) and mixed leaves instead of rice. Ratatouille can be a good one too, and it's not too hard to throw together.

10pm: Oatcakes/ryvita and hoummous if I get the nibbles!

I find oatcakes and ryvita are great for when you get cravings for bread, and especially just as wee snacks during the day. Also, you can get a few different types of hoummous and use them as dips for veg like wee carrot and celery sticks, it's surprisingly yum! The almond butter is great with oatcakes too, and it's a good way of getting some protein.

I'm going to start on protein shakes this week too, so that might be an idea for you aswell - it can be hard to get the protein you need when you're veggie, especially if you're going to working out more often now.

You know yourself the pizza and chocolate etc. have to go, I'd cut them out first along with the bagels for definite!

Like I said though, I'm just talking from my own experience, some of the regular guys in here will be able to give you more in depth advice! It'd be a big help to me too if anyone has any carb cutting suggestions!:)

ash2008

im not really a veggie, cos i do eat fish but no chicken or meat and having recently started to cut down on carbs i find it hard too. Ive tried to cut out bread, pasta, rice and potatoes and i feel better for it. I get my carbs from vegetables mainly. If i make a dish that i would normally eat with rice or pasta i serve it with vegetables instead, for example broccoli or other green veg is good because its bland like pasta or rice.

Do you eat eggs - ive started eating a lot more eggs since giving up the carbs. An omelette /scrambled eggs/poached eggs with some veg alongside is really tasty. Roasting veg makes them taste so good - just pick a selection - mushrooms, courgettes, broccoli - place them on a tray but make sure theyre spread out because otherwise theyll steam rather than roast. Drizzle over some olive oil, throw over a few slices of garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then bang in the oven at a high heat.

Some other recipes i like : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1306/easy-peasy-lentil-curry (i just eat without the rice, its still filling)

and this salad is great (i always found salads bland but not this one) http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11124?section=

for a snack:
an avocado with a little drizzle of soy sauce is nice,
hummus with red pepper and carrot sticks
natural yoghurt with walnuts and a drizzle of honey for something sweet
make some homemade granola and you can have it for a breakfast cereal or a snack when your peckish.
also try make some soups, theyre very filling and great for lunches

i still have slips where ill make a sambo, but compared to how much bread i used to eat its not so bad.

As for fizzy drinks, i was seriously addicted to coke for years and then i gave it up and started drinking tea instead so i still got my caffeine hit but without all the sugar and calories. Now when i drink coke it tastes like crap.

entropi

Digigal, what the two ladies posted above me would be very good advice for a fellow veggie, plenty of energy and protein providing foods to keep you going while in college and gym:) If you were able to, get yourself some nuts like pistachios and almonds (unsalted of course) to provide extra portions of protein and some mineral content.

Sauces would be surprisingly easy to make for yourself without having to resort to the jar variety, here's a link to a good enough site to make themHere

If you start the day with something like porridge (complex carbs...these take a longer time to break down so provide a longer stream of energy) instead of a simple bagel (white bread basically...simple carbs like sugar, these just give a very short burst of energy then you get the crash and feel hungry again) you'll have a much easier time sorting out your diet for the rest of the day as you wont need to eat only a few big meals and junk, but smaller meals more often made of goodness:D

My typical diet would be:

Breakfast: porridge made with milk and some milled seed mix on top, glass of water, some nuts and an orange

10:45am: piece of fruit and some water

1pm in college canteen: banana, sandwich with veg on wholemeal bread, 500ml bottle of water

4:30pm: dinner of veg with potatoes<<my downfall so far, glass of water, handful of nuts. Some days i might have plain old homemade chips and beans.

7pm: Yogurt, piece of fruit, pint of water

11pm after training: handful of nuts, sandwich, glass of water

As you can see it can be easy enough to make up a good diet, things can always be improved and i'm sure you will be able to, all it takes is a little effort and knowledge about what goes into your body:) You will soon feel the benefits, the less sugar and salt you take in...wean yourself off this so the cravings dont come back with a vengeance, the better. Remember to keep a small amount of salt in your diet, it is essential for the balance in your body with water.

This may be alot to read i'm sorry, but i really hope it helps you. Oh recently i bought this: Vegetarian Student Cookbook in Easons for about 10 euro...very very handy thing to have:D

corkcomp

there is a risk I will be flamed here, BUT - whats wrong with carbs? as long as we are talking good carbs? pizzas, chocolate and bagels dont really count as good carbs though so IMO op you need to cut out junk food rather than worry about the macro breakdown.

Sapsorrow

If you want to get an idea of what a veggie diet with moderate carbs looks like you can check out my diary in the food diary forum. I've cut out grain lately and don't eat dairy. I eat eggs, flax seed meal, LOTS of nuts and seeds, moderate amounts of beans and lentils, tofu the odd time and root veg most days. On top of that I just eat masses of non-starchy veggies. I only eat the odd bit of fruit, but thats only as it aggravates my IBS. Everything is cooked from scratch too which eliminates the chance for refined sugar to sneak in at any point. Getting a good bit of protein in at breakfast (eggs being the obvious one) is a great way to keep yourself full till lunch without a need to snack or get cravings and I've been reading lately that it works wonders for you metabolism making it more efficient for hours after.
You're definately not getting the nutrition you need as a vegetarian on the diet you're eating now, not by a long shot. If you're going to be a veggie the fact of the matter is you have to be more carefull with your diet or you're going to run into trouble with your weight and your health in general.

DigiGal

corkcomp wrote: »

there is a risk I will be flamed here, BUT - whats wrong with carbs? as long as we are talking good carbs? pizzas, chocolate and bagels dont really count as good carbs though so IMO op you need to cut out junk food rather than worry about the macro breakdown.

Its bad carbs definitey, bagels, white pasta, rice, rolls, donuts, biccys etc

DigiGal

[quote=[Deleted User];65029101]They're not really bad as such but if she wants to lose weight, cutting them out will help. If you are exercising 6 times a week though it may not make a difference. They just stick to me.[/QUOTE]
I'd love to be exercising that much but im at a really busy time in college so i get to the gym 3 times a weeks and lift weights at home