Newbie – vegetarian protein options

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• posted by sunyukta
  on 15 Mar 2022 at 10:33

  

  Hi everyone, i’m new here – my name is Sun, i’m a mom of 1, and i was doing a health diet (seemingly losing weight) but my HBA1C is still high, probably from eating protein bars as snacks. So taking some action, I read BSD once and still re-reading it. I’m on day 2. On day 0 i started well but at night i ended up eating my toddler’s mini pizzas. I’m feeling good on day 2, my breakfast today was 3 tbs full fat yoghurt with 2 tbs of seeds, lunch was 100g tofu (grilled) with lettuce, and dinner will be a protein patty with lettuce. I do feel very hungry after dinner (yesterday i took some nuts before bedtime).

  I wanted to ask for ideas around the proteins – and can i have just vegetables in a meal? E.g just steamed okras or brocolli?
  I have tofu/lentils/protein sausages for options but from experience on gestational diabetes i know my BS would go up from lentils or chickpeas.
  I just got the BSD recipe book which i’m browsing for options, so far most options are using lentils.
  One more question, when you are starting, how often do you check your fasting sugars?

  Thank you and i’m planning to check old posts to learn more and take notes.

  Sunshine.

• posted by sunshine-girl
  on 15 Mar 2022 at 15:01

  

  Hi Sunshine, from another Sunshine. I know exactly what you mean about the pulses we are supposed to be allowed like chickpeas, lentils etc. I am not a vegetarian so I might not be of much help to you but I am sure there are other people who will come on to help you. In the meantime I will have a look at low carb protiens that you can eat. Will get back to you.

• posted by florob85
  on 15 Mar 2022 at 15:06

  

  Hi Sunshine,

  Quorn and tofu are pretty low carb, I think tempeh also. Do you eat dairy? As that is a decent source of protein, as are nuts – almonds, walnuts, macadamia, pecan in particular are low carb and high protein. Seeds are great for protein, chia and flax in particular. I’d avoid having just veg but you can add healthy fats. If you like avocado (I can’t abide it!) that’s good for healthy fats and if I remember right also pretty good for protein.

  L x

• posted by Jennie10
  on 16 Mar 2022 at 11:15

  

  Hi Sun
  Don’t know if you’ve come across the dietdoctor website. It’s a website recommended by a lot of people on here. I’ve just come across this page https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/vegetarian which has information on what foods are recommended for vegetarians following a keto (very low carb) diet. if you scroll down a bit it talks about proteins. I’m sure if you search around on this site you’ll probably find some more good info for vegetarians (I’m not one). The visual guides to amount of carbs in various food groups are really helpful. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods. The site has a paid for element now which I’m sure is good but I’ve only ever used the free info.
  I also used the original Blood Sugar Diet book to get my Hba1c back into the normal range (it works). A couple of things I found though.
  I didn’t really pick up from the book itself just how important reducing your carbs are, particularly for someone with Type II diabetes. (MM emphasises it a lot more in his latest book). I learnt that bit from people on here and one of the UK diabetes sites.
  Don’t know if you’re using a food tracker to keep track of your cals, protein, fats and carbs? It is worth keeping a track on how many carbs you are having each day. (I use fatsecret.co.uk to track cals, carbs, protein etc – there are other sites I just can’t remember them right now). If you lower your carbs, keep track of what your carb intake is and you’re hba1c isn’t improving, then you can always reduce your carbs by 5g or 10g and see what happens after 2 or 3 weeks.
  The second thing I found was that some of the recipes in the back of the book caused spikes in my blood sugar. (I tested before and 2 hours after meals). These were almost all the ones containing pulses so even though I love them I mostly avoid them.
  I often have a plate of roasted broccoli with parmesan for my lunch at the moment. Delicious. I stuck to the principles, 800 cals, low carb, etc but didn’t follow the recipes.
  About testing your blood sugars, everybody is different. Some people test, others follow the BSD and then wait until their Hba1c results. I chose to test. At the start, I tested my fasting bgls every day (I also tested immediately before and 2 hrs after each meal to see if anything in it spiked me). I did this until my next hba1c (4 months later) showed my results were back in the normal range. After that I tested my fasting bgls less often and then stopped. I still test pre-and post meal for new meals and spot-check regular meals but much less often now. One thing it’s worth knowing is that for a lot of people (including me) the fasting bgls are the last numbers to reduce.
  Great that you’ve started.
  Jennie xx

• posted by sunyukta
  on 19 Mar 2022 at 19:39

  

  thanks! i try not to take dairy as i always get bloaty afterwards. i have been taking bits of cheese since starting the diet. avocados are rare here at this time – i’m in Botswana, africa. i love seeds and have been eating peanuts and almonds so far.

• posted by sunyukta
  on 19 Mar 2022 at 19:48

  

  hi Jennie,
  i’m using myfitnesspal app to track the calories/carbs proteins.
  so far i’m focusing on calories but also checking fat.
  i had lentils today just to test, in the form of a brothy soup. i felt woozy right after having it and i guess it means definitely off the table!
  it’s a good idea to test after an hour or two.
  when I had GD, i used to do that before/after meals – thanks for the suggestion.
  brocolli sounds yum! tonight i had air fried tofu with some shitake mushrooms and onions, mixed with some soya sauce and it was yum!
  i used to be obsessed with testing when i had GD during the pregnancy and that’s why i’m being careful not to get too parano and worried.
  i’ll do a test for the meals maybe once every 2 days, and for the fasting one, once a week.
  i’m glad to see a forum here

  have a super weekend!

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