Confused veggie Uk

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  • posted by RachVeggie
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    Hi all,

    I’m overweight and have been diagnosed with idiopathic intercranial hypertension – Drs are unclear what causes it but believe it can be reversed by losing weight. I am incredibly
    Motivated to do this as the worst case scenario for this condition should it progress, is blindness.

    I’ve bought the books and have spent all weekend reading them and am now trying to plan all my meals for the week.

    There lots of great recipes in the book but they use meat as their protein source. I don’t eat meat or eggs. Could I directly switch the meat content in a recipe for quorn and assume similar levels of calories and protein etc? (Confusing as the recipes give total calories but don’t necessarily show you how much of that relates to the meat content).

    Any tips massively appreciated!

    Thank you in advance
    Rach

  • posted by Esnecca
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    Hi Rach, no, you cannot substitute Quorn for meat. They are not at all the same in terms of calories, protein, fat or carbohydrate. Quorn products are lower in all of those categories except for carbs, of which they have more than meat. One 63-gram Vegan Chik’n Cutlet, for example, has 70 calories, 3 grams net carbs, 10 grams protein. The same size chicken breast has 105 calories, 0 grams carbs, 20 grams protein. Also, read the ingredients of everything before you buy. Many Quorn products use bread, wheat flour, sugar and its cognates like maltodextrin.

    In the end, you’re going to have to start looking things up when you’re planning your meals. The information in the book can be inaccurate, for one thing, (calorie counts in particularly can be way off, and they are cals per serving, by the way, not total calories) and for another, you’re going to have to do a lot of modifying so that means doing your own calculations.

    I use MyFitnessPal to look up the nutrtional information of everything I eat, from fresh vegetables to name brand products. Other people here use Fat Secret. These apps have large databases of thousands of items to search through. Pick the item, the amount you used or plan to use and add it to your diary. The app will then do all the adding up for you and spit out the totals of protein, carbs etc.

    Best of luck to you in your weight loss goals and most importantly, in recovering your good health. I lost around 180 pounds in a year strictly adhereing to the BSD. If I can go from debilitated, couch-ridden, sugar-addicted wreck to energetic low-carb evangelist with an unquenchable thirst for fermented foods, then you can shed the weight you need to beat back idiopathic intercranial hypertension.

  • posted by RBeany
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    Hi Rach

    I’m also a Rach and a veggie of many, many years’ standing. 🙂 I started the 8-week BSD just over two weeks ago, and I feel better than I’ve felt in years, and have lost half a stone. To supplement the book, I bought a Kindle book called, “Low-carb & Gluten-free Vegetarian: simple, delicious recipes for a low-carb and gluten-free lifestyle” by Celia Brooks. And I bought a quality spiralizer. It’s very good value and a really excellent book for this, and is also available in hard copy.

    Because of wanting to eat pulses as well as eggs and dairy, I have accepted that I may not always be eating the lowest of low carb levels, but I still keep it pretty low. I was amazed at how I don’t feel hungry and don’t have cravings on this diet, and I put that down to having a lot less carbs and enough fat. It is certainly working for me, and I wasn’t even a carbaholic, nor do I have much of a sweet tooth. After a couple of years of scoffing at the very idea of making noodles/spaghetti out of vegetables, I’m amazed how good they can be. Even my carb-loving husband likes eating them *sometimes*.

    So if using a recipe that includes chicken, I *would* just substitute Quorn. It’s not exact, but for me it’s good enough. Or use veggie low carb recipes like those from the book above. They are very simple but tasty, which means you get satisfied without spending too much time in the kitchen – or having to taste things as you go along, which can really lead to weight gain!

    Good luck, and I’d love to hear how you’re getting on!

    Rachel.

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