Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – It Is Possible, Effective, and Easy!
The vegetarian low carb diet has baffled a lot of people. It seems impossible to stay on a low carb diet that doesn’t involve meat, after all. But here we find out that a vegan low carb diet is not only possible, but also easy and very beneficial!
One way of making your vegetarian diet even healthier is to start a vegetarian low carb diet. Being a vegetarian alone can already protect you from all the harmful carbohydrates that the normal diet of an average person contains. The vegetarian diet don’t contain all those foods that add up to a lot of carbs. However, some key vegetarian foods do have high amounts of carbohydrates, which can cancel out all the low carb benefits of your entire veggie diet plan.
Combined Benefits of Vegetarian and Low Carb Diets
While your vegetarian diet can help lower your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, decrease your risk of becoming obese, and protect you from the dangers of diabetes, gallstones, arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, heart diseases, and stroke, it cannot make you lose weight as fast as you hope.
And no, your vegetarian diet will not help your body burn more fat and build more muscles. Aside from that, vegetarians enjoy lower blood cholesterol in general, but they also tend to miss out on HDL or good cholesterol. And a veggie diet sure cannot help in the treatment of seizure disorders.
These are benefits that only a true low carb diet can give you. To be able to enjoy all the combined benefits of these two healthy and effective diet plans, why don’t you try a vegetarian low carb diet?
Overcoming the Disadvantages
If you combine these two diet plans into a vegetarian low carb diet, you can play around with your menu so you can also use one to compensate for some of the disadvantages of the other. Both the vegetarian and the low carb diets, individually, have some downsides.
In a purely vegetarian diet, although you do get complete nutrients, you get low levels of protein, calcium, vitamin B12, and iron. These are the nutrients that are more commonly found in meat, dairy, and other animal products. For example, the main sources of iron and zinc are fish and poultry. The main source of proteins is meat.
On the other hand, a low carb diet alone has the tendency to diminish a person’s energy level.
If you want to combine these two diet plans, you have to give it careful consideration. It is true that your food choices will diminish largely, but you will be able to harness all the essential nutrients your body needs without compromising your health.
Successful and Healthy Low Carb Veggie Diet Techniques
To help you get started on a successful and healthy vegetarian low carb diet, here are some surefire techniques.
Differentiate between good and bad carbohydrates.
The body needs carbohydrates to function. This is why the low carb diet can greatly affect the energy supply of dieters. The beauty of combining the vegetarian and the low carb diets is that a lot of vegetarian foods contain a lot of complex carbohydrates, also known as good carbohydrates. Consume more whole wheat products, barley, and brown rice – all these are key vegetarian foods that do contain carbohydrates, but only the good kind.
Pile up on fresh vegetables and fruits.
Fresh vegetables and fruits are essential to a vegetarian diet. A lot of vegetarians tend to turn to more bread and rice because these can make them feel full and energized. However, these are full of carbohydrates. If you want to have a low carb diet but maintain your vegetarian lifestyle, you have to go back to the basic and most primary food choices of the vegetarian diet: fresh vegetables and fruits.
Focus on proteins.
The vegetarian diet is usually low on proteins, which are primarily found in meat. But there are other sources of protein that can be used to replace carbohydrate-rich foods. Some examples are tofu, soy, peanuts, nuts, seeds, spinach, whole grains, beans, corn, oats, and peas.
It helps if you have a PCR chart or a Protein to Carb ratio chart. Foods that are high in protein but have zero carbs have unlimited PCR and are the most recommended food choices for low carb vegetarians.
Summary
It’s true: the vegetarian low carb diet can be quite a challenge. But this is becoming a more and more popular diet choice, so you can now start looking up vegetarian low carb recipes online as well. And just think about the combined benefits your body is going to enjoy.