The Atkins diet - vegetarian style

[Doobuzz]

I’ve been having an argument with my biology teacher about this for a while now. Would it be possible (hypothetically) for a vegetarian to rapidly loose weight following the Atkins diet? Due to the diet's emphasis on maximising protein and minimising carbohydrate intake, would one be able to achieve this without eating meat or fish? If so what food would they have to eat and in what quantities?

[lucaspa]

I suggest you do a Google search on "plant, protein, content" and another on "meat, protein, content" and compare the two. Are there any plants with a comparable protein content to animal muscle?

 

Offhand, I speculate that some nuts may have a protein:carbohydrate ratio comparable to animal muscle.

 

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/fat/appb.htm has amounts of protein and carbohydrate or protein:fat in meats. Essentially, meats have no carbohydrate.

 

This should let you make your own conclusion.

[ecoli]

you may want to buy some of this stuff.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textured_vegetable_protein

[Doobuzz]

you may want to buy some of this stuff.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textured_vegetable_protein

 

Thanks, but no thanks - we were just debating feasibility The main problem we were discussing was the fact that many protein-rich veggie products also contain lots of carbohydrate.

 

RE: Lucaspa

Thanks, that's very intersting

[ecoli]

Thanks, but no thanks - we were just debating feasibility The main problem we were discussing was the fact that many protein-rich veggie products also contain lots of carbohydrate.

 

That's why I showed a product that's high in vegetable protein, but low in carbohydrates and fats.

[Sisyphus]

I think he means it's not feasible because no human would eat that crap.

[ecoli]

I think he means it's not feasible because no human would eat that crap.

 

lol... it's actually not that bad, though it depends how you prepare it. As I understand it, it's used in Indian cooking.

[Doobuzz]

Actually, you can use it as a meat substitute for pretty much anything you like. We use it in bolognaise sauce

[Phi for All]

The main problem we were discussing was the fact that many protein-rich veggie products also contain lots of carbohydrate.

On the Atkins diet you ignore carbs from cellulose and fiber. Stay away from sugary vegetables like carrots and complex carbs like starchy potatoes and the rest of the carbs in vegetables are OK on Atkins, iirc.

[Realitycheck]

You are going to want to find enough calories to support a decent metabolic rate. If you don't get enough calories, your metabolic rate will plummet and weight-loss will be a dream unless you sacrifice the rest of your body.

 

You could supplement calories with very healthy oils like fish oil, err, flax oil. If you don't get enough fats in, you could go into ketosis, which isn't really fun. I actually did that once, trying to improve upon the Atkins diet before I educated myself.

 

There is no comparable substitute for protein in vegetables except for supplementation. All vegetable proteins are incomplete and mostly inconsequential, since arguably, you should be eating a gram of protein for every pound of body weight.

 

So if you eat lots of soy protein shakes, flax oil, and all of the vegetables you want, it could turn out to be a pretty good diet and you could lose weight pretty fast if you exercise along with it, but you need the essential fatty acids and you need adequate protein to maintain the wear and tear on your body.

 

Your total daily diet calories should equal about 40% carbs, 40% proteins and 20% fats. This is real easy to adhere to with a vegetarian diet, just supplement with protein and fats, as needed. Try out the resources at fitday.com for diet structure.

[Realitycheck]

Is this argument explicitly about Atkins diet or is it about what works best? Complex carbs are ok as long as they are extremely complex, like wheat, brown rice, and oats.