A question for Vegetarians.....

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Kayelle

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I need some help here.

My grown grand daughter became a Vegetarian (not Vegan) a few years ago. In that amount of time she's gained an alarming amount of weight! My guess is that she's replaced animal protein with high caloric carbohydrates, as green vegetables sure wouldn't do that to her.

Are any Vegetarians here willing to share what a typical daily diet should sound like?

I need some expert advice and at least sound like I know what I'm talking about.

She's a wonderful young woman, and I love her to pieces. I need to think long and hard about talking to her about this at all.

Thanks in advance.
 
A puzzlement, Kay. Most vegetarians I've known have been thin and wan. She probably has noticed her weight gain, I'm not sure I would mention it to her.
 
A puzzlement, Kay. Most vegetarians I've known have been thin and wan. She probably has noticed her weight gain, I'm not sure I would mention it to her.

Good point Dawg, I'm not sure I will unless it should up in conversation.
My own carnivorous battle of the bulge continues.
I'd just like to be better armed and ready.;)
 
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Christmas is coming how about a vegetarian/healthy cookbook or a subscription to a vegetarian magazine. It might be a way to start a non judgmental dialogue that could continue into the new year.

Good luck!
 
I have been a vegetarian for the past 25 + years ( not vegan).
I have definitely noticed a weight gain.
I blame it partially on laziness as I get older, and partially on diet.

People who are vegetarians more because of health reasons, usually pay more attention to what they are eating, calories, carbs ...

People who are vegetarians more for ethical or other reasons, don't necessarily pay attention to the health issues, as long as there is no meat in the recipes.

Although I try to watch what I put in the recipe, and keep it relatively healthy, I do consume quite a bit of carbs ( pasta, bread) and cheese.

Many non vegetarians always offer all these bean dishes and other things as options to eat ( which are great every once in awhile, which is when they eat them). But in all honesty, to eat that crap every day of the week would kill me :)

Earlier in the year, I cut just about all the carbs ( data, bread) out of my diet for about 1 month. I lost 7 pounds in that month, just by doing that alone. I now reintroduced it back into my diet, but I limit myself as to how many times a week I do have pasta or sandwiches.

I know its not my case, but there could be underlying medical issues which could be adding to weight gain also.

Definitely a touchy subject, especially with a woman.

Hope I helped,
Any other questions, please feel free to ask

Larry
 
What a brilliant idea Bea! Thank you.

Larry, I was so hoping you'd show up!! You gave me some great insights and information. When you said..."People who are vegetarians more for ethical or other reasons, don't necessarily pay attention to the health issues, as long as there is no meat in the recipes." the light bulb went on here. That's her.
 
You're a brave woman Kay. I see my daughter having the same problem since her chemo ended. But I don't dare say anything. I am sure she is aware of her massive weight gain. But I have yet to find a way to approach the subject. Good luck and you are a good grandmother to notice and care. :angel:
 
How old is she? Does she know how to cook?

I agree with Larry that some vegetarians, especially young people, don't necessarily think about balanced nutrition. They sometimes think that just cutting out animal products is all they need to do to be healthy, and end up eating bread and fries.

Aunt Bea's suggestion issue a good one. Maybe at some point, you could suggest that you and she cook together and you could teach her a few things.
 
What a brilliant idea Bea! Thank you.

Larry, I was so hoping you'd show up!! You gave me some great insights and information. When you said..."People who are vegetarians more for ethical or other reasons, don't necessarily pay attention to the health issues, as long as there is no meat in the recipes." the light bulb went on here. That's her.

Glad I can help in any way.

fortunately ( and unfortunately) Bread and pasta taste soon good.
Once you gut that out, we're extremely limited ( when it comes to finding things that taste good and are satisfying).

Many vegetarian things that ' meat eaters' eat, are great, but become very boring and routine after awhile.

Most ' meat substitutes' are pre flavored , so unlike meat where you can marinate them or use different sauces ...., with a pre flavored item, we're limited with what we can do with it.

Also, meat substitutes don't have the same physical cooking properties as meat products do ( fat content, ability to bind ...) therefore, when put on a grill, they burn or dry up much quicker, and trying to make a meatball or meatloaf is near impossible without adding eggs, cheese , bread crumbs ...

As mentioned earlier, for me, just planning my weekly meals by limiting the pasta days and sandwich ( bread) days, has helped without any extra physical effort. Now if I can just get my lazy butt off the couch, id make even more progress :LOL:
 
For what it's worth, I found out this year that Oreos are vegan. Just sayin. :) If she's vegetarian, introduce her to the Mediterranean diet-- it's the (so they say) healthiest food on the planet.

I did that a couple of New Years' ago. I wanted to introduce the food to the kids, so I made a huge buffet of all our favorites for NYE (our annual Cards Against Humanity game night with all the 20-somethings). Just a thought....
 
We did the Mediterranean diet for a short while, although we did use meat, which can be used, it's just used in smaller quantities than what Americans are used to. I have to say the food was great and we didn't go hungry at all, but even with me working from home and able to start our meals early in the day the prep/cooking time for most things was sort of a burden. We followed it for a little over a month, then started slacking off mostly because of the time involved. Plus, Craig is not big on most of the whole grains and those are a big part of the Med diet and he was getting a bit tired of lentils, beans and grains.

Kay, I'll tell you how I felt from a daughter's perspective. I've always had trouble with my weight. I'm short, 5'1", and most of my birth family were when I found them, to put it nicely, stout. Of course my adoptive mother was tall and slender, and loved sweets and always kept them in the house. Then, she'd fuss at me about gaining weight, even once I reached adulthood. Trust me, she knows she's gained weight and, if it was me, I wouldn't touch that subject with a 10 foot pole unless SHE brings it up and asks for advice.
 
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Kay, I'll tell you how I felt from a daughter's perspective. I've always had trouble with my weight. I'm short, 5'1", and most of my birth family were when I found them, to put it nicely, stout. Of course my adoptive mother was tall and slender, and loved sweets and always kept them in the house. Then, she'd fuss at me about gaining weight, even once I reached adulthood. Trust me, she knows she's gained weight and, if it was me, I wouldn't touch that subject with a 10 foot pole unless SHE brings it up and asks for advice.

Yep I can relate to much of what you said Med. I take after my German side of the family and I'm sad my darling GD does too. We are just naturally heavy boned hearty stock. Nothing dainty about either one of us, and we're both 5'8" tall. My mother fought the battle of the bulge all her life and when she died of Cancer she was skin and bones. She told me, "Honey, be careful what you wish for".

I'm glad I got to talk with all of you about this and I've decided to not bring up the subject with her. I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings for anything in the world.
 
The only vegetarian magazine I know is Vegetarian Times. If you consider giving this as a gift, its emphasis is on vegetarian foods, of course. But as a secondary part, healthy eating is a major part. If you look the current issue on line, the first two articles are "healthy" subjects.

If you are thinking about giving a subscription as a present ( a good idea), I would run right out and buy a copy at my nearest barnes/nobles/ wherever magazines are sold. You could wrap it up and she will have a gift to open on Christmas.

From my own experience, I would offer advice if asked, otherwise, I keep my mouth shut and bite my tongue til it bleeds. Jr's middle name is Stubborn, though I thought me named him after a favorite family member, who is equally stubborn, so I guess we got that right.:ohmy:
 
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People who are vegetarians more for ethical or other reasons, don't necessarily pay attention to the health issues, as long as there is no meat in the recipes.

Larry


This. ^

I am also a vegetarian and there are several underlying issues....

It takes time, money and imagination to cook a balanced vegetarian menu. It's frankly a lot simpler to make a bowl of pasta or order a pizza. These filling but nutritionally vacant foods are high calorie and even worse don't keep you full for very long.

Removing dense protein from your diet means that you get hungry faster in my experience so you eat more of this stuff.

A typical menu for many vegetarians might look like this:

Breakfast | cereal or oatmeal with milk and fruit
Morning snack | nuts or energy bar
Lunch | Sandwich with cheese, veggies, chips or fruit
Afternoon snack | fruit or yogurt or handful of junk like pretzels
Dinner | Pasta with sauce and cheese, green salad or side
Evening snack | toast and milk​

Lots of carbs and fat - not much protein. For college student vegetarians the menu is even worse typically.

In my experience many vegetarians don't actually eat extra vegetables - they eat extra carbs and it has a predictable outcome. Developing new cooking and eating routines is a big battle.

One suggestion I have is weight watchers. They used to have (probably still do) a program for vegetarians that included proscribed menus and recipes. Maybe you could go together? You might even approach her and say "I have been considering going and need some support... would you go with me"?
 
I'm an omnivore, and have no intentions of changing, but this thread has been educational for me. I always wondered about how to have a nutritionally balanced diet, but had no idea about the weight issues.
 
The only vegetarian magazine I know is Vegetarian Times. If you consider giving this as a gift, its emphasis is on vegetarian foods, of course. But as a secondary part, healthy eating is a major part. If you look the current issue on line, the first two articles are "healthy" subjects.

If you are thinking about giving a subscription as a present ( a good idea), I would run right out and buy a copy at my nearest barnes/nobles/ wherever magazines are sold. You could wrap it up and she will have a gift to open on Christmas.

I hope the magazine is better than the website. The first three links I clicked on were for classes that cost $$$.
 
I'm interested in this topic, Mrs.DF who lives in the town we're moving to, wants me to be her Personal Chef and she's not a vegetarian, but doesn't like meat. I'm sad to say that she too has gained WAY too much weight by, like others have said, too much carbs and not that much veg.
Pasta, breads, cheese, sweets...
I agree with Janet H. if I don't eat enough protein, I'm starving! and wind up eating things that I shouldn't.
So, I think I'm going to go to the library and find some cookbooks for vegetarians. When I go to Sprouts, I see at the checkout, loads of magazines too!
 
I need some help here.

My grown grand daughter became a Vegetarian (not Vegan) a few years ago. In that amount of time she's gained an alarming amount of weight! My guess is that she's replaced animal protein with high caloric carbohydrates, as green vegetables sure wouldn't do that to her.

Are any Vegetarians here willing to share what a typical daily diet should sound like?

I need some expert advice and at least sound like I know what I'm talking about.

She's a wonderful young woman, and I love her to pieces. I need to think long and hard about talking to her about this at all.

Thanks in advance.

K, I found this and it seems interesting.
Recipes | VegWeb.com, The World's Largest Collection of Vegetarian Recipes
 
When I was a vegetarian, I ate LOTS of vegis. I was thin. Me and the ex were vegetarians for health and ethical reasons.
 
I hope the magazine is better than the website. The first three links I clicked on were for classes that cost $$$.

Gah! I just looked at article titles. $89 for Access code for a cleansing diet. Yes, they will cleanse my billfold in no time!

I too hope the mag is better and hopefully is not the only vegetarian publication.
 

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