Hi, I'd love to have some help.

I'm a 20 year-old overweight female who is mostly a vegetarian although i sometimes cheat on chicken and salmon once in a while.but i never eat red meat I work out few times a week: this consists mostly of jogging, push-ups and sits-ups. The thing is I leat so unhealthy. I love love love anything that has something to do with bread or white pasta. I sometimes even eat white bread or white pasta with no sauce on that as a meal. I really like vegetables too. But I also crave salty stuff a lot. I feel like im always hungry. Well, I don't eat a lot during a meal (id say normal) but im always so hungry throughout the day. I crave sweets sometimes too. I just want to loose some weight and i just dont know what to do per my meals. im really lost.

i also get really bad acid reflux anytimes i eat fatty stuff.

here's an example of what i will eat in a day :

- breakfast : when i do have it it's generally two butter toasts with a hot chocolate
- dinner : mashed potatoes with becel margarine or boiled vegetables, sometimes a dessert, juice
- afternoon: cucumber or fruits or other vegetables
- supper: white pasta, bread, juice

evening: bread....

Wow. Your entire diet is made up of carbs. And while some carbohydrates are vital for your body to properly function, relying mainly on white bread and white pasta is not going to be helpful to you in the long run. And of course you are hungry all the time. Eating meals that are based solely around a big bowl of white pasta is just going to cause your blood sugars to spike, then crash, leaving you hungry again an hour after dinner.

I've recently made the switch to vegetarian eating, and have found that it's actually harder for me to portion my meals in a way that is conducive to weight loss now. It's easy to follow a vegetarian diet and eat too much cheese, which is a diet killer. Or to follow a vegan lifestlyle and eat potato chips. I have to pay attention whether or not I'm eating meat, going vegetarian, or ingesting a solely plant based diet.

Regardless of your choice to eat meat or not, your diet is imbalanced. If I look at your typical day, I would tweak it to include more protein, less processed flours, and more fresh fruits/veggies.

For example. (I'm going to offer suggestions for your diet now - my changes are in RED)

- breakfast : when i do have it it's generally two butter toasts with a hot chocolate

Breakfast: 1 pc whole grain toast, 1 tsp natural peanut butter, 1 glass soy milk, 1 cup fresh fruit
- dinner : mashed potatoes with becel margarine or boiled vegetables, sometimes a dessert, juice

Lunch/Dinner: red beans/rice, steamed veggies, fruit for dessert, drink water or unsweet tea


- afternoon: cucumber or fruits or other vegetables (I would add a protein, a bit of cheese if you eat it, or a soy yogurt)


- supper: white pasta, bread, juice

Supper: whole grain pasta (measure serving amount), organic tomato sauce, meatless meatballs, small salad with lowfat dressing, water or unsweet tea to drink

My biggest concern would be that I see little or no protein in your diet, other than the occasional chicken and salmon you mentioned. Your body needs protein to function and to build muscle. Doing strength exercises is going to be of little value if you don't eat any protein.

I'd suggest eating a little more (or quite a bit more!) chicken and salmon, assuming you're not too averse to it. If you want to focus on vegetarianism, add in soy, beans, etc. (I'm not a vegetarian so I don't know a whole lot about getting complete proteins from plant sources, but I'm sure many resources can be found online and other places.)

I'd also strongly suggest that whatever bread products you eat be whole grain. And eat more fruits and veggies! The fiber from both these things will help fill you up. As will eating more protein, I suspect. If you're hungry all the time, it may be your body's way of telling you it needs protein!

Hope things work out for you...

Large amounts of refined carbs will definitely aggravate acid reflux problems. In addition to the suggestions above, add some nuts or whole grains, such as quinoa (one of the few complete vegetarian proteins) which is similar to couscous only tinier. Look up recipes on the web. Going vegetarian takes a lot of committment and research (and get a good vegetarian cookbook!). Adding healthful oils will help with hunger. There's a huge difference between a low-fat and a no-fat diet. Dietary fat is essential, for your skin, nerves, brain, fat-soluble vitamin absorption, calcium absorption, and hormone production.

Whole Foods has organic quinoa in good sized resealable bags for $1.49. I found it today, and stocked up.

I definitely agree with getting a good cookbook. My biggest struggle with eating mainly vegan is no dairy. Cheese has always been my downfall, so it's been the one thing I really miss. But, I feel SOOOO much better when I don't eat dairy.

Some good sources of fat are: avocado, raw unsalted nuts, olive oil, grapeseed oil

I've been a vegan for 3 years (vegetarian for 12). Here's what I eat in a typical day.

Breakfast:
3 tablespoons flax seeds (ground in a blender) (150cal, omega acids)
1 orange (80cal; vitamin C)
half cup frozen blueberries (40cal; antioxidants)

Snack:
18 almonds (180 cal, vitamin E, protein)
chocolate (3 blocks of an 88% dark cocoa chocolate bar) (90 cal; flavonoids)
(I nibble on these two items throughout the morning)

Lunch:
either an apple or a banana (apple: 80 cal; banana: 140 cal. vitamin C, fiber)
2 tablespoons peanut butter (201cal; protein; vitamin E)

Dinner:
Either raw spinach (20cal in half a bag. Vitamin A) or steamed broccoli (50cal) and carrots (130 cal, Vitamin A)
quinoa: (170 cal; protein)

Night-time Snack:
popcorn: 1/4 cup (200 cals) cooked in a tablespoon olive oil (120cal). It's not the worst snack in the world because it's got a lot of fiber...it is a whole food.

I eat the same thing every single day. I don't get bored, because I've worked my 3 favorite foods into it. On the weekend, I'll have a Pepsi/Mountain Dew and a veggie burger or veggie chili (or even pizza with soy cheese).

I wanted to add:

the first thing to do is get rid of the juice. Drink nothing but water. For the first week it will be hard to get used to the lowered sugar intake. But eventually, you'll learn to love water, and anything else will taste too sweet. Replace the juice with fruit. (i.e. if you like grape juice, eat grapes instead. If you like orange juice, eat an orange instead. This will increase your fiber.)

I love pasta, but I hardly ever eat it anymore. (My favorite meal used to be pasta topped with pizza sauce, white toast, and Mountain Dew...all carbs!) Here's a tip for transitioning from pasta: Eat it only with veggies mixed in: broccoli, spinach carrots. Then switch out the noodles for cous-cous (little pasta bits). When you get used to the cous-cous and veggies, replace the cous-cous with quinoa. It looks almost the same as cous-cous, and you'll barely notice the replacement if you've got enough veggies in there!

Switch from white bread to wheat bread. It has more fiber and it's more filling. Try to slowly phase out the bread by upping the serving size of fruits or other parts of the meal. Frankly, to me, the wheat bread doesn't taste as good as white bread, so I don't want so much of it. That's why I buy it instead of white bread!

Have you ever tried Boca burgers? They have only 70 calories, 6 carbs and 13 grams of protein each and you can eat them with a side of vegetables and a salad. Also lentils, black eyed peas or red beans with brown rice is yummy.

I have a question for vegetarians, How can you go without eating any meat products? what I mean is, doesn't your body ever feel deprived of protein or do you just get your protein by other means? I have been a meat eater all my life and I have it in my head that with every meal I need to get in some protein and when I think of protein I automatically think of meat products (I know I must change my way of thinking LOL) So what other ways can I get protein that does not consist of meat? I would really like some alternatives to I don't have to feel so dependent on meat products for my protein.

That is so true! All I drink now is water, I started drinking just water when I was a teenager and now Im like addicted to it, I always have a tall glass of water by my side and I always have the need to drink it and just when I think I have had enough water I go back for some more. LOL!!
Also, about the fruit, If someone has a juicer they can fresh squeeze thier fruit and they will get the same benefits from the juice as they would by eating the fruit whole. The store packaged juices are not the same as if you fresh squeeze your own at home.

Hi ReaRea,

It's been 12 years since I've eaten meat. My favorite food is peanut butter. I also eat almonds, flax seeds, and quinoa everyday, all of which contain protein. Also there is some protein in fruit and veggies.

If it's the taste that you're missing, then you can find lots of meat substitutes at your local health food store (and even at some of the regular grocery chains). There are veggie crumbles that you can put in spagetti, lasagna, chili etc. instead of ground beef. And there are also veggie substitutes for bacon, sausage, hotdogs, turkey, chicken, burgers. There are lots of brands, so if you find you don't like one brand, just try another brand; you're sure to find at least one you like! These products are very useful when trying to make the transition. They are typically high in protein, and unlike most meat, they have ZERO cholesterol.

I was a hardcore carnivore before I switched to being a vegetarian. I grew up in Texas, and like you, based every meal around some sort of meat. This has been quite a learning curve for me, but I feel so much better now that I have eliminated animal products from my food. I mostly eat vegan, so no dairy or eggs as well now.

My protein sources are: beans, tofu, meat alternatives (gardenburger, chik'n strips, textured vegetable protein), peanut butter, raw nuts like almonds

I eat a lot of whole grains, especially quinoa, which is a higher protein grain, and really jazzes up some dishes.

A typical day of eating for me is:

Breakfast: 1 small banana, cut in half, spread with 1 TBS natural peanut butter

Post Workout Snack: 1 scoop whey protein (one of the few non-vegan things I have in my diet), 1 cup light plain soy milk, ice, blended

Lunch: Gardenburger Spicy Black Bean Burger, on 2 slices sprouted whole grain bread with spicy mustard, 2 medium carrots

Dinner: Vegan chili (recipe follows)

This food, which is what I ate yesterday has the following nutritional information:

Protein: 88 grams

Fat: 28 grams

Fiber: 45 grams

It's a well balanced diet, and I pay special attention to making sure I'm getting enough protein as well as fiber. I drink 100-120 oz of water daily.

******Here's a link to my vegan chili recipe, I made it yesterday, and it's soooo good!******

Carrie's Vegan Chili Recipe