Need Diet Recommendations - 30yr vegeterian male?!
Question:
Weight: 140 lbs
Height: 5"6' (66 inches)
Cholestrol count: 160 (with good/bad ratio in the desired range)
Background: Have always been a vegeterian and have never had fish, eggs (except in cakes, pastries etc). But I like dairy products (milk and cheese).
Current diet:
Breakfast - Post (Almond) cereals 3 days a week, Glass of milk everyday, Banana 3-4days/week
Lunch: Home made wheat bread with cooked vegetables (4 days a week), Fast food Quiznos/TacoBell (3 days a week)
Dinner: Rice with Lentil soup (3 days a week), Cooked vegetables (2 days a week), Pizza/other food (2 days a week)
Before sleeping: Another glass of milk.
And I average 1.5 cans of coke/sprite every day. .
Being a vegeterian I have been recently concerned about lack of protein intake. My friend recently recommended Whey Protein supplement and I just started with Optimum Nutrition's Whey Protein powder.
I do not exercise regularly.
Need recommendations on what to add/change to diet.
Answers:
To my fellow vegetarian, I recommend more variety. For protein, soybeans are known to be a complete protein with all of your essential amino acids (it's 8 or 10)-and they're available in so many forms other than tofu. Tofu itself is also very versatile since it can be frozen to be chewy like meat, or soft for blending into smoothies, etc. Eating plenty of other types of beans with rice makes for complete protein. The protein shake I sometimes use is Super-Green Pro-96. Even veggies have some protein believe it or not. I would say more variety and quantity would be good for you. Buying things like vegetarian "bacos", black or green olives, plenty of vegetarian margarine (I use Smart Balance) and garlic powder and other herbs gives food a little pizazz. Good luck. Above all, enjoy your food and shakes, smoothies, etc. Don't stress over this. People tend to overdo it on the protein anyway. You can read up on this.
Other Answers:
Eat Mo Chikin
I'd recommend joining a local vegetarian group or club. Or--emailing my friend who is also a vegetarian at Shock78RPM@aol.com, jus tell him Michelle sent you.
Good luck!
Michelle
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