Help me find balance

[lilyka]

Ok so I am on a diet.

I am not going all atkins or anything but what usually works best for me is just being aware of what I eat. So I started with an online food log.

here is what I discoved I was not getting enough protien. And I was getting too much sugar. as a general rule I consider the estimates they give you to be guidelines but today I have only 22% of the daily recommended protien and and 350% of recommended sugars. Thats a big number. it is also the largest percentage of my diet.

Ok this weekend was a terrible time to start as I am on a weird overnights and days schedule at work and am depending on easy foods (Breakfast cookies, oatmeal, fruits and veggies) but everything just has a crap ton of sugar unless I eat beans just streight up. even if I have peanutbutter sandwhich its a lot of sugars in the bread. like I said I don't care about being low carb or even staying around 100% but three times what is recommended sounds like a lot.

I am a very bad vegan. i love pizza. just like God made it. and I love breakfast. but eggs, hashbrowns and toast with jelly are just out because I am dieting now. so other than pizza nad occasional feta I am pretty much vegan but I eat a lot of carbs. good ones mostly but still, carbs that crowd out other essential nutrients. and I don't eat fake meat often (rarely) and try to limit soy, drink almond and soy milk, don't like beans but will eat them.

I do not have a microwave at work, nor do I have a lot of time in the mornings to heat stuff up for a thermos. So i need simple eat it cold stuff. I eat hummus but anything I put it on has more sugar!!!

help.

suggestions? ideas? lectures? Losing weight aside I am significantly overweight and all that sugar sounds like a recipe for type 2 diabetes. must win. even if I don't ever look like a super model I don't want to have a bunch of lifestyle diseases. but I don't want to eat meat either.

[mumkimum]

Thinking about some of my favorite vegan easy-cold foods or high veg protein sources:

grain salads - rice with chopped cucumber, tomato, herbs and lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper has been a fave (great wrapped in a tortilla too). you can do something similar with cooked lentils too.

tempeh is significantly higher in protein than many fake meats/other soy products (and way tastier IMO). It's even good just tossed in soy sauce and sauteed a bit (you could do that and save it cold for wraps, or eat it like a veggie 'sausage' for breakfast too)

Consider sprouted grain or ezekiel breads while you try to cut down on carbs/sugars in your breads - they'll be higher in protein (and cost more, so you'll be more likely to buy less bread).

[lilyka]

thank you so much. the grain salad sounds so yummy!!

I do not mind tempeh nearly as much as other fake meats. It kinda is what it is, rather than weird ambiguous soy slab ya know.

I do like ezekiel breads. it hadn't occured to me they had less sugars in them.

I ended that day with with 133gr of sugar (or 411% of what I should be having in a day) which sounds like a lot. I have only had one meal and two snacks today (i work overnight shifts every other weekend so everything is all askew, i just woke up) and already have 60 gr. (over 100%) of sugars. this seems like too much. are the recommend amounts of stuff different for vegetarians. I am also getting more fiber than recommended (go me) but lack protien (about half of what I need) I wish my little program tracked iron....

I will definitely try some of those things. Thanks for your help!

[HollyBearsMom]

I think these are vegan and if they are not I apologize!

I buy these awesome tofu veggie burgers at TJ's and another brand at Whole foods. They in the refridgerated section and come 2 to a pack. I bring these for lunch almost every day. I heat them in a toaster (that I brought to office) and eat one on a mutli grain roll. I occasionally top them with red pepper hummus. They are so good and weh I pair them with nice piece of fruit and small (very small) handful of almonds I am good all afternoon.

Just did a search and they are vegan! I like her sides too:

http://veganseat.wordpress.com/2008/...-a-quick-trip/