Both the vegetarian diet and the ketogenic diet (nicknamed by netizens as keto) are pretty complex and demanding diets in themselves, and hence combining the two might sound impossible. But though tricky, and seemingly impossible it is doable. All you need is willpower, planning and (tons of) keto recipes using cottage cheese. For the former you’re on your own, but for the latter we got you covered. In this post we look at the challenges you might face when going vegetarian keto and a few quick tips to overcome them. But before we delve into those, a quick question:
What Type of Vegetarian are You?
Yes, there’s more than one type
At its core, the vegetarian diet involves a plant-based, meat-free style of eating. However, many vegetarians choose to identify with a particular type of vegetarianism based on the foods that they include and exclude from their diets.
- Lacto-Vegetarians
Lacto-vegetarians exclude meat, poultry, fish and eggs but include milk and dairy products in their diets
- Ovo-Vegetarians
Ovo-Vegetarians exclude meat, poultry, fish, milk and other dairy products from their diet but include eggs
- Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarians
They exclude meat, poultry, and fish but include eggs, milk and other dairy products
- Pescatarians
Pescatarians exclude meat and poultry from their diets but include fish. Some pescatarians also choose to include milk and eggs while others do not.
- Vegans
Veganism, the dietary style that has been gaining a lot of traction and attention with celebs, influencers and netizens equally, is the most restrictive of all vegetarian forms of eating. Vegans exclude not only meat, fish, eggs and dairy products but also all other animal-derived products like honey.
With all its dietary rules, the vegan keto might sound paradoxically impossible but it isn’t. Here’s a complete and comprehensive guide to the vegan keto
- Flexitarian
Flexitarians follow a predominantly plant-based diet but occasionally incorporate meat, fish and poultry. They do not place strict dietary restrictions but consciously choose to limit the intake of animal products.
Issues You May Face Doing Keto as a Vegetarian
All types of vegetarianisms (except for maybe flexitarianism) impose dietary restrictions. Combining these restrictions with keto’s low-carb high-fat eating style can pose several challenges. Here are a few major ones
Not Getting Enough Nutrients
When following a plant-based diet, ensuring that your nutritional requirements are met requires conscious planning, even more so when putting a keto spin to your vegetarianism. A vegetarian keto eliminates meat-based sources of protein and micronutrients like vitamin B12, niacin, and iron and limits the intake of nutrients from carb-heavy foods like legumes, whole grains and fruits. Hence, when following a vegetarian keto, it is necessary to be mindful of your macro and micro nutrient intake.
Keto Flu
Shifting to keto, regardless of whether it is regular or vegetarian keto, will leave you prone to the keto flu. Keto flu is a term used by ketoers to describe a host of symptoms from headache to nausea to dizziness, that new keoters (may) face during the initial days of the diet.
If switching to vegetarian keto feels like too much too soon, you might want to try the lazy keto first. With lazy keto, all you need to do is keep track of your carb intake and not stress about proteins and fats. Here are some lazy keto recipes to get you started and help you fight your way through the keto flu.
Social Implications
A wholesome guide on issues you may face while doing keto as a vegetarian cannot be complete without discussing the social implications. As Molly Bradley of Bon Appetit attests, the keto diet can be socially alienating. The vegetarian keto? Even more so. Cheat on your diet or ditch your friend’s summer barbeque? Indulge in carbs or skip your niece’s 13th birthday? The choices can be tough.
Over-consuming carbs
One of the major challenges of following vegetarian keto is slipping into the carb tunnel. Many sources of plant-based proteins like beans, lentils and while grains are high in carb which makes limiting carb-consumption tricky…
…but not impossible. Here are some quick tips and tricks to prevent over-consumption of carbs and overcome the other issues that vegetarian keto poses.
How to do Keto as a Vegetarian?
Know what’s on your plate: With a diet as restrictive as the vegetarian keto, it is important to know which foods contain what macro and micronutrients to ensure that you are getting enough nutrients as well as to prevent yourself from overindulging in carbs. Here’s a list of tasty foods and drinks that you can enjoy while being on keto.
Plan and prep: good planning is the key to incorporating vegetarian keto into your daily life and setting yourself up for long term success.
For vegetarian ketoers, meal prep is a life saver! Planning and prepping ahead for the week will help you stick to your vegetarian low-carb, high fat diet more easily and will also help you to budget out your meals more efficiently.
And for those especially-tiring and on-the-brink-of-breaking-my-diet days, you can opt for keto meal deliveries.
Making the right choices: When dining out, choose places that offer a wide variety of vegetarian options. You can then customize these dishes to make them keto. For instance, you could ditch the pasta and opt for veggies sauteed in Alfredo instead. Indian cuisine also has a lot of vegetarian keto options like paneer tikkas, crispy cauliflower and more.
Bottomline
Vegetarian keto is not an easy feat. But when done right, it’s healthy for you and for the planet. However, we recommend trying out vegetarian keto only if you are already a practicing vegetarian, as this sort of a diet can significantly limit your food choices. If you are not a practicing vegetarian but want to try out the vegetarian keto, the flexi-lazy keto can be a great starting point.
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