Curious: How do vegetarian/vegan DSers get WHOLE PROTEIN ?

How do you get whole proteins in with all the needed amino acids as a DSer that is a vegan/vegetarian while still staying "lower" carb, i envision it is impossible to stay under 100 grams and get all the protein in unless you are having 4 shakes a day and a very small amount of food? But then how do you do this for life? 


I have a family member (nonDS)  who is very much into vegan cooking, she is not vegan however, but she doctor and is trying to be "healthy" , so she posted photos of this vegan lentil walnut "meatloaf" .... and i know it wasnt low carb, neither is the majority of  things she mentions cooking so i am just curious how people do this?

Is there a lot of DS vegetarians? vegans? 

Just to clarify i am curious and am not considering a vegan /vegetarian lifestyle .

Hmmmm. I don't know, lots of tofu and shakes? Tempeh? Wheat gluten?

Now I'm curious too.

hi there!

im not a complete DS'er (yet), but have had the VSG since Feb 2011 and altho traditionally vegetarian, i do eat chicken & turkey now that i need more protein & lo-carbs in my diet. however i do follow a more vegetarian type diet and i usually include cheese, nuts, soy meatless products (deli slices, burgers, sausages, hot dog styles, crumbles, etc), there are lots of options in Morningstar farms & Boca varieties these days.

i also do whey protein shakes.

i am ovalacto flexitarian now so some of this may not apply for a truly vegan diet..

i also only eat lo-carb green veggies (spinach, arugula, peppers & hot chilies-love spice!) lol

hope this helps.

For vegetarians eggs are a good option. I am not sure it's really a good idea to do it if someone is a strict vegan.

I was using meat substitutes exlusively pre-op.  Asked my surgeon, who said animal protein is more bioavailable than vegetable protein, and it is  impossible to exlude animal protein from my diet and have a DS. 

I have returned to my carnivorous ways...and lost a helluva lot of weight.

WLS is all about choices, whether it's the DS or another surgery, you have to choose what's right for *you*.

I'd venture a guess that the number of vegan DSers is slim to none...

There are a lot of things to eat for a vegetarian.  Lately I actually have hated eating meat...just don't crave it at all, and there are a lot of things to eat.  Loving cottage cheese, greek yogurt, eggs, cheese, and refried beans.

Do those things provide whole protein though? I thought that mainly whole proteins are mostly in animal products?

All but the refried beans are animal products :P (milk/eggs and and things made from them are still animal products).  Maybe they aren't muscle meats, but still animal products and still complete proteins. 

The plant-only stuff is the stuff limiting amino acids.  Beans, etc.  Soy is arguable.  I think it's technically complete (complete means it contains the 9 amino acids that your body doesn't have the ability to make on its own), but I think it's low in one of those aminos, but can't think of which one.

Anyways, just think of it as your body ingesting lots of lego creations.  It needs blue, red, yellow, orange legos.  If you eat a lego helicopter only made of blue/red/yellow and then you eat a lego castle made of orange and red, the legos get broken apart and it can use all those pieces to make a complete blue/red/yellow/orange lego creation.  I am thinking there used to be an argument that a vegetarian needed to eat the helicopter and the castle at the same meal but I believe now we know that they just kinda need to be eaten within the same day.