Vegetarian Update 4-11-14
 

First of all, thanks to everyone, veggies and non-veggies for the great feedback to my last post. I wasn't going to post again so soon, but I had a very productive day today and found two great local resources. After juicing for breakfast my morning favorite of pears, an apple, two carrots and some ginger, I searched google for health food stores. I found a listing for a place in Tavares called Living Green Health Foods. I took a ride to their store and for lunch had their delicious signature smoothie called "living green." It has coconut milk, orange juice, kale, spinach, apple, pineapple, banana and ginger. Then, a new veggie friend told me about a line of frozen foods called Amy's Kitchen that is carried in publics and sweet bay and most of our other markets. For dinner tonight I had the Enchilada dinner and it too was great. It has all organic ingredients and tasted as good as what I get in a restaurant. Still loving the lifestyle, but so far it has not improved my putting. Thanks again to everyone who knows more about this than I do. Your input and encouragement is a rush!

My putting improved tremendously after Doc prescribed a beta blocker. Unintended good consequence.

Yup! Also good for public speaking jitters.

Sounds like you have a huge sugar intake.

My usual breakfast of juicing two pears, an apple, two carrots, and some ginger gives me about 66 grams of carbs. If I have my usual "mean green " lunch juicing kale, spinach, celery, carrots, ginger, and an apple, that adds 22 grams of carbs for a running total of 88 grams. My solid food vegetarian dinner usually adds about 25 grams of carbs for a running total 113 carbs. So, you are correct that on the occasional day I substitute a smoothie, my carb intake can get up around 165 grams. But since it's a once in a while treat, I try to keep my daily carbs in the 100 to 150 range. I think that's considered "moderate". But you've also pointed out something that I just read about. Sometimes people go on an all fruit diet or a 3 day fruit juice cleanse and wonder why they gain weight. It's because of all the carbs. Even though the carbs you get from fruits are full of nutrients also, unlike the worthless carbs from processed foods like white bread, at the end of the day carbs are carbs and should be consumed in moderation. Thanks for sending me running to google to learn more about what I'm doing. It truly is a learning process.

BarryRX Thanks for sharing. I am going to take a trip to Tavares for a smoothie treat! Please keep posting.

You're very welcome. It's a different kind of little store facing the lake. I may head back there today because it looks like the town was setting up for a fair. I had never been to Tavares before. It looked like a nice town. Enjoy the smoothie!

I'm not an expert but I would think that proper carb intake is an individual thing based on each person's body, metabolic health, health issues, activity level et al.

What kind of juicer are you using? Do you feel full when you drink your morning smoothie?

Hi BK, To be clear, yesterday when I went to Tavares was the first time I have had a smoothie. My morning drink and afternoon drink are juices. Because my wife sleeps late and the juicer is noisy, I don't make my morning juice until 9am, although sometimes if I have to be out early for golf I'll make it the night before and put it in the fridge. If I start feeling hungry before noon, I'll just grab a handful of almonds which I need for protein anyway. My lunchtime juice around 1230 leaves me feeling pretty full I start feeling hungry again around 5 and eat a vegetarian entree around 6. I bought the Breville juicer and am very happy with it. It was $99 on Amazon. I think you are absolutely right about the carbs. What may be a moderate carb intake for an active person may be way too many carbs for a sedentary person. I am very pleasantly surprised that hunger has not been a problem. I am obviously expending more calories than I'm taking in because I'm losing weight. In the past, my body would go "uh oh, we must be starving to death...time to over eat." But not now.

when it sits like that it loses alot, it should be drank within an hour

bkcunningham - you are probably right about that. In reading the science behind the Atkins diet many years ago, I remember it explaining how to gradually add carbs back into your diet to maintain your weight. His reasoning was the same as yours, that it is an individual thing.

One of the things that surprised me in researching sugar/carb content of various fruits and vegetables a while back, was how some vegetables actually contain more sugar than some fruits.

Thanks, barryrx, for continuing to share. It's great to have this exchange of thoughts and ideas!

Thank you, Barry and Abby. It is all a learning process. It is nice to read someone's firsthand account of the experience. I have been curious about it off and on for sometime and recently thought about giving it a try. Your posts may be just the push I need to give it a whirl, pun intended.

I don't think of 150 grams of carbs as moderate at all. Add to that, your ingesting all of those carbs in the form of fructose and most importantly, without the fiber. Don't you think that's a problem?

Because of your earlier post, I changed my morning juice. I've added carrots and eliminated a pear. It now has 44 grams of carbs. My afternoon drink has 22 grams, and for dinner I'm eating solid food with lots of fiber and minimal carbs. That should keep my daily carbs under 100 gm and my fiber at dinner plus snacks of celery should be ok. Again, thanks for the input. It does sound like some people who have been on Atkins are telling me that any carbs are too much. I wonder if Jimbo or VillagesPL can tell me anything about it.

First of all, I wouldn't make any dietary changes based on my posts or the posts of anyone else on this site. I do what I do based on what I've read on the subject of nutrition.

For me, based on my beliefs, the carbs are way too much. But more than that I would be concerned about you ingesting that much sugar all at once with no fat or fiber to slow down the absorption into the bloodstream.

But to me, sugar is more of an enemy than anything else. I don't understand the science behind juicing. I admit that I haven't studied much about it, but it seems to run contrary to everything that I understand about eating healthy.

BarryRx here is a link that includes high fiber foods.

High Fiber Foods List for a High Fiber Diet

You will notice beans contain the highest fiber. Do not use canned beans as they are lower in fiber and high salt. Dry beans are the best and I have a lot of great recipes if your interested.

Old fashion oatmeal and steel oats also provide a lot of fiber. Never peel your apples as that's where the fiber is. The skin on most fruit and potatoes provides the fiber, except banana's.

There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble and they both have a important role in digestion and absorption. Here's a link to explain the difference.

Dietary Fiber: Insoluble and Soluble Fiber

When you do go back to eating ditch the white bread, rice and pasta. Whole grains or multigrain is what you want when choosing bread. Switch over to whole wheat pasta and long grain brown rice. These will contain more fiber vs. the white.

Google is a vast source of dietary information and I used it often when making the switch to healthy eating. A lot of good information at your fingertips.

Good luck to you on your healthy journey. It's not always easy to do, so be diligent and remain focused upon your long term health goal.

Or skip the fads altogether bite the bullet, lose weight, reduce or eliminate meds go Vegan

For $3 go amazon get the DVD it can change your life IMO

Forks Over Knives | Official Website

Or just eliminate sugar, grains and gluten from your diet.

Read, Grain Brain by Dr David Perlmutter and discover how dangerous some foods are and how important fat and cholesterol are to you health.

Don't know him but Wikipedi reports

Criticism

Perlmutter's book has received criticism for perceived 'hyperbole' and misrepresentation of data.
Johnson, Nathanael. "Is gluten lobotomizing you?". Grist Magazine. Retrieved 4 February 2014.

Epidemiologist Dr. David Katz, founding director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center, has criticized Grain Brain, saying "Perlmutter is way ahead of any justifiable conclusion" and that many of its claims are "wildly preposterous".

You are a kind and considerate husband! :thumbup:

Pretty much every book and every dietary plan has been criticized.

There are a lot of politics being played in the nutrition industry. I'm sure you can find criticism of vegetarianism as well.

If you don't like that book there are plenty others with the same information. Try Wheat Belly.

There is also a lot of conflict of opinion. I think that you have to read some books and decide what you believe. I've read Carl Esslestyn's book and several others.

It seems to me that sugar is the primary enemy. A lot of people agree that we were making a big mistake when we replaced soda with apple juice in our kid's diets years ago. We thought we were giving them something healthy when we were giving them just as much sugar as was in the soda. The glycemic index of apple juice is extremely high. That's why I don't understand this juicing craze. People who do this have to be sending their pancreas into overtime.

I think you may misunderstand juicing. The vast majority of what I juice is not fruit, but green leafy vegetables.
Spinach and other leafy greens are sometimes considered a "free" food on low-carb diets because they have so little impact on blood glucose. The vitamin K they are packed with may even have a positive impact on blood glucose, and some diabetics notice that it is easier to control their blood glucose when they eat a lot of greens.