Looking For a Change? Think Vegetarian! :

Need a change, low-carbers? Think vegetarian!

When you first started your low-carb diet, the idea of a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon dripping with cheese made your mouth water, but after a few months of eggs in the mornin’, the afterglow is fading. If you’re ready for a change , try incorporating low-carb vegetarian meals and snacks into your daily menu.

Low-carb does not mean just meat and eggs. “It’s a fallacy that you can’t eat veggies on a low-carb diet,” says Margo DeMello, author of Low-Carb Vegetarian (Book Publishing, 2004).

All of the popular low-carb diet plans emphasize "good" carbs and discourage eating “bad” or empty carbs, those that are made with refined white flour, white sugar and trans fats. The avowed vegetarian was inspired to revamp her eating regimen after reading The Soy Zone (a soy version of The Zone diet), which introduced the low-carb concept to vegetarians.

There are lots of healthy, low-carb vegetarian choices, says DeMello, who lost 45 pounds doing her own version of a low-carb diet. Fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds and whole grains are nutrient-dense, fiber-rich carbohydrate foods that fit into the low-carb mix.

If you’ve never tasted veggie burgers, veggie bacon strips or veggie dogs made with soy protein or textured vegetable protein, the author suggests you give them a try. These vegetarian mainstays are high in protein, low in saturated fat, and now come in low-carb versions that range from 1–to-5 net carbs per serving.

Ounce for ounce, veggies -- the greener the better -- weigh in as the low-carb vegetarian superstars. Low in carbs and packed with fiber and phytonutrients, veggies are smart carb choices.

In addition to the tried-and-true romaine lettuce, try mushrooms, tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, green beans, parsley, bok choy, snow peas, bell peppers, celery, chives, cucumber, artichoke, asparagus, scallions, bamboo shoots, collard greens, eggplant, bean sprouts and spinach -- all budget "buys" at less than 7 net carbs per serving.

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