How to follow a vegetarian keto diet plan

Meat is the cornerstone of the ketogenic diet, but that doesn’t mean vegetarian can’t start the keto diet plan. As this high-fat, low-carb diet grows in popularity, many vegetarians want to jump on the bandwagon and find a way to suit their typical ketogenic diet menus and food lists to fit their meat-free lifestyle.

“In the last six months, I’ve seen ketogen everywhere,” said Liz McDowell, a certified comprehensive nutrition consultant for the Meatless Ketogenic website. “I think when Kim Kardashian tried it, it really got a good boost.”

Considering the crazy popularity of the high-fat, low-carb diet, and its limiting nature (fans only consume about 20 to 30 grams of carbs per day), different iterations emerged. Vegetarian keto is one of them. According to an article by Mercola, there are:

• Cyclic ketogenic diet, Includes carbohydrate intake (also known as the keto cycle)
• Targeted ketogenic diet, You’re getting the carbohydrates you need for the day at a meal before exercising
• High-protein ketogenic diet, More calories come from protein
• Restricted ketogenic diet, Lower carbohydrate and calorie intake to fight cancer (this claim has not been confirmed by medical research)

Let’s take a closer look at how to follow this diet as a vegetarian and whether it’s a good idea.

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An Overview of How the Vegetarian Keto Diet Plan Works

The ketogenic diet puts the body into a ketogenic fat-burning state, requiring followers to derive 80 to 90 percent of their daily calories from fat, 5 to 15 percent from protein, and 5 to 10 percent from carbohydrates. Most Americans get about half of their daily calories from carbohydrates, so this is a major shift in the typical American diet.

This is especially surprising for vegetarians. Jaime Mass, a registered dietitian based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the founder of Jaime Mass Nutrition LLC, says vegetarians often turn into “pastaists.” Many people eat pasta, biscuits, and other high-carb foods instead of replacing meat with healthy plant-based foods and whole grains. For these pasta lovers, the transition to ketogenic can be difficult, but it also helps them reduce their intake of processed carbohydrates.

A Typical Day on the Vegetarian Keto Diet

McDowell has been sticking to a vegetarian ketogenic diet for six years. She had been a vegetarian for a long time before that, but she decided to try the ketogenic diet to lose weight. Some studies suggest that ketogenic diets may be beneficial for this reason: A May 2013 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that ketogenic diets are more effective at losing weight than low-fat diets and may help fight obesity.

Although McDowell persisted for so long, she acknowledges that this way of eating can be difficult in social situations. “It’s not just your family’s reaction, they’ll tell you that eating so much fat will kill you, but it’s also challenging to go out with friends for appetizers and drinks,” she says. “You’re going to learn to get around it, but there’s definitely a learning curve.”

This learning curve involves figuring out which foods meet the limits of vegetarian and ketogenic. According to The advice of Mass and MacDowell, a typical day looks like this:

• Breakfast Chia seed pudding with protein powder added or protein pancakes made from eggs and protein powder
• Snack Cucumber slices with paprika cream cheese dip or fluffy cheese with sunflower seeds
• Lunch Large salad, avocado, vegetables, seeds, nuts or egg rolls, vanilla goat cheese and pesto sauce
• Dinner Pesto sauce tofu zucchini noodles; Sautéed tempeh vegetables; Or spinach salad with cashew nut tofu, grilled zucchini, feta cheese and olive oil

The Risks and Benefits of Following the Vegetarian Keto Diet Plan

As tricky as this is, it’s safe to say that as a vegetarian, following a ketogenic diet is something that can be done. But is it healthy? Can it lose weight?

It depends. Mass says it could be beneficial if eating ketogenics motivates unhealthy vegetarians to quit carbohydrates and better control blood sugar. In addition, she said, the transition from a pasta-based diet to one rich in vegetables and healthy fats should help people lose excess weight. But for vegetarians, who eat relatively clean and rely on healthy carbohydrates like quinoa and oats — which are limited in the ketogenic diet — to help them feel full, the low-carb ketogenic approach may be too restrictive.

Research on the vegan ketogenic diet is limited, but interestingly, McDowell said, she noticed some positive changes once she started following the diet. “I found that not only did I lose weight very quickly (although during healthy times), I also noticed that the joint pain was gone and the digestion was back to normal, which were little things I hadn’t thought of at all,” McDowell said.

Preliminary research also links the ketogenic diet to certain diseases, including diabetes. For example, a September 2016 study published in the Journal of Obesity and Eating Disorders found that ketones in the blood can lower glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, possibly by lowering glucose metabolism through ketone bodies, beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes.

Still, Mass is reluctant to recommend this diet. “I don’t see any benefits to a ketogenic vegetarian diet,” she said. The main problem is nutritional deficiencies. As Medline Plus points out, vegetarians are already at risk of deficiencies in vitamin B12, vitamin D, zinc, iron, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, and protein. Ketogenesis has more restrictions, further increasing the likelihood of deficiencies in these nutrients. For example, breakfast cereals, which are usually rich in vitamin B12, are not allowed to be ketogenic.

Protein is also a big problem. “Since the ketogenic diet relies on protein and fat to supplement your calorie intake, you reduce a lot of the complete protein you get in your regular vegetarian diet, such as the protein you get from legumes and grains,” Mass said. “In the ketogenic diet, this source of complete protein is now largely eliminated.” According to the Medline Plus website, protein is important to help the body build bones, muscles and skin.

How to Follow a Vegetarian Keto Diet Plan in a Healthy Way

By being aware of what you may be lacking, you can (and should) eat more foods rich in these nutrients, such as cheese rich in vitamin B12, eggs rich in vitamin D, and green leafy vegetables such as kale rich in calcium. If you’re interested in trying the ketogenic diet instead of meat, Mass also recommends that you relax your vegan requirements and eat fish if you don’t, as fish is rich in omega-3s and protein.

Bottom line? This way of eating is difficult to stick to because it combines two restrictive diets. Mass believes that the risks outweigh the benefits. But if you decide to try it, Mass reminds you to treat this diet carefully, preferably under the guidance of a qualified registered dietitian who can help you strategically choose foods and make sure you supplement your diet where you need to. Mass also recommends gradually reducing your carbohydrate intake rather than becoming completely vegan with ketone overnight so your body’s systems aren’t completely shocked.