Speaker A [00:00:02]:
Welcome to the Paralysis Nutrition podcast, where changing your eating habits is the key to losing weight, improving bowel health, and feeling your best. I’m your host, Fatima Fakouri. I’m a registered dietitian who’s married to a quadriplegic and specializes in nutrition for paralysis. Get ready to be inspired, educated, and motivated so you can take control of your health using the power of food. Let’s get started. This is the Paralysis Nutrition podcast. Hi, everyone. So today I have a very, very special guest.
Speaker A [00:00:33]:
Fellow dietitian Katie Gill is here to talk to us about being a vegetarian and healthy eating. Now, Katie is a colleague of mine and also a friend, and so I’m so, so happy to have her today because a lot of you guys ask me about meatless meals, vegetarianism, veganism, and so I invited Katie to speak with us today about it. Welcome, Katie.
Speaker B [00:00:58]:
Thank you, Fatima. I’m super excited to be here.
Speaker A [00:01:02]:
So, Katie, tell the listeners a little bit about what you do because you are a fellow dietitian and you also are an expert in weight loss.
Speaker B [00:01:11]:
So I am, like you said, a dietitian. I specialize with weight loss for busy professionals in their 30s who have gained, you know, anywhere from like 10 to 30 pounds and are having a hard time fitting into their work wardrobe or the clothes in their closet. And, and also, you know, Covid aside, tend to travel a lot or have to entertain a lot for their job and are not able to really stick to meal plans because they sometimes don’t know where dinner is going to be or if they’re traveling to a different state next week. They have to know how to eat, whether they’re on a plane, you know, at a restaurant, at home. So that’s, that’s who I tend to work with. And like you said in the introduction, I personally am vegetarian. My clients do not need to be vegetarian or vegan, but a lot of them are and come into it being vegetarian or plant based already and struggling with weight on top of that, too.
Speaker A [00:02:11]:
And I find that, I don’t know if you have the same experience, but people tend to assume that being a vegetarian is automatically healthier. Right? And I think that there’s a little truth there in that. A vegetarian diet can be super healthy. But, and you know what I’m going to say, the number one thing that people struggle with is protein. And so, you know, my clients are living with paralysis. If they don’t eat enough protein, they’re not going to be able to maintain their muscle mass, right? They’re not going to Be able to burn fat and they’re not going to feel full. Right. And then they’re going to end up eating too many carbs.
Speaker A [00:02:51]:
So I love that people want to be eating more plants, but I do worry about the protein. So do you find that a lot of vegetarians that you work with are not getting enough protein?
Speaker B [00:03:05]:
Absolutely. And I think it’s important for us to clarify that in terms of, you know, the distinction that you’ll see as like, guidelines for Americans for protein. I wouldn’t say that most vegetarians I interact with at least are walking around protein deficient.
Speaker A [00:03:21]:
Right, right.
Speaker B [00:03:22]:
Satiety standpoint, like you said, from a muscle mass standpoint, from a blood sugar standpoint, they’re definitely. They need to up their protein. And I work with men and women, mostly women. It’s usually women who are plant based and even meat eaters who are just not eating enough protein in general. And we can break that down like meat, like meals of the day too, where I tend to see that more so than others. But yeah, absolutely. I think protein is like, you know, whether you’re plant based or not, protein really is your best friend when you’re trying to lose weight.
Speaker A [00:03:55]:
Absolutely.
Speaker B [00:03:56]:
A little bit more complicated when you’re plant based. And so I think people tend to who come to me are eating more carbohydrates to replace the protein, and it’s not giving you the same sense of fullness. You feel hungry sooner. Cravings are more all over the place. So, yeah, I would say that’s a big concern for my clients coming in.
Speaker A [00:04:18]:
And I think every dietitian, no matter who you work with, everyone is eating too many carbs. Right. And it’s. Well, I will say this too. With the new kind of trend of keto, there are some people who are completely eliminating carbs, and we don’t want that. But what I tell people is, hey, if you’re a vegetarian, you know that most of your proteins are plants, right? So. Well, they’re all plants and they have carbs in them. Right.
Speaker A [00:04:48]:
So which foods do you think people are the most surprised about when it comes to protein? I’ll tell you mine. It’s always beans. People are like, oh, that’s protein. Yes, beans have protein in them, but they are mostly carbs and they’re great. You know, they have fiber and all of that, but we need to know what we’re eating. So I know you don’t do calorie tracking or macro tracking in your program, but I do. I think that my kind of client base and people with paralysis are so overwhelmed with so many other things in their life that a few weeks or months of tracking is really educational and can sort of shed light on where are your carbs coming from? Where’s your protein coming from? So in your experience, what do you think are the top foods that people think are high in protein, but they’re not?
Speaker B [00:05:41]:
Well, so just to stick with beans for a second. So it’s interesting, like, the smaller the bean, the more protein there is per serving. So black beans and lentils have much more protein. They have twice the amount of protein that like chickpeas and white beans and garbanzo beans and all those, like kidney beans do.
Speaker A [00:05:58]:
I never knew that.
Speaker B [00:06:00]:
So I have had an evolution of my. My feelings on beans.
Speaker A [00:06:04]:
Like, only dietitians can have an evolution of feelings about legumes. I tell you, I love it.
Speaker B [00:06:14]:
No, you’re so right.
Speaker A [00:06:15]:
I feel you.
Speaker B [00:06:16]:
What I think about, right? And so I’m big picture with things, and I don’t think. I always kind of joke with my clients who start to get stressed about beans. And I’m like, listen, you guys, you are not here not losing weight because of your half a cup of lentils. Like, it’s a bigger item than that, I think, where people tend to fall. So I tend to count lentils and black beans more as a protein than I would say chickpeas. Right? There’s 12 to 15 grams of protein for lentils. You get seven with chickpeas. And like you said, you get three times as many carbs as protein in beans with, like, the bigger beans, like the chickpeas.
Speaker A [00:06:52]:
So all beans are not created equal.
Speaker B [00:06:54]:
Right. And so what I love that if you’re going to have beans, don’t have rice and tortillas and sweet potatoes with it. Like, the beans are sort of the starchy part of that meal. So have your beans. And I think a lot of times you think beans and rice, right? Or you think, right, beans mixed into a corn tortilla or a burrito. So I tend to say, like, if you’re doing beans, don’t do the rice. But you can count the beans as your protein if you’re doing, like, a cup’s worth of that. But I think the other bigger one that I hear all the time is people coming in and saying, like, nuts and peanut butter is a protein, not a protein.
Speaker A [00:07:33]:
It’s not.
Speaker B [00:07:34]:
It has a little bit of protein in it. But like you were saying, with beans, you look at the highest macro of the three protein carbs and fat there’s way more fat than protein and peanut butter. So we counted as a fat, not a protein. And when I explain, like in my method, you know, 15 to 20 grams of protein is kind of what I count as a serving. And I’m like, to get 15 grams of protein from peanut butter, you would need half a cup of peanut butter. And trust me, do that. But you’re going to have like 5 to 600 calories there.
Speaker A [00:08:07]:
Yeah, such a good point.
Speaker B [00:08:09]:
More than that. And you’re going to have like 100 grams of fat for your 15 grams of protein. So it’s not the same thing as you having two eggs or a green.
Speaker A [00:08:19]:
Right. And Katie, so I think that that is so true. I think peanut butter and beans, you know, people, people like those foods and that’s fine. But let’s call a spade a spade. Those are not more protein than they are another macro. So what are some of your favorite low carb, high protein vegetarian options?
Speaker B [00:08:45]:
So if you’re doing dairy, I do like Greek yogurt a lot. I like cottage cheese a lot. They’re just such an easy way for you to get a complete serving of protein and a calcium in one shot. And they tend to really fill you up. Right. Like no one, I don’t care how big of an appetite you have, nobody’s going to sit there and eat 10 cups of Greek yogurt.
Speaker A [00:09:05]:
Like, no, it’s impossible.
Speaker B [00:09:07]:
It will fill you up too much. So those are great. If you’re not doing dairy, it does get a little more complicated because the dairy free yogurts do not have the same amount of protein in there.
Speaker A [00:09:18]:
They really do not. And I, you know, in my program I have a list, like a favorite products list. And I’m constantly looking, looking for some dairy free options for people because yogurt is so easy, you know, And I tell you every single week someone asks me, what is a good almond milk yogurt? And I’m like, ugh, when you find it, let me know. Because to be honest, most of those don’t have much protein. There’s some out there. There are some. I think the companies are getting smart and figuring out like, okay, we need to add protein to these things. But I know you’re a big fan of the protein powder.
Speaker B [00:09:54]:
I am. There is one that I have found that is almost close to regular yogurt. Not Greek, but regular. So the silk soy yogurt have a decent amount of protein in it?
Speaker A [00:10:07]:
Yeah, they’re out there. And you know what’s difficult too, Katie, is like, I have people who live in all different places. So it’s like, if you live in a rural town, it’s going to be hard for you to find that one specific brand of yogurt that’s going to fill all of your different nutritional needs. And so that’s why I teach label reading.
Speaker B [00:10:28]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:10:28]:
Like nutrition label reading. And so when it comes to these vegetarian proteins, I tell people, like, you need to look at the protein, not just the fact that it’s a veggie burger. A veggie burger could have 20 grams of protein. I have some of those in my freezer, but some of them are like four grams. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B [00:10:50]:
Yeah. And with the protein powder, I can get into that. But that’s a good thing if you like dairy free yogurt or if you want to be dairy free. And like you said, yogurt’s so easy. I’ll tell clients, like, throw a scoop of protein powder in your yogurt and then you’re getting that. But I’m a big fan of protein powder. You and I have talked about that on my podcast before that you don’t have to have it. It’s not required for weight loss, it’s not required for anything.
Speaker B [00:11:13]:
But it is a really easy way to get a complete protein and feel full. And I selfishly like that. It just tastes like chocolate or tastes like vanilla.
Speaker A [00:11:23]:
That helps, right?
Speaker B [00:11:25]:
Yeah, yeah. So I always say, like, I’m pretty lenient on. I’m not like, you have to have this brand. I think you can find one that works for you. And protein powder is pretty subjective. So if you haven’t tasted it, I really recommend like getting a couple single serving ones from like a GNC or even Target or Whole Foods. A lot of places have them and try a bunch because it’s really annoying when you spend a lot of money on to find that you hate it.
Speaker A [00:11:51]:
I definitely have done that. I definitely have done that. I bought some gigantic one that was chocolate and it was like grass fed and all delicious. Ew. It was so gross. And I think I must have spent like 30 bucks on it. I think it’s still in my fridge.
Speaker B [00:12:09]:
$60. So really do want to. And sometimes even companies like if you’re like you said, in a rural area and you can’t find it, some companies, if you reach out to them and say, can you send me a sample packet? They will.
Speaker A [00:12:21]:
Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker B [00:12:22]:
Consider doing that too. Yeah, yeah. Like you said, the veggie burgers you like, the Dr. Prager’s ones that are not high protein. They’re like two grams of protein.
Speaker A [00:12:32]:
Yeah. They’re not. They’re veggie burgers.
Speaker B [00:12:35]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:12:35]:
They’re not substitutes for like, a turkey burger or like a regular burger. But if you know how to read a food label, you can pick, you know, a better choice. I have some from that very same brand that are 19, 20 grams of protein. Now, if I just looked at the front of the package, nothing would really sway me one way or the other. Maybe like the flavor, but you always got to turn it around. Right. I always tell people the real information is in the back. Right.
Speaker B [00:13:02]:
So.
Speaker A [00:13:03]:
And going back to our favorite vegetarian protein. So people seem to think that tofu is, like, the only thing. Like, if you’re a vegetarian, you eat tofu all day. And I’m just curious, what are your favorite ways to make tofu? Because a lot of our listeners here, I think they’re tofu curious, but they don’t know what to do. You know, it’s. It’s in water, it’s cold. It’s kind of a foreign thing for them. So.
Speaker A [00:13:31]:
So talk us through your favorite way to do tofu.
Speaker B [00:13:34]:
First off, I definitely don’t eat tofu every day, all day. It’s not my favorite. I’m a tempeh girl all the way, so I’ll get you.
Speaker A [00:13:40]:
Do you love tempeh? I love tempeh.
Speaker B [00:13:43]:
And I think that is better for meat eaters than tofu because it’s a closer. It doesn’t taste like meat, but it’s a closer consistency than tofu is, but, like, denser. Yeah. A couple quick things you can do with tofu. So the latest, newest, like, trend with tofu is air frying. So if you have. Oh, yes, that’s a very great beginner way to deal with tofu. So you just take it out and drain it.
Speaker B [00:14:10]:
Like, wash your hands, squeeze the tofu block over the water. You know, a lot of the packages will tell you, like, you have to get a tofu press and press. Although I don’t do that. I’m too lazy.
Speaker A [00:14:20]:
Yeah, I use a textbook.
Speaker B [00:14:22]:
Yeah, you can use textbooks. Weigh it down, and I always get the extra firm. You know, there’s, like, firm, there’s silken, there’s extra firm. So I get the extra firm. And then you just dice it up into little kind of like cubes, and you can marinate it in your favorite, like barbecue sauce or buffalo sauce.
Speaker A [00:14:40]:
Oh, I love that idea. I never marinated. I always want to. And then it’s like, ah, I forgot.
Speaker B [00:14:45]:
You don’t have to either.
Speaker A [00:14:46]:
But it tastes so good.
Speaker B [00:14:48]:
You could do a little spray olive oil, any of your favorite, like Italian spices, Mexican spices, taco seasonings, you know, whatever you want. And then pop it in your air fryer for like 10 to 15 minutes. And you get like restaurant quality crispiness. Yeah, crispiness without the frying of like a ton of oil. So you save a lot of calories and fat that way. So that’s probably my most recent trendy, like, favorite way to do tofu. One like really lazy girl method, which I certainly subscribe to, is like you drain the tofu and then in a container, mash the tofu with a fork.
Speaker A [00:15:25]:
Okay.
Speaker B [00:15:26]:
You can put your favorite mayonnaise in there, a spoonful. And you can do dairy free mayonnaise. If you’re vegan, throw in a tiny bit of mustard, a little bit of curry powder, salt, pepper. I also add carrots and celery diced up and you have like an eggless egg salad that’s in the fridge. And it’s so good with like crackers or on a sandwich or a slice of toast. It might not sound that flavorful, but you can add like garlic powder in there, onion, like it’s really delicious and it tastes.
Speaker A [00:15:57]:
So treat it, treat it like any other. Treat it like chicken or fish or anything. Like nobody eats those things. I hope nobody’s out there eating those things plain. Right? So I love that, that you would. Yeah, you need to flavor your tofu the same way that you would handle like a meat or something. I love that. And you mentioned tempeh.
Speaker A [00:16:15]:
Now you’re a vegetarian and a dietitian. You know what tempeh is. Tell the people what in the world is tempeh?
Speaker B [00:16:21]:
So tempeh is actually a less processed form of soy than tofu is, which a lot of people don’t know. They think tofu is like more in its natural form than tempeh is, and it’s actually the other way around. So tempeh, my favorite brand and the one that I think is in most grocery stores. I used to live in a city and now I’m in a town that has much less of like the Whole Foods and the fancy grocery stores. And Lightlife is the brand I like the most.
Speaker A [00:16:48]:
Yes, I knew you were gonna say that. Yep. I’ve seen it everywhere.
Speaker B [00:16:52]:
And it’s usually right next to the tofu in the same section. And it’s kind of this like long block that is probably the thickness of palm. And unlike tofu, it’s not in water, you don’t have to drink. I mean, don’t do this. But you could open the package and eat it like that. It’s not like raw meat.
Speaker A [00:17:11]:
Right, right.
Speaker B [00:17:12]:
But I like to cut it again into cubes or lengthwise, and that is better for, like, pan frying, to me, than tofu. Like, tofu pan frying just takes longer to get crispy.
Speaker A [00:17:23]:
It does take a long time. I do it all the time. But it does take a long time.
Speaker B [00:17:27]:
Well, tempeh takes three minutes.
Speaker A [00:17:29]:
Yeah, it’s because it’s very, very dense. And I should also mention, tempeh is fermented. Yeah, tempeh is fermented. So for a lot of people with paralysis, their gut health is really a mess. You know, constipation. Welcome, Katie, to the paralysis nutrition podcast, where we talk about poop on every episode. So constipation is a huge issue. And so eating these probiotic rich foods, you know, is really, really helpful.
Speaker A [00:17:56]:
So if you’ve never tried something like a tem, you know, that’s kind of another benefit to it. Also, I will say it’s pretty cheap.
Speaker B [00:18:04]:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A [00:18:05]:
Tempeh and tofu are pretty cheap. You know, like, some of these meats and fancy veggie burgers, some. Some of them are like. I mean, I justify it because it’s like, okay, it’s $6 for, you know, two or three, but, like, per serving, it’s not too bad. But things like tempeh and tofu are cheap. Beans are cheap. So I think a lot of people think that being a vegetarian is more expensive.
Speaker B [00:18:29]:
It certainly can be if you’re getting, like, the beyond meat burgers for three meals a day. Like, I definitely get that. But you’re right, like, tempeh and tofu are like 2 to $3 for a whole package of it, and it will last at the very least, like, two servings. And also, tempeh is so malleable with, like, I will wash my hands and crumble it like taco meat. And you can do that like tacos. A lot of meat eaters, like, are much more tempeh fans than tofu fans, I have found.
Speaker A [00:18:59]:
Interesting.
Speaker B [00:19:00]:
My dad will eat tempeh, and my dad is like, Mr. American, like, man, you know, like, is not interested in vegetarian living at all. But they have, like, these cool. Lightlife has tempeh bacon strips. So they come seasoned.
Speaker A [00:19:15]:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B [00:19:16]:
And so, like, that’s a fun, like, making a BLT with that on, like a sandwich or something, or throwing that into eggs or on avocado toast or something. That’s an easy way to just, like, add a protein in there.
Speaker A [00:19:32]:
So last week, speaking of. Speaking of fake bacon, I got seitan bacon. It was delicious. Now, I like tofu. I don’t personally love tempeh. I love seitan. And I think that, you know, different strokes for different folks.
Speaker B [00:19:49]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:19:50]:
We can all eat meatless meals. We don’t have to eat the same meatless proteins all the time. Yeah, right. So I love seitan. I could eat that multiple times per week. Now, I will say, I do think that seitan is maybe harder to find. I do, because I have people who live in rural places and they’re like, we simply do not have that. But, you know, there’s sausages, there’s bacon, there’s crumbles.
Speaker A [00:20:13]:
And to me, seitan tastes the most like beef. It.
Speaker B [00:20:19]:
You know, it’s funny because I.
Speaker A [00:20:21]:
It’s so dense.
Speaker B [00:20:22]:
I never have that because my stomach blows up from it, like, and I feel extremely bloated from that one every time, no matter how it’s prepped or cooked.
Speaker A [00:20:32]:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B [00:20:33]:
If you tolerate that one and you love it, I agree. It tends to be more close to the meat eating, like, meat consistency. And yeah, it’s another fun one to try. But I think that’s a good point that, like, I have, like, I will get bloated and gassy if I have that. But if you have experienced that from any vegetarian protein, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to experience that from, like, tempeh or tofu or.
Speaker A [00:20:59]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:21:00]:
Soy dimension is edamame. Like, that’s a. And that’s.
Speaker A [00:21:05]:
My husband loves, loves, loves edamame. Like, we get the frozen edamame and we just kind of steam them, put salt on them. They are so good. And for anyone who doesn’t know, seitan is wheat gluten, so it is almost. It has almost no carb and is very high in protein because it’s literally gluten. It’s like pure gluten. And so. Right.
Speaker A [00:21:27]:
So it doesn’t surprise me that some people, like, you are going to have some symptoms because it’s just you might be able to eat bread and all other forms of gluten, but seitan is really concentrated. And I’ll tell you, I had a similar experience, but just one time because I ate too much of it. So now I have learned, you know, that for me, one of those sausages is great. Two or three pieces of the bacon is fine. But, you know, don’t go and eat Two of these sausages. It also was just like a ton of protein at a time because one of those sausages is like 22 or 23 grams of protein. I don’t know what I was thinking eating too, but they tasted really good. So that’s why I did that.
Speaker A [00:22:09]:
So, Katie, when it comes to eating a vegetarian diet, what do you want our listeners to kind of walk away with? Because I have a lot of people who just think that being a vegetarian is so different or that plant based meals are weird. You know, they are real. I think they’re kind of like your dad, where they’re just like really used to just good old fashioned, whatever you want to call it. And so give us a little encouragement and motivation.
Speaker B [00:22:37]:
I think most people eat like a vegetarian meal a lot of times and don’t realize it. Like peanut butter and jelly is vegetarian. Eggs are vegetarian. Oatmeal in the morning is vegetarian. Right. So they’re not like, they don’t have to be weird meals. It can just be that you’re replacing a regular burger with a veggie burger and everything else about that meal is exactly how you would normally do it. I think it’s cool to, like, try new recipes and to try a vegetarian meal.
Speaker B [00:23:03]:
I think the important thing, and a lot of guys or active people will say, oh, that would never fill me up. And it’s exactly the point of this episode that what’s not filling you up is if you just had a bowl of pasta, there was no protein in there.
Speaker A [00:23:17]:
Or cereal, big bowl of cereal.
Speaker B [00:23:20]:
You have to have a protein at every meal to expect to feel full. For what I like to feel, I like my clients to feel full for three to five hours after a meal. And if you feel like you need to eat an hour later, there was likely almost the reason why is there was not enough protein at that meal.
Speaker A [00:23:37]:
So, yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker B [00:23:38]:
Add a protein, add the beans, add the eggs, add the yogurt, add the protein powder and try like one vegetarian meal once in a while.
Speaker A [00:23:47]:
Yeah. And I think also when it comes to constipation, right, A lot of these meatless meals are high in fiber. Right. And so most people that I work with do not eat enough fiber. And it’s interesting because there’s all these kind of preconceptions about, well, I ate a salad, you know, when I logged my salad into the app, and oh my God, there’s no fiber in the, in the salad. And it’s like, yeah, because fiber really comes from like whole grains, legumes, beans and, you know, certain fruits and vegetables, but not, you know, every vegetable is created equal and not every vegetarian protein is created equal. So, Katie, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s always fun to talk to you and tell our listeners where they can find you on Instagram.
Speaker B [00:24:37]:
Oh, you’re sweet. I am on Instagram @theweightloss nutritionist.
Speaker A [00:24:43]:
All right, theweightloss nutritionist. Thanks so much, Kati. That’s our episode for today. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed it and that you learned something new. Remember, if you want to lose weight with paralysis, improve your bowel health and feel your best you can. It’s possible. You just have to change your eating habits.
Speaker A [00:25:02]:
If you need inspiration on how to get started, check out The Paralysis Nutrition Cookbook 101 Recipes to Help you lose weight and improve bowel health. The cookbook comes with a bonus 30 day meal plan and is the perfect way to start eating healthier. You can find it online at Paralysis Nutrition. I’ll talk to you again soon.
