vegetarian new to cron and need help

[carole]

hi

i am new to cron just seen tv documentary in the uk and am so taken by the science behind it i want to know more and to try it for myself.

 

my problem is i am a vegetarian and dont know where to start with this, is there a simple guide that will tell me what to eat or give me recipies until i have the time to properly work things out.

 

please anyone all help appreciated

 

thanks carole

[keithsct]

hi

i am new to cron just seen tv documentary in the uk and am so taken by the science behind it i want to know more and to try it for myself.

 

my problem is i am a vegetarian and dont know where to start with this, is there a simple guide that will tell me what to eat or give me recipies until i have the time to properly work things out.

 

please anyone all help appreciated

 

thanks carole

You can start by weighing & recording everything you currently eat for two weeks. Many people record their info in www.cronometer.com, but there are other options. Another thing is to get a set of medical tests to use as a base line before you start to change your diet. Once you've done these two things, then you're ready to start.

 

CRON has 2 basic rules to follow: 1) get all of your recommended nutrients in your diet and 2) reduce your calories by 10 - 30% from what a nice thin version of yourself would normally eat.

 

Vegetarian is not a problem on a CRON diet. I recommend eating 9 - 12 different veggies each day. Also limit grains and use the calories to eat veggies, fruit or nuts instead. The exact number of calories you need to eat is up to you to decide, but depends on your height, body shape and activity levels. What you eat for protein is up to you, but many people here recommend limiting consumption to about 0.8 g/day/kg of body weight because high protein diets are suspected of blocking the benefits of CR. So for example, I weight 70 kg and so my limit for protein is 70 * 0.8 = ~56 g per day of protein.

 

I like to eat a salad made of coleslaw & spinach with a dressing made from yogurt, salsa, olive oil, flaxseed oil with paprika, chili powder and topped with a few raisins and nuts.

Breakfast is beans, nuts, oatmeal and blackstrap molasses with ground flaxseed and some olive oil.

Lunch and dinner are often either plates of 9 - 12 different cooked veggies, or the same veggies in a soup. Sometimes with quorn or a veggie burger (non soy protein isolate). I often just measure out 20 g of each vegetable.

 

When I snack, it's often small quantities of nuts and berries. Frozen berries are a good choice for me at work.

 

If I want to be bad, I'll eat a peanut butter and honey open face sandwich.

 

Make sure you balance your diet to get all recommended vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids from your diet. Supplement the things that you can't get from diet, especially B12 as a vegetarian.

 

I documented my diet here: http://www.longecity...-vegetarian-cr/

 

Cheers,

Keith

 

PS: I forgot to mention that there are several books that are good to read:

The CR Way by Paul M. and Meredith A.

Beyond 120 year Diet - How to double your Vital Years by Roy L Walford.

The Longevity Diet by Lisa Walford and Brian M. Delaney

[paulgfoster]

Great reply keith and very inspiring. In fact i have modified my diet to smilar to yours and find it much easier to stick to my allocated calories, whereas before i was going well over on some days or bingeing.

Hunger is now less and quite manageable and food far more enjoyable.

Paul

[Elisheba]

Since I started CRON, I've never been hungry.

I'm just starting it... but I love it.

I love learning about it, talking about it and practicing it in everyday life.

[keithsct]

Since I started CRON, I've never been hungry.

I'm just starting it... but I love it.

I love learning about it, talking about it and practicing it in everyday life.

@Elisheba:

 

Great to hear that you're liking it. I found that when I had some excessive body fat, CR was kind of easy to do. Once I had gotten down to muscle, skin and bone with low % body fat after about 6 months, then it was a bit harder to stick to the diet and hunger did eventually intrude. I think for ladies it's a little different since they often retain a higher % of body fat.

 

My favorite part of CRON is that I now have confidence in my health and I can get up everyday and know that I won't get sick, and that I no longer have to worry about heart disease or strokes. With my good health I can do lots of physical activities like hiking, running, rowing or just walking without getting sore knees, joints or back. Additionally I sleep soundly every night and wake up refreshed and ready to work. And I never miss work due to illness. CRON is definitely worth the effort.

 

@Paul Foster: Glad I could help. Good luck with it.

 

 

 

[Guest Carol T]

That was another thing I found intriguing from the programme - the fact that they said that Joe has absolutely zero possibility of having a heart condition. And with you saying this Keith, and talking about waking up refreshed, no sore knees etc, it's all very motivational!

 

Getting blood tests in the UK can be a problem - Most doctors won't give allow them unless they suspect a problem. I had some tests done last year, and recently had cholesterol and fasting blood sugars tested (all good), but it will be some time before I can get them tested again, but it does provide some kind of a baseline.

 

Carole - I'm a veggie in the UK too. Maybe we could buddy up?

 

 

@Elisheba:

 

Great to hear that you're liking it. I found that when I had some excessive body fat, CR was kind of easy to do. Once I had gotten down to muscle, skin and bone with low % body fat after about 6 months, then it was a bit harder to stick to the diet and hunger did eventually intrude. I think for ladies it's a little different since they often retain a higher % of body fat.

 

My favorite part of CRON is that I now have confidence in my health and I can get up everyday and know that I won't get sick, and that I no longer have to worry about heart disease or strokes. With my good health I can do lots of physical activities like hiking, running, rowing or just walking without getting sore knees, joints or back. Additionally I sleep soundly every night and wake up refreshed and ready to work. And I never miss work due to illness. CRON is definitely worth the effort.

 

@Paul Foster: Glad I could help. Good luck with it.