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Comment by NotOscarWilde | Hacker News Reader

As a vegetarian, I don't laugh at people eating meat. In fact, when it comes to nutrition, eating (the right) meat is likely the most rational choice based on today's understanding.

As a sidenote, I have looked into low-carb/keto diets and I've found that those are rather hard for vegetarians; reducing carb intake from some sources (rice, pasta) is easy, but even staple vegetarian foods rich in protein (tofu, lentils, beans, quinoa) are 1:1 when it comes to protein:carb content.

Another thing to mention is that being vegetarian in a central European country limits you to a very few number of restaurants you can eat out with friends; I do not know of any place around that would serve vegetarian low-carb food. This would imply that I always bring my own food from home to work, socially exclude myself by not eating anything when we go out eating with friends, and so on.

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If you want to be on a low carb diet as a vegetarian you have to accept eating processed food, and a lot of it.

Specifically: Soy Protein Isolate, TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein - it does have carb so don't overdo it), and Seitan (Wheat Gluten), if you are not a vegan then add eggs to that - perhaps as egg whites (i.e. more processed food).

Nuts are reasonable too. Then add in a bunch of low carb vegetables (i.e. no root vegetables), and avoid fruits for the most part.

A sample breakfast: TVP soaked in egg white with some nutritional yeast for flavor, fried as an omelet.

Snack: A cup of protein shake with as little sweetener as you can manage to handle. (You would have to buy pure soy protein isolate powder and add the sweetener yourself - most places put in a ton.)

Lunch: Seitan - fried or baked, and salad (watch the dressing - most have sugar, make your own).

Dinner: Vegetable stir fry such as zucchini, mushroom, and onion plus oil for satiation.

It's easier to be a meat eater, but if you are not a picky eater it can be done.

PS. Tofu is not 1:1, it's closer to 4:1 so it can probably be used. TVP is about 2:1.

As to the sugar, I find myself using stevia a lot now. You have to experiment with it; with some foods, you really notice the taste, and it doesn't work very well as a sweetener. But in greek yoghurt, for instance, stevia tastes really nice and not at all unlike sugar.

That brings me to a second point; as a vegetarian, one of my best investments was a simple reusable yoghurt strainer. Natural yoghurt has a lot of carbs in the form of lactose, but straining it into greek-style yoghurt removes these sugars, leaving protein and fat (which you can control by choosing no/low/full fat yoghurt). Add some stevia to it, and you've got a healty breakfast, snack, and/or dessert without any carbs.

I think it should also be said that relying solely on soya protein is not the best idea. It's a complete protein, yes, but there's very little we understand about nutrition--one of the few things we do know is that variety is better. That being said, the firmer the tofu, the fewer carbs--plus it's easier to cook (fries up nicer). If you get sick of tofu, paneer is a good alternative, and easy to make as well.

Finally, chia seeds can be a useful addition. They don't have a taste (but they absorb an incredible amount of liquid, so you can soak them overnight to make pudding), but are packed with fat, protein, and fibre (approx. 32% fat / 16% protein / 35% fibre / 7% net carb by weight).

Where in Central Europe are you? I lived in Vienna and now living In Berlin, and while it was a bit of a struggle being vegetarian in the former it think over here there are actually quite a lot of good options (obviously not anywhere near as good as some other places like San Francisco).

As large, relatively "hip" capital cities, Berlin and Vienna are probably a "best case". In the German-speaking countries, there does seem to be a growing awareness and interest in vegetarianism, but in small cities in Germany I find my options in restaurants basically limited to pasta and pizza -- and of course falafel -- (though there are enough vegetarians and similar that there are shops selling tofu, vegan cheese, meat substitutes etc.). From what I've heard, the rest of central Europe is even worse.

http://www.happycow.com is a handy guide for finding vegan and vegetarian places all over the world.

Yes for sure - the local cuisine is heavy on meat & dairy so you'll have to rely on ethnic and speciality places, which mostly exist in the big metropolitan cities.

Czech Republic. I don't complain about generic vegetarian places (indian food, asian food, some pasta), but if you wanted to go low-carb here, you find nothing.

I did vegan paleo for a while. It was tough, but manageable. Travel wrecked me though.

Keto is not meant for long-term use. You will have one miserable life if you could pull that off but i doubt you could even if u tried. It works really well for cutting that last bit of stubborn fat when u trying to show your six pack.

There actually are people on long-term keto diets. It's actually used to help certain kinds of epilepsy, for example.

Maybe in extreme cases, read this docs blog, he has done keto for a long time but i noticed he has now changed up and only does it at certain times. Also he has a lot of stuff on keto. http://eatingacademy.com/personal/actually-eat-part-iii-circ...

As with anything, it depends. I'm also not suggesting that keto is harmless long-term, just that it's not inherently harmful. Several sections of the Wikipedia article are instructive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet

A vegetarian calling meat eating "the most rational choice" !

It's destroying our planet and causing untold, horrific amounts suffering to animals just because people get a kick out of chewing on other beings.

PS. I've been around other European countries most my vacations and never had the problem. Worst case you get salads and omelettes.

It's destroying our planet and causing untold, horrific amounts suffering to animals just because people get a kick out of chewing on other beings.