vegetarian weight gaining diet

Question
Hello
I am a 25 year old male,5ft.11in, i wiegh 135-140 lbs. I am also a vegetarian. I'm trying to find a diet and work out plan that will make me gain weight while staying a healthy vegetarian. I'm definetly way under weight. Please help if you can.
thanks alot  

Answer
Hi Brad,

First, I would make sure that you are maintaining a balanced diet consisting primarily of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. Then add several servings per day of healthy, high fat and/or high calorie foods to help with weight gain. Nuts, seeds and nut butters, dried fruits (e.g. raisins, apricots, dates, prunes), avocados and olives would be some good examples. Also, add extra oil to foods during cooking (canola and olive oil are the healthiest choices). Try making high-calorie fruit smoothies with soy or dairy milk, fruit, juice and silken tofu all blended together in the blender. You will probably need to eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks per day to get in enough calories for weight gain.

I would strongly suggest you read _Becoming Vegetarian_ by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis. This book is probably at your local library, and is an excellent source of in-depth information on all aspects of vegetarian nutrition.

Hope that helps!

Karen

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