Healthy weight gain
Posted by Sarah88 on Feb 07, 2007 · Member since Jul 2006 · 140 posts
Hi all,
I am lacto vegetarian and am trying to gain about 15 pounds the healthy way. I try not to eat any white flour or refined sugars. Anyone who can suggest some healthy recipes or good snack ideas, it would be much appreicated!
Thanks!
Add nuts and seeds to everything you eat! Not toooo much because seeds can be a little hard on the digestive system if you eat too many (as I learned with pumpkin seeds last year). They are a healthy choice but very high in calories and will help you to gain weight in a good way.
High calorie energy and protein bars (watch out for whey and milk powder though), and protein powders to be added to smoothies. Also, dried fruit and granola mixes tend to be high in calories (unfortunately for most of us) but if you are looking to gain some weight those are great choices as well. Seeing that you are a laco ovo...cheese can also be high cal and it adds up fast. Happy eating!
I second everything above and would like to add:
Get plenty of exercise! If you just lounge around you'll gain all the weight as fat (I would know, it happened to me when I needed to gain weight). Do things like Pilates and Yoga, which are low impact and fun. Weight lifting is another great one.
Replace for denser foods. If you just eat a hundred snacks, you'll condition yourself to be hungry all the time. Try replacing some of the foods you eat with higher calorie ones.
PS. If you don't like nuts/seeds (I don't) try snacking on things like edamame, beans, tofu "crutons," or making your own "energy" bars. Since you don't like using refined flour, you could try oatmeal, spelt, soy, wholewheat...etc. And there's 80 million natural sugar substitutes out there: agave nectar, maple syrup, rice syrup..etc. Sometimes I make baked goods using a mixture of ground TVP and protein powder instead of flour. It oomphs up the protein, which can be a tad harder to get since I hate nuts/seeds.
Avocados, tofu, nut butters, nut oils, etc. Smoothies made with full-fat silken tofu, a bit of walnut oil (or whatever else), some fruit, maybe a bit of nut butter-- that's pretty dense and caloric food.