vegetarian eating

In an attempt to increase my protein to carb ratio, I've noticed that I'm relying more on protein powder and bars with fake sugars (sugar alcohols). Many foods in the American diet are based on starches with cereal for breakfast, sandwich/bread for lunch, and pasta, potatoes, or rice for supper/dinner. Those add up to a lot of carbs and is, of course, why we as a whole are so fat. Lots of fuel for energy with sedentary jobs. Do the caloric math. Vegetarian dishes tend to be worse in protein:carb, because one "substitution" is using a bean as a protein source. Beans are high in carbs, so while there is some protein, the additional carbs push the ratio far to the carb side. For example, I thought about eating vegetarian, bean-based chili for lunch on Sat. If I remember right, the protein to carb ratio was 1:5. Nuts push the protein to fat ratio to the high fat side. Tofu is an exemption, because it's processed to be higher in protein than the raw product, soybeans.

On Sun, I did some web searching for high-protein vegetarian foods. If black beans are used in recipes, then the ratio is the lesser of the bean evils, but to really get a decent protein source, the fake meats, e.g., fake burgers, chicken, need to be used. Meals become similar to meat-based ones, but processed, fake meat (vegetable protein in different forms) is used instead. Those sources still have carbs, but not nearly as much. However, not all veggie burgers are equal. Some are grain based and are short on protein, which makes them pointless. I'm curious how vegetarian bodybuilders, like Bill Pearl, did it.

... so such for getting away from processed foods, but the processing is different. Instead of breaking the raw food product into a less-nutritious version and adding sugar (HFCS), salt, and unnamed additivies, the protein concentration is increased. A questionable trade.

Dairy and eggs fit into my diet too, but are different categories from meat, one reason is that people "can't" eat eggs and dairy (primarily cheese) in everything.