Thank you for your question. When you are a vegetarian, it is really important that you make sure that you eat enough protein in your diet, as without protein your body cannot build and repair itself.

So, my first recommendation is pulses. By these I mean fresh and dried peas (e.g. chickpeas) and beans (e.g. kidney beans and lentils), as these provide an excellent high fibre protein concentrate that is rich in minerals (particularly magnesium), certain vitamins (such as the B vitamin folate) and low in fat. Pulses are really filling and they are a good choice for dieting vegetarians! Use them to replace meat in casseroles and curries and add them to soups to make them more filling, so you need less bread. If you've not eaten a lot of pulses in the past, add them to your diet slowly to avoid the temporary, but unpleasant, side-effects of bloating and wind that can sometimes occur. You can also use products like soya and Quorn in stir fries or casseroles.

Eggs are another good protein source, as they are a 'complete' protein containing all the different amino acids that your body needs. You can also make sure you get a 'complete', high quality protein meal by combining some of the pulses above with brown rice in the same meal.

Seeds and nuts can also be used as a protein source, but be careful of the high calorie and fat content of some nuts! Pumpkin seeds would be a good addition to your diet, as they provide the essential fatty acid Omega 3 which non-vegetarians obtain from oily fish. I would also recommend that you add flaxseeds (also known as linseeds) to your diet for the same reason.

Have a look on the internet for some more ideas. The vegetarian society is good for new ideas for all meals and occasions ? look in the ?food? section http://www.vegsoc.org/index.html