Vegan Weight Loss

From LoveToKnow Vegetarian

A vegan weight loss plan is a healthy and nutritious way to melt away pounds and get yourself in shape. Combined with exercise, a vegan diet can contribute to many improvements in overall health.

Vegan Weight Loss Plans

You may think that anyone who is vegan would have an easy time losing weight. After all, when you think of vegetarians and vegans, you think of vegetables and other healthy foods. Just like a non-vegan diet, however, there are always temptations, treats, and high calorie food options in the vegan diet.

Vegans who find themselves wanting to lose weight can adapt many popular diets to fit with their lifestyle. For example, tweaks can be made to the following diets to fit vegans:

Weight Watchers
The South Beach Diet
The Pritikin Principle
Eat More, Weigh Less

While some of these diets call for consumption of lean meats and dairy products, they can be substituted for legumes, tofu, nut or soy milk, and other vegan options.

The Weight Watchers points plan is especially easy for vegans, since no foods are either required or restricted. Plus, veggies, whole grains, and fruits are assigned low point values, so you can eat quite a bit of food and still lose weight.

Healthy Weight Loss

Whether you observe a vegan diet or not, losing weight should be done carefully. Dropping your calorie intake too drastically can cause many health problems, and also lead to gaining the weight back quickly, causing a yo-yo effect. A pattern of losing and gaining back weight has been shown to cause a number of health issues, including:

High blood pressure
Heart problems
Lower metabolism
Diabetes
Liver damage

Before starting any type of diet plan for weight loss, you should check with your doctor to make sure you're on the right path. This is especially true if you're pregnant or breastfeeding.

The McDougall Program

The McDougall Program is a weight loss system specifically created for vegans. The foods that are allowed in abundance are:

Vegetables
Whole grains
Beans and legumes

Foods that should be consumed in moderation include:

Fruit
Refined sugar
Salt
Nuts
Soybeans
Egg-free pasta

Foods that are not allowed are:

Flour
Refined soy products
Oils
Avocados

This is just a brief overview of the plan. The focus is to make vegetables and other plant-based products the center of your diet, while restricting fats and starches. For more details, you can visit the MacDougall Program online, and the site includes a free program that anyone can try.

Using the Vegan Food Pyramid

The vegan food pyramid lays out the recommended foods and amounts of each type that should be consumed each day for optimum health. Using the pyramid as a guideline, and opting for the lower calorie options that contain less fat will go a long way towards vegan weight loss.

For those who have trouble following a specific plan, or don't like to count calories and fat grams, this is the best way to eat healthy and lose weight.

Portion Sizes

One of the biggest factors in the growing obesity epidemic is serving size. Years ago, recommended serving sizes were much smaller than they are today. If you go to a restaurant, for example, you're served a large plate that is loaded with food. In such an atmosphere, it's easy to over-eat and take in many more calories than your body really needs.

Keep an eye on portion sizes, even when eating healthy foods. Stop eating when you're no longer hungry, and you'll soon find that you're actually eating a lot less food.

Snacking

The urge to snack hits us all, but fortunately there are plenty of tasty and healthful snacking options for vegans. Try some of these snacks when the cravings come along: