What is a Vegan Diet?
A vegan diet is not created from or derived from animal products. It is made up of vegetables, fruit tubers, grains, legumes such as salads, and herbs with nuts and seeds but this type of diet is greater than the sum of its components. These plants can be consumed raw or cooked very easily or transformed into family-friendly dishes like pizza and lasagna, or even into fast food like deep-fried chicken or delicious cakes. All of them are vegan, but obviously, they aren't all healthy.
Can Being Vegan Help With Weight Loss?
An article released in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition The study compared a plant-based whole-food diet to the Mediterranean diet which is often thought to be ideal to lose weight. The study revealed that within only 16 weeks:
- The average loss of participants was 6 kilograms (or approximately 13 pounds) when they ate vegan compared to no change in the mean on the Mediterranean diet.
- Participants shed 3.4 Kilograms (about 7.5 lbs) larger fat masses than the vegan diet
- The vegan diet decreased LDL along with total cholesterol, to 18.7 mg/dL and 15.3 mg/dL respectively, however, there were no significant reductions in cholesterol levels with diets that follow the Mediterranean diet.
How Can Vegans Lose Weight Faster?
We do not recommend quick weight loss. And in reality, we know that diets are an indicator of weight growth. Furthermore, the fact that neither BMI nor weight accurately measures our health. This is why we are more focused on how healthy we are and how we feel rather than numbers on a scale.
Vegan Diet Tips ➤Plant Based Diet Book
Ideas to Help You Lose Wei̇ght
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Understanding the Concept of Calorie Density
Calorie density is a measurement of the number of calories in a pound of food. This can help guide our choices of food if healthy and sustainable weight loss is the goal. Vegetables are less caloric per pound, whereas cheese, meat, and oil are all at the top of the spectrum.
The reason this strategy works so well is the fact that the majority of people consume the same amount of food each day. This means that they are satisfied without the extra calories.
- Cutting Out Added Oil
Oil is the food with the highest calories of all foods. When you add oil to your meal, it increases the calories per serving, and we may want to consider other ways of making an entrée. Instead of roasting potatoes, for instance, we might think about baking them. Instead of adding oil-based dressing to salads maybe adding a squeeze of lemon juice is a great idea.
- Controlling the Amount of Starch
All starchy foods are not all created in the same way. The refined carbohydrates have been stripped of what makes them beneficial. If we swap out items made with white flour like bagels, bread, pretzels, and pasta -- and wherever you can choose wholegrain products that are not refined we'll be doing ourselves and our bodies a huge favor. Additionally, they are much more filling and therefore are less hungry.
- Get Into Fiber-Rich Foods
Unrefined carbs are typically high in fiber which is good for digestion. It also has been linked to a lower chance of heart disease, stroke type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer. Fiber makes you feel fuller for longer and thus reduces snacking. It's on wholegrain pasta and breakfast cereals and bread, along with potatoes, pulses, and other vegetables.
- Avoiding Caloric Beverages
Beers, sodas, wines, and fruit juices each have significant calories but don't make any significant contribution to our eating habits. There is a chance that drinking water with slices of lemon, cucumber, or lime, or a few glugs of fresh mint can be just as delicious and refreshing.
- Cut Out Vegan Convenience Foods
Donuts and fries don't count as nutritious just because they're vegan but we shouldn't require an expert to inform us of this. If we are able to reduce our consumption of these types of food items our bodies will be grateful to us for it.
- To exercise
One thing that will aid weight loss as per Sandra Aamodt, author of Why Diets Cause Fat is exercising. Today, a lot of us have a negative relation to exercise and think of it as punishment, boredom, pain, and even bullying. It is no wonder then that we're reluctant to revisit it. However, let go of the old ideas of fitness, and instead look at any movement that makes you smile. What are you passionate about? do? It could be swimming, dancing, or even wheelchair basketball. It can be a sport played in a group like basketball or rugby or maybe you'd prefer to go hiking on your own. Maybe there's something you've always wanted to experience like kayaking or Kung Fu or skateboarding. If you are enjoying it, you'll keep trying to get back into it. That's the way to create habitual and sustainable habits that can change your life.
