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Aug, 2019
The Truth About Losing Weight on A Vegetarian Diet
It doesn’t matter what you eat, just don’t eat a lot of it. Exercise, and your weight will not be a problem.
True?
Not quite!
There is scientific evidence that a vegetarian diet keeps that weight down, whereas meat eaters put it on. What you eat REALLY matters.
You know that weight loss is an industry. A money-making industry with many claims to make: Claims of weight loss pills, herbs and juices. Claims of exercise machines and exercise programs. Claims of high-fat, low fat, no fat diets.
Which work? Which do not? How to find those things that work? It is bewildering and expensive! We have been warned against the effectiveness of a number of products that are being marketed. They include fat or starch blockers, weight loss chewing gum and body wraps.
Even weight loss earrings and spectacles are in this list. Weight loss spectacles? Really? Who wears them? Me or my friends?
By contrast, vegetarians and vegans know what they eat and why they eat it. They save money and lose weight. Weight loss of both your body and your grocery bill? Why not. Vegetarian food production is inherently cheaper than that of meat.
Just like a high fibre vegetarian diet goes through your system faster, the vegetarian food production chain is short compared to that of growing meat. Growing animals for meat is energy-intensive, time-consuming and expensive. For instance, it takes five kilograms of grain to produce one kilogram of beef. It is that concentrated energy that you eat. And it’s not high-fibre.
Short production cycles are better for the planet and shorter digestive processes are better for you. Perhaps you do not even need special low calorie vegetarian recipes to lose weight. A vegetarian or vegan diet appears to be a recipe for weight loss in itself! At least it represents an excellent start.
Consider the latest research. Vegetarian and vegan diets work
Recent British scientific research is based on a study of 22,000 people who were followed over five years. All participants put on weight over that time. However, meat eaters who changed to a vegetarian diet gained the least weight.
Prof Tim Keys, who led this study for the University of Oxford and Cancer Research UK, obtained interesting results that are contrary to popular beliefs. His study is published in the Journal of Obesity.
He said: “Contrary to current popular views that a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein keeps weight down, we found that the lowest weight gain came in people with high intake of carbohydrates and low intake of protein.”
The study involved meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans. On average the entire human sample population gained 2 kilos over the five years and none of them were overweight. The less consumption of animal products, the less weight was gained, leaving the vegans on top, with vegetarians as runners-up.
And the bit about exercising then?
Well, it’s part of a holistic picture it seems. The study also found that those who became more physically active gained less weight than those who did not. No surprises there.
So, not good news for vegan couch potatoes and a ray of hope for raging carnivores?
Well the simple message is whatever you eat, physical activity is part of the weight loss and health-deal.
Good health
Health too? Yes, this study is part of a larger investigation by EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition), comparing the diets of half a million people in 10 countries to learn how diet is linked to cancer. Results from EPIC’s investigation show that diet is a leading cause of some cancers.
A balanced vegetarian or vegan diet is good for your health.
Take diabetes, often a condition associated with inadequate diet and being over-weight. The EPIC study has revealed that diabetics carry three times the normal risk of developing colo-rectal cancer.
And a recent Australian study even suggests that a diet that is rich in vegetables and fruit can reduce the effects of asthma attacks.
The wider benefits of choosing a vegetarian or vegan diet for weight loss are obvious.
But perhaps you’d still rather take the easy way out and continue to eat meat. Meat perhaps that has been engineered for your health?
Voila! Researchers at Harvard University have now engineered pigs to produce healthy forms of bacon, ham and pork crackling.
Three little pigs were genetically modified to carry Omega 3-converting genes of a nematode worm. This gives the meat of these three little research pigs the benefits of fats and oils found in fish and vegetables. Talk about a long production process to get the same benefits from plants that take a fraction of the energy and time to produce.
I’m telling no porky: before long pigs will fly, but do you want to eat them?
Get motivated
Weight loss may be your focus, but you can see that its achievement is connected to a holistic picture, including your health and that of the world we live in. That is why you could say that many vegetarians and vegans are socially responsible eaters.
Perhaps that insight will give you the motivation to become a vegetarian or vegan: to lose weight and to discover a whole new world!
Of course, some people have medical conditions that cause them to be overweight.
It would be foolish to recommend a vegetarian diet as a miracle cure in those instances. But in all other cases of being overweight there is one over-riding thing that you need:
Motivation
The definition of the word motivation is, “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.”
If you know why you want to lose weight or get fit, you can do it. If you want it bad enough, you will succeed. I’ve seen it many times in my career.
So, what is the secret to succeeding and making it happen?
Having a crystal clear why or a strong enough reason. Without it, the mind will not be able to subconsciously motivate you to actualize, attain or satisfy that reason. Motivation is everything.
Think of what triggered you to consider diet and fitness. One client told me the trigger was he could not bend over and tie his shoes comfortably anymore. A woman confided that she wanted to feel sexy again. What motivates the mind to take charge and make that change is the emotion tied to the trigger. People are motivated by their emotions.
If you think of the woman who wanted to feel sexy again, you may not be able to guess what her trigger was, but I’m sure you can understand the weight of that desire to feel attractive. For her, the emotions she was feeling that were tied to the trigger motivated her to make a change, so she wouldn’t have to experience that feeling again.
Think about your triggers. Which ones are the big triggers? The ones that have a ton of emotion tied to them.
The evidence is in on effectiveness of vegetarian diets with respect to weight loss. I’ve never heard vegetables are bad for you!
If you also know that you are doing your body and the planet a favour by losing weight through vegetarian or vegan diets, then what are you waiting for?
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