A lot of people practice a vegan diet— meaning that they eat absolutely no animals or animal by-products (i.e. eggs, honey, etc.). in favour of plant-based foods. This includes beans/legumes, produce, whole grains and so much more. The reasons to become vegan are plentiful, and they’re each understandable in their own right. Some people feel strongly about not eating animals because they love them so much. Others do it in an effort to eat better.
One more reason that people switch from a meat-based diet to a plant-based diet is to lose weight. There’s the belief that going vegan will promote weight loss due to the change in healthier foods and the fact that all animal products have now been eliminated. So, will being vegan actually help you to successfully lose weight?
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It’s important to understand how your vitamin and nutrient intake changes when you’re vegan. Such changes take place due to certain foods you’ve either cut out or increased your intake of. When you’re vegan, eating more produce and whole grains results to consuming more fiber and less saturated fat. Consuming more fiber will result is low cholesterol, making you regular, stabilizing blood pressure and staying full longer. Meanwhile, the positive benefits from reducing your intake of saturated fat reduces your chance of developing cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
If you decide to become vegan, there are certain nutrients that you may accidentally too much or not enough of. The biggest one that you may worry about not getting enough of is protein. You may need to go so far as to consulting a dietician or doctor to ensure that you’re consuming the right amount regularly.
Meanwhile, you have to be careful of consuming too much in healthy fats. That’s why you need to be extremely mindful of servings of foods such as avocado, oil, seeds, etc. Too much of it can hamper your weight loss efforts. But on the other hand, many plant-based foods aren’t nearly as calorie dense as their animal-based counterparts. Having said that, it’s important to check labels to ensure that you’re consuming the right serving of certain foods.
Because you’re cutting out a lot of foods when you begin a vegan diet, there’s other things you need to keep in mind — that can cause you to consume either too much or too little of vital nutrients. Tracking what you’re eating or consulting a dietician or doctor can ensure that you’re not restricting yourself too much. Just as importantly, vegan junk foods tend to replace whole foods, and that can lead to becoming an unhealthy vegan. So, don’t forget to be mindful of what you’re eating so that you eat healthier options instead!
To answer the question we started with in the beginning— yes, being vegan can help you lose weight. You just need to consume the right amounts of vital nutrients, not consume too much of less healthy nutrients, not restrict yourself too much, and not falling into the trap of being an unhealthy vegan. Diet plays a massive part in losing weight but practicing a healthy lifestyle overall will making losing weight easier and more effective, and it’ll lead to a successful weight loss journey overall.
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