|
Best Weight
Loss Program
Your Fastest Way To Permanent Loss. Drop
14 Pounds In Just
One Week
|
The Truth About Losing Weight On A Vegetarian Diet
"It does not matter what you eat. Just don't eat a lot, 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 does matter.
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 programmes. Claims of high-fat,
no fat or lean diets.
Which work? Which do not? How to find those things that work? It is
bewildering.
And expensive!
The US FDA has 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. Perhaps the
last one is effective when your friends wear them to look at you?
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 wallet? 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 after all 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 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 half a million people's diets 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 over
weight. It would be foolish to recommend a vegetarian diet as a miracle
cure in those instances. But in all other cases of being over weight
there is one over-riding thing that you need: motivation.
If you know why you want to lose weight you will do it.
Motivation is everything. The evidence is in on effectiveness of
vegetarian diets with respect to weight loss.
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?
It's over to you!
Erik Leipoldt
About the author:
Dr Erik Leipoldt PhD has been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for 30 years and
his children were raised vegetarian. He uses a wheelchair due to spinal
cord injury and attributes much of his good health and normal weight to
his vegetarian diet.
He writes about vegetarianism from his personal
experience and knowledge found along the track, in his blog:
http://low--calorie--and--vegetarian--recipe.blogspot.com/
We have an extensive range of
articles in our
articles index page. Why not browse, you will find many
articles on health, weight loss, and other interesting topics. These
articles are highly informative and educational.
Looking to lose some weight quickly
http://www.howtoloseitfast.com
 Discover the truth about cancer that your doctor doesn't know and the
drug companies hope you never find out..
Click Here
|
|
