Veganuary, Vegan Diets and Weight Loss
/A record number of people have apparently signed up for Veganuary this year and are plotting to body swerve meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs and dairy for a month, assess how they look and feel (both physically and emotionally) and determine whether they wish to continue with a vegan diet and lifestyle or indeed, stick with the major changes required to ensure that their diet offers the very best of nourishment on a daily basis to gain and/or maintain good health.
I have noted increasingly, that on the back of a great many articles featured in the media, people quite often ‘head down the vegan road’ in a bid to lose weight and that's what I am going to address here
Unless you understand the importance of a healthy balance of the ‘big 6’ (carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals and water), improved health and successful weight loss may not result on a vegan diet so you have to ask yourself some important questions....
- Are you eating too many starchy carbohydrates (potatoes, bread, pasta, rice and other grains) to fill you up and keep hunger at bay? Starch is sugar, too many sugars prompt blood glucose disruption, blood sugar disruption prompts the pancreas to release insulin on an all-too-regular basis, the continued release of insulin may cause a resistance to its effects and fat storage rather than fat burning may result.
- Do you regularly opt for processed foods and drinks with ‘vegan-friendly’ labelling? A great many offer just as much sugar, processed fats and excess calories as many non-vegan, off-the-shelf products. Do yourself a favour - buy fresh produce and do your own thing as often as possible.
- Do you snack on nuts and regularly add them to dishes in a bid to ensure you are getting sufficient protein into your diet? Nuts are real oscar-winners when it comes to protein content but if you are trying to lose weight, a little goes a long way - 2 or 3 handfuls of fresh nuts per day is plenty!
- Have soya products become your daily alternative to meat and dairy? Excess soya protein can disrupt the intricate balance of hormones - particularly the sex hormones (oestrogen and progesterone in women, testosterone and oestrogenin men) and make weight loss frustratingly difficult. Little and once a day is the way to go with soya.
- Are you including greens and other colourful vegetables in every meal and most snacks? Vegan diets must be super-rich in vegetables to ensure an abundance of essential vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals which not only protect us from disease but also do a sterling job in encouraging fat loss.
- Do fruit smoothies, non-dairy fruit shakes and fruit juices feature regularly in your day? There is no argument that fruit offers way more than just sweetness to your world but because they are rich in fructose, a ‘sugar combo molecule’ that can quickly raise blood sugar levels and possibly prompt fat storage, all fruits should be eaten with a little protein or fat to slow the process (a handful of seeds or seed oils added to smoothies and shakes works well).
- And most importantly… do you shy away from fats because you have been hood-winked into believing they will pile on the pounds and prompt heart disease? Happily, this thinking has now been well and truly quashed and fats are back on the menu!
No matter which type of diet you follow you simply must get fats into your life on a daily basis. They don’t make you fat, they boost the health of your brain, heart, bones, nervous system and hormones, they satisfy your appetite, they super-fuel you with energy and if you are trying to lose weight, a little fat in every meal and snack throughout the day keeps hunger at bay and controls cravings.
