About Vegan Lifestyle Weight Loss Plan

By Pamela Reynolds


People often think that all vegans and vegetarians are lean. Unfortunately, this is not true. When you change your lifestyle and eating habits, in these first few months you can actually lose weight significantly, but, as the time goes by, your organism gets used to this new type of food, and you can easily gain weight. In this case, you will need a vegan lifestyle weight loss plan.

Whatever people might think, it's not all about calories. Vegans have limited choice of foods to choose from, and their meals are often based on whole grains, soy products and dairy substitutes. All these foods have certain amount of calories, yes, but also valuable vitamins and minerals. Finding enough sources of protein is also really important.

So, vegans need to find sources of minerals, vitamins and protein, and some foods that contain valuable substances also contain higher percentages of carbs. Carbohydrates are actually sugar, or became blood sugar once your body transform them to glucose, to be able to use it as a fuel for daily processes. This way you end up consuming too much carbs, including hidden carbs.

Your body is set up to use glucose as a primary source of fuel. When you want to lose weight, you have to cut calorie intake, to force your body to use its reserves. Glucose reserves are small, and they will be soon gone and the body will start using fat reserves. Unfortunately, it will use fats from all areas of the body, but not so much those placed on your belly, because that's how it works.

If you cut the carbs, your body will soon spend all glucose reserves, and you will force it to search for another source. This is when it will start using fat reserves, transforming the fats into fat acids. This state is also called ketosis, and it is great for losing weight, especially from your belly and similar areas. It might be simple for people eating all foods. But, it might be hard for vegans to stick to it.

The whole idea is to eat predominantly fats, while cutting carbohydrates, and to also consume adequate amounts of protein. So, the source of fat is easy to find. This may include vegetable oils, primarily olive and coconut oil, soaked seeds, avocado and, of course, nuts. When it comes to other foods, for example vegetables, you have to choose those with low percentage of carbs only.

As an example of these low carb vegetables, you can eat lettuce, kale, spinach, broccoli, garlic, cauliflower and, for example, cucumber. You should also stop eating fruits, especially bananas, and you have to exclude all sweeteners and sugars. Tubers, grains and legumes are also forbidden.

So, what can you eat while on keto. You can eat milk substitutes and vegan meats, but be careful not to get too much carbs when you add it all together. Learn more about hidden carbs in different foods first, and organize your meals to get 35 to 50 grams of carbs max. Try to base it mostly on leafy greens, and make sure you are getting enough minerals and vitamins.




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