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Cutting out meat from your diet can have a beneficial effect on your health and well-being, but it does not guarantee weight loss. A vegetarian diet, which is based on plant-based dishes, is indeed characterized by low caloric density, but many people - especially those starting their adventure with this type of nutrition - compensate for meat with an increased amount of simple carbohydrates and fatty dairy products. What can you do to avoid making such a mistake and effectively reduce your weight?
Calorie deficit on a vegan diet
Every weight loss diet is based on the same proven principle – to lose weight, you need to provide your body with fewer calories than you burn during the day. It is assumed that this deficit should be around 500 kcal. This allows for safe weight loss at a rate of around 0.3–0.5 kg per week. In the case of a vegetarian diet, which excludes meat and fish, the key issue is to control the amount of simple carbohydrates and fats consumed, mainly from dairy products. White bread, wheat pasta, pizza, sweets and cheese are products that are best avoided with caution.
Fruits can also be a trap, as they are a source of many vitamins and fiber, as well as a large calorie bomb - 100g of dates is as much as 277 kcal, and 100g of banana is about 100 kcal! Therefore, you should be careful with all kinds of juices and fruit cocktails, which, despite their health benefits, can ruin your efforts for a slimmer figure.
It is safest to choose juices that contain mainly vegetables, with fruit being only an addition. You should also be careful with nuts, which have a very high caloric density. By following a vegetarian diet based on plant products, you provide your body with large doses of a very useful ingredient in the process of losing weight, namely fiber [1] , which provides a quick sense of satiety, accelerates intestinal peristalsis and limits the absorption of fats. To feel its positive effects, however, you should remember to drink an appropriate amount of fluids (about 2 liters per day).
What products should form the basis of a vegetarian reducing diet?
- Vegetables – in addition to their health benefits (nutrient content), their undeniable advantage is also the relatively small number of calories, which allows you to fill your plate with a large dose of food with low energy value. However, it should be remembered that not all vegetables can be consumed in large quantities with impunity – potatoes, avocado, corn and legumes are characterized by high calorific value.
- Fruits – in the case of reducing diets, it is good to reach for berries and those that contain large amounts of water (e.g. strawberries, watermelon), and rather avoid bananas, grapes or raisins, which contain a lot of calories.
- Complex carbohydrates – guarantee satiety and a large dose of fiber, so when composing meals it is worth including products such as millet, buckwheat, whole grain pasta, brown rice or whole grain bread.
- Vegetable unsaturated fats – found in olive oil, nuts, seeds and rapeseed oil.
- Dairy - provides the body with protein necessary for its proper functioning. When reaching for products of this type, remember to choose those with a limited amount of fat, e.g. yogurt, kefir, buttermilk or cottage cheese (low-fat or semi-fat). Yellow cheese, blue cheese, full-fat milk and cream should definitely be put aside.
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