A vegan diet can help with weight loss, since it offers so many delicious, healthful, and low-calorie choices.
Becoming vegan eliminates many of the most calorically dense and unhealthful foods that people commonly eat: hamburgers, fried chicken, ice cream, and so forth. It’s therefore not surprising that obesity rates among vegans are far lower than among the general population. So, if you’re looking to shed extra pounds, a well-planned vegan diet can make enormous sense.
What’s more, if your desire to lose weight is connected to health conditions like diabetes or heart disease, a vegan diet may help you on these fronts as well. Type 2 diabetes often improves as a person eliminates excess body weight. And since a vegan diet tends to contain much less saturated fat than does a typical omnivorous diet, going vegan can be a great choice for people suffering from heart disease.
Low-Calorie Vegan Foods
Here are some healthy and delicious vegan foods that contain remarkably few calories:
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Rice Cakes & Nonfat Rice Crackers
- Salads (use oily dressings sparingly)
- Roasted Vegetables
- Oatmeal
- Most Soups (Watch for Sodium)
- Vegan Yogurt
Popular Vegan Weight Loss Books
- Happy Herbivore: Light & Clean, Lindsay S. Nixon
- 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart, Neil D. Barnard, MD
- Appetite for Reduction, Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Note that no matter what diet you follow, it’s wise to read up on nutrition. For vegans the best general nutrition book is Vegan for Life.
