My best friend follows a vegan diet plan, and has been insisting I do the same!:-) As a meat lover, I would think twice about a vegan diet plan, but it's benefits cannot be overlooked.
Vegetarians with a balanced diet that is low in fat and high in fiber tend to have lower incidence of coronary artery disease, hypertension, obesity and some forms of cancer. Meat-eaters are more likely to be overweight than vegetarians and vegans.
Since a vegan diet plan does not contain animal fats, it is, be default, a low fat diet plan. It is therefore higher in complex carbohydrates relative to plans that include meat. This is definitely an advantage, but a vegan diet plan must be delicately balanced to provide the right combination and variety of protein, fats and certain minerals such as iron.
A balanced vegan diet plan follows the same principles as any healthy eating plan, with an emphasis on certain foods.
Grains and cereals such as wholegrain bread, brown rice, wholewheat pasta, muesli.
Legumes, nuts and seeds including soya beans. kidney beans, split peas, lentils, almonds, cashews, sesame seeds.
Variety of fruits and vegetables.
Fat free or low fat dairy and soy products.
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Origin of the vegan diet plan.
A vegan diet plan has its routes in ‘Hinduism’, and has been common in the Indian subcontinent, since possibly the 2nd millennium BC. Incidentally, I am a Hindu and was born and raised in India, but I eat meat. For many Hindus, a vegan diet plan is a textually-advocated belief in ahimsa (nonviolence), to avoid indulgences (as meat was considered an indulgence), and to reduce bad karmic influences. Hinduism preaches that it is the ideal diet for spiritual progress.
Recent scientific reviews of vegan diets.
A scientific review in the April 2006 edition of Nutrition Reviews shows that a vegetarian diet is highly effective for weight loss.
Vegetarian populations tend to be slimmer than meat-eaters, and they experience lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other life-threatening conditions linked to overweight and obesity.
Rates of obesity in the general population are skyrocketing, while in vegetarians, obesity prevalence ranges from 0 percent to 6 percent, note the study authors Susan E. Berkow, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Neal D. Barnard, M.D., of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).
The authors found that the body weight of both male and female vegetarians is, on average, 3 percent to 20 percent lower than that of meat-eaters.
Keeping exercise constant, researchers found that a low-fat vegan diet leads to weight loss of about 1 pound per week, even without additional exercise or limits on portion sizes, calories, or carbohydrates.
Think about this for a moment.
"Our research reveals that people can enjoy unlimited portions of high-fiber foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to achieve or maintain a healthy body weight without feeling hungry," says Dr. Berkow, the lead author.
"There is evidence that a vegan diet causes an increased calorie burn after meals, meaning plant-based foods are being used more efficiently as fuel for the body, as opposed to being stored as fat," says Dr. Barnard.
"Insulin sensitivity is increased by a vegan diet plan, allowing nutrients to more rapidly enter the cells of the body to be converted to heat rather than to fat."
This amazing research is the fundamental principle behind some successful weight loss plans, such as the Weight Watchers Core Plan.
More support for the vegan diet plan.
The American Dietetic Association (ADA), the largest organization of nutrition professionals, states on its website "Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals."
Studies show that a vegetarian mother's breast milk has significantly lower levels of pesticide residue than a non-vegetarian's.
It was believed that vegetable protein sources lack one or more of the essential amino acids, and are hence incomplete sources of protein.
However, the body's requirement for essential amino acids now appears to be less important than researchers once believed. Also, the low fat, high fiber nature of a vegan diet plan is significantly more important that the need for 'complete proteins' from a nutritional perspective.
In addition, vegetarians with a varied diet (beans, diary products, tofu) tend to obtain all essential amino acids by combining several 'incomplete' proteins, without the associated fat intake in a meat diet.
Points to consider in a vegan diet plan.
A small drawback of the vegetarian diet is that it does not include fish and seafood, a major source of Omega 3 fatty acids, the producers of good eicosanoids.
However, plant-based sources of omega 3 fats do exist in soy, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, canola oil and, especially, hempseed and flaxseed.
I highly recommend vegans to consume a fish oil supplement (produced synthetically, so it is not an animal product) as part of a vegan diet plan.
It has been suggested that vegans do not get enough iron or calcium, but the ADA refutes this.
Vitamin B12 and zinc can be obtained from fortified milks (including soy milk), spinach, brocolli and fortified cereals.
Don't consider a vegan diet plan as a quick fix.
If you give up meat for a couple of weeks, it's likely that you will lose a few pounds.
Resuming your meat intake will, however, lead to weight gain. This is 'yo-yo' dieting, which I never recommend.
You could end up gaining more weight than you lost in the first place.
The solution is simple. Cut out meats for 2 weeks, then slowly resume meat intake, but with smaller servings.
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