Friday, May 13, 2011

How to Lose Weight Fast With a Vegetarian Diet

There's all kinds of research out there that proves that one of the biggest sources of dietary fat in our diets (of the saturated variety no less) are animal products. There's also research that proves that most vegetarians are significantly healthier than their carnivorous counterparts.

When you become a vegetarian, you automatically cut out that source of fat, and that will automatically make a dramatic difference to the number of calories you consume. Less calories, as long as your exercise level stays the same, or increases if you're on a weight loss mission, equals more weight loss.

Cutting meat out of your diet doesn't have to be hard either - especially if you decide to become a lacto ovo vegetarian. You can still eat dairy and eggs, and you can substitute meat with beans, other legumes, tofu, or one of the many commercial vegetarian products out there. There's even vegetarian bacon on the market!

Making the switch to a full vegetarian can be tough though, so you might want to take it in stages, cutting out meat every other day, for instance, and gradually increasing your meat free days.It can also take a little getting used to vegetarian cooking too, but a good recipe book, and a little imagination should see you through. In fact, you probably already know a few recipes that can be altered to be vegetarian.

If you're planning to give it a try, make sure you prepare yourself first. Visit the vegetarian aisle in the supermarket, and stock up on vegetarian friendly goodies. Buy spices and herbs that you can experiment with. Try a few meat free dinners, to see how it goes, or visit a vegetarian restaurant, to see what the pros are cooking.

One thing is for sure though - as long as you don't use unhealthy cooking methods like frying, and as long as you don't smother everything with cheese, you will lose weight, fast! I know that's a fact, because I spend a year as a vegetarian, and it's the only time in my life that I can honestly say I didn't have to worry about my weight at all!

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