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Lose Weight… Vegetarian Style

By WLR Dietitian, Juliette Kellow BSc RD

Turning vegetarian is often promoted as being a ‘healthier’ way to lose weight and stay in shape. But cutting meat out of your diet will not automatically make you slimmer. In fact there are some risk factors you need to be aware of as processed vegetarian foods can still be packed with calories and nutritional nasties such as fat, saturates, added sugars and salt – and may lack important vitamins and minerals.

So just how can you guarantee that a meat-free diet will be healthier and help you shift those pounds? WLR comes to the rescue and answers some of your burning questions…

Q: How can I make sure I lose weight vegetarian style?

A: Regardless of whether or not you eat meat, to shift those excess pounds you need to take in fewer calories than you use up. This means your body will have to use its fat stores to provide it with the energy it needs. The best way to achieve this calorie deficit is to reduce your overall calorie intake and increase the amount of calories you burn by doing more exercise. To guarantee weight loss, you’ll need to make sure you stick to the daily calorie allowance recommended by WLR – regardless of whether you follow a veggie diet or eat meat.

A vegetarian balanced diet can be as good as a meat-based diet

More information about vegetarian calorie control

Nutritional facts about a low calorie vegetarian diet

Suggested vegetarian weight loss meal plan

More on vegetarianism:

http://www.vegsoc.org

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