A Low Carb Diet for Vegetarians

If you are following a low carb vegetarian diet to lose weight, the same principles apply. You need to move more, watch what you eat and eat less. A combination of more exercise and less food will shift those pounds faster than following an exercise or diet program alone.

Following a vegetarian diet can leave you low in certain essential vitamins and minerals. It is not uncommon to be low in iron and B vitamins. You may need to take a supplement. There are plenty of vegan and vegetarian brands available.

People sometimes believe that following a vegetarian diet will lead to weight loss. Whilst this can happen it really depends on what you eat. Some vegetarians have weight issues as they eat a lot of high fat cheese and other dairy products.

Just like non vegetarians, they may like their curries and their takeaways not to mention cakes and biscuits. Don’t just assume that because they eat more vegetables they are healthier.

Properly following a low carb vegetarian diet will lead to better health as your cholesterol will benefit and your skin will love the additional fruit and vegetables. But you cannot just eat apples and salads. You need to make sure that you eat a variety of different food sources in order to replace those vitamins and minerals normally found in animal products.

The real benefit that vegetarians are likely to have over their non vegetarian dieters is that they already read labels very closely. This means that you are more likely to spot hidden fats and sugars and thus avoid them. Also most vegetarians cook more at home as the availability of readymade pure vegetarian meals is more limited. Cooking at home allows you to avoid the bad fats and salt that are added to packaged meals to make them last longer on the supermarket shelves.

Vegetarians tend to eat soya already as a substitute for either dairy products or protein. Soya has been proved so beneficial that most diet experts suggest we should all be eating more. An amount of 25g of soya per day may provide additional health benefits.

Eating more fruit and vegetables is not likely to be problem for most vegetarians although a couple would benefit from increasing the variety and colors they eat. Green leafy vegetables such as Kale and Broccoli will help you to get the nutrients you need.

When following a low carb vegetarian diet, you need to follow similar principles to all other dieters. Cut the fizzy drinks and the alcohol out of your diet until you reach your weight loss goal. Eating whole fruits or vegetables is much better for your diet and your teeth than drinking fruit juices.

Cut back on tea and coffee and if you add milk try using skimmed milk. Skimmed milk contains more calcium and fewer calories than the full fat version.

Eat dairy products if your principles allow you to but opt for low fat to complement your low carb vegetarian diet.