Many weight-loss diets lack vital nutrients to sustain and nourish your body. Vegetarian diets are an effective way to reduce your weight and increase your health, according to the American Dietetic Association. But as you shift from a meat-eating diet, make sure you get a variety of dark leafy vegetables, which are important sources of iron and zinc.
Raw Food Diet
A raw food diet is a quick way to lose weight. Of all the vegetarian diets, the raw food diet has the fewest calories and least saturated fat. For this diet, exclude all meats, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs and any animal-derived foods. Do not eat refined carbohydrates. Exclude foods that are cooked above 118 degrees F and processed foods. You will be left with raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, sprouted grains and legumes.
Make a paste from mashed sprouted grains and seeds and seasonings. Spread it thinly onto parchment paper and place it in a dehydrator to make raw crackers. Raw food proponent Philip McClusky recommends fruit and vegetable smoothies. Use fresh apples, a combination of dark greens such as spinach, collard greens and kale, filtered water and ice for a lightly sweet veggie smoothie. Add raw, complete proteins such as one to two tablespoons of ground flaxseeds, chia and hemp seeds.
Vegan
Eat a vegan diet if a raw food diet is too strict, but you still want to follow a vegetarian diet conducive to losing weight. The vegan diet is similar to the raw food diet, because you exclude all food products that have any association with animals. Strict vegans even exclude honey. But you can eat cooked foods. If you follow this diet, be careful to focus on eating vegetables, and minimize refined pastas and breads to maximize your weight loss.
Ovo-Vegetarian
An ovo-vegetarian diet is not as strict as a vegan diet, because it includes eggs. Eggs are low in calories, having only 70 calories each. Do not eat more than one egg a day, because they are high in cholesterol. A balanced vegetarian diet can be far healthier than most quick-weight-loss diets, because of its high content of vitamins and minerals, according to the American Dietetic Association. "The Journal of Medicine" says that a vegetarian or vegan diet can help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. This diet excludes dairy, which is helpful in reducing your consumption of saturated fat, making for faster weight loss.
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