How To Lose Weight As A Vegan Teenager

However, you may find it difficult to lose weight on a vegetarian diet — especially if you’re eating too many refined carbs or highly processed foods.

Other plant-based eating patterns include the flexitarian (which includes some animal foods but is mostly vegetarian) and pescatarian (which includes fish but not meat) diets.

Vegetarian diets typically focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. These foods are rich in fiber, micronutrients, and beneficial plant compounds, and tend to be lower in calories, fat, and protein than animal foods.

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Since this diet emphasizes nutrient-rich foods, it’s linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes, and high blood pressure (

Overeating or choosing too many highly processed foods will provide fewer benefits than a diet based on unrefined, whole plant foods — and may have several downsides.

Summary A vegetarian diet excludes meat, fish, and poultry and mostly focuses on plant foods. It has been linked to weight loss and a reduced risk of chronic diseases, but these benefits depend on which foods you eat.

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Even if you’re filling up on nutritious foods on a vegetarian diet, you may be helping yourself to larger portions than necessary.

Protein can increase fullness by decreasing levels of ghrelin, a hormone that regulates hunger, which may in turn lower your overall calorie intake and boost weight loss (

While your protein needs can be met easily on a vegetarian diet, you may encounter difficulties at first as you eliminate meat from your diet.

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Foods that are high in refined carbs, such as bread, pizza, and pasta, can be easy to overeat on a vegetarian diet.

Foods rich in refined carbs tend to lack fiber and do not curb hunger as much as whole-grain, complex carbs. As a result, they can load you down with excess calories (

What’s more, some studies suggest that refined carbs trigger the release of extra insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar. This may also contribute to weight gain (

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In fact, one study including around 500, 000 adults detected a strong association between higher insulin levels after carb intake and greater body mass index (BMI) (

Vegetarian meals often incorporate nuts, seeds, nut butters, avocados, or coconut. While these foods are incredibly nutritious and filling, they also provide 9 calories per gram — compared with 4 calories per gram of proteins and carbs.

If you’re relying on too many processed foods as part of a vegetarian diet, you may have a hard time losing weight.

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Countless products are technically vegetarian but still harbor unnecessary additives and other unhealthy ingredients. Examples include veggie burgers, meat substitutes, freezer meals, baked goods, packaged desserts, and vegan cheese.

These foods are often packed not only with sodium, highly processed compounds, chemical preservatives, and coloring agents but also calories and added sugars.

In fact, a review linked the intake of ultra-processed foods to an increased risk of obesity, as well as higher LDL (bad) cholesterol and blood pressure levels (

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Summary Some barriers to losing weight on a vegetarian diet include not eating enough protein and relying too heavily on refined carbs, calorie-rich foods, and highly processed items.

A balanced vegetarian diet that emphasizes whole plant foods and limits refined carbs and highly processed products may help you lose weight.

Summary Including protein at all meals, eating plenty of whole foods, and eliminating highly processed items are just a few of the techniques you can use to lose weight on a vegetarian diet.

How To Lose Weight On A Plant Based, Vegan Diet

Summary Eating a variety of non-starchy vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds may help you lose weight on a vegetarian diet.

Summary If you’re looking to lose weight on a vegetarian diet, you should steer clear of highly processed products, refined carbs, and sugary beverages.

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A vegan diet is made up of only plant-based products — no meat, fish, dairy, or eggs (some people also exclude honey). While these diets are still relatively rare, they are becoming more common. Some families or teens choose them for reasons, and it's certainly true that plant-based diets are low in saturated fat and can have other benefits. Some choose them for philosophical reasons — either sustainability, or not wanting to harm animals, or both.

Whatever the reason, it's important to get educated before you begin. You should talk to your doctor, and if possible it's a good idea to also meet with a nutritionist. Because while vegan diets can absolutely be y, there are some nutritional and other issues that can cause trouble if you aren't careful.

Calories. Plant-based foods tend to have fewer calories than animal-based ones. This is not a bad thing, given the current obesity epidemic in the US, but it's important to be sure that children and teens get enough calories to grow and support daily activity. The number of calories a child needs will depend on their age, size, and activity level. Nuts, nut butters, and soy products can help add calories, as can granola and other whole-grain products.

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Protein. Protein is crucial, not just for building muscle but for all sorts of body processes. This is another nutrient that is simply easier to get from animal products, as there is more of it and it is complete, meaning that it has all the amino acid building blocks that humans need. The protein you get from plant products is less accessible to the body and may or may not be complete — and for that reason, people on vegan diets need to eat more protein than those on animal-based diets, to be on the safe side. As with calories, the amount of protein a child needs depends on their age and size. Nuts, legumes (including peanuts), soy products, and whole grains are good sources of protein.

Calcium.Calcium is important, especially for bone . Dairy is the easiest source of calcium, but there are other ways to get it, including foods like kale, bok choy, and broccoli. Many alterna-milks such as soy milk and almond milk are fortified with calcium (and vitamin D), as are some brands of orange juice.

Iron.Iron is important to keep our blood and our bodies y and strong. Fortified cereals and some other plant products have iron, but it's not a bad idea to give your child a multivitamin with iron.

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Vitamin B12. This is another crucial nutrient that can be harder to get on a plant-based diet. While vegans can get it from soy beverages and fortified cereals, it's another reason why a multivitamin is a good idea.

Vitamin D. While the main source of vitamin D is sunshine (really!), most of us don't spend enough time in the sun to get enough of it, and need to get it from our diet. If a child isn't going to get it from fortified dairy products, then a supplement is the way to go. For younger children, the 400 IU that is present in most multivitamins is enough; older children may need more. Talk to your doctor about what is best for your child.

Fiber. This is one thing that vegan diets may actually have too much of, given that plants have a lot of fiber. The most common problem with getting too much fiber is that it can fill you up, making it harder to get enough of the calories and other nutrients you need. Giving children some refined grains like cereals can help, as can giving peeled fruits and cooked vegetables rather than raw.

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It's also helpful to consider the emotional aspects of being on a vegan diet. If your family is not vegan and your child is asking to be, it's important to understand why. The reasons may be perfectly fine and y, but some children, especially teens, choose vegan diets in order to lose weight. If you suspect that your child may have an eating disorder, talk to your doctor.

Being on a restrictive diet can be difficult for some children, too, who may feel different from their peers, or excluded from group eating experiences like birthday parties. This is something that you should think about as parents and talk about as a family. If it's important to you that your child adhere to a vegan diet in all settings, you should talk about strategies for navigating that, both in terms of making sure your child has food to eat in every setting, and in terms of helping them talk about their dietary choices with their friends.

Eating, after all, is about more than just feeding our bodies. Eating can and should be fun, no matter what diet we choose.

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Claire McCarthy, MD, is