I’ve worked with quite a number of overweight vegetarians and help them lose weight vegetarian style effectively. My method is very simple. Find out the causes of your overweight problem and then work reverse to counteract the effect. Simply put, if there are things you’re doing to gain weight, there must be things you can do to lose back the weight again. Let’s go identify what exactly triggers your weight gain and turn you into an overweight vegetarian. Then from there, we’ll apply the right medicine to cure your fat problem, and lose weight vegetarian easily and safely.

1. Have You Been Eating Lots of Sweetened Food?

Most sweetened foods are created with refined sugar. Your body will need to use up 27 key nutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B1, B2 etc) just to digest this little white devil. These 27 nutrients are actually meant to keep your metabolism functioning properly so as to help you maintain your weight. That’s why those who eat lots of high-sugar food tend to have their midsection grow unstoppably.

Tip: Substitute with vegetarian foods made from unrefined sugar since it contains useful minerals, unlike simple sugar which carries nothing good for you but calories. However, control your intake even though it’s unrefined because unrefined sugar also carries high calories.

2. Did You Eat Plenty of Vegetables?

I’ve seen overweight vegetarians eating fruits, nuts and seeds and other whole grain foods, except vegetables. They don’t eat vegetables probably because they don’t like its bland taste and texture. No doubt these people lose weight vegetarian initially, but they soon reach a weight loss plateau for not getting a full spectrum of nutrients.

Tip: Include vegetables by blending with fruits into smoothies for easier consumption. Make it a 2:3 ratio.

3. Have You Been Eating Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)?

TVP is helpful in transitioning to a full vegetarian. However, ingesting too much can increase your total caloric intake because most TVP foods are infused with simple sugar, sodium and bad saturated fat.

Tip: Try to phase out your TVP one by one and increase your whole food intake like fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, legumes, whole grains etc.

These are just the 3 common fattening causes for most overweight vegetarians. In a nutshell, to lose weight vegetarian effectively, you must control your calorie intake and boost your metabolism. Once you have these 2 elements in place, you can easily write your name off the “Overweight Vegetarian Club”.

The HCG hormone for weight loss is a revolutionary concept of reducing weight. Previous to it, our idea of losing weight is limited to performance of rigid daily exercises and not eating much. We believed the combination of the two will surely lead to reduced body weight. Unfortunately, given that most people are too busy making a living or too occupied with TV watching, most efforts often fail to obtain satisfactory results. The HCG hormone because it does away with time-consuming exercise presents overweight people with opportunity to reduce without routine activities being disrupted, something that greatly increases their chances of finally succeeding to eliminate unwanted body fats.

This hormone was discovered by DR. ATW Simeons who worked for years with pregnant women. He observed that the HCG, which stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, helps pregnant break down all the foods they eat into useful nutrients to sustain their bodies and babies. This is the reason why expectant mothers do not gain much weight even if they eat a lot. From this observation, the Doctor conceptualized the idea of using the hormone as a substance for weight reduction.

We become fat because our metabolism is unable to burn all the fats our body takes in. To make matters worse, they are not flushed out of the body but stored instead in unlikely places. The results are double chins, bulging stomachs and thighs. The HCG hormones help reduce weight by helping our metabolic process work like the way it works in pregnant women – efficiently breaking all foods into useful nutrients or flushing wastes out of our systems.

It must be noted, however, that the powers of the HCG hormone cannot work alone. To be useful, it needs the HCG diet specially formulated to activate the hormone and detoxify the body of harmful wastes. We can see easily the purpose of the very low calorie but protein and fiber rich diet – lessen the fats we consume to focus our metabolism on burning accumulated fats and ridding our bodies of waste materials. There is no better way to lose weight fast.

A stigma exists that dairy foods are fattening and concerns are growing as many teenagers, especially females, and young women are not achieving their recommended daily intake of calcium.

The facts

Milk and milk products are by far the most important dietary sources of calcium. Milk and other dairy products serve as the most dependable sources of calcium because they are readily available, relatively low in cost and exist in a wide variety of forms such as milk, cheese, yoghurt and ice-cream.

Also, the calcium in milk is readily absorbed because all milk contains lactose and is fortified with vitamin D, both of which are known to facilitate calcium absorption.

Non-fat milk is a slightly better source of calcium than whole fat milk because the fat portion is replaced by the calcium-rich portion.

The other major nutrients provided by milk and milk based dairy products besides calcium and vitamin D include phosphorus, riboflavin, protein, vitamin B12, zinc and magnesium. They are poor sources of vitamin C and iron.

Current dietary recommendations

Milk, cheese, yoghurt

These foods are notable for their contributions of calcium, riboflavin, protein, vitamin B12 and when fortified, vitamin D and vitamin A. The food pyramid guide recommends the following in relation to the consumption of dairy foods:

• 2 servings per day
• 3 servings per day for teenagers and young adults, pregnant/lactating women, women post menopause

• 4 servings per day for pregnant/lactating teenagers

Dairy products such as butter and cream are milk fats that contain negligible calcium because calcium is not soluble in fat. These are calorie dense foods and should be consumed sparingly, hence their positioning at the apex of the food pyramid.

Recommended daily requirements for calcium are as follows:

• 400-600 mg for young infants (birth-1year)
• 800-1200 mg for children (1-10 years)
• 1200-1500 mg for adolescents and young adults (11-24 years)
• 1000 mg for women 20-25 years old and not on estrogens and women older than 65
• 1200-1500 mg for pregnant and nursing women

There is no scientific evidence that recommended servings of dairy foods such as milk contributes to becoming overweight. Weight loss is achieved by reducing total calorie intake /and or increasing physical activity, and thus dairy foods, especially low/non-fat options can easily be incorporated into this regimen.

Indeed products such as cheddar cheese, whole milk etc. as seen in the table below are more calorie dense than the low/non-fat alternatives. The advantage of such alternatives is that they still provide the same amount of calcium, whilst also providing, vitamin D, etc. in the correct proportions to maximise absorption.

Product/100g Energy (kcal) Fat (g) SFA (g) MUFA (g) PUFA(g) Calcium (mg)

Milk:

Whole Milk 66 3.9 0.1 1.1 0.1 115

Semi-Skimmed Milk 46 1.6 1.0 0.5 Tr 120

Skimmed 33 0.1 2.4 Tr Tr 120

Cheese:

Cheddar 412 34.4 21.7 9.4 1.4 720

Cheddar Reduced Fat 261 15 9.4 4.4 0.4 840

Full Fat Soft 313 31 19.4 9 0.9 110

Medium Fat Soft 179 14.5 9.1 4.2 0.4 N

Yogurt:

Low Fat Plain 56 0.8 0.5 0.2 Tr 190

Low Fat Flavoured 90 0.9 0.5 0.3 0.1 150

Low Fat Fruit 90 0.7 0.4 0.2 Tr 150

Whole Milk Plain 79 3.0 1.7 0.9 0.2 200

Whole Milk Fruit 105 2.8 1.5 0.8 0.2 160

Saturated fat and cholesterol

Foods high in saturated fat tend to raise blood cholesterol. Saturated fat is found in high fat dairy products.

• Saturated fatty acids (SFA’s) raise blood cholesterol.
• Monounsaturated fats (MUFA’s) lower blood cholesterol.
• Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA’s) keep blood cholesterol levels the same
• Dietary cholesterol refers to cholesterol found in food of animal origin only.

It is accused of raising blood cholesterol levels but this is a controversial issue to date.

The relative amount of HDL:LDL is more important than total blood cholesterol.

It is advised that foods with a high proportion of calories from fat should be eliminated or limited in the diet as they are regarded as one of the many causative factors in coronary heart disease, hence the anti-dairy food campaign!