Vegetarians?

Its not true that you can eat as much fruits and veggies as you want and not gain weight. However it is harder to gain weight while eating tons of fruits and veggies. Fruits and veggies are lower in calories than other foods so you become full on fewer calories.

I tend to disagree. You can gain weight if you eat more calories than you burn over an extended period of time. However, because vegetables are less calorie dense, you can eat more of them than you can other food. Your body needs fat and protein to function as well, and there are trace amounts of these nutrients in some vegetables. But I hardly believe that would be enough. You must add beans, soy, tofu, lentils, etc to a vegetarian diet to make sure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs.

Most people can't survive on just fruits and vegetables for an extended period of time.

Still, it's good to have them make up the majority of what you eat. 75% maybe.

I'm vegetarian and I have done occasional vegan fasts, but I never cut out everything except produce.

"no matter how many fruits or veg you eat in a day, if that's all you eat, you'll lose weight"

I see the common-sense in this line of thinking - nobody ever got fat by over-eating on fresh snap peas and apples!

But I do know "overweight vegetarians." The issue comes down to (again!) "highly processed/refined" carbs, "junk" food. There are plenty of vegetarian "junk" options.

"Carbohydrates do not make you gain weight. I don't know what it is with what's going around these days that says "carbs" are evil..."

I definitely agree with what you are saying, that "carbs" are not inherently evil, and are simply "nutrients," and a calorie of carbs won't add any more or less fat to your body than a calorie of protein or a calorie of fat.

The thing is, at least in the "typical north american diet," it's the TYPE of carbs we consume (refined/highly processed), and the WAY we consume them (in massive portion sizes, and often used as a conduit for excessive amounts of fat, salt and sugar) that gives them their "evil overtones."

Of course, it doesn't do anybody any good to demonize "carbs" - but it does seem to be slow going to get the message across that there really are "good carbs" (beans, legumes, whole grains, fruit, veg) and "junk carbs" (refined sugar, highly processed "snack foods," etc.)!

I did what is called a "Daniel Fast" at the beginning of the year , which is a strict vegan diet. I felt great and lost weight, but it's pretty hard to stick to. It's funny, the first two weeks aren't bad, it's the last week that gets you! Anyways, I am now following the vegetarian meal plan that SparkPeople offers. It's a lot of fruits, vegies, whole grains and legumes. I feel great and am losing! The only thing that I am doing a bit different is eating the evening snack as an afternoon snack while at work. It seems to get me through to dinner. Yesterday for example it was baby carrots and almonds. Also, some of the meals have too much food, so I break them up into two smaller meals. This has been helping me eat enough and still feel full. Even if I have a healthy snack after dinner I am able to stay within my calorie range. Good luck!

I think I watched the same documentary. Vegucated or Forks over Knives maybe....I think this included beans and legumes. It was advocating a plant based diet and the point was because these foods are not calorie dense you will feel full for less calories. Much of the typical american diet is made up of calorie dense foods and processed specifically to be calorie dense by the food manufacturers as a marketing scheme.....it was very eye opening really. I'm not ready to go vegetarian or vegan but I think I could do a 2/3 vege fruit beans at least. I'm already eating a Lot less meat then I was when I started a month ago simply because I find I'm more satisfied this way for fewer calories...

Edited by: 8HEATHER at: 3/5/2013 (13:12)

That really doesn't sounds good... ONLY fruit and vegetables?

So beans/legumes etc? No soy such as tofu which a lot of vegetarians use as a protein source (and non-vegetarians!) No dairy? (ok vegans are fine without this, but most vegetarians eat it).

If it really is only fruit and veg, thats a faddy diet to be steering clear of.

There ARE raw "Fruitarians" but their health claims are dubious at best, and they have to take supplements... that answers wether it really is healthy or not.

Carbohydrates do not make you gain weight. I don't know what it is with what's going around these days that says "carbs" are evil, don't eat them. They're just nutrients, 4 calories per gram the same as proteins, and less than half that of fats. Virtually all of the calories in almost everything that people refer to as fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes -- all carbohydrates. Most of the nutrients -- vitamins and minerals -- in food we eat comes from these things as well.

You could definitely gain weight eating nothing but fruits and vegetables if you were dedicated enough to it, it's just that these foods aren't generally calorie-dense enough to make it easy.

That is sort of true. Here is the thing. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. If you eat less calories than you take in, whether they are carbs or anything else, you will lose weight. Vegetables and fruits do not have a high calorie or fat content. (There are exceptions, but I digress). It is very easy to fill up on fruits or vegetables and have eaten very little calories, and I think that was to what the documentary was alluding. For example, I have been eating grilled chicken salads that I make with lots of veggies. There are less calories in that than in some meals that I could easily eat, but I feel full when I am finished eating it. If you would like to be a vegetarian, I wish you well. My sister is a pescatarian (or pesca-vegetarian, they eat fish, eggs, etc.) and she enjoys it. I was a pescatarian for a few years many years ago. I would end up craving steaks and such. I don't eat much red meat now, but I don't cut it out. Do some research and try it out. However, I don't think that most people can happily stick with a vegetarian diet if it is purely for diet. Most vegetarians/vegans I know do it based on how they feel meat is, and think it isn't humane.

So I was watching a documentary the other day and they said that no matter how many fruits or veg you eat in a day, if that's all you eat, you'll lose weight. How is this possible if so many of them are full of carbs? I know good carbs from bad but this just doesn't make sense?