Vegetarian diets are best for weight loss/ healthy hearts

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  • ImSoSoCalSummer
    ImSoSoCalSummer Posts: 1 Member
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    No, a vegetarian diet isn't always more healthy. My boyfriend and I have tried going vegetarian several different times. When we pre-planned and stuck to hanging out at home, it was great. We both lost weight (which was put back on down the road) and felt great. The second time we did this, we were both busy for work and on the go. Most of the 'on the go' options meant eating the same salad all the time when we went out to eat or eating anything fried or filled with gluten. If you aren't used to so many carbs, you can very easily bloat.

    Can you substitute Seafood for your typical meat intake? Most fish and shell food (assuming you are not allergic) are lower in calories, provide great protein, and don't include lots of fat or mercury dependent on the type you eat.

    Just remember - Everything in moderation. Unless you are actually seeing someone who specializes in nutrition and how eating actually effects the body, doctors actually receive very little training in the effects of food.
  • wolfsbayne
    wolfsbayne Posts: 3,116 Member
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    1Luv0110 wrote: »
    Or are they??

    I am a die hard meat eater, but since having high cholesterol and other health issues I have been instructed to go on a no meat diet for 3 months to help my body get on track. Are vegetarians more healthy?
    my doctor feels that instead of putting me on cholesterol medication I can stop eating meat and high fatty foods for a while.
    Instead of me taking a bunch of other pills to help w/ nutrition I can see a dietician for healthy vegetarian and full of veggie recipes.

    Anyone change their lifestyle and become a vegetarian for weight loss or heart health reasons?
    Will I be healthier by changing what I eat?


    I had high cholesterol, but was never instructed to go on a no meat diet. I googled heart healthy diets and ate lots of fish, chicken and veggies. I began walking and within 3 months, I had lost 30 lbs and reduced my total cholesterol from 211 to 161. I reduced my red meat intake to once a week. That was my experience.
  • truelight_photo_craig
    truelight_photo_craig Posts: 347 Member
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    Sweets1954 wrote: »
    No one "diet" is best for weight lose or health. The best diet is one that you can stick to and maintain for a life time. There are more healthy choices a person can make than others as well as eating at a calorie deficit. The issue with a vegetarian diet is the difficulty for getting adequate protein. If you can maintain that way of life for the rest of your life, more power to you.

    Agree...


  • jeneticir
    jeneticir Posts: 21 Member
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    I am vegan- have been for years and my body has never been healthier. It's easier to build muscle and get definition now. My husband went vegan shortly after I did because his doctor wanted to put him on cholesterol meds, he went back after three months of being vegan and his cholesterol was fixed. We don't get colds or the flu anymore to boot. Check out documentaries such as Forks Over Knives and Vegucated. Animal products are not good food for humans at all. I also have two vegan teenagers who are growing up healthy and happy- we all have excellent blood work and can get all the nutrients we need from plant based foods. I totally recommend a vegan diet, it rocks.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    edited July 2015
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    jeneticir wrote: »
    I am vegan- have been for years and my body has never been healthier. It's easier to build muscle and get definition now. My husband went vegan shortly after I did because his doctor wanted to put him on cholesterol meds, he went back after three months of being vegan and his cholesterol was fixed. We don't get colds or the flu anymore to boot. Check out documentaries such as Forks Over Knives and Vegucated. Animal products are not good food for humans at all. I also have two vegan teenagers who are growing up healthy and happy- we all have excellent blood work and can get all the nutrients we need from plant based foods. I totally recommend a vegan diet, it rocks.


    Uh, what now?
  • Azexas
    Azexas Posts: 4,334 Member
    edited July 2015
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    jeneticir wrote: »
    I am vegan- have been for years and my body has never been healthier. It's easier to build muscle and get definition now. My husband went vegan shortly after I did because his doctor wanted to put him on cholesterol meds, he went back after three months of being vegan and his cholesterol was fixed. We don't get colds or the flu anymore to boot. Check out documentaries such as Forks Over Knives and Vegucated. Animal products are not good food for humans at all. I also have two vegan teenagers who are growing up healthy and happy- we all have excellent blood work and can get all the nutrients we need from plant based foods. I totally recommend a vegan diet, it rocks.

    I 100% respect people who are vegan. Our ancestors have been eating meat for 1,000s of years, how exactly is eating meat unhealthy?
  • FaylinaMeir
    FaylinaMeir Posts: 661 Member
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    it depends on the person.

    For me I followed a vegetarian/vegan diet for 5 odd years and ended up worse in the end. I did it the "right" way with whole food and I didn't eat faux meat products and etc.
    For me moderation is the key, I eat some meat now but I didn't start eating a pound a day when I gave up being vegetarian. I'm much healthier for it.

    EVERYONE is different. There is no one right answer.
  • itsbakertime
    itsbakertime Posts: 85 Member
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    Vegetarian diets are only good for the things you mentioned if you are careful and prudent about eating well balanced meals. I was vegetarian for a little over a year and I gained 35lbs! I was not good at eating balanced meals, so it didn't work well for me. I have since gone back to eating protein on a low carb diet. I have energy and I am satisfied. It works much better for me personally (even though I morally still feel iffy about it). It really depends on how you eat within that diet. Nothing is one size fits all.
  • SailorKnightWing
    SailorKnightWing Posts: 875 Member
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    Of 21 meals per week, I eat meat at probably 5 of them. I also don't eat a lot of eggs or dairy, nor do I eat a lot of animal fats (all just due to personal preference). I'm a 27 year old woman. My cholesterol is borderline high.

    Reducing your meat intake might help your cholesterol, and it certainly won't hurt it, but don't expect miracles. Some of us just have high cholesterol.
  • ColoradoGrl
    ColoradoGrl Posts: 15 Member
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    There is a big range in "healthy" among vegetarians... I eat little red meat, poultry and fish a couple times a week, and lots of protein-rich legumes. But, I also eat a lot of lower fat (though NOT "no-fat") dairy, mainly in the form of yogurt. If you read the literature on reducing cholesterol and LDL as well as reducing BP, a diet rich in legumes and high-fiber fruits and vegetables while INCREASING DAILY EXERCISE has shown to be highly effective. That doesn't have to be at the total expense of some moderate amount of meat/fish with healthier fats. In fact those who are the strictest vegetarians often struggle to get enough and adequate protein in the diet and which can lead to increased loss of muscle tissue--something we all struggle with as we age (or diet). Definitely not a good thing from the standpoint of preserving strength, metabolism, and healthy bones...
  • ZyheeMoongazer
    ZyheeMoongazer Posts: 343 Member
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    A couple semesters ago I wrote a research paper on Vegeterianism. Once section was regarding the health benefits.
    The benefits to personal health has been studied extensively. The troublesome part of considering this benefit is that each of us is different, and there will always be outliers in any research study. No study or research can definitively claim that their findings will be true across all of humanity. What works for me, may not work for you. For the sake of this discussion, we will limit our considerations to include individuals of average health and with no special medical circumstances, unless otherwise called out by the research under review. Studies have shown that vegetarian diets have many health benefits, such as reducing the risks for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high cholesterol (Plant Based Diet).
    According to the American Diabetes Association type 2 diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States (Statistics About Diabetes). A study published in Diabetes Care journal, found that the rate of diabetes ranged from 2.9% in vegans to 7.6% in non-vegetarians, with lacto-ovo vegetarians reporting at 3.2%. In addition to evaluating the rate of diabetes, this study also examined the prevalence of obesity in the research subjects. Again, vegans had the lowest average BMI and non-vegetarians the higher of those included in the study, lacto-ovo vegetarians falling in the middle. (Tonstad)
    Heart disease and high cholesterol are commonly linked with each other. Did you know that when doctors test your cholesterol level, they are actually measuring three things? High-density lipoproteins – HDL or “good” cholesterol – low-density lipoproteins – LDL or “bad” cholesterol– and triglycerides - TG. In a meta-analysis that included results from 12 studies, researchers found that there was no significant difference in HDL levels in vegetarians and non-vegetarians (Zhang). Additionally, in a Brazilian study it was found that vegetarians had a significantly lower LDL and TG levels than non-vegetarians, the lowest of the group being vegans. Low HDL levels, along with high LDL and TG levels can result in buildup in your arteries leading to heart disease (De Biase). Since a vegetarian diet can lower LDL and TG, while allowing HDL levels to remain consistent, vegetarians are at lower risk for heart disease and high cholesterol over those who have mirror diets, less the meat.
    This is not to say that every vegetarians is the picture of health. Just as there are meat eaters who are in excellent health, there are vegetarians who are not. A bad diet is a bad diet, whether it includes meat or not. Wherever an individual’s diet may fall on the vegetarian spectrum, it needs to be balanced, including all the vitamins, minerals and nutrient required for optimal health. This research simply shows that reducing or eliminating meat from your diet may have additional benefits, not that every vegetarian diet is healthy. If an individual is already eating a healthy balances diet, taking the extra step to reduce their meat consumption can help them realized additional health benefits.

    Being a research paper, the above information comes form scholarly sources. Below is my full works cites list for the entire paper. Above is just the excerpt from the healthy benefit section.
    Works Cited
    "Agriculture." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
    Anderson, Will. “Vegan Human Ecology.” Vegetarian Voice Perspective on Healthy, Compassionate, Ecological Living. N.p. 2014 Print Oct 2014
    Chambers, Phillip G., and Temple Grandin. "Guidelines for Humane Handling, Transport and Slaughter of Livestock." FAO Corporate Document Repository. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
    De Biase, Simone G., Sabrina F. Carrocha Fernandes, Reinaldo J. Gianini, and João L. Garcia Duarte. "Arquivos Brasileiros De Cardiologia - Vegetarian Diet and Cholesterol and Triglycerides Levels." Arquivos Brasileiros De Cardiologia - Vegetarian Diet and Cholesterol and Triglycerides Levels. Arq. Bras. Cardiol., 28 Dec. 2005. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
    "Factory Farming: Cruelty to Animals." PETA. N.p., 2014. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
    "Meet Your Meat." PETA Meet Your Meat. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
    "Plant-Based Diet: Benefits for Heart Health." WebMD. WebMD, 2014. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.
    "Statistics About Diabetes." American Diabetes Association. N.p., 2014. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
    Stehfast, Elke. "Climate Benefits of Changing Diet." Climate Change (2006): n. pag. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
    Steinfeld, Henning, Pierre Gerber, Tom Wassenaar, Vincent Castel, Mauricio Rosales, and Cees De Haan. "Livestock's Long Shadow Environmental Issues and Options." Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2006): n. pag. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.
    Tonstad, Serena, MD, PHD, Terry Butler, DRPH, Ru Yan, MSC, and Gary E. Fraser, MD, PHD. "Type of Vegetarian Diet, Body Weight, and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes." Diabetes Care 32.5 (2009): 791-96. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
    United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change. "Investment and Financial Flows to Address Climate Change." (n.d.): n. pag. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Oct. 2007. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
    Zhang, Zili, et al. "Comparison Of Vegetarian Diets And Omnivorous Diets On Plasma Level Of HDL-C: A Meta-Analysis." Plos ONE 9.3 (2014): 1-7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.
  • Erica262
    Erica262 Posts: 226 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Hi! I am not a doctor so I can only tell you my personal experience, but I am mostly a vegetarian (technically a pescatarian) and am the only person in my family who does not have high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol. I became a vegetarian specifically to avoid those issues and so far it seems to be working. I am also an avid runner/jogger, so that may have something to do with it as well. However, I am still overweight. This is from eating more calories than I burn. The pizza and beer diet is vegetarian friendly.

    If you do decide to go (mostly) vegetarian/vegan and need a supportive friend, feel free to send me a friend request.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
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    jeneticir wrote: »
    I am vegan- have been for years and my body has never been healthier. It's easier to build muscle and get definition now. My husband went vegan shortly after I did because his doctor wanted to put him on cholesterol meds, he went back after three months of being vegan and his cholesterol was fixed. We don't get colds or the flu anymore to boot. Check out documentaries such as Forks Over Knives and Vegucated. Animal products are not good food for humans at all. I also have two vegan teenagers who are growing up healthy and happy- we all have excellent blood work and can get all the nutrients we need from plant based foods. I totally recommend a vegan diet, it rocks.

    This is awesome!! But it isn't proof that you or your husband couldn't have similar results if you'd adjusted your diet but still included meat.
  • techgal128
    techgal128 Posts: 719 Member
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    I got so fat and sick from eating junk food despite the fact I'm vegetarian. You can modify almost all junk food to not include meat (extra cheese anyone?) so it's just as unhealthy.

    However, what's interesting is despite the fact I ate a bunch of fast food and fried stuff (for example Taco Bell 6 days a week), my cholesterol never went above normal. If you have cholesterol issues, going vegetarian is a good way to go. Even if it's just a few days out of the week.

    To lose weight though? Nah.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Eating less and moving more will cause weight loss and a healthy heart. Eat a balanced diet, whether you eat meat or no.

    I was vegetarian for eight years. I lost weight and maintained that loss on it, but I developed Hashimoto's. After gaining weight for the last six years (even after starting Synthroid last October) I went back to eating meat. Three days into it and I had far more energy and felt a ton better than I have in a long time. But it's the Hashimoto's that's the problem. Being vegetarian wasn't compatible with it (for me -- YMMV).

    I know skinny, healthy vegetarians and fat, unhealthy ones. And I know skinny, healthy and fat, unhealthy meat-eaters.
  • accidentalpancake
    accidentalpancake Posts: 484 Member
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    jeneticir wrote: »
    I am vegan- have been for years and my body has never been healthier. It's easier to build muscle and get definition now. My husband went vegan shortly after I did because his doctor wanted to put him on cholesterol meds, he went back after three months of being vegan and his cholesterol was fixed. We don't get colds or the flu anymore to boot. Check out documentaries such as Forks Over Knives and Vegucated. Animal products are not good food for humans at all. I also have two vegan teenagers who are growing up healthy and happy- we all have excellent blood work and can get all the nutrients we need from plant based foods. I totally recommend a vegan diet, it rocks.

    I'm good with promoting veganism on ethical grounds, but there's absolutely no support for your health claims.
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Lose weight, eat more fiber, and exercise. That's what my doctor told me, it's what I read in my research, and it's what I did. 2014 lab results were 167 total cholesterol and down to 149 in 2015. I'm at 242 lbs, down from 289, and rocking a cholesterol level well below people 80 lbs lighter. Some of it is genetics and you can't help that but most of it is lifestyle. More than anything else, work to raise your HDL (the "good" cholesterol that cleans up the bad). Exercise and losing weight are the best ways to raise it and that's why most of us are on here anyway :smiley:
  • CaitlinW19
    CaitlinW19 Posts: 431 Member
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    If you like meat and don't want to give it up then don't. Whatever you do has to be sustainable for you. I love eating meatless a few times a week. It tends to be easy on the waistline and the wallet, which are both reasons I do this. I also think a lot of meat eaters don't give veg foods a chance though...sometimes the best thing on the menu might be that meatless meal at the restaurant! Opening up to the idea that just because I eat meat doesn't mean I HAVE to eat meat has really indtroduced me to a lot of awesome stuff!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    techgal128 wrote: »
    However, what's interesting is despite the fact I ate a bunch of fast food and fried stuff (for example Taco Bell 6 days a week), my cholesterol never went above normal. If you have cholesterol issues, going vegetarian is a good way to go. Even if it's just a few days out of the week.

    A lot of this is just luck or genetics.

    I eat lots of meat, and my cholesterol has always been great. Even when I was fat, although it's even better now (even though I actually eat more meat, eggs, and dairy now).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    CaitlinW19 wrote: »
    Opening up to the idea that just because I eat meat doesn't mean I HAVE to eat meat has really indtroduced me to a lot of awesome stuff!

    This is certainly true. I don't think just because I eat meat that meatless meals aren't good options too.

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