‘Minding Your Weight: The Vegan Way’

The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades to deliver a weekly “green tip” to our readers. This week’s tip was written by Palisadian/Certified Life and Weight Loss Coach Tobi Coughlin.

There are many amazing reasons to go vegan: your health, the planet, the animals. But what about going vegan to lose weight? The answer to that is “yes … but.” That’s because, contrary to popular belief, it would be a mistake to assume that simply eliminating animal protein automatically leads to weight loss.

For one, you may be surprised to know that generally, you’re not saving many, if any, calories by switching to plant-based foods. Whether a burger is beef or one of the popular plant-based versions, both four-ounce patties come in right around 250 calories. Meat-replacement products provide a familiar taste profile, contribute to convenience and can be super useful, but it’s good to know what they’re not.

Here are some tips for weight loss while eating plant-based:

Lean into the veg in vegan. They’re good for your health and waistline—yet only about 10% of adults meet the most recent dietary guideline to consume two to three cups daily. A simple visual is to think about aiming to fill about one-third of your plate with veggies.

Beyond the health benefits, eating plenty of vegetables contributes to weight loss by bulking up your meals without adding a lot of extra calories, helps you feel full—“crowding out” less nutritious foods—and contributes to keeping your insulin levels lower, something that makes your body less likely to store fat.

Make each meal filling. It’s not always easy to make the choices necessary to lose weight. It’s even more difficult when we’re hungry, so taking that off the table just makes sense.

Protein helps reduce appetite and hunger levels, so consider replacing what would have been an animal protein on your plate with some protein-rich plant-based foods such as beans, lentils, peas, soy milk and grains.

Have fun with flavors. One of the reasons people “give up” or overeat is feeling overly restrictive and unsatisfied. That’s a good reason to include healthy fats like nuts, seeds, avocado and olive oil that are important for nutrition with an extra bonus: they leave you feeling full and give you a flavor boost.

These foods are also “energy-dense,” meaning they have a lot of calories relative to the portion size. So think about sprinkling these in and eating them in smaller amounts.

Remember, regardless of dietary preference, we all face similar temptations (hello, chips, vegan cookies and baguettes), meaning mindset matters. In other words, it’s the difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it.

For a more in-depth look at managing weight while following a plant-based eating pattern, watch a replay of the recent webinar hosted by Resilient Palisades’ Vegan Solutions Team: “Minding Your Weight: The Vegan Way” at youtube.com/@resilientpalisades1750.