A vegan diet plan is one that does not include animal products, which means meat and dairy products are excluded. Though the words vegan and vegetarian are used interchangeably, a vegetarian diet refers to absence of meat products, while a vegan diet refers to strictly avoiding animal products as well. A typical vegan diet includes legumes, seeds, soy products, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. There are different types of vegetarians, like Lacto-ovo-Vegetarians, Fruitarians, Pescatarian, etc. Each of them has a unique set of food items that they consume. It not only helps to reduce weight, but also boosts overall health. One of the advantages of following a vegan diet is that it helps reduce the risk of many health problems, like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. In thia article, you will be provided with some vegan diet plans to lose weight.
Basics
Although a vegetarian diet plan is one of the most effective ways of reducing weight, one should plan it such that all the nutritional requirements of the body are fulfilled, else weakness will ensue. A healthy vegan diet plan excludes foods high in saturated fats, protein, and cholesterol, while it includes foods high in potassium, calcium, magnesium, carbohydrates, and fiber. Usually, we obtain protein from meat, but in a vegan diet, legumes and pulses can be used as rich protein sources. A nutritionally balanced, well planned vegan diet along with routine exercise does help reduce weight. For this, one should be aware of the nutritional sources and should consume fixed amount of calories per day. People who follow a non-vegetarian diet find it difficult to adapt to a vegan diet initially. It is a misconception that vegan diet includes only tasteless and boring food. This is not true and there are a number of delicious recipes. Here are some sample plans for your reference.
Vegan Diet Plans for Weight Loss
Ensure that you include all the nutrients, like iron, protein, carbohydrates, etc., in your diet. Meat and fish are rich sources of protein and omega 3 essential fatty acids and finding substitutes for these nutrients can be quite difficult. Thus, you should know all the vegetarian substitutes for the nutrients obtained from meat and other non-vegetarian food products. There are a few diet plans that can help to burn fats by following veganism. Diets that are low in carbs and have restricted calorie intake for a day, can reduce weight.
NOTE: It is strictly recommended that before you start following any of the diet plans given below, you should consult a dietitian and physician. Calorie requirements differ from person to person and depend on the overall health condition of an individual. The diet plans given below may not suit everyone's body requirements, and hence consultation of an expert is a must.
1200 Calorie Vegan Diet Plan
As the name suggests, a 1200 calorie diet plan is nothing but the consumption of 1200 calories in a day. Here are two sample diet plans to guide you to design your 1200 calorie diet plan to lose weight.
Sample Diet Plan #1
| Meal |
Food Items |
Quantity |
Calories |
| Breakfast |
Light margarine |
2 teaspoons |
35 |
| Whole wheat toast |
2 |
130 |
| Sliced strawberries |
1 cup |
53 |
| Sugar |
1 teaspoon |
15 |
| Coconut milk or soy yogurt (fat and sugar free) |
6 ounce |
135 |
| Morning Snack |
Peanut butter |
1 teaspoon |
33 |
| Graham cracker |
2 |
60 |
| Lunch |
| Baby carrots |
Half cup |
35 |
| Coconut milk ice cream |
Half cup |
90 |
| Whole wheat English muffin (toasted) |
1 |
135 |
| Afternoon Snack |
Rice cakes (mini) |
4 |
64 |
| Dinner |
Baked sweet potato |
1 medium-sized |
103 |
| Lean protein |
3 ounces |
105 |
| Light margarine |
2 teaspoons |
35 |
| Steamed broccoli |
1 cup |
54 |
Sample Diet Plan #2
| Meal |
Food Items |
Quantity |
Calories |
| Breakfast |
Veggie burger |
1 |
70 |
| Soy milk |
4 ounces |
45 |
| Wheat cereal (frosted shredded) |
1 cup |
180 |
| Morning Snack |
Fresh orange |
1 |
62 |
| Soy cheese |
1 |
80 |
| Lunch |
Vegetable Barley Soup (Fat free) |
1 cup |
90 |
| Sandwich (whole wheat bread, humus and tomato) |
1 slice, 2 tablespoons, 1 slice |
90 |
| Soy milk |
18 ounces |
200 |
| Afternoon Snack |
Coconut milk or soy yogurt (Low fat) |
1 container |
130 |
| Dinner |
Veggie cakes |
2 |
260 |
| Blackberries |
1 cup |
62 |
1500 Calorie Vegan Diet Plan
Similar to the 1200 calorie diet plan, a 1500 calorie diet plan is a diet that limits the amount of calories to be consumed in a day, to 1500. Two such sample diet plans are given below in a tabular form.
Sample Diet Plan #1
| Meal |
Food Items |
Quantity |
Calories |
| Breakfast |
Whole oats |
1 serving |
150 |
| Small banana |
1 |
90 |
| Light margarine |
2 teaspoons |
35 |
| Whole grain bread |
1 slice |
70 |
| Blackberries |
0.5 cups |
30 |
| Soy milk |
250 ml |
90 |
| Morning Snack |
Plum |
1 |
30 |
| Lunch |
Vegan pumpkin pie |
1 |
200 |
| Whole grain crackers |
12 |
120 |
| Soy cheese (Shredded) |
1 slice |
100 |
| Afternoon Snack |
Coconut milk or soy yogurt (low fat) |
6 ounces |
110 |
| Dinner |
Baked potato |
1 small |
134 |
| Tofu sour cream (125 g) |
1 serving |
100 |
| Bacon bits (Vegan) |
1 serving |
25 |
| Plum tomato (Chopped) |
1 |
11 |
| Any steamed vegetable |
2 cups |
50 |
| Light margarine |
5-7 teaspoons |
120 |
| Blueberries |
Half cup |
35 |
Sample Diet Plan #2
| Meal |
Food Items |
Quantity |
Calories |
| Breakfast |
Raw Blueberies |
1 cup |
81 |
| English dried walnut |
2 tablespoons |
98 |
| Soy milk |
1 cup |
130 |
| Morning Snack |
Raw apple |
1 |
81 |
| Lunch |
Raw California orange |
1 |
59 |
| Cherry tomatoes |
1 cup |
31 |
| Flaxseed oil |
2 teaspoons |
80 |
| Non-dairy burrito |
1 |
180 |
| Sunflower seed (No salt) |
1 ounce |
165 |
| Afternoon Snack |
Hummus |
2 tablespoons |
46 |
| Baby carrot |
6 medium-sized |
23 |
| Crispbread |
2 slices |
60 |
| Dinner |
Whole wheat spaghetti pasta |
1.5 cups |
260 |
| Vegan Meatballs |
5 |
90 |
| Boiled broccoli (No salt) |
1 cup |
144 |
Low Carb Vegan Diet Plan
Many of the popular low carb diet plans have proved useful to lose weight. Vegan versions of these diet plans also have been helpful. South beach diet and Atkins diet are some of the famous low carb diet plans. Here is a sample of a low carb vegan diet to lose weight.
Breakfast
For breakfast prepare a rolled oatmeal cereal. Take one cup of soy milk. Put half cup of rolled oats in this soy milk and allow them to soak. Add two teaspoons of walnut and two teaspoons of raspberries to the cereal. In addition to the cereal have an orange for breakfast.
Lunch
Prepare a salad with the ingredients: red cabbage, lettuce, tomato, yellow or red bell pepper, snow peas, cucumber, celery, carrot. Bake three ounces of marinated tofu and add a vinegar and low carb oil dressing to the salad.
Snack
Prepare a mixture of soy yogurt and peach (or any fruit that can go well with yogurt). Take 2/3 cup of the yogurt and add one chopped peach to it.
Dinner
Cook brown rice of half a cup for dinner and entrée. You can prepare entrée by including any of the leafy green vegetables, some carrots and braccia. Vegetables which come under leafy green are beet greens, collards, kale, etc. while those which belong to braccia are cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower. After dinner have an apple and some dark chocolate of 0.7 ounces.
Sample Vegan Diet Plan
Vegan diet plan is nothing but a diet that includes only vegetarian foods and no food items from dead animals. You can even frame a diet plan by yourself by deciding the amount of calories you want to consume in a day. Given below is one such sample diet plan that will allow you to consume 1400 calories in a day.
Breakfast
Have two slices of wheat bread with some soy cheese spread on them. Prepare a fruit salad that contains pineapple chunks, kiwi fruit, papaya, passion fruit with some topping of muesli. Grill this mixture for five minutes. This breakfast should contribute around 288 calories.
Lunch
Boil 150gm of spaghetti (wholemeal) and add garlic and tomato pasta sauce to it. Nutritional yeast could be used as a substitute for Parmesan cheese for the topping. Then you can eat canned rice pudding with a topping of fresh strawberries. This lunch will contribute 377 calories to the vegan diet plan.
Dinner
For dinner, prepare a pitta bread bean burger recipe. This will add approximately 560 calories. To prepare the bean burger, you will require, Carrots (grated, 90 gm), Oatmeal (75 gm), Vegemite (1 tablespoon), Vegetable oil, Onion (chopped, 90 gm), Basil leaves, Garlic (crushed, 1 glove), Kidney beans (canned pureed, 270 gm). To prepare the burger, first fry onion until it turns brown and then add the remaining ingredients and garlic paste. Prepare burgers by grilling them in oil for at least 8 minutes. Once you have prepared the bean burgers, stuff them between two pita breads along with some salad leaves and a topping of soy yogurt.
Snacks
You can have healthy snacks, mentioned below twice in a day.
- Fruits
- Bread sticks
- Popcorn
- Rye Crisp bread
- Dried Fruits
A vegan diet plan can be followed by anybody who wants to lose weight in a healthy manner. Try and search for tasty vegan recipes or else you can even come up with some recipes of your own. Vegan diet plan helps one to gain a healthy body and keep away from severe health problems. Since a maximum population of the United States eats meat, people usually find it very difficult to adopt a vegan diet plan for weight loss, but with a little discipline and self control it is possible, if you keep the goal of good health in mind and make sure you follow a healthy vegan diet plan, which is not nutrition deficient.
Disclaimer:
This Buzzle article is for informative purposes only, and should not be used as a replacement for expert medical advice.