In the good old days, around 10,000 or more years ago, most of the humankind followed a Paleolithic, hunter-gatherer diet. That means they hunted animals and scavenged for nuts, fruits, vegetables, and seeds. No farming existed.
Then, in the Neolithic age, people started settling in communities and instead of hunting and gathering their food, they started to plant and raise crops and keep domesticated animals in herds.
While some groups raised animals to eat, others raised them to use for things like milk and eggs. Others preferred to leave the animals well alone and rely solely on plants for food.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and most people’s diets are omnivorous which means they eat all types of food. However, some people still prefer to leave those animals alone and follow a vegetarian diet.
There are different types of vegetarians:
- Ovo-lacto vegetarians don’t eat meat but do eat eggs and dairy
- Pescetarians don’t eat meat or poultry but do eat seafood
- Vegans don’t eat any animal produce at all and will often refuse to wear or use leather goods too
- Fruitarians only eat fruit
Many people assume that vegetarian diets are automatically healthy as they should be high in fruit and vegetables but this is not always true. The vegetarian diet has the potential to be very healthy, but it’s important to remember that even foods made from fruits and vegetables can be unhealthy. Sugar, for example, comes from a plant called sugarcane and everyone knows that too much sugar is very unhealthy.
Eating too much food or eating the wrong things can lead to weight gain in any diet – even one that is vegetarian or vegan and an overweight vegetarian is just as likely to become unwell and unhealthy as an overweight omnivore.
If you are an overweight vegetarian or vegan, you may have considered dieting for weight loss and discovered that many diets are simply wrong for you as they contain meat, fish, eggs, chicken, or other animal products. Atkins diet and the Paleo diet are very high in animal foods. The same is sometimes true for meal replacement shakes – in my opinion, the best and easiest way to lose weight – and some products contain ingredients derived from animals.
However, if you make your own meal replacement shakes (recipes here), you can make sure that you stay true to your vegetarian lifestyle and still lose weight. You’ll also find that some commercially produced meal replacement shakes are vegan-certified meaning they contain no animal products whatsoever (some of my favorite meal replacement shakes are vegan-certified, check it here).
Vegetarians and vegans sometimes need to lose weight too, and with a little care and attention to detail, even if you don’t eat meat, you can still follow a meal replacement shake diet.
Let me know your questions so we can all learn together. Ask me your questions here. Thanks