Eat MORE, Weigh LESS!Whoa! That’s a big claim!
EAT MORE, weigh LESS.
Yeah, Right!! I hear you. I thought so too.
EAT MORE, weigh LESS.
Yeah, Right!! I hear you. I thought so too.
I’m a qualified Nutritionist with a Masters and I struggled with my weight for YEARS. NOTHING about weight loss is easy…or so I thought.
Let me get real with you. A couple of years ago, due to me living in different countries with different work permit regulations, I wasn’t able to use my degree professionally. All I wanted to do is help people lose weight and get healthy, but I was not legally allowed to work.
So, I blogged and I went on Facebook and fluffed around. Another thing I did was put on weight. YEP, I, the person you have come to, to help solve your weight issues, got pudgy.
This REALLY peeved me! Here I was, living the clean lifestyle, eating a whole foods vegan diet and I was putting ON weight!!! How was this even possible??? Was it my hormones? My thyroid? Did I have Hashimotos??
I did some research. I scoured the latest scientific journals and I read the papers. I bought books by respected plant based doctors and I learned a LOT.
I also REMEMBERED a lot.
I also REMEMBERED a lot.
The recommendations in the scientific literature and in the latest books pretty much told me what I already knew – that eating a whole foods plant based diet was the way to have not only a healthy body, but a thin body. YET, I was not thin.
So, I did a diet audit. I took note of everything in my diet to try to find the culprit that was stopping me losing weight. And I was SHOCKED at what I found.
Little things make a BIG difference.
Almond butter is healthy, right? Sure, but almond butter has 98 calories per tablespoon and it is over 80% FAT!
I was slathering 3-4 tablespoons on my toast in the morning smiling as I was getting my ‘good fats’ into my diet.
Instead, what I was doing was unnecessarily adding 400 calories to my daily intake.
It was the same with avocado, and vegan butter, vegan cheese……and don’t get me started on that creamy goodness of cashew yoghurt!!!
My problem was not with my hormones, it was with the energy density of my food. Basically, I was overeating, and not even realising it.
When I say overeating, I do not mean I was stuffing my face with copious quantities of food, I mean the food I was eating, had too many calories for my daily requirements. This is an issue of ENERGY density.
Let me explain.
Energy density is the amount of energy (calories) a food has, based on weight.
For example, 100gm of almond butter has 614 calories (2571kJ), yet 100gm of broccoli has only 28 calories (117kJ) and is only 10% fat. Did you know that? Broccoli has 10% fat. It also has 26% protein too – the same amount of protein as 80% lean beef!.
Energy density is the amount of energy (calories) a food has, based on weight.
For example, 100gm of almond butter has 614 calories (2571kJ), yet 100gm of broccoli has only 28 calories (117kJ) and is only 10% fat. Did you know that? Broccoli has 10% fat. It also has 26% protein too – the same amount of protein as 80% lean beef!.
Also, energy density relates to volume. So, for the same amount of weight, 100gm of almond butter will cover a few slices of toast, yet 100gm of broccoli takes up a whole plate!
Image courtesy of Sherry Kari Baum ©My Nutrition Nurse
The trick is to fill your plate with low energy density foods such as fresh veggies, fruits, whole grains and legumes. The bonus is that these foods are also the highest NUTRIENT density foods.
What do I mean by that? Nutrients are the vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and fibre we need for optimal health. And guess what! The foods with the lowest energy (calories) are overflowing with these health giving properties. It’s a win-win situation.
You can pile your plate high with all these wonderful foods and fill your tummy, without going over your daily calorie budget. You can eat MORE food and lose weight! Who doesn’t want that?
So, how did I lose the weight? I ditched the almond butter (sad face), for now. I stopped buying processed vegan foods such as vegan cheese and cashew yoghurt (which has 50% fat) and I stuck to only whole natural foods.
Doing just this, I lost 15 pounds in 2 short months.
Yes, I had to do a bit of food preparation and a little cooking, but the upside is a healthy body that works like a well-oiled machine and is at LESS risk of all those nasty diseases half the world is suffering with right now.
The science about the benefits of a whole foods plant based is irrefutable. More and more people are transitioning to this way of eating every day and seeing the benefits. Not only weight loss, but reducing their risk of disease, getting off medications and living longer, happier lives.
If you want to regain your health and lose the weight for good, get in touch. I’d love to help you.
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