I think the question I have been asked the most the last couple of weeks is:
“Did you become vegan to lose weight?”
The answer is yes AND no.
I did not go vegan because I wanted to lose weight. But, I am pleased that I have dropped 4 pounds in the last 3 weeks. I think a large part is due to the fact that I am no longer eating any dairy (cheese, yogurt, etc.) or processed white sugar (no regular chocolate, cookies, etc.).
Several of my readers have gone vegan and have shared their results with me:
- Seth was a vegetarian for the last year and finally went vegan about the same time I did. He doesn’t think he’s lost too much weight, but he’s lost “a lot of that belly fat” and his waist is much smaller.
- Laurie went vegan two and a half years ago and had already been exercising daily. In her first 3 months of being vegan, she shed 14 pounds and is now down 25 pounds since she began 30 months ago.
- Vicky decided to go vegan after reading my blog and “hasn’t lost an ounce”. She thinks she is enjoying her new found love for lentils too much.
- Syndee is an elite cyclist and was pretty much a vegetarian. She decided to give up dairy and go vegan two weeks ago. She thinks she’s actually gained a pound or two, “but that’s okay.”
The unexpected benefit I have experienced, however, is how much better my skin looks! Three people have all commented that my skin looks better and even the skin on my hands looks younger. Turns out this is a common benefit of eliminating processed sugar from your diet! Did you know that sugar ages you? You can read more about this here
In case you just can’t give up that craving for sweets, your local natural foods store has many cacao based desserts, without processed white sugar or high fructose corn syrup, that taste as good as regular chocolate desserts!
Enjoy,
Karen