28 day Low Fat vegan challenge anyone?

Hi There,

I know this may not seem like the most appealing challenge but I am one of those that needs to lose some weight (20lbs) due to the very real possibity of developing diabetes. I'm pre-diabetic now. I struggle with emotional eating and know that teaming up with a few people might help me get over the rough spots/days...anyone game?

The low fat vegan part comes from a couple sources that have hard science backing up  claims for prevention and even reversal of diabetes and heart disease. Dr. Neil Barnard and more recently Ripp Estylenn(sp) Engine 2 diet.

The 28 day part is about doing something well enough for long enough to get results.

I am starting today!

 

I am interested but scared!  I eat mostly vegetarian anyway but giving up cheese and eggs would be difficult. You should keep a blog of how it goes!

That's AWESOME!  Keep it up!  It is worth it!  Through all my research about food, nutrition, and chemicals we use in farming, I got sick of all the stuff we as a society put into out bodies without thinking about it, even "healthy" foods.  I adopted a vegan diet for health not moral issues about 5-6 weeks ago and I feel amazing. It is the best thing I think I have ever done for myself.  After 28 days I think you might feel so good you might want to continue.  After going through the transformation I have, I see almost everything I used to live off of as disgusting and I would not want to turn back.

 

Don't beat yourself up if you have something non-vegan.  Like our diets in general, if you are out and stuck eating something not vegan versus not eating at all, just try and get something healthy and continue on the next day.  Just think about the food you put in your body as fuel.  You want to put good fuel in to make you run better.  If you put crappy fuel in, you'll run like crap.

 

And make sure to keep your calories up!  It is easy to not get enough.  I wasn't until I started having some soy ice cream daily.  There are some really good flavors!  There are tons of great foods you can discover.  Experiment and have fun!

OK Jenfactor...I will begin today with a food log.  Feel free to come along for the ride at any time.

If you are intrested in seeing some sample menus you can find some great ones on the Engine2.org and NutritionMD.org.  After a few days of really studying these I think I am ready...so here goes.

Thanks for those words of encouragement hero6...I really think this is the best way for any body to be treated...I have done this before and have the same amazing physical response and felt so well...why did I stop???!!! 

Just got off 28 days of a low fat vegan regimen that also eliminated bananas, apples, citrus, all corn and wheat products, onions, nuts, all dairy products, eggs, all meat and fish. I did this in an effort to eliminate pain by leaving off these foods as they are the most common foods known to trigger pain associated with migraines and arthritis. Now I am in the process of adding them back, one every other day to see which ones are safe for me. If I experience no pain, I am to keep that food as part of my diet. If pain occurs, I am to check it out a couple of weeks later before deciding to exclude it for good. The plan also strongly suggests leaving off all fish and meats, eggs, and dairy products because of the harm they do to the body.

I had little trouble following the diet in spite of having to cook regular meals (meats etc.) for my husband. All the pains I had been experiencing disappeared in the first few days and haven't come back. I also feel much better than I did before starting this diet. I plan to continue on the vegan plan and not reintroduce meats and fish, dairy products, and eggs and limit sugar and most fats. I still haven't reintroduced wheat, citrus, and chocolate and am hoping they will be OK. If wheat turns out to be a no go, I'll have to turn to my Vita Mix machine and grind other grains that test out as creating no problem (such as flax seed, rye, barley, etc.) and bake my own bread using my bread machine. I only wish I had switched to vegetarian when I started hearing about these things years ago.

To be honest to me it sounds like you're setting yourself up for failure. People who eat normally and maintain a healthy weight usually do not set up crazy restrictions for themselves. You'd probably have a lot more success if you tried to keep your saturated fat low and eat moderately. Maybe cut out or moderate red meat and pork instead of being a low fat vegan? I'm not saying you can't do it, just that the "all or nothing" mentality is hard to maintain. What happens when you lose 20 pounds? Do you just go back to eating like you did before? Don't you think it might be better to establish healthy habits you can maintain for the rest of your life rather than 28 days?

Also, cteene, what the heck did you eat??? Berries? That doesn't sound very healthy

Original Post by cteene:

Just got off 28 days of a low fat vegan regimen that also eliminated bananas, apples, citrus, all corn and wheat products, onions, nuts, all dairy products, eggs, all meat and fish. 

What did you eat?? Sorry, I don't mean this to sound offensive. I'm genuinely wondering?

Original Post by lafoutloud01:

Also, cteene, what the heck did you eat??? Berries? That doesn't sound very healthy

 There are TONS of vegan, low fat, nutritious and well rounded food choice out there.

Asking this question is akin to asking someone, "You mean you didn't major in History? What on earth did you study then? It doesn't seem very reasonable to study something other than History."

I was referring to this:

"Just got off 28 days of a low fat vegan regimen that also eliminated bananas, apples, citrus, all corn and wheat products, onions, nuts, all dairy products, eggs, all meat and fish. "

The only foods I can think of that fit that criteria are beans and berries. That doesn't sound very healthy.

Original Post by lafoutloud01:

I was referring to this:

"Just got off 28 days of a low fat vegan regimen that also eliminated bananas, apples, citrus, all corn and wheat products, onions, nuts, all dairy products, eggs, all meat and fish. "

The only foods I can think of that fit that criteria are beans and berries. That doesn't sound very healthy.

All vegetables are pretty much fair game.... kind of the obvious one.  Strawberries, Cherries, Peaches, Grapes, etc.   Mushrooms, herbs and spices. Rice, Quinoa...

Doesn't sound too bad to me.  Obviously you're missing out on healthy fats, but once you go off of the low-fat part introducing avocado and possibly nuts seems like an easy way to make it sustainable long-term. 

Original Post by lafoutloud01:

To be honest to me it sounds like you're setting yourself up for failure. People who eat normally and maintain a healthy weight usually do not set up crazy restrictions for themselves. You'd probably have a lot more success if you tried to keep your saturated fat low and eat moderately. Maybe cut out or moderate red meat and pork instead of being a low fat vegan? I'm not saying you can't do it, just that the "all or nothing" mentality is hard to maintain. What happens when you lose 20 pounds? Do you just go back to eating like you did before? Don't you think it might be better to establish healthy habits you can maintain for the rest of your life rather than 28 days?

Also, cteene, what the heck did you eat??? Berries? That doesn't sound very healthy

^I agree with this. I don't see the point of an extreme one-month diet if you are just going to go back to your previous habits when it's over. You'll just gain the weight back. Better to make sustainable changes you can stick with for life.

If you're pre-diabetic, you probably just need to lose weight, exercise and eat better to improve your health. You don't need to go vegan!

Didn't post foods allowed because I didn't want to take up more space than I already did. Foods that were allowed included any that were not on the list with an emphasis on brown rice, oatmeal, and other grains with the exception of wheat and corn, white and sweet potatoes, beans, peas, all low calorie vegetables, and most fruits and melons.

Since finishing the 28 day regimen I have reintroduced bananas, apples, tomatoes, onions, corn, and nuts with no problems and plan to try wheat (bread) tomorrow followed by citrus on Friday. I will also test chocolate two days later although I have never eaten much of it anyway. At the present time I am highly inclined to stay vegetarian although it might be a good idea to test the meat, dairy, and egg groups to see if any of them are triggering any unwanted reactions.

Eliminating foods known to cause allergic reactions in some people and then reintroducing them one by one while watching to see if reactions occur is an accepted practice in medicine. My doctor knows what I am trying this and will be delighted if I can get rid of my arthritic pain by diet change rather than by taking pain killers. If i decide to not reintroduce meats and dairy products he will give me a prescription for Vitamin B 12, the only nutrient known to be lacking in a vegetarian diet.

I am not worried that being vegetarian is going to put me in any danger of not having a healthy diet and doing something that is going to harm my health. A doctor first urged me to go vegetarian 30 years ago. She was a member of the Seventh Day Adventists, a group known as vegetarians and who happen to have the longest life span of any group of people in the United States (at least the last time I saw reports along this line). Also, Dr. Dean Ornish, a well-known vegetarian, proved that, with a vegetarian diet along with moderate exercise and stress reducing changes, heart disease can be reversed. Plaque blockages in the arteries can actually be dissolved without drugs or surgery and by diet and lifestyle changes!

Am I willing to make those changes? You bet I am! If I can use food that not only relieves my aches and pains but also helps to heal my body instead of just masking the symptoms as do pain killers, i am going to go with the foods. The program I am following is detailed in the book FOODS THAT FIGHT PAIN by Dr. Neal D. Barnard , one of the top nutritional experts in the country and is with the George Washington University School of Medicine. Thanks for all your comments and for those of you who were wondering. For the record I'm 76 years old, no diabetes, but a scrape with melanoma from living in high sun areas, and an injured knee that keeps me at the present a bit immobile. When the x-rays showed thinning cartilage and the doctor said arthritis was the cause of various pains I was feeling and prescribed pain medication, I decided to try another way.

All you younger people out there....find out all you can about anything out there and then don't be afraid to try a better way. If you decide to make major changes the first two to three weeks are the worst. After that habit kicks in and it's not so tough.

I must admit that it is interesting to see the reaction to my original post.  Food never seems to dissapoint when it comes to triggering some surprising and passionate responses.  ...

Regarding the low fat vegan plan and why it intrigues me so.  There are several books published by medical Dr's that promote this way of eating (Dr. Niel Barnard, McDougall, among others) and are doing so because of the results of studies.  They too must feel passionate to put reputations on the line and come forward with ideas that challenge mainstream. I read somewhere that you can always tell the pioneers, as they are the ones with the arrows in their backs!

IMHO the low fat vegan plan is one that deserves some attention on a few fronts..For many, this way of eating delivers on weight loss, significantly lowered cholesterol and a reduction/stabilization in Blood Glucose.  That's three biggies that plague our modern society...Yes.. following a moderate/healhy diet will result in improvement in these arenas and many will prefer that course but it was clear in the studies that the most impressive results/ health improvements came from the low fat vegan camp. 

So that's my motivation...read the books and decide for yourselves before judging.  28 days is not so long in the course of a lifetime...but it is different and doing anything different is bound to ruffle feathers. But this is just one way humans progress...by challenging ourselves and our ideas...being willing to see things from a different perspective and keeping an open mind along the way.

Original Post by islandtime9:

...28 days is not so long in the course of a lifetime...

That was my point exactly. 28 days is not very long. If you wanted to become vegan I wouldn't have any issue with that (other than the fact it has to be done very carefully if you want to avoid nutrient deficiencies). But I fail to see the point of a diet that only lasts a month and is not similar to the eating habits you plan to go back to after the diet ends. Where during this diet do you learn sustainable eating habits that will last a lifetime, and help you to keep the weight off? If you're not planning on becoming vegan I don't see you learning much about sensible eating patterns.

Short-term, fast weight loss, on an unsustainable programme? Smells like "crash diet" to me.

I may well stay vegan and it may be low fat vegan for the rest of my life but 28 days would be a long enough time to test the plan for myself.  No one refutes the that there are good fats and that many body functions depend on these fats...but the authors I'm citing are saying that we can get all of these fats from the foods we eat in their whole form (ie. oatmeal, whole grain breads, beans are just a few sources that have fats) and that adding fat...ie oil for sauteing, salad dressing, is not helpful.  In fact it seems to hinder.  

The studies are thought provoking in themselves and the testimonials from those that have ventured in are most convincing. Thanks all for your input...I will post and try and keep the food long up to date on this as I go along for any that are interested to follow...down a pound this week so far and feeling extremely well...high energy/low hunger!

Good luck!  I was vegan for two years (I went back to vegetarianism very recently, because I missed cheese too much - yes I suck, I know.)  I've been my heaviest weight while vegan and eating too much unhealthy and processed food, and I've been my lowest weight while eating vegan and minimally procesed, low-fat food. 

When I ate vegan and focused on only eating things like eating beans, grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, and fortified soy-milk, I felt *fantastic*.  I would totally recommend a minimally processed plant-based vegan diet - as long as you make sure you're eating a variety of foods (and possibly take a multivitamin), it's a really healthy way to eat.  If you decide to add more high fat foods, avocados are great to add to salads.  I'd also suggest adding flaxseed to your meals - it is high in fat, but it's a good vegan source of omega-3 fatty acids, and you only need 1 or 2 tbl per day. I like to add it to oatmeal in the morning.

Thanks m4mitchell!  Nice to see there are a few of us "veggies" on this site!  I do feel amazing right now...and it's only been a short while.  We have had a lot of company and birthday celebrations etc this past couple weeks...it's been really challenging to eat vegan...Most of the company left today so I will be able to relax a bit and plan/shop etc for my meals.  One thing for sure it takes more time to plan and prepare when eating healthy vegan. 

Hi there.

 

I started essentially vegan around the first of June, and around 20 lbs virtually fell off. I started after a ridiculously high cholesterol score, noticing some angina and reading Dr. Esselstyn's book.

In the meantime, I have had a heart catheterization, verified significant heart disease, considered and rejected a bypass at this point. I feel fine. I am now doing some cardiac rehab, to get back into exercise, which I was doing constantly before all this started.

 

Back to the original, I lost 20 lbs in 2 months. I have not found it too difficult being vegetarian, although I do miss cheese. Instead of olive oil, I just sweat onions and whatever in veg stock.