The logical thing to think is that being a vegetarian means a person will lose weight without having to “diet” right?

That’s what I used to think, but sadly I was wrong.

I personally know several people who are vegetarian and while I admire their willingness to forgo meat in protest of inhumane treatment of animals used to supply that meat or to have a more gentle footprint on our planet, they are not all slim “skinny minis.” In fact one of the fattest people I know is a vegetarian.

If a person becomes a vegetarian and focuses on healthy eating, which means lots of fresh fruits, and vegetables, along with whole grains, legumes, low fat dairy, nuts in moderation, eggs, and healthy soy products like soy milk and tofu; then they are on the right track to being a healthy weight and healthy overall.

But many times when a person becomes a vegetarian they replace the meat they used to eat with pasta, cheese, peanut butter, nuts, and bread. Those foods are all fine to eat – include chocolate in that list and I could happily live on those foods – but a diet high in those foods will not a thin person make unless said person is living on just a couple bites of those foods each day. Plus it’s hard to find a non-vegetarian food on the chips aisle, except for pork rinds. And the chip aisle is not exactly brimming with low calorie, nutrient dense food.

Losing weight, no matter if a person is a meat eater or not means focusing on lots of fruits and vegetables because they are filling and low calorie, with balanced amounts of other nutrients and yep, portion control (although I never worry about how many fruits and vegetables I’m consuming – that’s the one instance where I think “the more the merrier” but only in the case of ones not drenched in fat or sugar).

Vegetarian Times (great magazine on healthy living whether or not a person is a vegetarian and a wonderful source of recipes to help a person get more vegetables into their diet), has an interesting article in their January, 2010 issue about 5 pitfalls that people who decide to go vegetarian make. One is that carbs get overconsumed – often in the form of pasta – and that leads to weight gain.

If you want to become Vegetarian, by all means give it a try. I think it can be a great healthy lifestyle and I am seriously considering it myself (but can I truly give up bacon?). But, as the article in Vegetarian Times I mentioned above says, I will proceed with caution because I know I’ll have to carefully consider how I’m going to replace the meat I will no longer be eating and how I will deal with the sense of deprivation I’ll probably feel from giving up meat. I don’t want to replace it with tons of high sodium veggie burgers and other meat replacement products or with heaping plates of pasta with cheese (yum, yum and yum!); but instead with healthier choices such as beans which are high in protein and fiber and are filling (not that I’ll ever willingly give up pasta).