Meat-free diet for weight loss: diet options, goals, tasks, sample menu for the week, indications, contraindications, recommendations, reviews and results

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Meat-free diet for weight loss - is it a reality or a myth? It is not for nothing that there are so many food systems in the world, which are based on vegetarianism and veganism. Such a diet implies a complete rejection of meat. Depending on the person's beliefs, he may also refuse dairy products and eggs. But this is too radical an option: after all, the body needs to receive proteins. The article presents a menu for weight loss without meat, and also describes the basic principles of weight loss on such a diet.

The role of meat products in the diet

What is the nutritional value of meat products? Why do most nutritionists insist on the need to include at least poultry meat in the diet? The fact is that only protein of animal origin contains a complete set of essentialamino acids that are involved in the construction of human cells.

Without enough amino acids in the diet, beautiful thick hair, silky skin and he alth are out of the question. Foreign vegans have long found a way out: they take pills with amino acids and sports nutrition (soy cocktails, which contain trace elements similar to meat products).

In our country, as a rule, people switch to a meat-free diet for weight loss abruptly, without passing the necessary tests. As a result, they may suffer from a number of side effects due to protein and amino acid deficiencies.

Objectives and goals of a meat-free diet

For weight loss and recovery, this food is suitable. If side effects are observed - dizziness, loss of consciousness, severe weakness and asthenia, pressure surges - it is worth abandoning the idea of living without animal products. This means that such a diet is not suitable for a person. It is better not to test your own he alth for strength and return to your usual way of life.

The main goal of a meat-free diet for weight loss is to achieve weight loss and detox. Protein foods (especially those with a high fat content) put a serious strain on the organs of the urinary system. Such a load is fraught with the development of chronic diseases of the kidneys and bladder. Two to three weeks without meat provides an excellent detox effect on the kidneys. If a person plans to switch to a vegetarian diet forever, you should firstconsult a nutritionist or therapist about the appropriateness of such a drastic lifestyle change.

It should be noted that in the absence of a sufficient amount of protein, muscle tissue is very quickly used by the body as fuel for energy. Therefore, bodybuilders are afraid of a lack of protein and amino acids like fire: after all, it is especially important for them to maintain their hard-earned muscles.

Contraindications for a vegetarian diet

Who is strictly prohibited from a meat-free diet for weight loss? People with anemia and problems with red blood cells should abandon the idea of vegetarianism. Within a week, the condition may worsen. Plant-based foods often fail to meet the adult needs for ferritin, amino acids and protein.

Situation can be partially corrected by fermented milk products and eggs. If a person decides to switch to vegetarianism, it should be done gradually. At least a year to live without eating meat, but every day - cottage cheese, cheese, fermented baked milk, chicken eggs.

Why should you include dairy products in your diet

What is their use? Dairy products are rich in proteins that are easily digestible and do not overload the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. Milk proteins in fermented milk products are already in a partially split state, this leads to the fact that, for example, kefir is digested in the organs of the human gastrointestinal tract by 91%, and milk is only 32%. For those who do not have enough lactase in the body to fully digest milk, fermented milk products will be a real salvation.

The second argument in favor of the need to include fermented milk products in the diet is an increase in immunity. Lactic acid stabilizes the microflora and prevents pathogenic microorganisms from multiplying. Of course, we are talking about products with a natural composition, and not about powdered kefir and fermented baked milk. Milk drinks contain natural antibiotics that are safe for the body, unlike artificially synthesized ones. Ryazhenka, kefir, cottage cheese, ayran, tan perfectly improve intestinal motility, which contributes to the normalization of digestion.

In addition, they have a lot of trace elements and minerals that are easily absorbed by the body. Separately, it is worth remembering calcium, which is contained in cottage cheese and cheese in a special form, ideal for rapid digestion and entry into the bloodstream.

Chicken eggs: harm or benefit?

There are many myths around this food product. For the first time after switching to a meat-free diet menu for weight loss, you should eat three to four boiled eggs per day. You can steam omelettes with protein.

People with chronic cholecystitis and liver disease should limit their consumption of egg yolk. But completely he althy losing weight, you can not limit yourself in the use of this product. The yolk contains cholesterol, useful for the body. If you do not exceed the amount of fat in the diet per day, then this microelement will only benefit.

Sports nutrition: harm orbenefit?

Many people on a balanced diet for weight loss without meat include sports nutrition: soy protein shakes. They do not contain any component of animal origin, but in one serving - a complete set of essential acids and 20-25 grams of protein.

Foreign vegetarians have been actively using such dietary supplements for ten years. They allow you to gently and without harm to the body switch to full vegetarianism. As a result, the patient does not feel irritated and angry due to malnutrition and lack of satiety. Soy protein is truly a real find for people who decide to start losing weight. Without meat, you can very quickly feel the whole "set" of side effects. And soy protein will gently smooth out such discomfort.

Side effects of a meat-free diet

In the first two weeks after giving up meat products, a person may experience the following side effects:

• dizziness;
• weakness, asthenia, decreased performance;
• decrease in physical strength and endurance;
• may develop pale skin;
• headache;
• sleep problems;
• constant feeling of hunger;
• irritability.

You should be prepared for such symptoms and just endure them. After 14-21 days, they subside - the body gradually gets used to a vegetarian type of food.

Menu for weight loss for a week without meat

Approximate diet withoutmeat products, designed for a week:

1. Monday: oatmeal with dried fruits, tea with lemon and sugar, snack - a package of cottage cheese with berries and sweetener, lunch - vegetable soup with sorrel, snack - sports protein shake, dinner - steam omelette from proteins with cauliflower. Before going to bed, if you are hungry, you can eat nuts fried in a pan with honey.
2. Tuesday: buckwheat porridge with skimmed milk and butter, snack - fresh vegetable salad, lunch - mashed potato, carrot and beetroot soup with herbs, dinner - homemade whole grain flour crackers and two boiled chicken eggs.
3. Wednesday: breakfast - sports nutrition (protein shake or gainer), snack - a glass of kefir and two bananas, lunch - fruit salad and buckwheat porridge with vegetables, dinner - beetroot.
4. Thursday: barley porridge with soy chunks fried in butter, snack - low-fat cottage cheese with berries or fruits, lunch - vegetable soup, snack - two bananas and a protein shake, dinner - dried fruits and your favorite nuts.
5. Friday: nuts with honey and dried fruits, a glass of kefir, lunch - vegetable soup, snack - a package of fat-free cottage cheese with fresh berries or fruits, dinner - beetroot.
6. Saturday: Steam omelet with cauliflower or broccoli, lunch - mashed soup with pan-fried soy chunks, dinner - protein shake. If you are hungry before going to bed, you can eat one or two boiled chicken eggs.
7. Sunday: a pack of cottage cheese with berries and fruits, lunch -beetroot, buckwheat porridge with soy cutlets, snack - protein shake, dinner - fruit salad and 2-3 boiled chicken eggs.

What can replace meat products if you really want them?

The universal meat substitute in taste and in dishes is soy and nuts. You can cook cutlets from soy minced meat with the addition of walnuts ground in a meat grinder: the taste will be almost indistinguishable from meat ones.

Soya can be diced and pan-fried, eaten with buckwheat porridge or potatoes instead of meat.

Vegetarian diet results and feedback

Today there are a lot of both extremely negative and positive reviews about the vegetarian diet. Many enthusiastically start a meat-free diet for weight loss. The reviews are ultimately negative: due to a too abrupt transition and protein restriction, a person experiences problems with well-being and performance. Moreover, there are a lot of such responses. Of course, it's not about eating meat-free for weight loss. People are to blame who, without assessing their own state of he alth, deliberately deprived their bodies of the components necessary for normal functioning.

There are also plenty of positive reviews: women successfully lose two to seven kilograms a month thanks to a vegetarian diet. The complexion became he althier, vivacity and self-confidence appeared. A lot depends on the initial data of a losing weight person. On the contrary, it is easier for someone to lose weight on the Dukan diet, which involvescomplete exclusion of carbohydrates. And someone (mostly women) seems to be made for vegetarianism: this diet literally gives the body a second wind.

Food that excludes meat, eggs and dairy products

This is the most strict variant of vegetarianism. It is better for beginners not to start the experiment with such serious restrictions. Reviews about losing weight without meat, dairy products and eggs are different, but there are more negative ones. Almost all those who lose weight feel weakness, outbursts of irritation, and efficiency decreases.

In women, after a couple of weeks of such radical restrictions, hair begins to fall out, skin condition worsens. This is due to a deficiency of protein and amino acids, which inevitably develops with vegetarianism.