Veganism and fitness (2/3)

Welcome to part two of my veganism and fitness blog series! In this part of the blog series I’ll explain the different between a vegan diet and a plant-based diet and what they can do for your health and wellbeing.

In case you missed part one, we discussed what veganism is and its environmental factors. Catch up and check it out here.

Vegan diet vs plant-based diet

As discussed in part one, veganism is the lifestyle choice in which you make a conscious decision to not use any products that have been used on animals or made from animals.

Despite what the media may have you believe, you can still be vegan and eat a highly processed and unhealthy diet. For example, there is a huge market for vegan alternatives to ice creams, crisps, breaded “meat” replacements, chocolate and cake. Yes, I have mentioned every processed food that is in an omnivorous diet as well, but there is a growing assumption that eating something because it’s labelled vegan automatically makes it healthier. So, please be aware you can be vegan and unhealthy if you only eat “replacement” products.

When we talk about the optimal “healthy” diet, I prefer to use the term plant-based vegan. The definition of plant-based or plant-forward is eating patterns that focus on foods primarily from plants. This includes not only fruits and vegetables, but also nuts, seeds, oils, whole grains, legumes, and beans. Discover my plant-based recipe collection, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, treats and smoothie options.

So, this begs the questions, is a vegan diet in itself healthy? The answer is… it depends. If the majority of your food sources are coming from plant-based and whole food choices, then absolutely, I’ll back this form of eating for sure.

I’m very certain within my scope of practice that there is not one healthy diet to follow. There are numerous factors to consider, but if you primarily eat a wide variety of micro and macronutrients from plant-based sources, I think you’re on the way to a winning and sustainable diet. Both for yourself and the planet.

Weight loss and the vegan diet

Now, no specific diet has any different physiological effect on your weight if the balance and number of calories you put into your body compared to the number of calories you burn is right. This is known as energy balance. Put too many calories in, you gain weight. Put too little calories in, you lose weight.

Speaking from my own experience, I’ve managed to lose a good amount of weight when I cut meat out of my diet. It wasn’t anything other than the fact I was typically eating less calorific foods and more nutrient dense foods. I massively increased my variety of fruits and vegetables when I switched to plant-based vegetarianism. This meant I was eating a lot of total food volume but a lesser number of calories to go with it.

Again, make sure it’s a plant-based vegan diet. Vegan alternatives can still be highly processed and have an abundance of calories. Crisps, ice creams, chocolates, dairy and processed meat alternatives are still packed full of calories. Great if you want to add mass and go through a bulking phase, but not ideal If you want to lose body weight or body fat.

To conclude this part of the blog series, I can say that to the best of my knowledge, a plant-based diet with wholefoods found from sustainable and ethically sourced companies would be my idea of an ideal nutritional lifestyle. This still means meat and fish can be on the menu if they’re sustainably sourced and the consumption of which is massively reduced.

Make sure you look out for the third and final instalment of my veganism and fitness mini blog series next month! In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding the content of this blog or any of my services, please feel free to reach out.

Peace and love, Cam