Have you ever wondered, “Why am I gaining weight on vegan diet?”
Although you are eating healthy foods on a vegan diet, there is still a possibility for you to gain weight. In fact, if you are not careful enough, you can suffer from this issue.
This is why it makes perfect sense to eat right to avoid weight gain issues.
How can you do this? Here is why you are gaining weight on a vegan diet and what can help you with it.
Why Am I Gaining Weight On Vegan Diet
For the most part, a vegan diet offers numerous health benefits such as reducing cholesterol levels, minimizing your risk of heart ailments and obesity.
However, plant-based foods in your diet can still lead to weight gain if you are not careful. There are many vegan foods that are considered unhealthy, especially fast food and processed ones. Moreover, your eating habits impact your possibility of gaining weight.
If you rely solely on processed foods such as pasta, white bread, refined carbs, and the like, you may end up worrying about weight gain. Other foods that cause this problem are foods lacking in fiber and other nutrients.
In addition, processed foods high in salt, unhealthy fats, sugars and preservatives cause people to eat a lot more than they should. Hence, weight gain is probable.
Other Reasons Why you Are Gaining Weight On Vegan Diet
Aside from your food choices and unhealthy eating habits, vegans can gain weight because of thyroid issues and hormonal imbalances. Cortisol, progesterone, and thyroid hormones that are not in balance lead to weight gain. This is why these need to be addressed to resolve an issue on gaining weight on a plant-based diet.
Smoothies are great to eat, yet if you are getting more calories than you should from these drinks, then you can also gain weight. This is the case with smoothies, juices, and vegan lattes that pack so many calories to your body.
Do you suffer from food sensitivities? Perhaps you are highly sensitive to seeds, nuts, tomatoes, corn, soy, and gluten. In this case, eating these foods can put your hormones into a serious problem. This is why you should consider consulting your doctor to address this problem with weight gain due to food sensitivities.
When your gut microbiome is not in good shape, weight gain may also occur. This means that your body lacks healthy bacteria that help to break down calories more efficiently and effectively. A healthy gut promotes better metabolism. Thus, you should consume foods rich in probiotics that help to replenish your gut flora to prevent gaining weight.
Eating Habits That Cause Weight Gain On Vegans
Foods that are rich in calories such as cakes, ice cream, desserts, and the like – even if they are vegan – can be an issue with maintaining the right weight if you eat too much of these things.
You may also be ignoring a reasonable portion of foods when you eat. Portion control impacts your weight gain as a vegan, especially if you are consuming higher calories than you need. Perhaps you are eating more, yet not burning enough calories. Thus, weight gain is imminent.
Do take note that lentils, beans, and quinoa are rich in carbs. This is why if you consume a lot of vegan burgers and other meat alternatives made of these ingredients, then you are taking in more calories than when you eat whole foods.
You should take a look at the amount of calories you get, how many calories you are consuming, and whether or not these foods provide satiety to you.
Weight Gain On A Vegan Diet
With all these things in mind, it makes perfect sense to reflect on what you are eating daily – are these processed or unhealthy vegan foods? Or perhaps you already have an unbalanced hormone level, and the unhealthy vegan foods you eat impact your body negatively.
Consider these factors and what you can do differently, so you don’t have to worry about gaining weight on a vegan diet and achieve health benefits you want from this lifestyle.