I was a lacto-vegetarian before, and not for reasons that I don't like meat or I want to lose weight. I didn't become a vegetarian because I had embraced yoga or something. I was a vegetarian because I loved animals.
However, some time during my vegetarian days, I started having strong muscular cramps. I didn't see the connection back then; later on I found out that in order to build muscle (and keep your muscles working properly), you need proteins.
The richest sourse of proteins is meat. Eggs, cheese, milk are also rich animal sources for proteins and I was having a lot of all of them. However, I still had pains.
Now I have decided to eliminate any meat and chicken from my diet, but keep the seafood and the fish for obvious reasons. Will I be able to last? I don't know. The idea is not to think about favorite dishes when you try to do this. I am not thinking about Chinese food or about spaghetti and meatballs or about ham or spiced dried salami. Of course, there is always tofu and soya 'meat'... Not the same, but it's good that we have them.
My biggest concern is keeping a high protein intake. So, we can find proteins in:
eggs;
milk;
soya milk;
tofu;
yogurt;
cheese;
fish.
Basically, anything that comes from an animal conteins proteins.
The richest natural sources of proteins are:
dried beans;
lentils;
peas;
nuts of any kind.
The problem with nuts is that they are also very high in fat, so I would be careful if I were you. They are healthy in small quantities and can help you lose weight, but lose the balance and you will put on pounds like crazy. Been there, done that.
Proteins Essential to Build Muscle and Lose Weight
First of all, like I said, diets that are low in proteins will cause you to lose muscle. Losing muscle causes you to lose pounds on the scale but also to burn less fat. There is a direct relation between proteins and muscles. If you exercise but you're on a diet that uses little protein, there is no wonder you cannot build muscle. Because protein is essential to develop and maintain healthy muscle. Protein is broken down to amino acids which are turned back into proteins.
So, if you want that fat to disappear and nice lean muscles to appear, eat proteins! You can find proteins in milk, eggs, tuna, cheese, yogurt, beans.
I know it works, no matter what some say. I know it works because I tried it and it was the only thing that didn't make me hungry. I know people who lost a great deal because they separated food.
The idea beyond this diet is that certain combinations, like carbohydrates and proteins create, in the end, body fat. If you eat food from the same 'group', you will not put on weight. And even if this food is in the same categorie, do not combine more than three of them together once.
If you want to change the group you have to wait a certain amount of time for the food to leave your stomach or to move to another level. Meat usually takes at least 4 hours to digest, so don't have meat and then, right away, an apple. The apple would wait in your stomach 4 hours for its turn, would ferment and, after a long and nice process, it would produce fat.
Everything can be divided as follows:
non-starchy and green veggies (celery, cucumber, lettuce, eggplant, turnip, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.)
non-starchy or green veggies only with protein or with starch;
nuts with citrus;
lettuce and salary with fruit;
avocados with salad;
sub-acid fruits with one of the other two fruit categories;
tomatoes - with green and non-starchy and with protein;
melons - always alone;
meat with green vegetable;
sweet fruit with sour milk;
eggs with green veggies;
cheese with green veggies;
milk alone;
grains with green veggies;
legumes, beans, and peas with green veggies.
Never have proteins with starches, acid fruits with sweet fruits, no fruits (except forthe ones approved before) with proteins, starches, or vegetables.
Wait at least four hours in between meals. Do not use more than three things in a combination and do not have more than one concentrated protein or starch at a meal.
Actually, if you look closer, you will see that the ideas above can be found in the low carb diets or in the Atkins diet, or in many other diets that group food.
I will write later on about this diet. I remember Demis Roussos lost weight with it.
Losing weight and staying healthy is easy, when you care. Forget famishing yourself: there are other ways.
Since I was 15 I've been obsessed with healthy diets, losing weight, sports, and everything included. I read books after books and I collected articles on staying fit and healthy. Even now, 12 years later, I am still reading everything I find on the subject.
I will share with you, step by step, everything I know. Free advice.
About Me
Name: Andreea Home: Bucharest, Romania About Me: Post graduate student, happily married, who has found the perfect job in a perfect company. :) See my complete profile
