Reducing body fat and maintaining a healthy weight is the key to a long life. But how do you get started? One of the best ways to speed up your metabolism is by changing what you eat. Even if you’re hitting the gym seven days a week, you won’t see the results you want until you revamp your diet.
Many people confuse vegan and vegetarian diets. When you follow a plant-based vegan diet, you avoid all meat and animal byproducts, which include milk, eggs, and honey. Aside from weight loss, a vegan diet has many benefits. For example, following a plant-based diet helps reduce the risk of certain cancers. However, there are many precautions new vegans need to be aware of to maintain good health. You must first ensure that you’re consuming the appropriate balance of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. In addition, as with any new diet plan, you need to incorporate daily exercise into your routine to lose weight.
Diet and Exercise
Whether you’re trying to lose weight or just maintain the weight you currently are, regular exercise is a must. In general, adults should perform at least 150 minutes of cardiovascular activity every week. Roughly, this equates to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise at least five days a week. Furthermore, you should incorporate at least two days of weight training into your exercise routine to build lean muscle and bone. Thankfully, becoming vegan will not affect how or how often you should exercise.
Cardio and Strength Training
Exercise comes in many forms, but it’s typically broken down into three distinct categories, which include resistance training, cardiovascular activity, and weight-bearing exercises.
Cardiovascular exercise is specifically designed to burn fat, increase stamina and strengthen your heart. Resistance training includes crunches, push-ups, and lifting weights. Bone-strengthening exercises include jogging, gymnastics, and certain types of martial arts.
Proper Nutrition
Before you replace animal meats with fruit, vegetables, and legumes, you should have a basic understanding of which nutrients you need to stay healthy and active. To maintain good health, you need the right balance of iron, calcium, vitamin D, and B-12. In addition, you need to consume omega-3 fatty acids and protein. Protein is vital for muscle regeneration and growth. There are many alternative sources of protein, which include spinach, peanut butter, kidney beans, and chickpeas. Many of these foods also contain a sufficient amount of amino acids as well.
Calcium is also important for strong, healthy bones, which can be found in leafy greens. When you start a vegan diet, you must maintain the appropriate level of iron, which can be difficult. Be sure to stock up on almonds, spinach, cashews, and seedless raisins. Finding adequate sources of vitamin D is also easy. In addition to getting outside and soaking up the sun, make a point to eat more kale, soybeans, spinach, and collard greens.
The most important aspect of becoming vegan knowing where to find alternate sources of vitamins and minerals you find in animal products. And although it may seem overwhelming at first, going vegan might be the best decision you ever make.