Q:Q: Heart In Motion teaches so much about making sure you eat vegetables. Can I lose weight without them, and can you talk about why this is true?
A:
Of course you can lose weight without vegetables : ). Our goal at Heart In Motion is to make weight loss/maintenance less of a battle, and adding vegetables does so many things that help with your weight loss far beyond what most people know. I believe that when we KNOW WHY and HOW vegetables aid in weight loss, we are more likely to want to eat them.
- Helps with neurotransmitter function – 80-90% of our serotonin is produced in our intestinal tract. When we are not eliminating properly, we can develop conditions like intestinal dysbiosis and leaky gut syndrome. Bottom line, when serotonin production is disrupted, we develop symptoms like carbohydrate cravings, anxiety, trouble sleeping, unstable mood, and migraine headaches.
- Cravings – When our bodies are not receiving all of the nutrients we need, we develop cravings for other foods that will fill the nutritional need. Eating a variety of vegetables gives our bodies the opportunity to fill all of those deficiencies, thus taking one piece out of the cravings equation.
- Less absorption of fats and carbohydrates – This one is little known, but a huge bonus for fruits and vegetables. Vegetables contain soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber actually creates a gummy lining inside of the intestinal tract which prevents the absorption of some of the sugars/carbohydrates in your food! That is why fiber in vegetables cancels out the carb in vegetables because they are not absorbed. Take a minute to “digest” that.
- Volume – We all know this one, vegetables add volume to the diet without a ton of calories. Comparatively, you can have a cup of broccoli for 35 calories or a cup of pretzels for 171. From a fullness perspective, there’s just no comparison.
- Cancer Prevention – Vegetables prevent cancer for a variety of reasons, but their alkaline nature is one of the big ones. Processed foods, chemicals, and excess protein can create an acidic environment in the body and are hard on the kidneys. CANCER CANNOT THRIVE IN AN ALKALINE ENVIRONMENT so eating vegetables sways your body in the anti-cancer direction.
- Basal Metabolic Raise – Vegetables take a great deal of energy for the body to break down, so the more of them we eat, the more calories our bodies burn just during the process of digestion.
When you plan your meals, try to envision 1/2 of your plate filled by vegetables. Eating them can make weight loss so much easier!!!