By Linda Woolven and Ted Snider, The Natural Path
Many diets are hard to maintain because they require you to eat less. Instead, this diet asks you to change the foods you eat while allowing you to eat as much as you want: delicious, filling and effective!
This 16 week controlled study of 223 overweight people asked half of them not to change their diet at all and half of them to adopt a vegan diet. They were allowed to eat as much as they wanted as often as they wanted. The vegan diet consisted of fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes.
Energy density, or the amount of calories in each gram of food, remained the same in the control group, because they did not change their diet. But it plummeted by a significant 30% in the vegan group.
Even though the vegans were eating just as much food, the food they were eating, while being low in fat, was high in fiber and water, increasing food volume without increasing calories. The vegan group ate just as much and felt just as full, but they took in way less calories.
The result was significantly greater weight loss in the vegan group.
This study suggests an easier way of losing weight that does not require difficult to maintain calorie restrictions and small servings that leave you hungry. And, it would be very difficult to reduce calories by 30% by eating less and still achieve adequate nutrition.
So, don’t eat less. Eat lots! But eat more healthy plant-based foods.
Source
JAMA Netw Open. August 2026;9;(8):e2627483.
Find it at Nutrition World
Plant-based staples from our shelves:
- Beans and lentils: Arrowhead Mills Organic Red Lentils and Cadia Organic Black Beans (filling, high-fiber basics)
- Whole grains: Bob's Red Mill Organic Rolled Oats (oats for breakfast)
- Plant protein: Ancient Nutrition Multi Protein Plant, Vanilla and Zhou Nutrition Plant Complete Protein (for smoothies)
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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.