Veganist_ Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World - Kathy Freston [10]
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A CAUTION ABOUT “THERMOGENIC” SUPPLEMENTS
There are hundreds of supplements available that tout their ability to promote thermogenesis; however, the nutrients and minerals in foods work synergistically. That is, you’ll see much better, more lasting results consuming a whole food, with all its micronutrients, than from just taking a pill.
The main ingredient in many of these supplements is actually caffeine, which may help suppress appetite (though not as much as you might think—it takes a pretty high dose to have any real effect on appetite suppression), but along with that you may experience the bad side effects of caffeine—anxiety, nervousness, and irritability; and those moods can make it harder to make good decisions about what to eat.
The other commonly used ingredient is ephedra, which has an even worse track record than caffeine. Ephedra increases your heart rate and blood pressure. And it’s not even that effective at regulating appetite over a long period of time. Ephedra’s risks are extremely high (heart attack, stroke, and death), and the sale of supplements containing ephedra is still illegal in the United States, though many websites still promote it.
In fact a 2008 FDA investigation found that some weight-loss pills actually contained undeclared prescription drugs in them, such as fluoxetine (Prozac), phenytoin (an antiseizure medication), and phenolphthalein (a suspected cancer-causing laxative agent), that in some instances greatly exceeded the recommended maximum dosages. So in addition to pills being ultimately useless, they could also be dangerous. Sorry, but long-term weight loss is rarely accomplished by simply taking a pill.
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All vegetables, beans, and whole grains are good sources of both fiber and complex carbohydrates, while there isn’t an animal food on the planet that contains any fiber or complex carbohydrate at all. Zero. Zilch.
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A vegan diet is a rich source of foods that have a thermic effect. Some good sources of highly thermogenic plant-based protein (and fiber!) include:
Tofu, seitan, tempeh
Nuts, seeds
Beans, legumes
Many vegetables are also thermogenic, including chile peppers like cayenne. Some thermogenic fruits and vegetables are:
Lettuce (iceberg is the least nutritious—go for dark green varieties)
Spinach
Mushrooms
Celery
Asparagus
Cruciferous vegetables (kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower)
Apples
Berries
Peaches
Apricots
Pears
These foods vary in their thermic effects, but all of them will help your body burn fat and lose weight.
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And Dr. Barnard explains the metabolism issue this way: Your body burns glucose—a natural and necessary sugar that comes from starchy foods like whole grains, vegetables, and beans—for fuel to power just about everything from your muscles to your brain. Here’s the problem: Fat from food forms little globules inside your cells which can obstruct the glucose from getting inside the cells to do the work it’s meant to do. We can’t burn the glucose if it can’t get into our cells, which results in a more sluggish metabolism. The trick is that if we boot the fat out of our cells (by not eating fatty foods), our energy—and metabolism—becomes supercharged.
Stop Buying the Protein Myth
A common myth that persists and persists is that it’s difficult to get enough protein from a vegan diet. Let’s just put that myth to rest. The fact is, people on the standard American diet (SAD) eat nearly twice the recommended daily amount of protein—which can actually be unhealthy. According to the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board, recommended protein intake should be calculated according to your weight and age; it recommends 0.8 grams of protein per kilo of body weight, meaning that the average woman requires approximately 50 grams of