Why Are Some Vegetarians FAT?

Q: Dear Joy, I know some people who are vegetarians and tout it like they deserve a trophy, but yet they are still fat! How can that be?

A: I guess one would assume that someone who chooses to become a vegetarian or vegan would enjoy better health, energy and weight loss or maintenance but if not, it is usually because of 1 or more of the following 4. (Assuming they workout and are just jacking up their dietary choices)

#1. Instead of "WHERE'S THE BEEF?", "WHERE'S THE PRODUCE?"! That should be the foundation of such eating plans and consisting of at least 50% of raw produce. If those "live" powerful foods are missing, so then will your benefits be missing too.

#2 Undereating
If they are eating below their caloric needs (energy), then they are a metabolic catastrophe and marked as a human fat storing machine.

#3 Eating too much fat
We can only get the bulk of our fuel from 1 of 3 nutrients: Fat, Protein or Carbs...if are eating too much fat then fat is easily stored and you will be marked as a human fat storing machine. If you think you do not fall into this category REALLY pay attention to what you are putting in your pie hole. The average American consumes about 40% of their calories from FAT!

4.Eating too many refined carbs/sugars
John Alvino, a Strength and Conditioning Specialist mentions refined carbs and what he feels the top 3 culprits are.

John Alvino focuses on vegetarian fat loss and he say's the 3 foods you must NOT eat if you are a vegetarian that wants to lose fat are....

Controversial stuff...here it is:

#1 Food to avoid on a vegetarian fat loss diet:

Excessive soy products

Most vegetarians consume copious amounts of soy. Heck, it is not uncommon to see soy milk for breakfast, soy burgers for lunch and soy ice cream for a late night snack.

These foods can stop your fat loss dead in its tracks. In addition to all of the sugar and salt these products contain, soy has an estrogenic effect in the body.

Excess estrogen binds to the fat cells and causes an increase in the size of estrogen-sensitive fatty tissue such as belly fat.

#2 Food to avoid on a vegetarian fat loss diet:

Flour products

This list of fat loss no-nos includes: breads, pasta, muffins, cereals and just about all other baked goods.

These foods increase a hormone named insulin in the body which directly promotes the storage of fat.

Flour also has an inflammatory effect in the body. The last thing you want is inflammation in your joints which can cause pain and prevent you from being active.

#3 Food to avoid on a vegetarian fat loss diet:

Cheese

Cheese contains animal based saturated fat which has a negative effect on your carbohydrate metabolism.

In the presence of saturated fat, ingested carbohydrates are directed to your fat cells for storage instead of being diverted to your muscle cells for energy.

Vegetarian diets are typically higher in carbohydrates and anything that interferes with their utilization should be minimized or completely avoided.