It's Not So Hard to Switch to a Vegan Diet: Report

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by Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Making the switch from a regular meat-and-

dairy diet to an all plant-based, vegan diet may be easier than it

would seem, new research suggests.

 

Among a group of overweight, postmenopausal women, most of those who

followed a vegan diet -- which contains no animal products such as

dairy, meat or eggs -- said they enjoyed the diet.

 

Most women also said they were mostly or completely used to the vegan

diet after 14 weeks, and planned to continue it, for the most part at

least, in the future.

 

Moreover, women eating only vegan foods lost an average of 13 pounds,

more than women who followed a standard low-fat diet.

 

Study author Dr. Neal D. Barnard of the Physicians Committee for

Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC, explained that, for many

people, giving up meat and animal products entirely is easier than

trying to limit them as part of standard low-fat fare.

 

" It's a little bit like quitting smoking, " he said. " If I said to

you, 'have one-half of a cigarette a day,' it's easier to quit. "

 

Another incentive for people to follow the vegan diet is that it

works, he said. Study after study has shown that vegan diets can

lower cholesterol and lead to as many health benefits as medications,

Barnard explained.

 

" If you want people to stick with it, you have to give people a diet

that gives them results, " he told Reuters Health.

Although it may seem daunting to give up all animal products, Barnard

said that one easy way is to just try it for a few weeks, and see how

you feel. Before beginning, ask family and friends to join in, and

make a list of the foods you plan to eat at each meal.

 

After around three weeks of only vegan foods, he said, many people's

tastes adapt, and they don't want to return to their old

habits. " Once you make the change, you just wish you had done it

earlier, " he said.

 

To investigate how people would cope with a switch to an all-vegan

diet, Barnard and his team asked half of 64 overweight women to try a

low-fat form of the diet -- one that excluded all animal products,

nuts, avocados and other fatty fare -- for 14 weeks. The rest of the

women ate a standard low-fat diet that included animal products.

 

There was no limits placed on calories or portion size, and people

could eat allowed desserts as often as they liked. Vegan participants

also took a supplement of vitamin B-12, which is naturally found in

animal products.

 

Participants attended weekly meetings about their diets, and received

instructions, tips for eating at restaurants and recipe ideas.

 

After 14 weeks, 93 percent of vegan eaters said the diet was good,

moderately good or extremely good, and 79 percent rated the diet

as " acceptable. " Almost 90 percent said they planned to continue the

diet after the experiment, the authors report in the Journal of

Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation.

 

In an interview, Barnard explained that giving up eggs and dairy adds

extra health benefits because these foods contain high amounts of fat

and cholesterol.

 

He added that many vegan products at upscale health food stores are

expensive, but people can make a hearty meal of potatoes, canned

beans and vegetables for only " pennies. "

 

SOURCE: Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, Summer 2004.