A healthy Vegetarian Diet is more of a lifestyle rather than a diet plan. It’s based on eating wholesome foods while excluding red meat. A desire to lose weight is the primary reason most people switch to this type of diet, but it’s also a lifestyle that is gaining popularity each year.

Vegetarians do vary their diet somewhat depending on how strict they’ve decided to be with their food choices. For example, a lacto-ovo vegetarian will include eggs and dairy in their diet. A fishetarian or flexitarian will include fish in their diet, but no red meat.

The good thing about a vegetarian diet is that it’s one of the healthiest ways to eat since the diet is plant-based rather than protein-based. It also focuses on more fiber and less cholesterol and fat. This type of lifestyle is also beneficial to the environment, making it a great choice for yet another reason.

Food You Can Eat

– Whole grains
– Legumes
– Soy protein – cheese, tofu
– Nuts
– Leafy greens
– Fruits
– Vegetables
– Milk – soymilk, almond milk, or rice milk but not cow’s milk
– Egg replacers
– Fish – optional

Essentially, if the food comes from the earth or is plant-based, it is permissible.

Avoid: red meat, animal fats, chicken and poultry, pork, dairy, and possibly fish/seafood

Exercise

Exercise is always a good boost for health no matter what foods you eat, but vegetarians tend to be mindful of their health overall, so exercise is likely already incorporated into their lifestyle. If however you’ve just made the switch to a vegetarian way of eating, do include regular cardio and strength training along with healthy food choices.

Costs

There’s no cost per se for this program other than the food you purchase at the grocery store. However, adopting a vegetarian way of eating isn’t inexpensive.

Some books I recommend if you are transitioning to this lifestyle:

The Complete Vegetarian: The Essential Guide to Good Health (The Food Series)

The New Becoming Vegetarian: The Essential Guide To A Healthy Vegetarian Diet

Some books I recommend if you are a vegetarian trying to lose weight:

Weight Watchers Versatile Vegetarian

The Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet: The Fast, No-Hunger Weightloss Diet for Vegetarians

Pros

– Weight loss seems to come easily
– More options are available in the stores for vegetarians
– This diet reduces your risk of developing diabetes, stroke and heart disease
– Beneficial to the earth and environment
– Flexibility within the vegetarian lifestyle – some eat fish and some don’t

Cons

– A learning curve exists – you must learn how to get enough protein in your diet or else your body could become deficient and develop medical conditions as a result of too many carbohydrates and not enough protein
– All meat, except possibly fish, are off limits
– Protein deficiency is a real possibility if you’re not careful

Summary

The vegetarian diet is considered healthy overall. Admittedly, a vegetarian must be vigilant about getting enough protein in her daily diet given that meat is not an option. Adopting a vegetarian lifestyle means you could lose that unwanted weight and feel more energized. Just be careful to include other sources of protein in your diet so your body has a balanced intake of nutrients.

About the Program

The Mediterranean Diet Plan has many characteristic details that make it relatively appealing if you want to shed a few pounds.

The first distinct difference between this diet and other diet plans is that you will get the opportunity to indulge in foods that are native to the areas that lie along the border of the Mediterranean Sea.

Colorful olive oil, fresh fruits and vegetables, and even distinct red wines are not unusual on this menu.

This weight loss program is most widely known for the fact that it can be extremely beneficial in combating disease of the heart.

Foods You Can Eat

To help you balance your meals, this program even comes with its own style of the Food Pyramid.

Based on the lifestyle of the Mediterranean region, the program consists of fruits and vegetables, a variety of whole foods, seafood, and a limited amount of red meat. Healthy fats are included along with yogurt, cheese, nuts, beans, legumes, rice, pasta, potatoes and even a small amount of red wine.

Exercise

Exercise is promoted with this program.

Costs

eDiets has a very affordable program that costs approximately $5.00 a week.

You can also purchase the book, The Mediterranean Diet.

Pros

– One of the first advantages to joining the Mediterranean Diet is that it is known to increase the overall health of every organ in the body, especially the heart. It has been established that this particular diet greatly reduces the chance for heart disease to develop.

– The overall cost of the program is inexpensive and you can enjoy a program that helps you lose weight, taste great foods, and feel great too!

– This particular diet allows you to indulge in foods and even red wine. This is not a standard when it comes to diets, so it is a nice added bonus.

Cons

– It’s not a good fit if you are allergic to nuts or shellfish.

Summary

The Mediterranean Diet Plan is a lifestyle changing diet, it is heart healthy and it provides delicious foods!

About the Program

This diet program is based on clinical research conducted by the Mayo Clinic. It focuses on more than weight loss, it focuses on your overall health.

You’ll follow four vital components:

1. Eat Well using the food pyramid used for the plan.

2. Move – You need exercise whether it is adding more physical activity to your life or a fitness regimen.

3. Goal Setting – Recognize your important goals and keep them realistic to help you stay motivated and successful.

4. Motivation – Staying motivated will require focusing on positive things, getting your priorities in order, and surrounding yourself with people that will support and encourage you.

Foods You Can Eat

This plan lets you eat well and you’ll follow the visual food pyramid created by the Clinic. You read the pyramid form the bottom up for the healthiest foods.

Daily Servings

– Fruits unlimited – minimum of 3 servings
– Vegetables unlimited, minimum of 4 servings
– Carbohydrates – 4 to 8 servings
– Protein/Dairy – 3 to 7 servings
– Unsaturated fats – 3 to 5 servings
– Satisfy your sweet tooth with a treat – you’re allowed up to 75 calories daily.

Exercise

Regular physical activity is a necessity. You can walk, shop, climb stairs, do yard work or gardening, or a regular fitness regimen. You need to move and to get thirty to sixty minutes of exercise daily.

Costs

The Mayo Clinic website provides the pyramid on their site and tips to follow. However, they are coming out with a book. At this time it’s in the “preorder stage” (as of December 2009) which is nice because that guarantees the price will remain the same if you purchase it now. They also have a journal that is in the “preorder stage” to accompany the book.

The books are: The Mayo Clinic Diet and Diet Journal.

Pros

– Developed by professionals based on clinical research
– Healthy foods you can buy at your local grocery
– Promotes exercise
– Provides tips to help you stay motivated

Cons

– None noted

Summary

Combined with healthy eating, exercise, goal setting, and tips to overcome negatives to promote motivation, The Mayo Clinic Diet is an extremely healty diet plan. Following their plan will promote weight loss and a lifestyle change that will maintain that weight loss and improve your overall health.

Low glycemic diets reduce the possiblity of gaining your weight back. In a report from The American Medical Association Journal it was stated that losing weight with a low GI diet kept the weight off longer than people on a low-fat diet.

Weight loss itself can be the reason for re-gaining weight. Calorie restrictions (especially high restrictions) cause you to become hungry more often and it also slows down your metabolic rate which in turn slows down the amount of fat and calories you burn.

The carbs on this type of diet are absorbed more slowly. This keeps you from getting hungry as quickly. Refined carbohydrates are absorbed and processed quickly in your body and elevates blood sugar levels.

When this happens your pancreas discharges insulin to reduce the blood sugar levels. With your blood sugar level increasing rapidly and then falling again – you’ll feel hungry.

In another report from The American Medical Association Journal it was noted low glycemic diets reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Researchers are also reporting this diet is healthier for Type 2 Diabetics because it controls the blood glucose levels.

Foods You Can Eat

No foods are specifically excluded. However you will eat more unrefined complex carbs, lean proteins, and healthy fats. You’ll limit high GI foods such as sugar, pasta, white bread, rice and potatoes.

The Glycemic Impact Diet at eDiets.com has a great nutritional balance. It provides 40% of calories from low glycemic carbohydrates, 30% from lean proteins such as fish, chicken, beef and pork occassionally (with Vegetarian options also) and 30% from healthy fats including nuts, avocado, and olive oil.

Breakfast may be an egg and cheese burrito with honeydew melon, lunch may be curried turkey salad with flat bread and walnuts, and dinner may be foiled fish with couscous and balsamic tomatoes. You’ll also have snacks and with eating more often you’ll not get hungry.

Exercise

If you choose eDiets they do have a free fitness program as well as online community support, meal planners, shopping lists, recipes and much more.

Costs

With eDiets.com you will pay approximately $18.00 per month for the online program.

There are also books available you can purchase online or at local book stores. I recommend The G.I. Diet: The Easy, Healthy Way to Permanent Weight Loss, and Living the G.I. (Glycemic Index) Diet.

Pros

- It’s healthy and less of a chance of regaining your weight back
- No specialty foods to buy
- Proven success

Cons

None

Summary

Low glycemic diets help reduce the risk of some diseases and help you lose weight. If you have a real addiction to sugar – this would be great for you.

Eat More Weigh Less was created by Dr. Dean Ornish as a means to not only lose weight but to greatly improve your health.

This program is based on his research called the “Lifestyle Heart Trial” and many other recorded controlled clinical studies that were conducted to prevent and reverse heart disease.

Throughout all of this research it was evident that this eating style not only helped to prevent and reverse heart disease, it also resulted in weight loss.

Forty percent of daily calories are fat in the average American diet. Many diet programs allow your fat consumption to be thirty percent of your daily caloric intake. But in order to keep your fat intake to that level daily you have to constrain your portion sizes which in most cases leaves you feeling hungry and/or deprived.

With Eat More Weigh Less your daily fat intake will be ten percent or less but you’ll be eating more food. How can this work?… As Dr. Ornish explains, it’s the type of foods you eat and exercise that allows your body to burn more fat effectively.

Foods You Can Eat

With Eat More Weigh Less you won’t have to count calories, you will change your eating style and eat a low fat, high fiber vegetarian diet. If you can’t give up meat completely, he recommends you consume as little as you possibly can.

When you are hungry you can eat beans and legumes, fruits, vegetables, and grains until you are full.

Non-fat dairy products, frozen dinners such as Life Choice, fat free desserts (no sugar) should be eaten in moderation.

Avoid meat, olives, nuts and seeds, fish, oils, margarine, dairy products (with the exception of the above), alcohol, sugar, sugar derivatives, and prepackaged foods that contain more than 2 grams of fat per serving.

The high fiber foods will help you get full faster and maintain a feeling of fullness longer all without increasing the amount of calories you consume because of the types of food you’ll eat.

Exercise

Exercise is a very important part of this program and should become a lifestyle change. You’ll incorporate thirty minutes of moderate exercise daily or an hour three times weekly. He also highly recommends stress-management techniques which can be yoga or meditation or something similar.

Costs

The cost of the book Eat More, Weigh Less.

Pros

- Eat when you are hungry and until you are full
- Exercise is promoted
- Eat healthy whole foods
- You don’t have to count calories or measure portions
- The book has a sample week’s menu and a guide for low-fat cooking
- You’ll find many recipes to get you started

Cons

- If you are a meat lover there will definitely be an adjustment to this program, however you can still eat meat in very limited portions.

Summary

This is a lifestyle change and will take dedication to stay on. Because of the research and success of reversing and preventing heart disease, if you do have a family history of heart disease, it’s a program that can change your life.

The Dash Diet Guidelines has a proven track record to lower your blood pressure and help you achieve weight loss. You are at risk for heart disease if you don’t get your blood pressure lowered.

Although this program wasn’t created specifically for weight loss, it has been proven scientifically to help you lose weight and lower blood pressure. Additionally it has been proven to lower cholesterol and inflammation.

This plan was created by the US National Institutes of Health and comes highly recommended by The National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, The American Heart Association, and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Many doctors also recommend this to their patients.

Foods You Can Eat

You will be eating healthier by consuming more vegetables, whole grains, fruits, low-fat or non-fat dairy products, lean meats, fish and poultry, nuts and beans.

You’ll also learn portion control and getting the right amount of nutrients.

The Dash Diet Guidelines are:
– 4 to 6 servings each of vegetables and fruit
– 6 to 12 servings of whole grains
– 2 to 4 servings of low-fat or non-fat dairy
– 1 1/2 to 5 1/2 servings of fish, poultry and lean meats
– 2 to 4 servings sugar and fat
– 3 to 6 servings of nuts, legumes, or seeds

Variety is important to sticking to a diet plan and you will get variety on this plan.

Exercise

Exercise is promoted and you will be able to incorporate a plan to your physical condition and activity level.

Costs

You can purchase the book The DASH Diet Action Plan: Based on the National Institutes of Health Research: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

Pros

– Scientifically proven to lower blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammation
– Healthy diet plan that can easily become a healthy lifestyle
– Backed by Medical institutions and doctors

Cons

– None noted

Summary

The Dash Diet Guidelines are based on research studies: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The book provides strategies and tips and will help you set objectives and develop your own personal strategy step by step.

Anne Collins Cholesterol-Lowering Diet is completely planned to help you lower your cholesterol and make a healthy lifestyle change in your diet.

She has based cholesterol and fat values from the recommendations of The American Heart Association and The National Cholesterol Education Program’s Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults.

This 28 day meal plan includes menus, recipes, and each meal includes details of calories, total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol.

Daily caloric intake is 1,200 calories and includes 22 grams daily total fat, 4 grams daily of saturated fat, and 120 mg daily of dietary cholesterol. Depending on your weight and circumstances you can add snacks to increase your daily caloric intake.

Food You Can Eat

Anne Collins Cholesterol-Lowering Diet has no restrictions to the foods you can eat, only to the amounts of fats and cholesterol you can have daily. You can follow the plan in three different ways:

- Follow the 7 Day Menu weekly as is

- Modify the 7 Day Menu by choosing other foods in the food substitutions list

- Design your own plan using the Design Your Own Breakfasts, Lunch and Dinners section

Exercise

Reducing your cholesterol does require physical activity and there are guidelines provided in the member’s area.

Costs

For $20.00 you can join the online program and find full support and access to all of the other programs she has.

Pros

- Cholesterol levels should start to drop within 3 weeks after starting the Anne Collins Cholesterol-Lowering Diet.
- Additional information can be found in the member’s area for lowering your cholesterol and exercise.
- You don’t have to track the amount of cholesterol and fats because it has been done for you.
- You will lose weight as well as lower your cholesterol on this program.

Cons

None noted

Summary

Anne Collins Cholesterol-Lowering Diet is healthy and will help lower your cholesterol. This program is founded on solid medical information and recommendations from The American Heart Association and The National Cholesterol Education Program’s Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults.