Weight: Be Kind to Yourself

Many people assume that once you adopt the vegan diet, you’ll never overeat or have to worry about your weight again.  This isn’t necessarily true, although I will say that it is incredibly hard to be a fat vegan.  Having said that, overeating is an addiction just like smoking or alcohol can be, and many addicts will simply switch out Oreos for vegan cookies.  I know I did!

Here’s the good news:  Vegan junk food generally has fewer calories and saturated fat than standard junk food, and certainly won’t contain any cancer-causing animal proteins.  So, even if you are addicted to sugar, salt, fat and thus, overeating, you’ll probably still lose weight as a vegan junk foodist.

However, here is something else I have learned in all my studies in Plant-Based Nutrition and putting it to use in my own life:  If you cut out most salt, sugar and fat from your vegan diet, you will naturally begin to crave healthy foods.  Grapes will explode on your tongue and corn will cause your taste buds to dance!  Then, when you get stressed out and go on a binge, you’ll want to reach for healthy foods, and I’ve never known anyone to get fat from binging on apples or spinach.

But here is what I’d really like to say today about weight:  Be kind to yourself.  If you are in the middle of a very stressful time and have put on some weight, that’s okay.  It will come off when it’s ready, and quite frankly, I believe in the phrase, “The more you resist, the more it persists.”  So, instead of resisting the new pounds and trying to bludgeon yourself into a miserable starvation routine to get them off (which will just induce even more stress), sit quietly in meditation for a few minutes, and know that all is good, just as it is.  The pounds will come off eventually.  Go to the issue that is causing you stress, and work on resolving that issue so that you can move forward, back into your most healthful body.

All is good, just as it is, right here, right now.