OAKLAND, Calif., July 26, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Margaret Floyd has something to say that may surprise you if you assume that vegetarians have a leg up on meat eaters when it comes to health, nutrition, and weight loss. The nutritionist and author of Eat Naked: Unprocessed, Unpolluted, and Undressed Eating for a Healthier, Sexier You says that she has never seen a client thrive for a long period of time on a vegetarian diet.
Floyd describes many of her clients as "recovering vegetarians" who chose that lifestyle for ethical, environmental, and health reasons, but had trouble flourishing with the dietary restriction. Once she begins reintroducing them to animal protein their overall wellness improves. "I was one of these people," Floyd remembers. "I was a vegetarian for the better part of 10 years. I was constantly hungry, I had mad sugar and pasta cravings, and nothing could fill me up. I'd order two dinners, eat them both, and while my stomach was distended it was so stuffed, I was still hungry." Floyd says that the moment she began eating meat – and, importantly, digesting it, since many vegetarians have a greatly reduced ability to digest protein - she finally experienced what she had been searching for during all those years of overeating: satiation without excess.
Why does she think eliminating animal protein makes weight management difficult? Floyd has a number of reasons:
- vegetarians often end up eating too many starchy carbohydrates (grains, potatoes, bread, pasta), which can cause spikes in insulin, a fat storage hormone
- they are constantly craving sugar because they're not eating enough protein, and not digesting the protein they are eating (and 60% of protein gets converted to glucose – so if you're not digesting it properly, and many vegetarians aren't according to Floyd, then you're going to crave that sugar you're not getting)
- because they're constantly craving sugar, many vegetarians end up eating more of it and having more insulin spikes and, as with the starchy carbohydrates, this leads to more fat storage
Floyd does acknowledge the concept of bio-individuality, and readily agrees that there are many who do just fine on a vegetarian diet. However, she continues, "the feedback I've gotten from Eat Naked and my clients has consistently been gratitude for showing them how to eat foods that they've always intuitively known are good for them but felt too guilty and wrong about eating – like whole milk, butter, beef, egg yolks, etc." And what about those who forgo meat because they think it's wrong to consume animals? Well, there is probably no getting around that. Margaret Floyd promotes eating organic, eating local and seasonal, and consuming meat that has been humanely raised. But some people may be happier eating 'naked' while also eating a maintaining a vegetarian diet.
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The following files are available for download:
| wkr0005.pdf | Eat Naked: Unprocessed, Unpolluted, and Undressed Eating for a Healthier, Sexier You |
| wkr0006.jpg | Margaret Floyd |
| [Image] | Margaret Floyd, author of EAT NAKED |
