Of Course! While research shows that vegetarians and vegans tend to weigh less than their meat-eating counterparts, any food (including meat) can fit into any diet. And, particularly for those who may benefit from higher protein diets, cutting out meat is definitely doable, but practically speaking, it is more of a challenge. It’s a matter of choosing more healthful meat options (e.g. salmon, tuna, white meat poultry, seafood, lean beef, etc.) more often. Also, keep in mind that “plant-based” diet is not “plant only” diet, meaning animal products can be (and usually are) included. But, getting back to the research, it’s pretty consistent that diets predominantly consisting of plant foods are conducive to being more lean and with less body fat. Why? There’s a number of working hypotheses, including:

1) Fruits and most veggies (the minimally or unprocessed versions) are less calorically-dense meaning you generally need to eat A LOT of these foods to take in a decent amount of calories. A cheeseburger from the golden arches has just over 300 calories; you would have to eat 24 cups (yes, 24 cups) of fresh baby spinach to get those same calories. Talk about spinach overload! And, yes, regardless of whether your genetics indicate you fare better on a low-fat or high-protein or high-carb or etc. diet, consuming less energy (aka calories) is part of the weight loss equation. (As is getting all those great nutrients and antioxidants these foods offer.)

2) Your gut microbiota (the little “good for you” bacteria that live inside your gut), seem to prefer the plants you feed them over the animal products. And, while it’s a little weird to think of the of bacteria in your gut, let alone their “food preferences,” they play a critical role in a lot of your body systems, including your metabolism. Research in the area is still emerging so how or why this happens is still unknown.

3) Certain plant compounds can interact (or communicate) with certain parts of your DNA involved in increasing metabolism. Without going into the details, the types of genes that you have are very important for how your body works. Obviously. However, how those genes are expressed (or communicated) to your body is also very important. Think if the following analogy: your DNA is like the blueprint for a house, but then you need the construction crew to actually build it. How the crew builds the house is just as important as what the blueprint dictates should happen. So, many plant compounds, outside of simply the nutrients they provide, have been found to interact with how your genes are communicated to the parts of the cell important for metabolism. It’s like they came and offered additional assistance to the construction crew on which areas to focus on. Essentially, some plant compounds seem to cause your cells to increase your metabolism.

The list goes on and on…if you’re interested in finding out more, here’s a summary.