LIVING I How to lose weight the vegan way

But with so many diets, weight loss plans and healthy eating regimes available it’s a far from simple matter to decide how to become healthier and slimmer.

Over the years I’ve interviewed many super-slimmers with fantastic stories to tell of huge weight losses and improvements in health. Most had made repeated attempts to shed the stones before finally changing their lives. In some cases they became, quite literally, half the person they’d once been.

The most successful had adopted a healthier, sustainable way of life – usually by joining a slimming club. But they’d only achieved their goal weights when the time was right.

The onset of health problems, the appearance of hideous holiday snaps and the realisation that life was passing them by were more often than not the triggers that started them on their weight loss journey.

If you’re thinking of making 2017 the year to be slimmer and healthier then read the stories of those who have succeeded – and how they did it.

Today and next week we’re looking at the clean eating phenomenon – as favoured by celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Ellie Goulding and Miley Cyrus.

Many clean eaters are vegan and don’t eat meat, fish or dairy products, but some simply remove all processed foods from their diets, relying on fresh ingredients. We begin with The Vegan. Jane Speller, 43, from Brighouse, has been a vegetarian since she was 24 and vegan for the past few years.

She has ethical objections to using animals for food and says that a vegan diet can be both healthy and a good way to maintain a slender figure. (The BBC programme How to Stay Young, screened last year, concluded that a vegan diet was the best way to remain youthful).

However, Jane admits that giving up meat, fish, eggs and dairy is not necessarily a way to lose weight on its own. In fact, she managed to become nearly 14 stones on a vegan diet by relying too much on convenience foods such as jars of pasta sauces, sugary treats, and large portions of starchy foods such as pasta. As she points out, the vegan food market is rapidly filling up with ready-made cakes, biscuits and all the same tempting, fattening food products that are the downfall of non-vegans.

But, as many wouldbe slimmers discover, one of the best tools for fighting the battle of the bulge is a good recipe book and the desire to cook meals from scratch with fresh ingredients. A year ago Jane, who is an office worker, began a sponsored slim in aid of the Dr Hadwen Trust (so far raising around £360 through www. justgiving.com/ fundraising/JaneSpeller3), a charity that supports alternatives to the use of animals in medical science, and has lost three stones (20kgs). A vegan diet can cost less than that of a meat-eater – as staple proteins such as beans and lentils can be bought in bulk very cheaply

She uses a Viva! cookbook (produced by the charity that seeks an end to animal suffering) as well as finding online recipes, and has ‘dramatically’ reduced her portion sizes.

She’s upped the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables and reduced her reliance on processed foods.

“When I first became a vegan I lost weight without even trying,” says Jane, “but then with a sedentary lifestyle, working in an office and spending a lot of time on the computer, I started to put weight on. And I wasn’t making any time for exercise.

“Now I have started walking and going to the gym. In July I climbed Snowdon with my hubby Mark, who is an ‘almost-vegan.’”

Today Jane, who is a tireless campaigner for the Dr Hadwen Trust, weighs just over 10 stones and has lost a lot of the ‘belly fat’ that she said made her look pregnant.

She eats more stir-fries, with vegetables and tofu, soy, chilli and ginger; makes curries using tomatoes rather than coconut milk; and tries to take in a rainbow of salad vegetables as often as she can.

Being a vegan, she says, makes it easy to resist the milky chocolate bars, biscuits and high-fat cheesy snacks that are often a slimmer’s downfall. And there’s no sending out for pizza or popping down to the take-away for a fried chicken dinner. “The most fattening foods are not readily available for vegans,” says Jane. “You do have to make a bit more of an effort, but it’s a healthy lifestyle.

“My cholesterol levels are good and my blood pressure is always low. I think I would have put on a lot more weight if I hadn’t been a vegan.”

NHS Choices says it’s possible to get most of the essential nutrients from a vegan diet and recommends an intake of wholegrain rice and