Weight gain on a vegan diet

by Melanee
(Surrey)

Q Hi, I have been on a vegan diet which has been semi cooked and semi raw for 5 weeks now and my weight is still increasing! Weight gain on a vegan diet doesn’t make sense to me.


I eat lots of lentils, kidney beans and have pea protein in smoothies for my protein.I do yoga twice a week and go for lots of walks and occasional runs. I am starting to feel that my weight is not in my control. I am 9 stone 6 and was 8 stones 7 only 9 months ago.

Could I be deficient in iodine?

A There could be many things involved in your weight gain, but several basics need to be addressed.

Does your digestive system allow for at least one and perhaps 2 to 3 bowl movements per day? Your bowels must be moving regularly to allow for proper cleaning out. If not the body can reabsorb acid toxins back into the body and they require additional fat to be stored. Also it quite possible that your liver and gallbladder have stones and sludge.

Second, I see you are eating lots of legumes,some of which are acidic and can require the body to produce additional fat to be stored safely away. Legumes can also be hard for the body to digest leaving food for microbial critters. Your body just may not do well on legumes. You can try to substitute some of them with with some grains like quinoa and millet.

It’s critically important to be well hydrated to allow for the entire system to function properly and lose weight, particularity when doing any type of detox.

I would recommend working your diet into an 80% alkaline and 20% acid mode. Leafy greens are the most alkalizing and will help get you into balance. Green juices and smoothies are fabulous. Alkaline foods will “draw” out the stored acid toxins in your body that are stored in your fat. When the acid toxins go, so does the fat.

Eating healthy fats is important too. If you're cooking use organic cold pressed coconut oil. Flax, chia and hemp seeds, one or all for variety are good incorporate into a healthy diet.

Cleansing Can Help with Weight Gain on a Vegan Diet

Perhaps see a colon therapist for some colon cleansing that can be done in concert with herbal cleanses that contain some bulk to physically clean out from top to bottom. Another amazing product for cleaning the digestive tract from top to bottom is Oxy-Powder Intestinal Cleanser- .

After your colon is clean and moving regularly, and your diet is approximately 80% alkaline, then I would suggest doing some type of liver gallbladder flush. These organs control digestion, purification, and removal of waste from the body. The same company that makes the Oxy-Powder has a liver gall bladder cleanse. Livatrex Liver Gallbladder Cleanse Detox . I have used these products and think they are very good quality, but you may find others you prefer.


There is another method for cleansing the liver described in The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush , by Andreas Moritz. Aside from the liver cleanse there is so much valuable information in this book I would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the working of the body and how to achieve greater health.

The next several things may seem trivial and like what should be common knowledge, but if not adhered to they are the cause of much illness and disease.

*Food must be chewed until it is of a soupy consistency, this is the first step to good digestion and good health.

*One should eat until satiated, but not full. Over eating alone is a major problem in the industrialized world.

*Next an appropriate amount of time after a meal must pass before eating again, typically 4 to 5 hours depending on what was eaten. If fresh food is taken in on top of food still in the stomach then digestion is retarded and a breeding ground for bugs is set.

*Finally the last meal of the day should not be too heavy and taken at least 3 hours before bedtime.

Another thing to consider is if your body is still making adequate digestive enzymes and stomach acid (HCL). A cleaner diet and 80% alkaline can help with this, but you may have to supplement if your system is not doing its job, which is common in anyone on a poor diet over 3o years of age. It’s not always what we eat, but what our bodies are able to assimilate and use that is important.

You can sip water 2 hours or so after a meal and drink a glass after 3 hours if it agrees with you. Start your day with at least 16 oz. of water with a green powder or the juice from one lemon. This will alkalize you first thing after a night of detoxing and get you moving for the day.

The Weight Loss and Detox pages on the website can be useful as well so I recommend you read through them when time allows. raw food weight loss


You might be deficient in iodine, may people are. Eating seaweed should help with that if your digestive system is able to assimilate properly.

As you can see weight gain on a vegan diet can have many causes and perhaps a little of all. I would make a plan and follow it for another 5 weeks and see how you feel and what you weigh. The proof shall be in the greens!

If your situation persists for some reason then checking in with a natural health practitioner would be recommended.