Deciding to become a vegetarian or vegan means that your diet will be lacking in certain nutrients like vitamin B-12, which you will need to add back into your diet through various supplements.
In addition to B-12 and many other nutrients, one of the other vitamins that vegans need is L-Carnitine, an amino-acid derivative that helps convert stored fat tissue into energy by transporting it into cells where the fat is burned.
If you’re an overweight vegan, you are likely surprised as to why someone who doesn’t even eat any animal products – well known for creating poor digestion, let alone other health complications due to all the hormones and synthetic chemical products added to livestock diets in order to fatten them up for ideal selling weights – why someone who doesn’t even eat flesh might not be losing weight as easily as you thought. Going vegetarian or vegan, you’ve learned, certainly isn’t necessarily the ticket to weight loss.
If you’ve gained weight as a vegan, you should seriously consider the possibility that you might have an L-Carnitine deficiency. Without sufficient carnitine (much of which comes from deposits in animal flesh), your body might not be sufficiently able to move over its own fatty tissues so they can be properly metabolized. The longer you’ve been a vegan, the more this might be true, as your body may have used up its own carnitine supply. Sure, you can get trace amounts of carnitine by eating yogurt and a few other vegetarian foods, but these are not enough to replace the levels found in animal flesh.
Could it really be as simple as taking some L-Carnitine supplements? Initial studies suggest so, although more studies need to be done to confirm it. Either way, it’s certainly not bogus. Carnitine has many benefits, and fat oxidization is just one.
How much L-Carnitine should you take? The average dose is about 2000mg, but you can start at 1000mg/day and work up to 5000mg a day. Don’t take more than that amount, or you might see unpleasant side effects like diarrhea.
In sum, obese vegans need to seriously look at L-Carnitine. But if you take other meds, make sure you talk to your medical care professional first before making drastic changes.
If you’re a vegan who’s sick and tired of being punished with extra weight, get more information about vegan nutrition, including supplementing with carnitine, at veganeats.livejournal.com.