When it comes to losing weight, there are various options regarding meal plans and eating habits that are safe for your overall health and also offer the kind of results that will help you reach your goals.

However, some are more effective than others. Indeed, according to new research, your best bet might be to opt for a vegan diet that doesn’t focus on restricting calories but does include a fair share of legumes.

A study by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine that was recently published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics involved 244 participants who were all considered to be overweight. While some kept to their normal diets, others were asked to switch over to a low-fat vegan diet that didn’t require restricting calories.

After four months, those who stuck with a vegan diet dropped 13 pounds on average while participants who specifically consumed plenty of legumes lost weight and fat mass as well as visceral adipose tissue.

Related: Eating Habits to Lose Abdominal Fat As You Age, Say Dietitians

“Our research shows that the best way to improve the quality of your health is to improve the quality of the foods you eat,” noted study co-author Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee, according to EurekAlert!. “That means avoiding animal products and eating a vegan diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans.”

When it comes to why a vegan diet is so effective, Dana Ellis Hunnes, PhD, MPH, RD senior clinical dietitian at UCLA medical center, assistant professor at UCLA Fielding school of public health, tells Eat This, Not That!, “It focuses (when it’s a whole food vegan diet) on unprocessed foods that are high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, plant proteins, and water content. This type of diet is very filling and satiating, so you don’t realize you’re eating fewer calories.”6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

On top of that, Hunnes says “these foods are anti-inflammatory, lower in calories, and help regulate hormones,” which “is good for health and weight loss.”

As for legumes, Hunnes explains that “they are incredibly high in fiber and protein which makes them very filling.” Beyond that, they also “raise your body temperature during digestion (the thermic effect of food), so you burn more calories to digest them.”

To find out more about how certain legumes can benefit your health, be sure to read Secret Side Effects of Eating Beans, Says Science.

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Over 40% of all Americans have obesity, a disease that increases a person’s risk of experiencing other diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.

Obesity can be a result of many factors, including genetics, lack of access to certain foods, and dietary and physical activity habits. Some data highlights that psychological factors like having depression can increase a person’s risk of developing obesity, as does taking certain medications as well.

Regardless of the cause of developing obesity, many healthcare providers are focused on ways to help people who are managing this disease attain a healthy weight to help support their overall health and wellness, one of which is developing effective weight loss aids backed by clinical trials, like Plenity.

Why weight loss can be difficult, and how prescription weight management aids may help

There is no single most effective method to promote weight loss. From following certain diets to exercising, there are various ways that people can support their weight goals. No matter what method a person adopts to promote a healthy weight, two factors must be met—you must consume fewer calories than you burn and you must focus on good quality food.

Unfortunately, most people who have obesity and attempt to lose weight are simply not successful. One of the most common reasons why dieting fails is because hunger levels naturally increase when you eat fewer calories. For many, this makes it hard to keep up with calorie restriction, with many reverting back to their baseline calorie intake.

Therefore, finding a way to help people feel more satisfied while limiting their caloric intake could be a viable solution for attaining desired weight loss.

And that is where Plenity, a new weight loss solution, can come into play.

RELATED: Eating Habits to Lose Abdominal Fat As You Age, Say Dietitians.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Plenity is an FDA-cleared weight management aid

Despite the evidence highlighting how having obesity is linked to a slew of negative health outcomes, only 2% of patients who are overweight or obese receive anti-obesity drug therapy.

“Access to treatment options for people with obesity is so low,” explains Nina Crowley, PhD, RDN, LD, Registered Dietitian and Health Psychologist in Charleston, SC. She emphasizes that having an option that is easy to take, lower in cost, and low risk may be “less intimidating to patients and more attractive for providers to prescribe” when making steps to manage obesity.

To address this gap in treatment options, an FDA-cleared aid for weight management called Plenity was created, and it is currently available via prescription.

“Plenity is taken as three capsules with 16 ounces (2 glasses) of water 20 minutes before lunch and dinner,” Crowley explained. It absorbs the water it’s taken with and mixes with the food eaten. “As you continue to use it, you feel fuller throughout the day. Being that it is not absorbed in the bloodstream, it is a safe way for people to achieve greater satiety at mealtimes,” she added.

“The particles can hold up to 100 times their weight in water and that’s what makes you feel full after consuming the pills,” says Lauren Harris-Pincus, MS, RDN, founder of NutritionStarringYOU.com and author of The Everything Easy Pre-Diabetes Cookbook.

Unlike with many weight loss supplements, the outcomes associated with using Plenity are not theoretical. According to a clinical trial published in Obesity, “59% of Plenity responders lost on average 10% of their body weight (22 pounds) in six months,” Crowley reported.

Finally, Crowley adds that the practice of taking Plenity is “paired with virtual support and a group where others taking Plenity can support each other.”

Adults with excess weight who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25–40 kg/m², are eligible for Plenity, so, for those who are in what Crowley calls the “‘treatment gap’ between the weight at which diet/exercise would be effective to help get to a ‘normal weight,'” Plenity may be a nice addition to other interventions (like diet and exercise) that are already implemented.

RELATED: Supplements That You Should Avoid, Say Physicians

Correction: A previous version of this story, titled “The #1 Best Supplement for Weight Loss, Says Study,” referred to Plenity as a weight loss supplement. As Plenity clarified, Plenity is not a supplement; it is a prescription weight management aid that is an FDA-cleared medical device. We have updated the article to reflect this clarification.

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For many people trying to lose weight, counting—and cutting—calories is a tried-and-true method of shedding pounds without having to adhere to a specialized diet. However, new research suggests that it’s not just your weight that may change when you stick to a calorie-restricted eating plan.

According to a June 2021 study published in the journal Nature, calorie restriction can have a significant effect on a person’s gut microbiome, as well. To conduct their study, a group led by researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) monitored a group of 80 overweight and obese women over a 16-week period. During this time, half of the study population went on a liquid diet consisting of 800 calories a day, while the other half of the study subjects maintained their weight.

RELATED: 20 Foods That Relieve Your Gut Problems, Say Dietitians

Among the group adhering to the 800-calorie diet, researchers found that “this very-low-calorie diet profoundly altered the gut microbiome, including an overall decrease in gut bacteria,” explained Peter Turnbaugh, Ph.D., an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at UCSF and a senior author on the study, in a statement.

Fecal samples from study subjects were then transplanted into mice raised in sterile conditions. What researchers discovered was that the mice whose transplants included samples of dieter’s post-calorie-restriction fecal bacteria lost weight. The main difference between the gut bacteria of those on the diet and those who weren’t? The amount of C. difficile, a bacterium that is associated with diarrhea and inflammation of the digestive tract.

“Ordinarily we would predict increased inflammation or even colitis following an increase in C. difficile,” explained Turnbaugh. In this case, however, the mice with increased C. difficile counts showed only a mild increase in inflammation.

While Turnbaugh explained that the study’s findings in no way suggest that the voluntary introduction of C. difficile should become a go-to strategy for weight loss, he noted that the surprising findings certainly merit further study.

“We want to better understand how common weight loss diets might impact and the microbiome and what the downstream consequences are for health and disease,” said Turnbaugh of the study’s results.

If you want to improve your wellbeing, check out The 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now, and for more health and weight loss news delivered to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter!

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