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If you favour meat over carbohydrates in an effort to keep your weight down, you might want to rethink your dinner plate. According to a study published in the International Journal of Obesity, vegetarians gained less weight over a five-year period than did meat-eaters. In fact, the lowest weight gain was seen in people with a high intake of carbs and a low intake of protein.

In the study, researchers from the University of Oxford examined the eating habits of 22,000 people over five years, including meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans (vegetarians who shun all animal foods). On average, study participants gained 4.4 pounds, with vegans gaining the least and meat-eaters gaining the most. Fish-eaters and other vegetarians fell in the middle. (Exercise was another important factor in controlling weight.)

This isn't the first study to suggest that a high-carb diet can help keep pounds off.

An earlier report from the Harvard Medical School revealed that among 74,000 women, those who consumed the most whole-grain foods consistently weighed less than those who ate the least, and were half as likely to become obese over 12 years. With high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets heavily promoted in recent years as a means of losing weight, it might seem strange that eating more carbs can help you stay lean.

Vegetarian diets tend to be high in grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables -- carbohydrate foods naturally low in fat and high in fibre.

Fibre-rich foods add volume to meals, helping you feel full on fewer calories. Research suggests vegetarians consume fewer calories each day than their meat-eating peers, yet they eat more food than non-vegetarians.

A vegetarian diet might do more for your health than help control your weight.

The Oxford Vegetarian Study, a 12-year investigation of 6,000 vegetarians and 5,000 non-vegetarians living in the United Kingdom, found that compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians were 28-per-cent less likely to die from heart disease.

A study of 34,192 Seventh-day Adventists from California found that compared to meat-eaters, men who followed a meatless diet had a significantly lower risk of heart disease, colon cancer and prostate cancer.

Vegetarian diets run the gamut from those that avoid all animal foods to others that include only certain animal foods.

Semi-vegetarians avoid only red meat. Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products, but avoid meat, poultry, fish and eggs. Lacto-ovo-vegetarians include dairy and eggs, but no meat, poultry, or fish. Pesco-vegetarians eat fish, dairy products and eggs, but avoid meat and poultry.

Vegan diets are the strictest -- they exclude all animal products.

There's more to good nutrition -- and staying slim -- than just giving up meat. Avoiding meat may have something to do with the observation that vegetarians enjoy good health, but it's not the whole story.

A steady diet of whole grains, nuts, vegetables, fruit, beans, and soy foods is low in saturated fat and offers plenty of vitamins, minerals, protective plant chemicals, and fibre.

If you're a vegetarian, or would-be vegetarian, a little planning and attention to detail can help ensure a meatless diet is balanced and provides all the nutrients you need.

Vegetarian protein

A daily fare of toast with jam, a vegetable sandwich, and pasta with tomato sauce isn't nutritionally superior, even if it is meatless. To get adequate protein, vegetarians must include a variety of plant protein at meals. Vegetarians get protein from four main sources: dairy and eggs; beans, peas, lentils and soy meats; nuts and seeds; and grains and cereals.

It was once thought that beans and grains had to be eaten at the same meal to form a complete protein. Vegetarian proteins may be low in one or more essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein that your body can't make on its own. Combining them was thought to supply the body with all the necessary components to make proteins. Now it's understood that as long as a variety of protein foods are eaten over the course of a day, there's no need to mix different protein foods in meals.

Calcium and vitamin D

Lacto- and lacto-ovo vegetarians can meet their daily calcium requirements by including three to four servings of milk, yogurt and cheese in their diet.

To watch calories and fat, choose lower-fat varieties of dairy products. Calcium sources that vegans rely on include fortified soy and rice beverages, fortified fruit juice, almonds, soybeans, tofu prepared with calcium, bok choy, broccoli, kale and figs. If you're concerned you're not meeting your daily calcium requirements, take a calcium supplement with vitamin D added. (Adults 19 to 50 need 1,000 milligrams of calcium; older adults require 1,500 milligrams.)

Vegans may lack vitamin D, since fortified milk and oily fish are the main food sources. Enriched soy and rice beverages, along with a multivitamin containing 200 to 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D, can help strict vegetarians meet their

requirements (adults 19 to 50 need 400 IU; older adults

require 800 IU).

Iron

Vegetarians have higher daily iron requirements than meat-eaters because the body absorbs iron less efficiently from plant foods than it does from animal sources. Food sources include beans, lentils, nuts, leafy green vegetables, whole grains, breakfast cereals, and dried fruit. Iron absorption can be increased by eating plant foods with vitamin C-rich foods such as citrus fruit, strawberries, red pepper and tomato juice.

Vitamin B12

Found only in animal foods, vegetarians need to include three servings of B12 in their daily diet: fortified soy or rice beverage (½ cup or 125 ml), nutritional yeast (one tablespoon or 15 ml), fortified breakfast cereal (one ounce or 30 grams), fortified soy "meat" (42 grams), milk (125 ml), yogurt (175 ml), or one large egg. Vegans should choose fortified foods and take a B12 supplement.

Omega-3 fats

Vegetarians who don't eat fish need to get small amounts of these heart-healthy fats from plant sources such as walnuts, ground flaxseed, canola and flaxseed oils.

You don't have to become a vegetarian to be healthy or to control your weight. What seems to be most important is moving toward a plant-based diet -- one that emphasizes whole grains, vegetables, fruit and legumes over animal foods. Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based dietitian at the Medcan Clinic, is on CTV's Canada AM every Wednesday. Visit her website at lesliebeck.com.