What Is A Flexitarian Diet?

 

It seems like every time you turn around, there is some new diet fad raging through the population.  There is paleo, keto, vegan, vegetarian, whole foods, and so many more.  Personally, I've been following a vegetarian diet because it works well for me.  Over the past year or so, I've been seeing the term flexitarian, so I thought it was time to investigate that particular term.  

By definition, flexitarian is a combination of the two terms - flexible and vegetarian.  It does allow you to enjoy animal products some of the time, so its not as strict as some of the other diets.

As far as diets go, it is considered among the healthiest diets, just behind the Mediterranean diet. because it is simple, straightforward, and healthy.  It isn't as fussy as some other diets.  This way of eating has you consuming a lot of beans, grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts but you are allowed to enjoy the occasional piece of meat.  This is great for those who cannot give up their meat entirely.

In addition, this is not a typical diet with a start and stop date.  It does not require you to weigh or measure every serving but it does place a larger emphasis on a plant based diet with less saturated fats and such.  There are some restrictions on the amount of meat you eat during the week and that mainly depends on how much meat you eat.  The recommended amount is between 9 and 28 ounces of meat per week.  So being a flexitarian has you cutting down on the amount of meat you eat per week.

This diet has three stages to help ease you into being a full time flexitarian.  The first step is to skip eating meat, twice a week.  Instead replace the meat with some sort of plant based dish like beans and rice, meatless pasta, or even pizza without any meat.  So instead of eating meat 7 nights a week, you'll only have it 5 nights.

The second stage has you cutting back on meat even further so you enjoy a full vegetarian diet for three to four days a week.  On the days you eat meat, you shouldn't have more than a total of 18 ounces.  To give you an idea of size, a playing card sized piece of chicken or steak is about 3 ounces.  The final stage requests you enjoy a full vegetarian diet for 5 of the days.  On the other 2 days, you shouldn't consume more than a total of 9 ounces.  So about 4.5 ounces each day.

As far as the meat you consume, it is recommended you eat organic, free-range, pasture raised, or grass fed beef, chicken, or turkey.  No matter what, look at the leaner parts so you are not eating that much fat.  If you like fish, look at eating fish that is caught in the wild rather than farmed.

Some of the benefits include decreased heart disease, weight loss, decreased risk of diabetes 2, and being healthier overall.  Be aware though that when you cut back on eating meat, you might find you are deficient in iron, B12, zinc, or calcium.  

Make sure you chose to eat foods that have undergone the least amount of processing, with no added sugar or extra salt, Otherwise enjoy fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, grains, plant based milks, etc so you get the best diet you can eat. It is important to replace meat with these items and not just stock up on frozen pizza, and canned pasta.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great time.