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A Rough Guide to the Flexitarian Diet

2019-04-15

The Flexitarian Diet encourages the eating of mostly plant-based foods while allowing meat and other animal products in moderation.

The Flexitarian Diet encourages the eating of mostly plant-based foods while allowing meat and other animal products in moderation. It’s a more flexible diet than fully vegetarian or vegan diets.

If you’re looking to add more plant foods to your diet but don’t want to completely cut out meat, then the flexitarian diet may just be for you.

What's the Flexitarian Diet?

The Flexitarian Diet was created by American dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner to help people enjoy the benefits of vegan and vegetarian eating habits whilst still enjoying animal products in moderation. Hence why the name of the diet is a combination of the words flexible and vegetarian.

Vegetarians avoid meat and often other animal-based foods, vegans meanwhile completely restrict the consumption of meat, fish, eggs, dairy and all animal-derived food products. The Flexitarian Diet however has no clear rules nor recommended numbers of calories or nutrients. It’s more a lifestyle choice than a proper diet.

Flexitarian Diet basics

The Flexitarian Diet is based on the following ideals; to eat mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, to focus on protein from plants instead of those from animals, to be flexible and incorporate meat and animal products from time to time, and to eat less processed foods, choose the most natural food forms, and limit sweets and added sugar where possible.

Because of its flexible nature and focus on what to include rather than restrict, the Flexitarian Diet has become a popular choice for those looking to eat healthier. Whilst the creator of the diet has published numerous books that spell out how to start eating in the flexitarian way it is however not necessary to follow her specific recommendations to start eating in a flexitarian way. Some people on the diet may eat more animal products than others. Overall, the goal is to simply eat more nutritious plant foods and less meat, processed, or sugary products.

As you can imagine there are plenty of health benefits, and the diet itself is useful for those who find are finding it difficult to fully stop eating meat or other treats and foods. Remember though just dropping your consumption of meat will not reap the full benefits unless you’re also cutting down on salt filled foods and products with added sugar.

The Flexitarian Diet is perfect for those who are looking to change their lifestyle, diet, or bad eating habits, it’s a great first step for those looking to move to a fully Vegan or Vegetarian diet or those who are finding it difficult to switch out or stop eating certain food products.

We highly recommend the diet, not only will you feel the health benefits but you’ll also find it’s very good for the environment. We recommend fully researching the diet, this way you can get a good idea of the extra benefits, recipe ideas, and other positive impacts, as well as any pitfalls you should be careful of.

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