4 Reasons to Go Flexitarian
Welcome in Fall, Today, Thursday, September 22nd, is the official start of the Fall Seasons that will last until December 21st. It is also a great season to begin to clean up one's health after a Summer Season that may have had you indulging in everything under the sun.
So, you are a tad bit tired of consuming meat, poultry, seafood, fish, or even dairy every day for environmental, animal welfare, or monetary reasons, and your healthcare provider gave you a nudge to cut back to improve your health; but you are not ready or willing to take that plunge completely? We empathize with you, it is not an easy task to do, but it may be something you need to do if not for anything other than your overall wellbeing. How about you start somewhere? The place where you are currently is fine for weaning yourself off slowly or learning how to minimize the intake of such items until you are comfortable possibly going the Mediterranean, plant-based, vegetarian, or vegan diet route. Lifestyle change is not always comfortable or easy and does not often happen overnight. However, by beginning somewhere, a healthier person can be birthed and nurtured into a healthy being. Everyone has to crawl before they walk; always remember that. Oh, and before everyone walks, they fall quite a bit, hence no one is perfect.
What is a flexitarian diet?
A flexitarian diet is a way of eating that is semi-vegetarian. Flexitarians are a fine line or middle ground between being vegetarian and an animal eater together allowing their way of eating to be considered flexible. The plan consists of people adding more fruits, vegetables, and less processed foods to their lifestyle change routine. Flexitarians principally consume a diet that is semi-vegetarian because they don’t want to give up meat entirely, so they don’t, or at least at the beginning of their journey. Flexitarians usually consume meat, poultry, seafood, fish, and dairy one to six days a week contingent on the phase they are in on the journey. There is the beginner or newbie phase where one chooses to be meatless one to two days a week. Then there is the middle flex phase, where one is meatless roughly three to four days a week. Lastly, there is the expert/advanced flexitarian phase where one is meatless 5+ days of the week, most weeks out of the year. It’s an individual’s choice on how little or how much of a flexitarian they will be on their journey. There is nothing set in stone when being a flexitarian. So feel free to go at your own pace. Pick up our new Fall Flexitarian Recipe Guide Here to learn more.
Non-Fruits & Veggies
When purchasing meat, poultry, and dairy seek out organic or free range, and lean options as much as possible. Regarding seafood always purchase wild caught. The flexitarian diet is about eating a smidgen cleaner than a diet that is higher in fatty, heavily hormone, chemically laden processed foods. Salt and sugar are also reduced while eating in this manner. Fruits and veggies are consumed more than usual by a flexitarian.
4 Reasons to Go Flexitarian
1. Health & Wellbeing
a. Lowers inflammation
b. Lowers (LDL) cholesterol
c. Lowers hypertension risk
d. Decreases weight
e. Helps to avoid type 2 diabetes by reducing sugar in the diet (processed and natural sugar)
f. Weight loss
2. Animals
a. Demonstrates the compassion you have for animal lives. Cutting down on meat for at least one day a week is a start to something good for your body and the life of animals throughout the world. The less consumption of animals the less cruelty and suffering that one is partaking in.
b. The consumption of animals on the earth and in the ocean can lead to the extinction of them in the future.
3. Environment
a. Lower to no consumption of meat is not only good for the human body, but it is good for the entire eco-system where biodiversity is being challenged every day. The forest trees will be able to exist because land is no longer being cut down to house feeding animals that go through so many phases before landing on the plate and eventually the fork.
b. Flexitarian diets are a right step in the direction of attempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at time when they are rising rapidly due to heavy meat consumption.
4. Economics
a. Every where you look, you can see that these are some expensive times to be residing on planet earth. Inflation is everywhere. Just about everything cost that much more than it did a year or two ago. Though gas has decreased for combustible vehicles over the past few months it is still more expensive in most places than it was prior. For those vehicles that are not electrical that transport food around the country. Things are still relatively high to ship and to fuel jets and planes to get from one place to another.
b. Plant-based foods are far less in price to purchase than meat, poultry, seafood, fish, and dairy. Big Box stores like BJ’s & Costco have large salads for around $4.29 per tub and a host of other veggies and fruits at a reasonable price. Heck a 4lb bag of quinoa that can last for a month for most individuals and families is under $10.00; anywhere else and the price is double to three times more. Can’t say you can say the same for animal-based products. Whole Foods and local Markets are great options too.
Conclusion
No one has said lifestyle change or any change for that matter is easy. However, when one attempts to gather faith, getting uncomfortable with their norm growth happens. The flexitarian lifestyle is sustainable for those who care to live this way. However, if they go a little bit further, beginning to think about the welfare of animals, the environment, or the ecosystem; they may go in the direction of the Mediterranean, vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based diet for a lifestyle change. Discussing the flexitarian diet here; is a great segue because next month is World Vegetarian Day & Month, and November is World Vegan Month. Talking about the flexitarian diet now allows for an opportunity to challenge the way you eat and maybe the various other diets for the remainder of the year and perhaps start the new year off with Veganuary (January). Going vegan for a week, weeks, a month, or the entire year in 2023. More to come on this later. Stay tuned.
Invest in Yourself with the Flexitarian Recipe Guide or Coaching
No matter which way anyone decides to go on their healthy eating journey, it has been said countless times, repeatedly that adding vegetables and fruits is the way to go when it comes to transforming your overall health and getting those numbers in check.
Visit our shop here to purchase the 7-Day Flexitarian Recipe Guide, which has 33 recipes that you can recycle and use the way you like. Need individualized help to get your health situation on track? You don’t have to go at it alone, but you must ask and want help to move forward. Contact us here. Set up an appointment (15-minute complimentary clarity call) to speak to one of our holistic health and wellness, fitness nutrition, behavior change or lifestyle coaches. They have ample experience and can even help you with a workout plan too. If it is not a good fit, we may be able to refer you to someone or a company that can help you.
You must get out of a negative mindset and stop thinking you can do everything alone and stop procrastinating saying you will do something you have been saying you were going to do for over a decade and have yet to do it. You need help and you know it. Partner with a experienced and professional coach.
Reference:
Regular meat consumption is linked to wide range of common diseases.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-03-02-regular-meat-consumption-linked-wide-range-common-diseases
We must change what we eat to solve the climate crisis
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-11-06-we-must-change-what-we-eat-solve-climate-crisis-shows-research