How would you describe your style of eating? Why do you choose to nourish yourself this way? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Just when I thought I was familiar with the different ways we humans mix and match our food choices, my editor suggested that I “consider writing about flexitarians.” I had just confessed that I had veered from my usual plant-based diet to savor chicken, fish and turkey more often than usual in the preceding couple of weeks.
My first response was flexi...what? I had never heard the term before, but I was intrigued by the opportunity to learn something new. Especially if it involved food. I’m a self-proclaimed foodie. I enjoy trying different foods, even if I only take a bite or two.
So, I hurried to Google, and I was pleasantly surprised. A flexitarian diet, simply put is a vegetarian diet with flair. So, I was a flexitarian and didn’t even know it!
According to The Flexitarian Diet by Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, LDN, “The...philosophy is simple but powerful: eat more plants and do the best that you can. Remember that the word flexitarian is flexible + vegetarian…Keep an open mind (and mouth) when it comes to this plan, and you will succeed.”
The book explores various levels of flexitarian eating. A beginner has two meatless days a week (or 26 ounces of meat or poultry per week). The more advanced flexitarian goes meatless three to four days per week (18 ounces of meat or poultry weekly). The experienced or expert flexitarian eliminates meat five days a week, consuming up to nine ounces of meat or poultry a week.
Why I enjoy being a flexitarian
I’ve never felt better since leaning into plant-based eating. I experience:
Less joint pain and stiffness. All other factors being equal, I have noticed that I have increased mobility and less stiffness when I consistently limit the amount of animal products that I eat. A 2019 article in Advances in Nutrition revealed that following a vegetarian diet can result in lower C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. This is a marker commonly used to measure acute and chronic inflammation. Inflammation is often the culprit when we experience pain and stiffness.
Less time in the kitchen. I find that my healthiest meals are often those that require less preparation. Meal prep is helpful because it allows you to prepare, for example, by soaking beans or peas before cooking or by cutting up the ingredients for the salad for the next meal.
Easy adaptability to food sensitivities and dietary needs. Are you avoiding sugar, pork, shellfish, dairy or another food? Flexitarian eating makes it simple.
A couple of years or so ago, I realized that I wasn’t feeling my usual self. With prayer, time and trial and error, I found one of the contributing factors to be foods containing gluten. By eliminating or at least limiting the amount of gluten consumed, I notice major improvement. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat, rye, barley and triticale (a cross between wheat and rye). Gluten helps some foods maintain their shape and texture.
Some people have varying levels of gluten sensitivity. By eating flexitarian, I can avoid most wheat products. By filling up on fruits and legumes while keeping processed foods to a minimum, I can mostly eliminate gluten from my diet without searching for the often overpriced, increasingly popular gluten-free labeled products.
No limitations and no guilt. With this lifestyle, I can adjust and enjoy variety. If I sense that my body is needing more protein on a given day and beans and nuts just don’t satisfy the craving, I can have a piece of fish or chicken and still know that my choice was nutritionally sound.
How would you describe your style of eating? Why do you choose to nourish yourself this way? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
