All About Eating a Flexitarian Diet
Although most of us strive to eat a more plant-based diet as part of a commitment to healthy eating, there are bound to be times when the call of a juicy steak or some buffalo wings, might be very hard to resist. Looking after your general health including something like keeping your teeth in good shape through a plan at Guardian Life, is always a good idea. In addition, taking a brand new look at the way you eat through the idea of a flexitarian diet, can also help.
Introducing the flexitarian diet
A balanced vegetarian diet has a number of established health benefits, often resulting in a lower body mass index and reducing your risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, amongst other things.
The most obvious thing to say is that most of us know that we should be enjoying a diet that is packed with plenty of fruit and vegetables and that a diet that consists of lots of red meat, as well as fish and poultry, is not likely to be as beneficial for our body.
The problem for a good number of us, is that we like our meat and can’t envisage never tucking into a prime cut of steak again, which is why we don’t want to contemplate becoming a vegetarian.
This is where an acceptable compromise could work, in the form of the flexitarian diet.
Mainly plant-based foods
The basic premise of a flexitarian diet is that you will be eating mostly plant-based foods in your diet, as a result of cutting back on meat but not cutting it out completely.
Your aim will to be to become a flexible vegetarian, which means that you will definitely be eating a lot less meat than you used to, but the fundamental point is that you will not have to give up your meat fix completely.
What is proving popular with converts to the flexitarian diet is that almost nothing is off-limits in terms of what you can eat, provided you work towards the goal of substituting meat with plant-based vegetables on a regular basis.
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Easing in gently
For a diet to be successful, it is often the case that you shouldn’t be too extreme or quick with your changes to your normal diet, or it will create resentment and test your willpower and discipline.
The best approach is a slow and steady transformation, so that you progress from a beginner flexitarian and eventually end up as an expert, over a period of time.
A flexitarian diet is designed to encourage you to eat less meat in your diet from day one, but if you attempt more than two meatless days per week right from the start, you will probably find it harder to make the sort of changes that will stay with you into the future.
The best way to become a flexitarian is to ease your way into the dietary lifestyle gently.
Starting out
Your first goal when adopting the flexitarian diet, is to have two meatless days per week, restricting your weekly intake of meat and poultry to a maximum of 26 ounces.
To give you some idea, an advanced flexitarian will be meatless for between three and four days a week and consume a maximum of 18 ounces of meat and poultry per week. To be considered an expert flexitarian will require you to go meatless for at least five days each week and consume a maximum of 9 ounces of meat or poultry in that period.
You can see the various landmarks mapped out in front of you when you decide to adopt the flexitarian way of eating, but starting out, it will often be much better and more successful, if you take a number of baby steps towards your ultimate target, rather than attempting some giant leaps with wholesale changes in your diet from day one.
Promoting better health
It might just be that the flexitarian approach to eating is just what you might be looking for, as it offers a sensible halfway house between becoming a fully-fledged vegetarian, which a lot of us struggle to contemplate, and eating more healthily while still enjoying meat.
Some studies would seem to suggest that you could lower your cholesterol level by as much as 20 points in just a month, and having a lower cholesterol level and a reduced BMI, can only be good news for your overall health.
If you can’t give up your steak, becoming a flexitarian might prove to be a good compromise.
Taylor Mills works as a personal fitness trainer and is a woman who always strives to lead a healthy lifestyle. She really enjoys motivating others and helping them to make healthy lifestyle choices and writes about balance in her articles as that is the key to getting fit, looking fab, and being happy!
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