Flexibly Flexitarian

I’m not one to put a label on things, so the diet culture of today, has never rested well with me.  I have always believed that “diet” simply means the “type & way that you eat”.  Inevitably, I have found that some people seem to gravitate towards having a label for their style of eating. There is no shortage though of diet labels, if you are in search of one.  When I graduated from college in the early 1990’s, Low Fat Diets were the mainstay.  Over the years, we have cycled through the Atkins, South Beach, the Zone, The Mediterranean, Low Carb, Paleo, Autoimmune Diet, Ketogenic Diet, Whole 30, Vegan, Intermittent Fasting, Vegetarian, Flexitarian, & Plant Based Diets to name a few. How many of these have you tried? I have seen people work through the promises & pitfalls of them all usually in hopes of promised pounds lost & a healthier life.  I was familiar with most of these, but one did actually intrigue me…the Flexitarian Diet.  

The idea of having a “flexible” style of eating without hard pressed rules seemed to be a reasonably good concept to me in our busy & unpredictable lifestyles.  The Flexitarian Diet was born in the mid 2010’s in hopes of encouraging a reduction of meat intake due to environmental consequences, as well as health benefits (1) .  A Flexitarian Diet is a semi-vegetarian diet that includes animal products on a more limited basis; therefore, reducing meat consumption overall, but not eliminating it.  A large population-based Swiss study that looked at cardiovascular risk factors associated with vegetarian/semi-vegetarian type diets, showed that Flexitarians had significantly lower BMI’s & blood pressures (2).  This diet can provide an environmentally friendly way to increase dietary fiber & nutrients, while reducing costs associated with an omnivorous diet.  Along with the upsides of this style of eating, comes an increased risk of developing eating disorders.  Studies have shown that as many as 25% of vegetarians develop an eating disorder with up to 50% of vegetarians at risk for developing one (3). Flexitarians may also present a similar risk as vegetarians for developing eating disorders if their motivation to adhere to this type of diet becomes distorted.  

The definition of a Flexitarian diet is in fact, very flexible, making it an appealing option for people that would like to eat a more plant-based diet & reduce meat consumption for health & environmental concerns, but isn’t interested or ready to completely remove animal products.  

Keep flexible with whatever pattern of eating you enjoy.  Strict food rules rarely succeed & are often the start of disordered eating patterns.  If you are interested in learning more about an optimal diet for health & nutrition counseling visit https://newdirectionspgh.com/nutrition-counseling/.

HERE IS A SAMPLE MENU:

Breakfast

        Scrambled eggs OR Scrambled Tofu

Avocado Toast

  Fresh Strawberries

 

Lunch

Southwest Salad (Romaine lettuce, quinoa black beans, corn, peppers, & tomatoes)

     Fresh Melon

Snack 

      Cashews or Cheese Stick

Dinner 

 Tossed Salad

Baked Rosemary Chicken

Brown Rice

Green Beans Almondine

 1.     Derbyshire E. J. (2017). Flexitarian Diets and Health: A Review of the Evidence-Based Literature. Frontiers in nutrition, 3, 55. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2016.00055

2.     Wozniak, H., Larpin, C., de Mestral, C., Guessous, I., Reny, J. L., & Stringhini, S. (2020). Vegetarian, pescatarian and flexitarian diets: sociodemographic determinants and association with cardiovascular risk factors in a Swiss urban population. The British journal of nutrition, 124(8), 844–852. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114520001762

3.     Forestell C. A. (2018). Flexitarian Diet and Weight Control: Healthy or Risky Eating Behavior?. Frontiers in nutrition, 5, 59. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2018.00059