Unsure About Going Vegetarian? Try Flexitarian!
Even if you’ve read up on every last benefit of going vegetarian (it’s better for the planet, better for your health, and, of course, kinder to the animals), the idea of saying good-bye forever to your Grandma’s meatballs or your favorite Thai restaurant’s chicken satay may seem like too much of a sacrifice. But with the Flexitarian diet it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
What is the Flexitarian diet?
The diet emphasizes plant-based foods most of the time, but also leaves wiggle room for the occasional meaty indulgence. “This was inspired by my personal situation,” explains Flexitarian nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D. “As someone who has studied different ways people eat in the world, I know that eating a plant-based diet lowers your risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and I was like, ‘um, hi, I want that!‘” But Blatner still found herself grabbing a hot dog at a baseball game and eating turkey on Thanksgiving, making her feel like a “bad” vegetarian. “And then I thought,’this isn’t a bad way of being a vegetarian, it’s a flexible way of being a vegetarian. It’s vegetarian-ish,’” she says with a laugh.
Excerpted from Good Housekeeping
