Do you like to enjoy the many amazing health perks of being a vegetarian but you cannot imagine yourself turning your back on steak, chicken breast, salmon, lobster, milk and cheese for life?
Then this article is written exclusively for you — below you will come across some of the most important matters you need to know about the so-called flexitarian diet, which is a diet that encourages you to have the diet of a vegetarian without requiring you to cut ties with various animal food products.
The name is actually a combination of the words flexible and vegetarian. Needless to say, it’s a diet that encourages you to add more fruits and vegetables to your everyday meals but without requiring you to say goodbye to animal food products. There’s no denying that the flexitarian is in fact a flexible type of diet!
You can think of the flexitarian diet as more of a lifestyle than a diet because, unlike most other forms of diet out there, it does not restrict your meals to certain food groups only.
And here’s one more reason why it can be very easy for you to embrace the flexitarian diet for as long as you are breathing so that you may enjoy its impressive health benefits for life: it doesn’t really limit the amount of calories and fat that you need to consume in a day. As a general rule of thumb, everything should be done in moderation, which is basically the backbone of a diet that’s healthy and for keeps.
What’s so nice about the flexitarian diet is it keeps you from feeling like you are being deprived of the joys of the world. This only means that it’s perfect for you if your goal is to lose excess pounds — weight loss diets tend to be extremely challenging to maintain, and that is why sooner or later the dieter ends up stuffing his or her face with all of the restricted foods, leading to the gaining back of all the lost pounds — usually with additional ones!
Refrain from assuming that the flexitarian diet is only good for individuals who like to shrink their waistlines. Due to the fact that it encourages you to add more fruits and vegetables to your everyday diet, you are supplying your body with antioxidants and fiber necessary for keeping deadly heart disease at bay.
Since the consumption of animal food products that contain saturated fat and cholesterol is limited — again, not restricted — it can be so much easier for you to keep at bay high blood pressure and high bad cholesterol levels, both of which are risk factors for heart disease. The flexitarian diet is also great for putting inflammation, arthritis and diabetes under control.
Ending up with health problem due to malnutrition is less likely if you welcome the flexitarian diet into your life. Some of the nutrients the body needs can be found abundantly in various meat products. Some examples are calcium, zinc, iron, B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids.
However, it’s important to note that the flexitarian diet encourages the consumption of fruits and vegetables that are fresh and organic. Similarly, animal food products added to the diet every now and then should be unprocessed. Needless to say, sausages, hot dogs, corned beef and canned meats are off limits.
While the flexitarian diet gives you the freedom that you need, having a lot of
self-control and determination is of utmost importance — it’s completely up to
you to ensure that your everyday diet consists mostly of fruits and vegetables,
and animal food products are consumed every now and then only.
