5 Reasons to be a flexitarian

[Shadow]

For anyone who want's to wean themselves from meat gradually...and start a vegitarian lifestle. Interesting article....



Anyone remember the Outback Steakhouse commercial with Jemaine Clement of "Flight of the Conchords" fame touting his diet as "semi-veg?"

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

OK ... so maybe we're the only ones.

In any event, there's a growing movement of people, aptly dubbed "flexitarians," doing just that – living a predominantly vegetarian lifestyle with the occasional pork chop here and there.

One such person is Chef Annie Somerville of the vegetarian Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, California. She certainly doesn't have beef with folks eating meat - she just thinks you might want to consider doing it a little less often.


5@5 – Chef Annie Somerville – Eatocracy - CNN.com Blogs

 

[California Girl]

I'm already flexitarian and I didn't even know it!

 

[boedicca]

It's what I do.

I'm mostly a vege-ovo-fishaterian during the week, with lapses into porkchoptarianism on the weekends.

 

[California Girl]

It's what I do.

I'm mostly a vege-ovo-fishaterian during the week, with lapses into porkchoptarianism on the weekends.

Same here. But.... man.... do I get grief when the guys show up at a weekend if I don't have 'real food' (meat) for them. I'm slowly breaking them of the habit of meat every day.

 

[boedicca]

I've gotten Mr. Boe to enjoy having egg or fish for dinner on quite a frequent basis. There are some nights, however, when he has pepperoni pizza while I have an all veggie dinner. It's enabled us to achieve a harmonic balance.

 

[California Girl]

I've gotten Mr. Boe to enjoy having egg or fish for dinner on quite a frequent basis. There are some nights, however, when he has pepperoni pizza while I have an all veggie dinner. It's enabled us to achieve a harmonic balance.

I was tempted to go completely veggie for a while, but I talked to a local farmer who challenged my thinking on it. He said 'if no one eats meat, you think the cows are gonna live happy lives to an old age? No, we won't have cows at all because we won't make money from them so there will be no cows, no pigs, none of the animals that you care about will exist.' Now, I had not thought of that. And, he's right. A world without pigs seems a sad place. So, I eat less of it than I used to - that's a personal choice - but I won't give it up altogether.

 

[Anachronism]

My diet has changed dramatically in the last seven months or so. When I started working with my new personal trainer at the gym she really pushed for me to get on a much more reasonable diet. A lot more protein, less fat, less sugar and salt as well. It was definitely a difficult change but it's done great things for me.

However, as I told her when we went about changing my diet, there are certain things that are not going anywhere. The first being MEAT. I grew up in a family that had beef probably 4 times a week. I've moved to a lot more chicken and turkey in the diet, but there are times when I just need a good, thick steak. I highly doubt that a strictly vegetarian diet or even this flexitarian diet would not be ably to meet my nutritional needs (where does one get the protein) and definitely could not meet my mental needs.

Now, if this works for other folks, more power to you. Just means there's more chicken and steak for the rest of us.

 

[boedicca]

I don't think a strictly vegetarian diet is healthy...way too difficult to get enough complete protein without eating far too many calories. I'm a omnivore, just the way nature designed me.

 

[Anachronism]

I don't think a strictly vegetarian diet is healthy...way too difficult to get enough complete protein without eating far too many calories. I'm a omnivore, just the way nature designed me.

Yeah. I'm an omnivore who would enjoy being an almost total carnivore if I could get away with it. Obviously that's neither reasonable nor practical, but it is where my personal food preferences take me.