Flexable Vegetarian?

WalkingGirl1985

I've heard some friends mention the term, but do not understand what it means. I thought about doing this myself, but feel like I don't have the willpower to cut out meat, cheese, and dairy.

NightOwl1

I assume it's a vegetarian who's not really a vegetarian. I assume it just means that they eat meat on rare occasions.

BTW, milk and dairy are allowed as part of a vegetarian diet. Vegans are the ones who don't eat any animal products.

WalkingGirl1985

Okay. Thanks. I guess i kinda got turned around the way things work.

carolynmittens

I've heard some friends mention the term, but do not understand what it means. I thought about doing this myself, but feel like I don't have the willpower to cut out meat, cheese, and dairy.

read Skinny ***** by Rory Freedman. it'll make you want to cut out dairy for the rest of your life! i don't really agree with her stance on meat, i think in moderation organic meat is ok, but yeah there is no reason whatsoever for a human being to put milk or cheese into their body.

TheMaidOfAstolat

NightOwl is correct.

There are degrees of vegetarianism. I myself am lacto/ovo...meaning I consume dairy and eggs.
I have been vegan before and may go back...that means in addition to the obvious...no honey, no gelatin, no casein, no whey...ect.

carolynmittens

oh... that word was supposed to be B-itch. didn't know this website was so curse word sensitive

WalkingGirl1985

I am a person that puts milk and cheese in their body, its okay as long as you limit yourself. I've tried soy/almond milk and just hate the taste to it. I drink 1-2%.

SaraTonin

There are a lot of different ways to be flexatarian. Some people only eat animal products on the weekends, some only at dinnertime, some every other day, really it's just staying in tune with your body and making an effort to cut out meats a little rather than entirely.

Personally I am all for it for both health and moral reasons. I say in order to properly fight poor conditions in the food industry you have to make the effort to buy organic, farm-raised, free-range animal products, and if that's expensive, stick to beans and nuts for your major protein sources!

Pange33

I think a flexible vegetarian, is one that on very rare occaisons eats some meat (dairy and eggs included). A Pescetarian is a vegetarian that will also eat fish, shellfish (with dairy and eggs included). Then there's Ovo-Vegetarian (eggs included occaisonally) no dairy. Or Lacto Vegetarian (dairy included ocaisonally) no eggs. There's Ovo-Lacto Vegetarians (eggs and dairy included). Then you have those crazy Vegans (me :P): no animal derived products whatsoever. And then you have raw foodists, who only eat food in raw forms (they are vegan, I'm not 100% sure about the guidelines for this diet).

Pange33

I am a person that puts milk and cheese in their body, its okay as long as you limit yourself. I've tried soy/almond milk and just hate the taste to it. I drink 1-2%.

Try coconut milk!! I too HATE almond milk and I've tried to like it several times. Coconut milk is not as coconutty as it may seem, and it's creamier than soy or almond, in my opinion. I've only recently discovered this, so don't mind me if I'm super crazy about it :P

leavinglasvegas

I've heard some friends mention the term, but do not understand what it means. I thought about doing this myself, but feel like I don't have the willpower to cut out meat, cheese, and dairy.

You don't have to cut them out entirely if you are "flexible". I know many people who purposly consume animal free meals several times per week for enviromental purposes more than dietary.

PS. If you CHOOSE not to abstain from animal products, it does not mean you lack will power. It simply means you have made a choice based on what you know and feel. If you are interested in making a choice to cut them out, then proper research will assist you in such a choice and you will not need will power either way, regardless of your decision. It will be a choice YOU made based on facts and knowledge of YOUR body, rather than trying to do what someone else says you should. Thats is when you need will power, when you force yourself to change but don't know how or why.

kayemme

I consider myself a flexitarian. I do eat meat, but usually less than once a week and i almost never cook it at home. I will not often turn down food that has meat in it if it is served to me, but typically I will not cook it for myself. It's pretty much like that. Or if I have the option to go meatless, I usually prefer it.

I do eat dairy and eggs, but I spend better money on them than most people. Sometimes my boyfriend shops and he's not completely trained yet, so I don't freak out if he brings home something I wouldn't choose, but I try to explain to him why to spend the extra money and eat less of it. He gets better every time, but it's a process.

He is a vegetarian and I am a flexitarian more for environmental reasons than health reasons, though the two go hand-in-hand. WannabeaCullen really stated it nicely: find out what's important to you and make your own decisions. Once you start to learn about our food system, it won't be hard to make better choices no matter what you call yourself

miosgoldenchance

I'm a flexitarian! For health reasons rather than moral, meat just kind of grosses me out and it doesn't sit well with me. Being a flexitarian means that you can eat entirely as much meat or as little as you like, and cut out whatever you'd like. For example, I do eat fish, eggs and dairy products. I do not eat red meat, ever. Occasionally I'll eat chicken and turkey, if it's organic or prepared a certain way or my only option. Half the time I say I'm a vegetarian to simplify things, half the time I don't. It's all up to what you like.

mehstewart

If you are interested in being a flexitarian, i highly suggest "The Healthy Hedonist Cookbook" It does a good job explaining flesitarianism and has really good recipes as well!!! Also there is a good Chinese proverb to live by in terms of choosing a protein;

Eating what stands on one leg [mushrooms and plant foods] is better than eating what stands on two legs [fowl], which is better than eating what stands on four legs [cows, pigs and other mammals].

I got this from Michael Pollan's book, "Food Rules; an eater's manual"

kayemme

i am madly in love with michael pollan.

sexygenius

I think a flexible vegetarian, is one that on very rare occaisons eats some meat (dairy and eggs included). A Pescetarian is a vegetarian that will also eat fish, shellfish (with dairy and eggs included). Then there's Ovo-Vegetarian (eggs included occaisonally) no dairy. Or Lacto Vegetarian (dairy included ocaisonally) no eggs. There's Ovo-Lacto Vegetarians (eggs and dairy included). Then you have those crazy Vegans (me :P): no animal derived products whatsoever. And then you have raw foodists, who only eat food in raw forms (they are vegan, I'm not 100% sure about the guidelines for this diet).

I thought this was a great reply
and raw foodist dont have to be vegan or vegetarian for that matter, I have a friend who is a raw foodist and she eats raw eggs and raw milk and raw fish, some even eat raw other meats (think beef tar tar)

soysos

I've heard some friends mention the term, but do not understand what it means. I thought about doing this myself, but feel like I don't have the willpower to cut out meat, cheese, and dairy.

read Skinny ***** by Rory Freedman. it'll make you want to cut out dairy for the rest of your life! i don't really agree with her stance on meat, i think in moderation organic meat is ok, but yeah there is no reason whatsoever for a human being to put milk or cheese into their body.

as long as your still producing lactase dairy, especially fermented dairy such as yogurt and cheese, is a very easily digested protein. these are rare, and I have yet to find an easily digested plant based protein.

TheMaidOfAstolat

I've heard some friends mention the term, but do not understand what it means. I thought about doing this myself, but feel like I don't have the willpower to cut out meat, cheese, and dairy.

read Skinny ***** by Rory Freedman. it'll make you want to cut out dairy for the rest of your life! i don't really agree with her stance on meat, i think in moderation organic meat is ok, but yeah there is no reason whatsoever for a human being to put milk or cheese into their body.

as long as your still producing lactase dairy, especially fermented dairy such as yogurt and cheese, is a very easily digested protein. these are rare, and I have yet to find an easily digested plant based protein.

Must you always make a negative comment on vegetarian threads...you sure do like drama.

melleyd

Rice milk is awesome!!

jemmur

^ agreed. i buy soya milk because it's convenient - rice milk tastes much nicer! oat milk's another option.

i thought the whole flexitarian thing was a bunch of vegetarians who decided that, in some situations, eating meat would be the lesser evil? like when supermarkets chuck out a bunch of meat that's still edible but passed it's sell-by date - better to eat it than waste it. or when there aren't any vegetarian options available. or if it's more environmentally friendly, in particular circumstances. etc etc. i could be wrong though.

i'm totally supportive of anyone who want to eat less meat and replace it with a more diverse range of foods but is a label really necessary and, if so, is this the right one? and, aside from anything else, loads of people still struggle with the concept of vegetarianism so good luck with anything more obscure

to the op - if you're short on willpower, the best thing you can do (in my opinion) is keep reading and learning. if the health, environmental, compassionate, whatever reasons aren't strong enough to motivate you, maybe you don't actually need to change anything?

soysos

Must you always make a negative comment on vegetarian threads...you sure do like drama.

let me elaborate a little bit so that it doesn't sound so negative. honestly you could consider me a flexible vegetarian in that I take measures to reduce my consumption of meat, tho out of necessity and not by choice. most people would be surprised at how little protein the body really needs.

on to what I was saying earlier. there is more than one type of fiber, some are beneficial, others not so much, bit they are all non digestible compounds in food. cellulose for example adds bulk the which slows down digestion in the stomach then helps push thing along in the large intestine. other forms are not so good. legumes, and some complex grains contain large quantities of oligosaccharides, these are carbohydrates that are so large and complex that the body cannot break them down on its own. worse than that they carry nutrient with them into the colon without being absorbed. by adding certain probiotics to your diet like lactobacillus, rennet, and Penicillium, all of which are easily found in dairy products. these probiotics break down the oligosaccharides so they can be digested and absorbed. so not only do you put less stress on your gi tract you make better use of what you eat.

it is important to know these things in order to make an informed decision.