Flex-a-tarian?

BinaryPulsar

I became a vegetarian when I was 13 and was a vegetarian until I was 28 (with one brief break at age 16 because I weighed 89 pounds and my knees were purple). I started eating meat again at 28, during my second pregnancy because I had severe vomiting the whole nine months (for both pregnancies) and anemia (basically it got to the point of eat meat or get a blood transfusion).

I was a vegetarian because I didn't want animals to be killed or harmed. But, I didn't want people to think I was judging them, so I told people it was for other reasons. You know how it is, when you are young and you tell people you are a vegetarian, they enjoy talking about killing animals to you. So, I think most people become vegetarian or reduce the amount of meat they eat for the internal conflict they feel about the moral reasons and it's personal (even if they don't say that's the reason because they don't want to deal with the follow up conversation).

carriempls

I slowly transitioned from being a meat eater to being a vegetarian over about 5 years. It started by eating and cooking w/veggie friends quite a bit. I stopped preparing meat at home, but I still ordered it out on occasion and I cheerfully consumed whatever I was served as a guest in someone's home.

Eventually I started making fewer and fewer choices to eat any meat. I had never been a big fan as a child and I think my natural preferences just started leaning away from it. At one point I realized it had been a full year since I'd eaten chicken so I decided to make it official and cut it out completely. A few months later I decided I'd cut it all out but fish and seafood. A few months after that I realized I wasn't eating much of that either, so I went lacto-ovo vegetarian and I haven't looked back.

Nothing wrong with cutting down on meat consumption. Enjoy.

Trechechus

I am a semi-vegetarian. I'm leaning toward becoming a vegetarian, but I've been eating meat so long, its hard to just go (forgive the term) cold turkey. It's a moral thing, but I love the taste of meat.

*Sigh*

You're either vegetarian or not, there is no 'semi' about it.

For the OP, if you want to eat less meat, then fine, why label it though? A lot of people eat 'vegetarian' meals and meat based meals and just call it a normal diet!

*sigh*

MoreBean13

I am a semi-vegetarian. I'm leaning toward becoming a vegetarian, but I've been eating meat so long, its hard to just go (forgive the term) cold turkey. It's a moral thing, but I love the taste of meat.

*Sigh*

You're either vegetarian or not, there is no 'semi' about it.

For the OP, if you want to eat less meat, then fine, why label it though? A lot of people eat 'vegetarian' meals and meat based meals and just call it a normal diet!

Take it up with the dictionary.

flex·i·tar·i·an
[flek-si-tair-ee-uh n]
noun
1.
a person whose diet is mostly vegetarian but sometimes includes meat, fish, or poultry.

Seriously, there are nutritional concerns for people that are flexitarians that may not apply to a SAD or a vegetarian diet, like macro balancing is different, B12 issues, or Omega-3 fatty acids. Get off your high horse.

LittleMissDover

I am a semi-vegetarian. I'm leaning toward becoming a vegetarian, but I've been eating meat so long, its hard to just go (forgive the term) cold turkey. It's a moral thing, but I love the taste of meat.

*Sigh*

You're either vegetarian or not, there is no 'semi' about it.

For the OP, if you want to eat less meat, then fine, why label it though? A lot of people eat 'vegetarian' meals and meat based meals and just call it a normal diet!

Take it up with the dictionary.

flex·i·tar·i·an
[flek-si-tair-ee-uh n]
noun
1.
a person whose diet is mostly vegetarian but sometimes includes meat, fish, or poultry.

Seriously, there are nutritional concerns for people that are flexitarians that may not apply to a SAD or a vegetarian diet, like macro balancing is different, B12 issues, or Omega-3 fatty acids. Get off your high horse.

I was on my 'high horse' about semi-vegetarianism.....

'Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from consumption of meat (red meat, poultry and seafood). It may also include abstention from by-products of animal slaughter, such as animal-derived rennet and gelatin.[2][3]'.

The person I was quoting hadn't mention 'flexitarian' (which to me is a stupid term for omnivore).

justkeepswimng

Seriously. I was a vegetarian for a long time and even a vegan for a while. I took my lifestyle seriously but I never understood why other vegetarians and vegans looked down on people who used terminology similar to theirs. If you are a pescetarian and only eat fish, you are not butting into the vegetarian terminology. And if you choose to describe your lifestyle to people as "basically a vegetarian who eats fish" then you are just simplifying the description. Vegetarians, you don't have a freaking monopoly on any term ending in etarian.

MoreBean13

I am a semi-vegetarian. I'm leaning toward becoming a vegetarian, but I've been eating meat so long, its hard to just go (forgive the term) cold turkey. It's a moral thing, but I love the taste of meat.

*Sigh*

You're either vegetarian or not, there is no 'semi' about it.

For the OP, if you want to eat less meat, then fine, why label it though? A lot of people eat 'vegetarian' meals and meat based meals and just call it a normal diet!

Take it up with the dictionary.

flex·i·tar·i·an
[flek-si-tair-ee-uh n]
noun
1.
a person whose diet is mostly vegetarian but sometimes includes meat, fish, or poultry.

Seriously, there are nutritional concerns for people that are flexitarians that may not apply to a SAD or a vegetarian diet, like macro balancing is different, B12 issues, or Omega-3 fatty acids. Get off your high horse.

I was on my 'high horse' about semi-vegetarianism.....

'Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from consumption of meat (red meat, poultry and seafood). It may also include abstention from by-products of animal slaughter, such as animal-derived rennet and gelatin.[2][3]'.

The person I was quoting hadn't mention 'flexitarian' (which to me is a stupid term for omnivore).

Oh I can see how you would fail to understand that semi-vegetarian was being used synonymously with flexitarian being as how the term flexitarian hasn't been brought up....wait, what is the title of this thread?!?!

Give me a break, you're still on a high horse about vegetarianism, and it makes you come off as pompous and silly, and is entirely unhelpful to this discussion, which is about flexitarian diets, a.k.a. a semi-vegetarian diets.

jilliew

Im thinking of becoming what i can a flex-a-tarian which is vegetarian that eats chicken and fish once a week but that is it as far as meat goes .. any one tried this before any encouraging words all are welcome
and of course im gonna talk to my dr about this first but wanna see what you all think about it :flowerforyou:

Haha. My sister does this. I call her a Catholic Vegetarian (because you can still eat fish and chicken on no-meat Fridays during Lent...). She cut out dairy and gluten, as well, and she also eats mostly organic food. She did it for health reasons, not for allergy reasons. She lost about 20 lbs. It worked for her, but it seems like you have to be very commited to make it work.

I myself cut out red meat, and I'm trying to cut out gluten. I can't handle too much dairy anyway. It's hard,and I've had to learn to enjoy beans and rice, but it's doable.

Hope that helps!

sjohnny

Catholics aren't supposed to eat chicken on Fridays during Lent. Only fish.

jilliew

Catholics aren't supposed to eat chicken on Fridays during Lent. Only fish.

Hrm. Apparently we were bad Catholics when I was growing up then...

melsinct

Enough with this "I am a special snowflake and need a special label" mentality. Eating meat, even if once a week, is called being an omnivore. You aren't a Flexi-whatever, Lacto-Ovo-Meato blah blah blah. You eat like the good majority of the human race does- you are a plain ol' omnivore.

LittleMissDover

Enough with this "I am a special snowflake and need a special label" mentality. Eating meat, even if once a week, is called being an omnivore. You aren't a Flexi-whatever, Lacto-Ovo-Meato blah blah blah. You eat like the good majority of the human race does- you are a plain ol' omnivore.

I you.

justkeepswimng

Isn't it great how helpful this thread has actually been towards the original quest for knowledge about a certain way of eating. I'm pretty sure all she wanted to do was find out the health pros and cons of eating mostly vegetables with a few days of white meat thrown in there. Call it what you will or don't call it anything. Who the frick cares?

As for your original question, cutting red meats out of your diet is great. Otherwise, whether you eat white meat or no meat or a mostly vegetable diet with a little white meat, what you really have to look at is your protein intake. So you should eat lots of brocolli, beans, nuts, etc with proteins that you aren't getting from the meat that you are cutting out.

pdworkman

Everybody's been so encouraging thus far! :huh:

Unless you have some sort of metabolic or malabsorption problem, I can't imagine why a doctor would say no simply to reducing meat consumption. Okay, there are some pretty jerky and uninformed doctors out there, but what you're doing is not drastic or dangerous.

I would suggest that if you are doing this for the perceived health benefits, that you watch your dairy intake on your meat-free days. No point in simply replacing one animal protein with another.

There are many vegan and vegetarian recipes, books, blogs, and websites around, lots of resources to draw on. Way back when I went veg, I picked up a lot of recipes from usenet groups!

Im thinking of becoming what i can a flex-a-tarian which is vegetarian that eats chicken and fish once a week but that is it as far as meat goes .. any one tried this before any encouraging words all are welcome
and of course im gonna talk to my dr about this first but wanna see what you all think about it :flowerforyou:

BradHallFitness

Im thinking of becoming what i can a flex-a-tarian which is vegetarian that eats chicken and fish once a week but that is it as far as meat goes .. any one tried this before any encouraging words all are welcome
and of course im gonna talk to my dr about this first but wanna see what you all think about it :flowerforyou:

You would actually be a pesce-pollotarian then.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-vegetarianism

If you want to try it, go for it. For me it would not be a difficult thing to do. My question is: is there an underlying health reason you want to do it? Either way, I say try it out and if it works for you to meet your goals.....DO IT!

sjohnny

Catholics aren't supposed to eat chicken on Fridays during Lent. Only fish.

Hrm. Apparently we were bad Catholics when I was growing up then...

Oh well. Whaddayagonnado?

justkeepswimng

Everybody's been so encouraging thus far! :huh:

Unless you have some sort of metabolic or malabsorption problem, I can't imagine why a doctor would say no simply to reducing meat consumption. Okay, there are some pretty jerky and uninformed doctors out there, but what you're doing is not drastic or dangerous.

I would suggest that if you are doing this for the perceived health benefits, that you watch your dairy intake on your meat-free days. No point in simply replacing one animal protein with another.

There are many vegan and vegetarian recipes, books, blogs, and websites around, lots of resources to draw on. Way back when I went veg, I picked up a lot of recipes from usenet groups!


While I agree with cutting down on dairy as well, you definitely DO want to replace one protein with another.

Im thinking of becoming what i can a flex-a-tarian which is vegetarian that eats chicken and fish once a week but that is it as far as meat goes .. any one tried this before any encouraging words all are welcome
and of course im gonna talk to my dr about this first but wanna see what you all think about it :flowerforyou:

justkeepswimng

Nevermind, I just noticed that you said "animal protein," not protein.

ahamm002

Without whining about terminology, I'll say that sounds like a fairly healthy lifestyle, although chicken and fish protein is so high quality it seems a shame to limit yourself. Regardless, more vegetables in a diet is always a good thing! I'm curious how it works out for you.

I don't really see why it sounds like a fairly healthy lifestyle. If you don't have ethical/moral reasons for avoiding meat, then you're just doing yourself a disservice by arbitrarily limiting your food choices, and especially your sources of high quality protein. Sure more veggies is usually a good thing, but veggies are a sub-optimal source of protein. And there is really no reason that you have to avoid meat to get tons of veggies in your diet.

BinaryPulsar

I became a vegetarian when I was 13 and was a vegetarian until I was 28 (with one brief break at age 16 because I weighed 89 pounds and my knees were purple). I started eating meat again at 28, during my second pregnancy because I had severe vomiting the whole nine months (for both pregnancies) and anemia (basically it got to the point of eat meat or get a blood transfusion).

I was a vegetarian because I didn't want animals to be killed or harmed. But, I didn't want people to think I was judging them, so I told people it was for other reasons. You know how it is, when you are young and you tell people you are a vegetarian, they enjoy talking about killing animals to you. So, I think most people become vegetarian or reduce the amount of meat they eat for the internal conflict they feel about the moral reasons and it's personal (even if they don't say that's the reason because they don't want to deal with the follow up conversation).

I just realized I should explain that the reason I experienced that anemia during the second pregnancy was because I started hemorrhaging during the pregnancy. And it happened again after the birth.