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Getting Started with Flexitarianism

Published on April 14, 2012 By Emily. Updated on April 14, 2012

A couple weeks ago I received a lovely email from a reader asking about the best books to help him get started with flexitarianism.  As I composed a response it occurred to me that even though flexitarianism has been in my tag line for about 3 years and always the focus of Relishments, I’ve never really provided a clear explanation or guide.

As always, I’m not an expert.  Just a self-proclaimed flexitarian with 3 years of cooking and blogging (and 27 years of eating) under my belt.  I’m not a nutritionist or a chef, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

What is flexitarianism?  Flexitarianism is a diet which is mostly vegetarian, but doesn’t cut out meat completely, sometimes also known as semi-vegetarian or meat-eating vegetarian.

If this way of eating sounds awfully familiar, you may already be a flexitarian! I was both excited and annoyed at the Healthy Living Summit when I suddenly found myself surrounded by people amazed by the concept of flexitarianism, something I’d been talking and writing about for years.  A lot of people, perhaps yourself included, already practice a low-meat way of eating without knowing that a term exists for it.  Sometimes it’s really awesome to find out that there’s a term for something you do.

Here’s the thing about labels: not everyone with a particular label does things the same way.  Your version of flexitarianism will probably look a lot different than mine and that’s awesome.  My particular breed of flexitarian eating encompasses a lot of things including a love of cooking, an interest in local food and a desire to avoid processed foods as much as possible.  But you can be a flexitarian and not care about any of those things.  Changing your diet can be as easy or as hard as you make it.  Here are 4 tips to help you make the switch:

1.  Make simple substitutions: When I changed to flexitarianism, I started by making just my lunches meat-free.  My dinners (primarily cooked by my mother) stayed the same as they’d been for 23 years.  If you don’t want to be that extreme, try going meatless one day a week a la Meatless Mondays or try some of Dawn Jackson Blatner’s suggested swaps.

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2.  Find good produce: It’s a lot easier to eat more vegetables when the vegetables are appealing.  We get most of our produce from our CSA, but you don’t have to.  Check out the different produce departments at local supermarkets, farm markets and health food stores.  Wherever it looks the best, buy it there.  Fresh food that looks delicious is going to be much simpler to integrate into your diet.

3.  Keep trying: Experiment with different kinds of beans, different grains, different vegetables: eating healthier food and trying new things can be difficult.  There’s a lot of choices out there; if you don’t like quinoa, try couscous.  If you don’t like broccoli, try peppers.  There are plenty of healthy vegetarian options that don’t include tofu or tempeh, so keep looking.

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4.  Get more information: There is no shortage of books, website and blogs on the topic of flexitarianism.  I highly recommend The Flexitarian Diet by Dawn Jackson Blatner and pretty much anything by Mark Bittman or Michael Pollan for expanding your eating horizons, but any vegetarian cookbook can help you get started with cooking meatless meals.  If you’re more interested in online sources, there are a multitude of vegetarian and semi-vegetarian blogs other there, especially for recipes.  Try Peas and Thank You, Cheap Healthy Good, Herbivoracious, Meatless Monday or Post Punk Kitchen.

In the past few years, my eating has alternated between vegetarian and vegan and serious carnivore depending on the season, occasion and my mood, but that’s the beauty of being a flexitarian.  I don’t think full-time vegetarianism is in my future, but that doesn’t mean I can’t eat that way the majority of the time.   

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Filed Under: food Tagged With: advice, flexitarian

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Comments

  1. Jeff says

    April 22, 2012 at 10:14 am

    Great Post Emily. I am finding that flexitarianism and it’s mindset work very well, allowing me to engage the issues of healthy eating, concern for treatment of animals, and [reducing] anxiety and obsession about food very well. The resources you recommend are outstanding. Thanks for this effort!
    jeff

    • Emily says

      May 2, 2012 at 6:45 pm

      Thanks for inspiring this post!

Trackbacks

  1. Healthy Decisions to Make on a Monday » Then Heather Said says:
    August 27, 2012 at 7:58 am

    […] Sweet Potato and Black Bean burgers – they are legit goodness. [Suggested reading: Getting Started with Flexitarianism via […]

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It's almost all #Berkshires content this year, which is great.
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New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022. For New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022.

For the fourth year, I've recapped the best new (to me) recipes I made this year in the hope that they'll give you some new dishes to try. This year's list is short, but delicious. It includes @budgetbytes My Favorite Recipes of 2022
Published on December 30, 2022 By Emily. Updated on December 30, 2022

It’s hard to believe that 2022 is basically behind us. Though overall this year found me getting back to the person I want to be (post-babies and “post”-pandemic), I did not try nearly as many new recipes this year as I used to. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’d made note of any new-to-me recipes I wanted to share in this post. This year’s list is short, but delicious. It includes recipes from @budgetbytes, @smittenkitchen and @howsweeteats.
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@coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one @coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one of the highlights of all my return trips to Boothbay and their annual Gardens Aglow event continues to impress. It was great to be back to walking the gardens instead of the pandemic drive through and there seemed to be more lights than ever.  I'm already looking forward to next year.
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It has been a while, but there is finally a new CS It has been a while, but there is finally a new CSA menu plan on the blog! Visit the link below or in my profile to see how I plan to make use of some of the @mightyfoodfarm produce seen here.
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Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but t Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but this year we've had weather that has also been outstanding. The past 2 weekends have included time at Jaeschke Orchards, the Greylock Glen, and the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail as well as stopping to photograph any random foliage I see. 
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@freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favo @freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favorite events each year, and it doesn't hurt that it's just minutes away from home. Enjoying the festival with my kids is definitely a different experience than without, but it's still a good time. The weather was especially cooperative today which was great for all the laps I did around the @massmoca campus pushing a stroller. I'm already looking forward to next year.
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A few more photos from our most recent trip to Mai A few more photos from our most recent trip to Maine:
- a foggy afternoon at Ocean Point
- kid-free lunch at @shannonsunshelled, followed by beers at @footbridge_brewery
- watching birds from my parent's deck
- dinner at @bucksnakedbbqsteakhouse and dessert at @gelatofiasco
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