Flexitarian Diet Health Benefits

The flexitarian diet has in recent years become increasingly popular. The name stems from a combination of two words: “flexible” and “vegetarian”. As you may guess, flexitarianism is about reducing quantities of meat consumed. Now let’s discuss a few of the health benefits.

Flexitarian Diet Helps with Weight Loss

Since flexitarians eat less meat, they usually consume fewer calories. Meat contains more kilojoules and saturated fats than plants. For this reason, flexitarians tend to have less problems with obesity. Thus, to lose weight:

• Eat less meat, and
• Exercise regularly to burn excess body-fat.

Helps Avoid Certain Diseases

The foods prescribed by flexitarianism reduces your chances of being affected by conditions like heart disease, cancer and type 2 Diabetes. Thus, flexitarians are generally healthier compared to heavy meat eaters. This is in part due to fewer saturated fats in their diets, leading to healthier blood vessels and improved metabolic health.

However, some meats definitely are higher quality than others. For example, free-range grass-fed meat beats factory-farmed every time.

Longevity

Studies show that flexitarians live around 3.5 years longer than regular meat-eaters. An added bonus: Their better health leads to a higher quality of life.

Moreover, the flexitarian diet recommends reducing alcohol intake. It is suggested that women should limit their alcohol intake to 1 drink per day, while men should have no more than 2 drinks a day.  This further boosts longevity. In addition, flexitarians are generally happier. Because they are less affected by stress that results from illnesses caused by an unhealthy lifestyle and diet.

Cost Effective Diet

The flexitarian diet is also cost-effective since most of the foods recommended are cheap and readily available. Fewer visits to the butcher equal money saved for the flexitarian. Most flexitarian foods can even be grown in a backyard garden. Certain other diets require you to spend a fortune buying exotic or harder-to-find foods. On the other hand, flexitarians can simply buy ordinary foods along with occasionally meat.

Freedom and Flexibility

Some regard Flexitarianism as the diet without rules. You can eat almost anything you want, whenever you want. The only rule is to reduce the quantity of meat consumed. This makes flexitarianism quite popular, as we live in a quick fix society. Plus, we appreciate simplicity. You want to stay healthy without continuously worrying about your food choices. Nor requiring a PHD in Nutrition science.

Obtain All Vitamins and Minerals

In most nutrition handbooks you will be told the benefits of variety in your diet. The more variety of fresh foods you eat, the healthier you’ll get, since all these foods contain different vitamins and minerals in varying proportions.

An obvious example is Vitamin B12. It is recommended that all vegans take this vitamin in supplement form since it only exists in animal products. Moreover, vegan diets consist of a lot of seeds and nuts which contain Phytates. This inhibits absorption of other valuable minerals in the diet. Although Phytates can be neutralized through pre-soaking. This is not always feasible, especially not while traveling.

On the other hand, if you eat too much meat, you will miss out on valuable nutrients that can only be obtained from a healthy plant-based diet.

Easy To Start and Implement

Getting started is straightforward, painless and undemanding. You simply need to gradually reduce the amount of meat consumed in a week. If you were eating meat on daily basis, you can now reduce this quantity to about four or five times a week. After a while, reduce it further to twice a week and depending how far you want to take this, optionally to once a week.

While shopping, as a simply hack to eat healthier, ensure that you buy more vegetables than animal products. Although it is not a requirement for flexitarianism, it is still advisable to buy organic fresh produce and free-range meat. These products contain fewer residual chemicals such as pesticides, hormones and antibiotics.

Flexitarian Diet focuses on Healthy Food

Not all plant-based foods are healthy. For example, deep-fried potato chips are vegan-friendly but still bad for your health. Likewise, a fried GMO Soya hamburger on a white flour bun, can kill you slowly as much as a pink-slime meat hamburger. Furthermore, you can eat Oreo cookies and drink soda all day, while still being vegan.

The point is if you focus on healthy food instead, you can eat a small piece of free-range meat once in a while. Then you don’t have to fill your diet with vegan junk food to subside your hunger or cravings. On the other hand, eating only low-quality meat junk food is as bad for your health as low-quality vegan food. The flexitarian diet is a good middle path.

Proven Results

Even though flexitarianism has not been around for ages, there are plenty of scientific research to support the diet’s health claims (Such as this 2016 review of 25 academic studies). Thus, it’s not some fad diet of the day. To stimulate your balanced flexitarian cooking skills, try a good recipe book such as The Healthy Hedonist (available on Amazon).

Flexitarian Conclusion

The flexitarian diet is one of the best modern diets for those who want to be healthier. It’s easy-to-follow, yet still scientifically sound. By getting your diet and well-being handled this way, you’ll be able to spend more time improving other areas of your life as well.

What’s your view of the flexitarian diet health benefits ? Which diet do you prefer, and do you think is the healthiest? Comment below.