When you are not vegetarian, but lean that direction...

Date:   5/26/2006 10:04:56 PM ( 18 y ago)

I just came across this article and I think the term "flexitarian" describes me. I'm not a vegetarian, but I eat a lot of vegan meals and then sometimes throw in some meat, for enjoyment.

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I’m a Flexitarian!
From The Desk Of Clarence Bass

I’ve just discovered I’m a flexitarian—and that I’ve got lots of company. According to Charles Stahler, co-director of the Vegetarian Resource Group, a substantial percentage of the population leans toward vegetarianism, but is willing to eat meat, fish or poultry occasionally or in small amounts. The term flexitarian was apparently coined in the early ‘90s, but is only now finding its way into the mainstream.

Flexitarians are flexible in what they eat. According to an Internet search, the earliest citation of the term was a quote from Helga Morath, who used the term flexitarian fare in the Austin American-Statesman, October 17, 1992, to describe the eclectic menu of health/vegetarian food served up in her recently opened Acorn Café at 26th and Guadalupe streets in Austin, Texas.

According to an Associated Press story by J.M. Hirsch that ran in newspapers all over the country a few days ago, the term flexitarians was voted the most useful word of 2003 by the American Dialectic Society. When you realize how many people are included under the flexitarian umbrella, you’ll appreciate why the term is so handy.

While people who never eat meat, poultry or seafood are estimated at 3% (about 5.7 million), those who at least occasionally eat vegetarian food may be up to 40% of the population. According to the AP piece, the growing number of part-time vegetarians has had a huge impact on the food industry. “In recent years the market for vegetarian friendly foods has exploded, with items such as soy milk and veggie burgers showing up in mainstream groceries and fast food restaurants,” Hirsch wrote. Health food markets such as Wild Oats or Whole Foods, which cater to vegetarians, but also sell wonderful meat, fish and poultry are popping up everywhere—and for good reason.

Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a dietician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, credits the growth of flexitarianism to a better understanding of the diet-disease connection. “Whether you make a commitment to eating strictly vegetarian or not,” she told the AP writer, “cutting back your dependence on meat is something most people acknowledge they know they should do.”

Another perspective is that vegetarians are more likely to insure an adequate intake of protein if they don’t avoid the complete protein found in meat, fish and chicken. That’s the view of Mollie Katzen, a cookbook author and founder of the Moosewood Restaurant, an mostly vegetarian eatery located in Ithaca, N.Y. She advocates a flexible vegetarian-based diet. “I don’t feel it’s wrong if you’ve got a great big plate of vegetables,” she told Hirsch, “[that] your protein is from a healthy, happy chicken, or a grass-fed cow.”

I agree on both counts. What's more, flexitarian eating helps you stay lean.

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Taken from:
http://www.cbass.com/flexitarian.htm

 

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