Can You Be a Part-Time Vegetarian?

Woman's Day Magazine this week featured an article titled "Can you be a part-time vegetarian?" They used the term "flexitarian" which was the second time in recent weeks I've read this term for a part-time vegetarian diet.

But can we really coin the phrase "flexitarian"? Or are you really just a carnivore? What in the world is the difference between a carnivore and a flexitarian? In my opinion absolutely nothing.

Why try to call it something it's not? You either eat meat or you don't. Right? You either eat animal protein or you don't. Are people trying to coin a term because vegans and vegetarians are looked at as if they were from a foreign planet? More times than not when I tell someone I'm vegan they ask me what that is. When I explain to them what vegan is they say, "Oh that seems too hard!" But the funny thing is it's not. Yes, it takes some adjustments to your grocery shopping but once you get the hang of it it's quite easy and way more tasteful... at least when you're at home. Click here to read my experience on trying to eat vegan at Disneyland.

Women's Day gave 5 reasons for trying eatting "flexitarian":

"1. You’ll save money. Vegetarian protein sources like beans, lowfat dairy and eggs cost a fraction of the price of meat.

2. It’s naturally slimming. “People whose diets are plant-based weigh 15% less than meat eaters,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, LDN, an American Dietetic Association spokeswoman and author of The Flexitarian Diet (McGraw-Hill, 2009). “For the average woman, that’s about 25 pounds less.”

3. It helps your heart. A flexitarian diet lowers your risk of hypertension because you’re eating lots of the blood pressure–lowering mineral potassium, found mainly in produce. Low in saturated fat and high in soluble fiber (which soaks up cholesterol and shuttles it out of your body), this type of diet also cuts cholesterol.

4. It protects against cancer. People who eat a plant-based diet and exercise regularly slash their risk of cancer by 30% to 40%, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research.

5. It’s kinder to the planet. Animal protein requires 11 times more energy to produce than grains. What’s more, raising meat uses 26 times more water than growing vegetable protein."

Review those reasons and ask yourself if they explained any benefits to the dairy and meat part of the flexitarian's diet? Why don't they just come right out and say you should be a vegan then? What are the benefits of meat and dairy consumption?

The article also says that, "flexitarianism gives you the best of both worlds: You get your meat fix and the healthy perks of a vegetarian diet". I think this statement is incredibly misleading. Why fool these flexitarians into thinking that they are going to benefit from this diet when really it includes all of the things they are currently eating?

Dr. T. Colin Campbell in his book, The China Study, states that even small amounts of animal protein can be harmful to your body.

John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution, gives an in depth, scientificly and statistically based, and medically reviewed explanation of the benefits of a plant based diet as well as the risks of being a carnivore and the profound effects on the planet we cause because of our decisions.

According to Dictionary.com, the word Vegan was coined by Donald Watson in 1944, to distinguish those who abstained from all animal products from those who just refuse to eat animal meat. Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarian originated around 1950-1955, to describe someone who was vegetarian but did eat eggs and dairy products, such as milk and cheese. Flexitarian originated around 1992 to describe a vegetarian that was flexible enough to have on occasional meat or fish.

I understand this word has been around for awhile, but in my opinion there is no such thing. You either eat meat, or you don't. How much or little you eat meat should not determine whether you can call yourself a full-on carnivore or a flexitarian. It's an absurd word. It is good to look at nutrition and make choices that not only better your own health but can benefit the planet and the creatures of the planet. A vegetarian eats consciencly, a vegan eats knowingly, a flexatarian eats anything.

Click here to read the full article from Woman's Day Magazine.