There are no shortage of diets floating around and while some can be helpful to your long term health, some are downright awful. The poor choices in diets are often made by making weight loss the number one goal (which leads to many fad diets that don’t stick), or simply looking for one that adheres to your historical tendencies so you can have your cake and eat it too.
This may be why the ketogenic diet is the most popular diet right now. Its main benefit is weight loss, and most people don’t have to change their habits too significantly, with fats and protein being the two headliners in the diet (two nutrients that are already a mainstay in most meals). As humans, we tend to like change, without having to change much, and the ketogenic diet fits that bill perfectly for many dieters.
Although I’m not a fan of labeling ourselves based on what we eat, it can provide insight into how people are treating their body via food intake. Some food philosophies are more obvious than others, like vegan or ketogenic diets, while others are tougher to tell, like the paleo diet.
However, the most difficult to label diet, but perhaps one of the most sensible overall, is the Flexitarian Diet, and there is a movement of people enjoying this food philosophy without even knowing it had a name.
What is the Flexitarian Diet?
The Flexitarian Diet is simply a style of eating that is focussed on plant based foods, while still allowing for meat and other animal products in moderation. A very close cousin to this diet is the plant-based diet, but many people confuse that with being vegan or vegetarian, and the Flexitarian Diet is usually neither. The best part of the Flexitarian Diet is that it can’t really be pigeon-holed, and works in some flexibility to allow choices that may need to be made given options presented, or conditions that may crop up.
The Flexitarian Diet really has no hard and fast rules, and doesn’t require calorie counting or measuring. It is likely the easiest diet to follow because it adjusts with your lifestyle, is low maintenance, and can be eaten largely anywhere in the world. However, to give you an idea, the Flexitarian Diet is based on the following principles:
Eat mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains
Focus on getting more protein from plants, not animals
Be flexible, and use clean animal products occasionally
Focus on eating the most natural, least processed foods
Limit sugar intake
Overall, the goal is to eat more nutritious foods, mostly plant based, and eat less meat than the average person. Circumstances may dictate that this changes from time to time, and the beauty of this diet is that it has that flexibility and can adapt to nearly any situation. A flexitarian may find that they eat no meat for weeks or even months, and other times they may eat it 3-4 times a week. With location and climate changes it’s good to have options, and the flexitarian diet gives you exactly that.
The health benefits of the flexitarian diet
The first benefit of the flexitarian diet is that it incorporates predominantly plant based foods, mostly fruits and vegetables, which are the epicentre of any healthy diet. This means it does not entertain the mindless cutting of carbohydrate rich foods (which are NOT just grains, but includes fruits and vegetables as well), and if someone finds they are not tolerant to gluten, they can restrict those foods within the diet because it is flexible. Bottom line, the most nutrient dense foods calorically, will be a main part of the diet.
Another benefit with the flexitarian diet is that there is no micromanagement required. No calorie counting, weighing, or analyzing macronutrients – you simply eat within the desired food groups with a general percentage of intake in mind. Being healthy doesn’t have to involve being scientific, all it requires is following some fundamental principles and having some general guidelines in which you can follow.
The best part of the flexitarian diet is that it focuses on whole foods, mostly plants, but with the flexibility built in it facilities sustainability, perhaps the biggest factor missing in many other diets. The reality is there is no diet that can be successful if you can’t stick to it, and many modern day diets make that extremely difficult for the mass majority of people. The flexitarian diet is one you can easily enjoy for the rest of your life, because it doesn’t require micromanagement, can change with your lifestyle or circumstances, and generally has good results that come with making it a daily habit for the rest of your life.
This is partly what makes the diet in the THRIVE Lifestyle Academy so successful. It outlines all the best options in all the food groups so one can make the healthiest whole food choices, while being focused on mostly plants, but also allowing clean animal products if desired. This diet also underlines that there are “seasons” for different foods, such as going completely vegan for a period of time because it makes the most sense in order to heal. This can be followed up by allowing a reintroduction of clean animal products if desired in order to make the diet more sustainable long term and to avoid certain deficiencies that may crop up, like B-12, iron, and zinc. What is needed can differ for each individual, and that flexibility is built into the diet inside the THRIVE Academy.
Check Out The THRIVE Lifestyle AcademyOverall, I think we can generally agree that the societal backing off on the processed foods, sugars, and animal products is a step in the right direction. It is more nutritious, easier on the body, and friendlier on the environment, which are all things we should be able to get behind.
If these things are important to you, and you like flexibility in your life, consider the flexitarian diet, and we’ll show you how to do it properly (along with incorporating other healthy lifestyle factors) inside the THRIVE cademy. This program not only helped me banish 13 chronic disease conditions, but it has also helped alleviate and eliminate over 20 different chronic health conditions (and counting) for those who have participated during its 5 years of existence. It’s the healthy community you’ve never had, with a collective database of answers that are proven and practical.
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