Easy Tips for Adopting a Flexitarian Diet

When your doctor tells you to cut red meat out of your diet, it sounds easy. Until you try it. Whether you are adopting a low meat flexitarian diet for health reasons or just out of choice, the transition can be difficult if you want it to stick. Making the changes from a high meat diet to one that includes little to no meat involves changing your entire way of thinking about food. To eat a well balanced and nutritious diet with little meat in it that also makes you satisfied and happy is not as easy as it sounds. Most Americans have been raised with meat as the central component of our meals. We are used to cooking a large meat entree with small vegetable and starch sides. Switching our focus and changing the way that we view our meals is difficult. Here are several easy tips for making the transition and sticking to it.

Tip #1 For Adopting A Flexitarian Diet

Go slowly. Gradual changes in your diet make it easier to stick to it. If you try to change your entire way of eating overnight, you will only end up miserable and failing at your goals. Start out by cutting out one particular kind of meat, such as red meat, while still allowing yourself to eat poultry and fish. Once this change has become habit and feels natural, tackle the next category. AN easy way to cut back on meats without feeling deprived is to use ½ of what you normally would in any recipe. Replace the excess meat with meat substitutes to slowly get your body and your mind used to them. If you crave a particular food, eat a small amount. It is better to eat small amounts of what we crave than to completely deny the craving and binge at a later time. If you are planning to continue to eat small amounts of meat, choose your favorites and incorporate them into your mostly vegetarian diet in ways that satisfy your cravings.

Tip #2 For Adopting A Flexitarian Diet

Get a good cookbook. There are many really fabulous vegetarian and flexitarian cookbooks on the market today. By finding a cookbook that has recipes that are simple and easy to cook, you will be more likely to use it. Clear directions and simple yet delicious recipes make it easier to change cooking habits. One of my favorite cookbooks is All American Vegetarian by Barbara Grunes and Virginia Van Vynckt. It gives regional recipes that have familiar tastes and ingredients while still being nutritionally balanced and meat free. Another great cookbook for beginning flexitarians is The Occasional Vegetarian by Karen Lee. When you are changing the way that you cook and eat, it is important to learn how to do it in a healthy way. Either one of these cookbooks, and many more, will help you to make the transition.

Tip #3 For Adopting A Flexitarian Diet

If your meals in the past consisted mostly of meat entrees and canned vegetables, then your ideas of delicious vegetarian meal choices may be skewed. Begin buying fresh vegetables and fruits to eat instead of canned. Buy organic as much as your finances allow as the taste is much fresher and the product is more nutritious. Once you have tasted a tomato sauce made from organically grown vegetables, you will never feel the same about the canned kind. The tastes of organic and fresh vegetables will make the transition easier as you enjoy them.

Tip #4 For Adopting A Flexitarian Diet

Take it slowly when introducing new foods. If you jump in and immediately purchase every specialty vegetarian food you can find and then end up hating half of them, you will get discouraged. Add one new food at a time. Try several ways of preparing the food before you decide if it is a keeper or not. I dislike tofu unless it is cooked in certain ways, but if it is cooked the way I like it, I will eat every piece in sight. Don't feel like you have to eat tofu at every meal just because you do not have meat on yoru plate. There are many different meat replacement options. Eating more beans and certain other vegetables will get you just as much protein and iron as eating meat or tofu will. Add slowly and experiment until you find what you like.

Tip #5 For Adopting A Flexitarian Diet

Drink lots of water and cut back on sodas and coffee. As you cut the meat out of your diet, your body will begin to flush out toxins. Drinking lots of water will help with that detox. Coffee and other caffeinated beverages are diuretics. Avoiding them just makes sense. You need the water in your body to help with flushing toxins and with moving the larger amounts of fiber and roughage through your digestive tract.

Tip #6 For Adopting A Flexitarian Diet

Eat a nutritionally balanced diet. If your body is getting all of the nutrients that it needs, you will be less likely to crave anything. If you don't know if you are eating a balanced diet, you can discuss with your doctor or a nutritionist what you should be eating. Food cravings, extreme hunger, fatigue and depression can all be signs that you are not getting the vitamins or minerals that you need. Taking a multivitamin to help make sure you are getting the vitamins and minerals you need may be a good idea, but speak with your doctor before taking any specific vitamins. Too much of certain vitamins and minerals can be just as bad for you as not enough.