Is there a single
change to your diet that would have the greatest positive impact on
your health? It is reducing the amount of red meat you eat per week
and replacing those calories with extra fruits and vegetables.
Although red meat
is the principal source of protein in a traditional American diet,
research has linked its consumption with an increased risk for
cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. By simply eliminating
meat from your diet, you can add up to 1.5 years to your life
expectancy. Combined with other pieces of a healthy lifestyle you
could gain as much as a full 7 years.
But Americans
love their steaks and hamburgers. Are there any dietary alternatives
to the full, all or nothing, vegetarian diet? Fortunately there is -
the flexitarian diet.
A flexitarian
diet is also plant based but without a complete rejection of meat and
animal products. With four or more meatless meals per week, its
approach to meat as an occasional side dish or garnish is much more
adaptable to a family's dietary requirements and a busy schedule.
It is estimated
that true vegetarians account for 3 percent of the American
population, the number of flexitarians could be as high as 40
percent. These include many people who eat mainly vegetarian dishes
at home but are happy to eat meat dishes when eating out at
restaurants or when they sit down for a meal at the homes of family
and friends.
The health
advantages are demonstrated by a study showing that following a
flexitarian diet for just four weeks decreases the total cholesterol
levels of participants by almost 20 points. Other studies show a
balanced vegetarian diet also lowers the risk of high blood pressure,
stroke, diabetes and even cancer.
The diet’s flexibility also helps with implementation, letting the “consumer” slowly add plant-based foods while they cut back on red meat. The threshold for a beginner flexitarian generally starts at two meatless days per week (a total of 26 ounces of meat or poultry per week) slowly advancing to the expert level with five or more meatless days a week (9 ounces of meat or poultry per week).
Are there any disadvantages to becoming a flexitarian? A full vegan has to be sensitive to avoiding deficiencies in such micronutrients as vitamin B12, calcium, iron and zinc. But eating meat just once a week protects the flexitarian from this risk.
Another potential
negative factor is that the low fat content of a plant based diet
increases the odds of getting hungry between meals. That is
easily countered by increasing the use of healthy oils (olive oil)
and cheeses in cooking and snacking on nuts (with the added benefit
of their healthy oils).
If you decide to
embark on the flexitarian journey you will not only be improving your
health, but that of your environment. A quarter-pound hamburger
(equivalent to slightly less than one meatless day) requires almost
seven pounds of grain and forage, 53 gallons of water for drinking
and irrigating feed crops, 75 square feet for grazing and growing
those feed crops and 1,000 BTUs of fossil fuel energy for feed
production, enough to power the average microwave for 18 minutes.
The best news is
that you can multiply this benefit by five when you reach the expert
level!
