It’s spring training time, and lots of ball players are testing their mettle, seeing if they’ve got what it takes to make it on the pro teams. Some players will eventually go all the way, and others will never quite make it to the big show.
Similarly, some people seem born to a vegan or vegetarian diet, having no trouble at all to that adjustment, while others will never be able to eliminate meat entirely. If you’re finding yourself in that nebulous in-between space, not ready to take the plunge into a fully vegetarian diet but embracing many of the tenets all the same, maybe “flexitarian” is the right team for you.
If you’re finding yourself in that nebulous in-between space, not ready to take the plunge into a fully vegetarian diet but embracing many of the tenets all the same, maybe “flexitarian” is the right team for you.
Just as Minor League ballplayers understand the game but aren’t at the skill level yet to go pro, flexitarians are aware of the health and environmental benefits of a meat-free diet but aren’t ready to take it on fully. For this reason, the flexitarian diet (flexible-vegetarian) allows for occasional consumption of meat in an otherwise vegetarian diet. A flexitarian might, for example, eat a fully vegetarian diet for months but then choose to go ahead and have some turkey and stuffing with Grandma at Thanksgiving. Another might eat meat once a week. “Flexitarian” is a widely-applicable term that encompasses those that understand the importance of vegetarian eating habits and, generally but not strictly, employ those habits in their eating practices. For some, this is a step that will eventually lead to a fully-vegetarian diet, and for others, this is where they will remain.
Some vegetarians find the non-commitment of flexitarians frustrating. I do not. Too many of us shy from taking ANY action if we aren’t able to go all the way. In the fight for sustainability, that thinking is down-right destructive. We all need to take steps, whatever those might be, to improve this situation. If you’re ready for a flexitarian diet but not for a vegetarian one, then be a flexitarian! The only error we can make is in doing nothing. Cut back in whatever way you can. Your children’s children will thank you and so will mine.