Is Flexitarianism the Weight-Loss Tool for You?

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What a wonderfully sensible comment by LaVerne Wheeler. It's about time we all stopped blaming someone else and took responsibility for our own actions. No-one forces you to put food into your mouth. No-one forces you to supersize, eat a diet of burgers and coke, go everywhere in a car, allow clothes makers to "creep" their sizes. Come on, wake up world and take responsibility. In the vast majority of cases people are fat because they haven't, in the past, eaten sensibly, taken enough exercise and cared that they were becoming fat and lazy. It then gets to the point when they are morbidly obese and it's too late in many cases to do anything about it.
It now has to start in schools: children should be given school meals that are the correct sized portions and contain all the necessary ingredients over a week. No child should be allowed to bring any food into a school and none should be sold either. Television advertising of foods contained in packets should be banned and everyone should get back to the idea that food comes out of the ground or from an animal that walks about in fields, not a packet.
Fundamentally, until someone tells the truth and withdraws elective care from those who are abusing themselves then nothing will change. Stop telling people they are "a little overweight" and tell them they are FAT. If they don't like it - tough! The BMI (Body Mass Index ) has been ignored on the grounds it doesn't apply to today's people - so true, because we are so FAT.
I could go on! Eat less, exercise more - simple if you eat fresh food from the ground and meat that has walked in fields and fish caught in the sea - not a packet!

Brian Nesbitt 9:53PM April 01, 2010

Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!

My Amazing Weight Loss Story of AL 9:56PM April 28, 2009

The book is great and highly recommend it. Dawn Jackson Blatner makes this style of eating fun and approachable. In addition to the book her website is a great resource for nutrition information, recipes and a ton of great videos! http://www.dawnjacksonblatner.com
I am a big time fan of hers!

ThirstyApe of AZ 6:06PM February 15, 2009

I always come to articles with this sort of title with hope I will learn something new and exciting about eating healthy - other than that it's a very good idea not to eat unhealthy. And I am always disappointed. Once again I read about the wonders of vegetarianism, and if one is regrettably still addicted to proteins-eat tofu, tempeh, beans and lentils, some fish-voila! proteins! If your local market is lacking, you can get wonderful stuff from Amazon.com. No advice for those of us allergic to fish & seafood-whatever name you have for clams, oysters, shrimp, etc. Can't eat any of it without serious emergency room adventures. I don't like tofu - and if you are any sort of cook and have ever cooked a good piece of meat you know no amount of saucing or other assistance turns tofu into anything resembling meat, chicken, turkey - whatever.
I challenge you that a good, healthy diet can includes meat; and is not fattening nor heart damaging. You just have to know how to cook. You have to be knowledgeable about food. What goes together, chemically, with what - Which foods complement each other, or not.
My husband has an inherited cholesterol problem, as well as inherited diabetes. We learned all this 3 years ago when he had a heart attack requiring triple bypass surgery.
I am an excellent cook, my husband loves my food. I cook healthy. When I advised his rehab team what my meals consist of: lean meat, lots of veg and a bit of carb they gave me a green light. I reduced portions and there are some meals we have only once in 2 or 3 months. My husband has lost 25 pounds, his diabetes is totally under control, 20 year olds would want his resting heart rate and pulse, and his cholesterol is totally under control.
My husband is a gym fanatic - and was before the heart attack.
He goes to the gym every other day, rain or shine, all year, every year, and has for about 15 years. I add this to make sure it is understood his health issues were not the result of no exercise. He is a working musician and is on stage every week. He also has a full time job.
It is not necessary to deprive yourself of any type food.
We are omnivores - that is how nature made us, and the folks I know who have had the longest and most rewarding lives, are those who lived in moderation, but well.
I suppose if you can't control your eating a life of tofu and carrots will keep you from getting fat while indulging the need to eat all the time.
Barring that affliction - get some exercise, eat in moderation, and realize none of us gets out alive. As Mr Shaw observed: You don't live longer - it just feels that way.
In a country with an abundance of good food, people are starving - and you want to go off into the land of ordering food from Amazon.com? Real people need real information to help them feed their real families better - not this exercise in yuppie narcissm.

LaVerne Wheeler of MA 2:50PM January 16, 2009

I just hate being sick and can't imagine spending the latter part of my life with sickness and disease. So I changed my life style: I smoked and quit, I ate meat and quit, I changed jobs for one with less stress, I walked more and gardened more, yes, changed my entire life style.
I'm almost 60 and happy healthy and loving life. I took a huge cut in pay but soon realized that it's OK, very OK as long as I can live and be healthy. One must set priorities in life and not just settle for conformity.

Dee 3:40PM November 30, 2008

> sources of plant protein that are already in the cupboard and fridge—black beans,
> garbanzo beans, lentils, nuts, and eggs, to name a few.
When will we be able to buy the egg -- fruit of a marvelous vegetable chicken?

Katherine Hobson: Note my comment above. What she meant, and what I should have written, is that an egg is a non-meat source of protein.

Hank Roberts of CA 9:23AM November 12, 2008

Are you sure eggs are a good source of plant protein? Are you thinking eggs come from eggplant?

Katherine Hobson: You're right -- don't know how that sneaked in there! I think what she probably meant is that eggs, while a source of animal protein, are part of a vegetarian (though not a vegan) diet. Better phrasing would have been non-meat sources of protein.

Confused Omnivore of MI 4:51PM November 11, 2008

It sounds a lot like the typical fasting diet prescribed by the Eastern Orthodox Church:
Wed and Fri. are essentially vegan...vegetables only and small portions. Oil is generally not allowed...at least Olive oil, though for various feast days that fall nearby it can be allowed. Shellfish are allowed too. No meat or dairy.
There are also 4 fasting seasons: Lent, Nativity, the Apostles Fast, and the Dormition fast. These are pretty much vegan/vegetaria during the week but will allow fish on some weekends.
In short there are about 200+ days in the year of more or less strick dietary restriction...even a couple of days for Xerophaghi...no eating. There are also 2 weeks in the year where fasting is prohibited.
Of course it is not given as a diet for diet's sake....but it does seem to have a lot in common with this flexitarian take on dieting.

Robert of MS 4:47PM November 11, 2008

I WAS A MEAT AND POTATO EATER ALL MY LIFE. AT 88 I AM NOT ABOUT TO CHANGE.I AM TWENTY POUNDS OVER WEIGHT. SO WHAT!!!

Grandpa Davy of PA 3:04PM November 03, 2008

If you can invent a new word to wedge into the ever expanding dictionary, you might sell somebody an old idea.
How about pushawayarianism?
As in push away from the dinner table? (eat less)
And getmovingarianism?
As in be active as well as eat less?
All weight losing programs boil down to the same thing:
commonsensearianism.

HillbillyBill of TN 7:05AM October 05, 2008