What the heck is a flexitarian?

A flexitarian is someone who is not strictly vegetarian or vegan; but is making an effort to increase their intake of plant based whole foods and minimise meat and dairy consumption.  A combination of “vegetarian” and “flexible”; the flexitarian diet doesn’t have rules as such to follow but it encourages those practicing to make food choices based on the following principles: 

•   Eat mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains.

•   Focus on protein from plants instead of animals.

•   Be flexible, incorporate meat and animal products from time to time.

•   Eat the least processed, most natural form of foods.

•   Limit added sugar and sweets.

DJ Blatner (US dietician and nutritionist) coined the term in her 2010 book “The Flexitarian Diet”.  The book declares “Flexitarians weigh 15% less, have a lower rate of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, and live 3.6 years longer than their carnivorous counterparts.” but where the scientific evidence for these claims come from, we’re not sure.  We did, however, find one peer-reviewed study that stated the flexitarian diet showed many benefits, with the “strongest evidence appearing to be in relation to weight loss and metabolic health benefits, including reduced diabetes risk and blood pressure” (Derbyshire, 2017)

Adopt a flexitarian diet to minimise your carbon footprint

A huge issue we are facing at the moment is the climate crisis, and many of our systems - food, water and travel - rely on emitting carbon dioxide through the process of consumption.  By becoming aware of our individual carbon footprint we can have an initial measurement and a future target to work towards and on average our diet accounts for 40% of our carbon footprint.  A flexitarian diet is a great way to shift towards reducing CO2 emissions by changing small, daily habits to be more carbon conscious. Here’s how:

Buying local -  Going to the local market, on a bicycle to purchase fruits and veggies grown locally, not only makes more sense, is healthier personally but takes away the temptation to purchase a beautifully ripe Peruvian avocado packaged in plastic, flown over 5000 miles into Europe.  Local systems thrive when the communities that depend on them, invest in them.

Reducing food waste - Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions, almost 3 times higher than that of the aviation industry. By reducing food waste we’re actively reducing the amount of carbon dioxide gas released into the atmosphere and also making the most of resources. Scientists estimate that halving food loss and waste would reduce environmental pressures by 6–16% compared with the baseline projection for 2050.

Avoiding palm oil - many processed foods contain palm oil, a notorious chemical that comes from monoculture plantations in Asia, South America and Africa.  Highly biodiverse rainforests are cleared to make room for these plantations. Not only are they contributing to less trees to sequester carbon, but they are responsible for decimating native forest ecosystems and species.

The who's who of flexitarians

We came across several celebrities who adopt a flexitarian diet including Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L Jackson and Miley Cyrus.  Elders who have been at the forefront of social and environmental movements for decades such as Dalai Lama and David Attenborough are also advocates.

In his latest Netflix documentary “A life on our planet” Attenborough hones in on diet as a way we can actually work in harmony with nature, and look after our planet for generations to come: “We must change our diet. The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters.  If we had a mostly plant-based diet we could increase the yield of the land. We have an urgent need for free land… Nature is our biggest ally.”

The connection between our diet and the planet is also supported by an Oxford University researcher who found if every family in the UK swapped a red meat meal to a plant-based meal just once a week, the environmental impact would be the same as taking 16 million cars off the road.

And if that doesn’t convince you, then The Committee on Climate Change’s most recent report confirms that a shift towards a diet that's less reliant on carbon-intensive animal products could enable you as an individual to reduce your dietary emissions by 35 percent.