Flexitarianism: Can You Be a Part-Time Vegetarian?

It used to be called "eating a balanced diet".

Joe(kind of like what the other apes do.)Nation

This is what we've been doing, to great effect.

Well, I ate a banana the other day,
but that 's about as close as I can get.





David

I've been doing it for years.

It seems so UNFAIR.
The animals at least have a chance to run away,
or to fight back, but the plants r rooted down; helpless.


Unsportsmanlike.

Yeah, we do this I guess. E.G. was a vegetarian for years, until I corrupted him (sorry honey). We lived in a vegetarian co-op, which included meals in the rent (room and board), and since I was quite poor at the time that was mostly what I ate. Occasional (like, once a month) splurges on a brat or whatever. (The brat was what did him in.)

We still tend to be veggie-ish, though we eat meat too.

Recently quoted this but it is pretty much my guiding idea, diet-wise:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -- Michael Pollan

We still try to alternate fruit fast days with anything goes days. It works pretty well - although I've broadened my definition of "fruit" to include high water content veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers. It's surprising how little it takes to fill up after a fruit fast and how easy it is to put off that decadent treat to the next day when nothing is denied. Chances are you don't even want the treat the next day.

That reminds me... it's time for my grapefruit

I have no doubt that the meat contributors (prey) would not back it.

The problem is, that many vegetarians behave as if their form of diet is akin to a religion. (The ones on the macrobiotics are the most strident). I have heard of a person being made to feel guilty because she craved (and ate) a cheeseburger. I think that if you mix it up, eat a lot of veggies with some meat once in awhile, you can't go wrong.

Over the years n decades, from experience I have learned
to expect that there is trouble coming down the road
when a new girlfriend tells me that she is a vegitarian.

have you heard of "my big , fat diet - canadian style" ?

http://able2know.org/topic/123152-1

it's being tried by natives living on the pacific coast and consists of : fish , fish oil , meat and lots of veggies - NO starches , potaoes or sugar !
canada's natives suffer high rates of diabetes and obesity . initial results show that the diet is working for the natives .
hbg

I have been so many different "---rians" over the years. When we were hippies it was pretty much veggies and sprouts and soy sauces. Not soy sauce, sauces made of mashed soy bean milk and turmeric, cumin, chillies or some other thing shaken out and mixed in. Then somehow we were suddenly ovo-lacto so we go to eat cheese. I like cheese. I ate a lot of it. and ate a lot of different kinds.

Somewhere in those years we went to a three day meeting with Baba Hari Das. (What a sweet man.) I was lucky enough to be selected to be his aide for the meeting so we got to spend a lot of time together, most it it in silence.
(The Bab doesn't speak. He uses a chalkboard to reply to questions. (god, I wonder if he is still alive? I need to go see.)
\
Anyway, during one meal we got to "talking" about food. I asked what should a human eat, and I used the word human.

He wrote "Whatever the other apes eat."

That changed me. I studied the chimps eating habits and the bonobos and guess what? They eat a lot of salad-- leaves, grasses, sprouting veggies, but every few days they try to get a bit a'fish or some meaty mammalian flesh into their systems. They also eat a lot of worms, termites, maggots and insect egg sacs. I pass on those but reference that all of those are protein supplies.

So, now I eat a lot of salad --- sprouts, spinach, leafy green lettuce, celery, onions, peppers and radishes, but I also eat some kind of fish twice a week and chicken and/or beef/lamb at least once a week. None of it fried, none of it soaked in oil. And lots of green beans, broccoli, eggplant, squash, carrots and steamed spinach on the side.

Oh. Before long races, 13 miles or more, I have pasta with tomatoes and olives. It makes me feel like an Italian from the 15th century as I sip some really good red wine with a big bowl of pasta with some olive oil and crushed garlic. Very Mediterranean. Some crusty bread too. Pass the stinky cheese.

So...I'm down 70 pounds in three years. Yes, I've done some running in that time, but I think, or I know, that it's the fuel that makes the difference. Eat like you were an ape in the woods, there's some fruit, some salad, some meat. Then eat a bit like a human, some wine, some pasta, some good bread, some good oil.

Joe(you'll be a bonobo in no time.)Nation