Discover How This “Flexible Vegetarian” Diet Can Help You Lose More Weight

There are so many crazy diets out there: the Werewolf Diet, the Baby Food Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, the Cotton Diet, the Tapeworm Diet, the Breatharian Diet, and many more!
Losing weight is hard, and some of us are willing to try almost anything. But you don’t have to consume a cotton ball soaked with orange juice (the Cotton Diet)… or swallow a tapeworm (the Tapeworm Diet)… to really lose weight.
Just eat healthy foods. Then you’ll be healthier and can indulge in a treat here and there.
That brings us to the Flexitarian Diet.

What Is The Flexitarian Diet?
The word “flex” sounds like it should be really simple and not restrictive, right? That’s the whole idea! The name of this diet is a combination of the words “flexible” and “vegetarian.”
It’s like having a cheat day (or two) built right into your diet. You can have meat a couple of times per week… or whatever works for you. It’s like being a vegetarian with meat benefits.
TRENDING: Science Reveals Easy, No-Workout Ways to Lose Weight… While You Snooze!Vegetarians and vegans are often motivated by a desire to be slender, optimize their health, abstain from animal cruelty, or protect the environment. Some adhere to plant-based diets for a combination of or all of these reasons.
So many celebrities are vegetarians and vegans, and let’s be honest… they look fantastic! Here’s a short list of vegetarian and vegan celebs: Ariana Grande, Kristin Bell, Olivia Wilde, Natalie Portman, Christina Appelgate, Pamela Anderson, Peter Dinklage, Kate McKinnon, Ricky Gervais, Miley Cyrus, Chris (Thor!) and Liam Hemsworth, Adele (who said she went vegetarian so she could look her dog in the eye), Woody Harrelson, Russell Brand, Christie Brinkley (still gorgeous at 63!), Sir Paul McCartney (he can bop around on stage for hours in concert and he’s 77!), and SO MANY more!
The celebs have access to the best doctors, dietitians, and nutritionists… so they know how to eat for their health.
However, you can still benefit from a plant-based diet without swearing off meat for the rest of your life—or even for the rest of the week. You can enjoy almost all of the benefits of being a vegetarian and still have a hot dog or chicken cacciatore here and there.
The Flexitarian Diet was created by dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner. All you have to do is cut some portions of meat out of your diet. If you eat veggies, fruits, legumes, and whole grains… and have the occasional serving of meat… you should lose weight.

How The Flexitarian Diet Helps You Lose Weight
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 65% of American adults age 20 and up are overweight or obese… but less than 10% of vegetarians and vegans are.
The body weights of both male and female vegetarians are three percent to 20 percent lower than that of omnivores, and research shows that following a vegetarian diet is twice as effective as a carnivorous one when it comes to losing weight.
So being a part-time vegetarian who eats meat from time to time could help you to shed some unwanted weight the healthy way—by eating nutritious and low-calorie foods.
TRENDING: Women Who Eat These 3 Cheeses Are Losing Pounds of Stubborn Belly Fat (Research Proven)Don’t forget that moderate exercise for 20 minutes most days of the week will increase your metabolism, keep your body limber, protect you from a multitude of ailments, and even provide mental and emotional benefits.
A study by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC found that participating women lost a pound a week without counting calories and kept it off by not eating meat or dairy and limiting oil.
These women didn’t even have to exercise. You can have similar results if you limit your meat and high-fat dairy without even eliminating them entirely.
How The Flexitarian Diet Benefits Your Health
Vegetarians typically have lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar, lower triglycerides, and lower cholesterol. They are less likely to have diabetes or cardiac events.
Vegetarians’ body mass index (BMI) numbers are also lower. They even have a lower incidence of cancer in many instances.
Admittedly, vegetarians and vegans can eat a lot of unhealthy foods while still following their diet, just like omnivores. There’s the Pasta Vegetarian, for example, who eats too much starch.
TRENDING: This Massive “Mistake” Melted 48lbs Off Her Body (Click Here to See How)…And vegetarians who load up on full-fat dairy (while not doing a high-fat diet like keto) might not lose weight. Also, several fun (but not exactly healthy) foods, like Oreos, are vegan, so it’s easy to skip the meat but choose less nutritious options.
Whether you’re a meat eater, a vegetarian, or a vegan, you have to be conscious of consuming food with the right vitamins and nutrients.

What To Watch For If You Try A Flexitarian Diet
Vegetarians, and especially vegans, have to be sure they are consuming enough of vitamins B12 and K, as well as iron and calcium.
B12 is vital to your brain function and neurological health, as well as in preventing anemia. Meat contains iron, vitamin B12, and vitamin K.
So if you’re cutting out (or cutting down on) beef, pork, ham, poultry, lamb, and fishes like haddock and tuna… you might need to take a B12 supplement or eat dairy and eggs.
Vitamin K is essential for blood clotting and helps older people maintain strong bones. It is found in kale, spinach, turnip greens, collards, Swiss chard, mustard greens, parsley, romaine, and green leaf lettuce. Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, fish, liver, meat, eggs, and cereals also contain Vitamin K, but not as much as green leafy vegetables.
Iron transports oxygen in our blood. If you’re not eating red meat, turkey, liver, or chicken… you can obtain your iron from sardines, oysters, and eggs.
You can also meet iron requirements by eating soybeans, our dear friend dark chocolate, tofu, spinach, lentils, broccoli, pumpkin seeds, legumes, cashews, baked potato, and dried apricots.
Calcium builds bones and is responsible for their ongoing health. It also helps your blood to clot, aids in muscle contraction, and helps your heart beat.
If you choose to lower your dairy intake, you need to eat lots of green leafy veggies to get enough calcium in your diet.
Sources of non-meat calcium include firm tofu, rice milk, fortified orange juice, cashew and soymilk, and plant milks (almond), white beans, blackstrap molasses, seaweed, kale, turnip greens, sesame seeds, and black-eyed peas.
SPECIAL: This Scientific Trick Can Reduce Your Belly Fat By 8.5% in Just 12 Weeks…Some examples of vegetarian protein that are filling and great substitutes for meat include lentils, chickpeas, low-fat cottage cheese, quinoa, spinach, almonds, cauliflower, coconut, potatoes, tempeh, jackfruit, seitan, broccoli, portobello (and other types of) mushrooms, beans, eggplant, and tofu.
Lasagna, chili, stews, quiches, and so many other easy to make dishes are still delicious without meat.
There are endless tasty vegetarian and vegan recipes online that can help you get started on a Flexitarian Diet. Here are a couple of vegetarian recipe sites.
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There are more vegetarians and vegans now than ever before. Some want the health benefits, others are concerned about animal cruelty, many seek to protect the environment, and a lot of plant-based eaters believe in all of the aforementioned issues.
You can lose weight and improve your health by increasing your vegetable, fruit, whole grain, and legume consumption… without completely giving up your favorite meats.
A gradual shift in eating patterns is pretty simple… and you can reap almost all of the health and weight benefits of a plant-based diet without deprivation.
The less meat you eat, the more health and weight loss benefits you’ll derive from your Flexitarian Diet. Flexibility in eating habits will make you feel less restricted and free to make choices so you won’t go insane from cravings and can stick to the eating program.

Don’t Forget To Eat Enough Protein… For Your Health AND Weight Loss
The one thing you have to be REALLY careful about on a Flexitarian Diet is getting enough protein.
With less meat in your diet, you’ll need to be sure you get your protein from other sources.
It’s really important that you do, because…
More than any other “macro” out there, protein can help you lose a lot of weight really quickly and safely.
Which in turn increases your metabolism and burns more fat.
The whole process is pretty fascinating, really…
Here’s how it works and how much protein you need to eat to lose weight, according to science…
Plus two other “no-workout” weight loss tips that’ll help you burn more fat in your sleep: