The term flexitarian has been circulating around in our vocabulary in recent years. It comes from combining the words flexible and vegetarian. Signifying that people who follow these meal planning principles have a more relaxed plant based diet compared to other vegans and vegetarians. In 2012, flexitarian was listed in the mainstream dictionary and recognized as part of the American dialect.  Common reasons for choosing a semi-vegetarian diet are typically weight management and health consciousness.  

Flexitarians consume a plant based diet, primarily focusing on getting six or more serving of fruit and veggies each day. Fish or red meat might be consumed once or twice a week. There is no set of regulations on how frequently flexitarians eat animal protein which is the essence of the flexible part of this plant based meal planning. Studies show there has been an increase in demand for vegan and vegetarian products. There has also been a rise in health conscious eating leading people to opt for a flexitarian lifestyle. Plant based eating is a valuable part of many healthy diets and it’s worth considering if you are making dietary adjustments.