The Flexitarian Diet: The Mostly Vegetarian Way to Lose Weight, Be Healthier, Prevent Disease, and Add Years to Your Life by Dawn Jackson Blatner

A Diet for EVERYONEby Anonymous

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September 24, 2008: This book could have been titled Healthier and Thinner in Five Easy Steps! What do you want? Do you want to lose weight? It's covered. Get healthy? It's covered. Discover new foods? It's covered. Find easy and healthy recipes? They are here, too! The premise of this book is that you don't have to go to extremes to be healthy. As Dawn Jackson Blatner says on page 1, this diet isn't about rigid rules, it's about eating more plants and doing the best you can. She never judges you for what you eat, but makes suggestions about how to add healthy foods and habits to your busy life. The Flexitarian Diet is filled with yummy recipes (most have no more than five ingredients!), shopping lists, and expert suggestions for curbing cravings and generally feeling good. The book focuses on five main areas of eating: meat alternatives (although meat is still 'allowed'), fruits and veggies, grains, dairy, and sugar and spice. The author introduces one area per week, describing the nutritionist's favorite ways to incorporate new foods into your diet, or new ways to enjoy foods you already eat. I tend to eat pretty healthily already, but I learned a lot from this book. I've tagged the pages with the recipes I've tried and loved, as well as at least a dozen I can't wait to try. But I think my favorite thing about it is that it supports the way I like to think about health and eating. I used to be a vegetarian, but I went back to eating meat a few years ago. I always felt a little guilty about it, as though I wasn't strong enough to resist the smell of a steak on the grill. Flexitarian eating is about trusting yourself and understanding that diet is flexible, and that flexibility is a strength, not a weakness. Thank you, Dawn Jackson Blatner!