Here's the deal...

If you’re asking yourself “what is a flexitarian?”, that is a very good question (although not sure how you stumbled across this if I haven’t already given you my very unscientific definition).  I first read about in Time Magazine, so here is their article about it.  

So after that, you’re next question is definitely “why are you doing this?”, and as a true carnivore, I can confidently tell you its pure environmental reasons.  I consider myself to be somewhat of an environmentalist – turning the water off as I brush my teeth or in between scrubbing dishes, using the minimal amount of paper towels necessary, always bringing bags with me to the grocery store and most other shopping, not gift wrapping gifts (okay, yes, out of pure laziness as well, but the environment is my vocal excuse), turning the car engine off whenever standing idle, taking public transportation (when it’s an easy alternative and doesn’t break the bank), thinking before printing, buying local when available, buying organic, even if it means breaking the bank, and constantly yelling at my husband to file suit.  However, at the end of the day, I don’t really go out of my way nor do anything that is considered inconvenient in my quest to save the planet.  So, this is my inconvenience. 

And with that, here is the rule:

I can only eat meat 5 meals per week

And now here come the questions…so, here are a few FAQs so you can follow along:

1. What defines a week?  A week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday
2. What defines a meal?  There are 21 meals in a week (plus snacks, which do count), so I am restricting myself to less than 25% of my food intake will be in conjunction with meat
3. What defines meat?  Meat is the actual animal - poultry, red meat and fish (more to come on that in a bit).  Meat is not the by-product of an animal, so I can eat eggs and cheese and they won’t be included in the count, however I will continue to buy organic and local as much as possible.
4. What about grass-fed beef or sustainable fish?  Grass-fed beef is considered in the count (which leads to the rationale for my start date not being on Jan 1), sustainable fish is not.  Here is a site that has guidelines of sustainable fish, I will be following the Northeast version, so I can eat these fish and it won’t be included in the 5 meals.

Any other questions I haven’t answered, ask away and I’ll include it in the FAQs.

So, I mentioned earlier that the start date is not January 1^st and that’s because Blaine and I are going to Argentina on vacation (or if you’re reading this we already went), and given the propensity and reputation of the beef there, and my desire to actually keep this resolution and not let it go to the waste side within the first 2 weeks, I’m starting when we return on January 18^th.

Check back then and I will give you an update on how the first week goes…