flexitarianism

Different definitions of flexitarianism are used. According to the Dutch environmental organisation Natuur & Milieu, a flexitarian eats no meat, fish or lunch meat for at least one day a week.{{Cite web|date=2016-09-29|title=Onderzoek: 67% Nederlanders is flexitarier|url=https://www.natuurenmilieu.nl/nieuwsberichten/onderzoek-67-nederlanders-is-flexitarier/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415224702/https://www.natuurenmilieu.nl/nieuwsberichten/onderzoek-67-nederlanders-is-flexitarier/|archive-date=2017-04-15|access-date=2021-10-02|publisher=Natuur & Milieu|language=nl}} The Dutch research agency I&O Research calls people flexitarian when they do not eat meat one or more days a week. The Dutch Food Health authority Voedingscentrum states that flexitarians do not eat meat (but can eat fish) three or more days a week in between or with a hot meal.{{Cite web|date=2020-03-09|title=Eet de flexitariër soms een broodje aap?|url=https://mountainviewresearch.nl/2020/03/flexitariers-eten-evenveel-vlees-als-de-gemiddelde-nederlander/|access-date=2021-10-02|website=Mountainview Research|language=nl}}

Vegetarianism is the strict practice of abstaining from consuming meat or any other animal tissue. Flexitarianism is a neoteric term that gained a considerable increase in usage in both science and public sectors in the 2010s. Flexitarian was listed in the mainstream Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in 2012.{{cite news|last=Italie|first=Leanne|title=F-bomb makes it into mainstream dictionary|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/13/f-bomb-makes-it-mainstream-dictionary/|newspaper=The Washington Times|access-date=15 August 2012}} In 2003, the American Dialect Society voted flexitarian as the year's most useful word.{{cite web|title=2003 Words of the Year |publisher=American Dialect Society |date=2007-01-13|url=http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/2003_words_of_the_year/ |access-date=2007-12-03}}

Other neologisms used as synonyms for semi-vegetarianism are demi-vegetarianism, reducetarianism,{{cite news |title=Getting through the lobster feast as a vegan |author=Mary MacVean |work=Los Angeles Times |date=8 January 2015|url=https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-vegan-month-lobster-20150107-story.html }}{{cite news |title=Meat-Eaters And Vegetarians Meet In The Middle: The Birth Of 'Reducetarianism' |author=Samantha Olson |publisher=Medical Daily |date=6 January 2015|url=https://www.medicaldaily.com/meat-eaters-and-vegetarians-meet-middle-birth-reducetarianism-316584 }} and semi-veganism.Bittman, Mark. (2011). [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/mark-bittman-going-semi-vegan.html "No Meat, No Dairy, No Problem"]. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2021.

In 2015, according to the Voedingscentrum, 55% of Dutch people were flexitarians.{{Cite web|title=Meer dan de helft van de Nederlanders is 'flexitariër' {{!}} Voedingscentrum|url=https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/pers/persmappen/persmap-eetpatronen-van-verschillende-sociale-milieus-duurzaamheid-en-voedselverspilling/meer-dan-de-helft-van-de-nederlanders-is-flexitarier.aspx|access-date=2021-10-02|website=www.voedingscentrum.nl}} According to Natuur & Milieu, in 2016, 67% of the Dutch were flexitarian. According to research by Wageningen University & Research, the number of Dutch people who call themselves flexitarians increased from 14% in 2011 to 43% in 2019. However, the number of days that self-proclaimed flexitarians ate meat increased over that period from 2.9 days a week to 3.7 days. The researchers suspected that this was mainly due to the inflation of this term among the Dutch.{{Cite web|last=|date=June 2020|title=Factsheet Consumptiecijfers en aantallen vegetariërs {{!}} Vegetariersbond|url=https://www.vegetariers.nl/bewust/veelgestelde-vragen/factsheet-consumptiecijfers-en-aantallen-vegetariers-|access-date=2021-10-02|website=|publisher=De Nederlandse Vegetariërsbond|language=nl}}

According to a study by LEI Wageningen UR, the proportion of Dutch people who eat meat daily decreased from 26.7% to 18.4% between 2010 and 2012.{{aut|Hans Dagevos, Jantine Voordouw, et.al}}, [http://edepot.wur.nl/212318 Vlees vooral(snog) vanzelfsprekend: Consumenten over vlees eten en vleesminderen]. LEI Wageningen UR, juni 2012 According to a study by Dutch research agency Motivaction at the beginning of June 2012, reducing meat consumption is a conscious choice for 35% of the Dutch. 14.8% of the population ate meat no more than one or two days a week.

In Flanders, 1 in 6 people in 2013 do not eat meat one or more days a week. A quarter opts for a meat-free day at least once a month.{{fact|date=December 2022}}

In 2003, the American Dialect Society chose the word flexitarian as the most useful word of the year.{{Cite web|date=2007-01-13|title=2003 Words of the Year|url=http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/2003_words_of_the_year/|access-date=2007-12-03|publisher=American Dialect Society}}

Common reasons for adopting a flexitarian diet include religious restrictions, weight management,{{cite journal |last1=Forestell |first1=Catherine A. |title=Flexitarian Diet and Weight Control: Healthy or Risky Eating Behavior? |journal=Frontiers in Nutrition |date=10 July 2018 |volume=5 |pages=59 |doi=10.3389/fnut.2018.00059 |pmid=30042947 |pmc=6048256 |doi-access=free }} health consciousness, issues relating to animal welfare or animal rights (see ethical omnivorism), the environment (see environmental vegetarianism), or reducing resource use (see economic vegetarianism). Flexitarians may have attitudes and endorsement behavior concerning health issues,{{cite journal |last1=de Boer |first1=Joop |last2=Schösler |first2=Hanna |last3=Aiking |first3=Harry |title=Towards a reduced meat diet: Mindset and motivation of young vegetarians, low, medium and high meat-eaters |journal=Appetite |date=June 2017 |volume=113 |pages=387–397 |doi=10.1016/j.appet.2017.03.007 |pmid=28300608 |hdl=1871.1/6cdbf2da-61bc-4cd9-84b0-7fed528ed6a6 |s2cid=3646506 |url=https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/6cdbf2da-61bc-4cd9-84b0-7fed528ed6a6 |hdl-access=free }} humanitarianism, and animal welfare.{{cite journal |last1=De Backer |first1=Charlotte J. S. |last2=Hudders |first2=Liselot |title=From Meatless Mondays to Meatless Sundays: Motivations for Meat Reduction among Vegetarians and Semi-vegetarians Who Mildly or Significantly Reduce Their Meat Intake |journal=Ecology of Food and Nutrition |date=2 November 2014 |volume=53 |issue=6 |pages=639–657 |doi=10.1080/03670244.2014.896797 |pmid=25357269 |hdl=10067/1205320151162165141 |s2cid=5449566 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Hoek |first1=Annet C. |last2=Luning |first2=Pieternel A. |last3=Stafleu |first3=Annette |last4=de Graaf |first4=Cees |title=Food-related lifestyle and health attitudes of Dutch vegetarians, non-vegetarian consumers of meat substitutes, and meat consumers |journal=Appetite |date=June 2004 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=265–272 |doi=10.1016/j.appet.2003.12.003 |pmid=15183917 |s2cid=24018607 }}

The main fundamental of some specific flexitarian diets is about the inflexible adherence to a diet that omits multiple classes and types of animals from the diet in entirety, rather than a sole focus on reduction in consumption frequency. Some examples include:

• Demitarianism: the practice of reducing meat consumption to half of what is culturally typical.{{cite web |author=Harvey |first=Fiona |author-link=Fiona Harvey |date=2013-02-18 |title=Halve meat consumption, scientists urge rich world | Environment |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/18/halve-meat-consumption-scientists |accessdate=2013-04-29 |work=The Guardian}} The term was devised in October 2009 in Barsac, France combined workshop of Nitrogen in Europe (NinE) and Biodiversity in European Grasslands: Impacts of Nitrogen (BEGIN) where they developed "The Barsac Declaration: Environmental Sustainability and the Demitarian Diet".{{cite web |title=The Barsac Declaration: Environmental Sustainability and the Demitarian Diet |year=2009 |url=http://www.nine-esf.org/sites/nine-esf.org/files/Barsac%20Declaration%20V5.pdf |access-date=2013-11-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126112928/http://www.nine-esf.org/sites/nine-esf.org/files/Barsac%20Declaration%20V5.pdf |archive-date=2013-11-26 }}
• Pescetarian diet: someone who follows this diet eats fish and/or shellfish and may or may not consume dairy and eggs. The consumption of other meat, such as poultry, mammal meat, and the flesh of other land-dwelling animals is abstained from.{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pescatarian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209002726/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pescatarian|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 February 2018|title=Pescatarian|author=Graham Hill|date=31 July 2000|publisher=Oxford|access-date=14 April 2019}} In the past, some vegetarian societies used to consider it to simply be a less-strict type of vegetarianism."International Health Exhibition", The Medical Times and Gazette, 24 May 1884, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rdXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA712 712]. "There are two kinds of vegetarians—one an extreme form, the members of which eat no animal food whatever; and a less extreme sect, who do not object to eggs, milk, or fish. The Vegetarian Society ... belongs to the latter more moderate division." This is no longer the case now that modern day vegetarian societies object to the consumption of all fish and shellfish.
• Pollotarian diet: someone who follows this diet eats chicken and/or other poultry and usually eggs as well. A pollotarian would not consume seafood or the meat from mammals or other animals, often for environmental, health or food justice reasons.{{cite book|last1=Preedy|first1=Victor R.|last2=Burrow|first2=Gerard N.|last3=Watson|first3=Ronald|title=Comprehensive Handbook of Iodine: Nutritional, Biochemical, Pathological and Therapeutic Aspects|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7v7g5XoCQQwC&q=pollotarians&pg=PA523|access-date=17 September 2011|date=2009-02-09|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-12-374135-6|page=523}}{{cite book|last1=Hayes|first1=Dayle|last2=Laudan|first2=Rachel|title=Food and Nutrition; Editorial Advisers, Dayle Hayes, Rachel Laudan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2w5i2MBvZf8C&q=pollotarians&pg=PA1058|access-date=17 September 2011|date=September 2008|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=978-0-7614-7827-0|page=1058}}
• Macrobiotic diet: a plant-based diet that may include occasional fish or other seafood.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMquGvp31XEC&q=kushi+on+miso1XEC&pg=PA83|title=The macrobiotic way: the complete macrobiotic lifestyle book|last1=Kushi|first1=Michio|last2=Blauer|first2=Stephen|date=2004-03-08|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-58333-180-4|page=83|access-date=17 September 2011}} Cereals, especially brown rice, are the staples of the macrobiotic diet, supplemented by small amounts of vegetables and occasionally fish. Some advocates of the macrobiotic diet promote a vegetarian (or nearly vegan) approach as the ideal.{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=ER|date=Nov 2006|title=The effects of macronutrients on blood pressure and lipids: an overview of the DASH and OmniHeart trials|journal=Curr Atheroscler Rep|volume=8|issue=6|pages=460–5|doi=10.1007/s11883-006-0020-1|pmid=17045071|s2cid=72616374}}
• Planetary health diet: dietary paradigms that have the following aims: to feed a growing world's population, to greatly reduce the worldwide number of deaths caused by poor diet, and to be environmentally sustainable as to prevent the collapse of the natural world.{{Cite web|title=Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems|url=https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/EAT|access-date=2020-12-05|website=www.thelancet.com|language=en}}Gallagher, James. (2019). [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46865204 "A bit of meat, a lot of veg - the flexitarian diet to feed 10bn"]. BBC News. Retrieved 24 December 2020.

All semi-vegetarians could accurately be described as people who eat a plant-based diet, but there is no firm consensus how infrequently someone would have to eat meat and fish for their diet to be considered a flexitarian diet rather than a regular plant-based diet. Recurring conditions of a flexitarian include consuming red meat or poultry only once a week.{{cite journal |last1=Tonstad |first1=S. |last2=Butler |first2=T. |last3=Yan |first3=R. |last4=Fraser |first4=G. E. |title=Type of Vegetarian Diet, Body Weight, and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes |journal=Diabetes Care |date=1 May 2009 |volume=32 |issue=5 |pages=791–796 |doi=10.2337/dc08-1886 |pmid=19351712 |pmc=2671114 }}{{cite journal |last1=Clarys |first1=Peter |last2=Deliens |first2=Tom |last3=Huybrechts |first3=Inge |last4=Deriemaeker |first4=Peter |last5=Vanaelst |first5=Barbara |last6=De Keyzer |first6=Willem |last7=Hebbelinck |first7=Marcel |last8=Mullie |first8=Patrick |title=Comparison of Nutritional Quality of the Vegan, Vegetarian, Semi-Vegetarian, Pesco-Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diet |journal=Nutrients |date=24 March 2014 |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=1318–1332 |doi=10.3390/nu6031318 |pmid=24667136 |pmc=3967195 |doi-access=free }} One study defined semi-vegetarians as consuming meat or fish three days a week.{{cite journal |last1=De Backer |first1=Charlotte J. S. |last2=Hudders |first2=Liselot |title=From Meatless Mondays to Meatless Sundays: Motivations for Meat Reduction among Vegetarians and Semi-vegetarians Who Mildly or Significantly Reduce Their Meat Intake |journal=Ecology of Food and Nutrition |date=2 November 2014 |volume=53 |issue=6 |pages=639–657 |doi=10.1080/03670244.2014.896797 |pmid=25357269 |hdl=10067/1205320151162165141 |s2cid=5449566 |hdl-access=free }} Occasionally, researchers define semi-vegetarianism as eschewing red meat in entirety and flexitarianism as the distinct practice of eating very little meat.{{cite journal |last1=Forestell |first1=Catherine A. |last2=Spaeth |first2=Andrea M. |last3=Kane |first3=Stephanie A. |title=To eat or not to eat red meat. A closer look at the relationship between restrained eating and vegetarianism in college females |journal=Appetite |date=1 February 2012 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=319–325 |doi=10.1016/j.appet.2011.10.015 |pmid=22079892 |s2cid=22041112 |url=https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=psychologypub |access-date=26 December 2022 |archive-date=28 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428101637/https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=psychologypub |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |last1=Baines |first1=Surinder |last2=Powers |first2=Jennifer |last3=Brown |first3=Wendy J |title=How does the health and well-being of young Australian vegetarian and semi-vegetarian women compare with non-vegetarians? |journal=Public Health Nutrition |date=May 2007 |volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=436–442 |doi=10.1017/S1368980007217938 |pmid=17411462 |doi-access=free }} Semi-vegetarianism/flexitarianism may be the default diet for much of the world, where meals based on plant materials provide the bulk of people's regular energy intake.{{cite journal |last1=Hicks |first1=Talia M. |last2=Knowles |first2=Scott O. |last3=Farouk |first3=Mustafa M. |title=Global Provisioning of Red Meat for Flexitarian Diets |journal=Frontiers in Nutrition |date=14 June 2018 |volume=5 |pages=50 |doi=10.3389/fnut.2018.00050 |pmid=29963555 |pmc=6010543 |doi-access=free }} In many countries, this is often due to financial barriers as higher incomes are associated with diets rich in animal and dairy proteins rather than carbohydrate based staples. One estimate is that 14% of the global population is flexitarian.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2018-09/an_exploration_into_diets_around_the_world.pdf|title=An exploration into diets around the world|publisher= Ipsos MORI Global Advisor Survey|date=2018|access-date=12 May 2019}}

In the United Kingdom, there was increased demand for vegan products in 2018.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/08/appetite-grows-vegan-products-uk-supermarkets-waitrose-iceland|title=Appetite grows for vegan products at UK supermarkets|work=The Guardian|date=8 June 2018|author=Sarah Butler|access-date=2019-05-08}} A 2018 study estimated that the amount of UK consumers following a "meat-free diet" had increased to 12%, including 6% vegetarians, 4% pescetarians and 2% vegans.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/future-of-meat/12-of-brits-follow-meat-free-diet-the-grocer-research-shows/565771.article|title=12% of Brits follow meat-free diet, The Grocer research shows|author=Megan Tatum|date=13 April 2018|website=The Grocer|access-date=2019-05-08}} A 2018 poll indicated that 10% of adult Canadians considered themselves as vegetarians or vegans, among whom 42% were young adults.{{Cite news | url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/mind-blowing-survey-finds-most-vegans-vegetarians-in-canada-are-under-35-1.3841041 |title = 'Mind-blowing': Survey finds most vegans, vegetarians in Canada are under 35|work=CTV News|date=13 March 2018|access-date=2019-05-08}}

In 2019, an international group stated that the adoption of the flexitarian diet would "save lives, feed 10 billion people and all without causing catastrophic damage to the planet," when compared to the current Western diet.{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46865204 |title = Meat, veg, nuts - a diet designed to feed 10bn|work = BBC News|date = 17 January 2019|last1 = Gallagher|first1 = James|access-date=2019-05-08}} The term flexitarian has been criticized by many vegetarians and vegans as an oxymoron because people following the diet consume the flesh of animals.Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael. (2006). Vegetarians and Vegans in America Today. Praeger. pp. 164-168. {{ISBN|0-275-99016-8}}

• Meat-free days
• Meatless Monday
• Dawn Jackson Blatner
• Reducetarian Foundation

{{Reflist}}

{{Plant-based diets}}

{{Veganism and vegetarianism}}

Category:Plant-based diets

Category:Semi-vegetarianism