Flexitarian diets are increasingly popular — here’s how celebrities eat less meat without going fully vegetarian, and why dietitians approve

• A flexitarian diet involves eating mostly plant-based foods, but still eating meat in moderation.
• One way to be a flexitarian is to eat meat for breakfast, but then a plant-based lunch and dinner.
• One dietitian said this method can improve energy later in the day and promote weight loss.

flexitarian diets eat mostly plant-based foods without eliminating meat or fish entirely, they have become incredibly popular in recent years.

Time vegan and plant based Diets come with a variety of health benefits, such as improvements in gut health, reduced inflammation, and reduced risk of certain diseases, it can be tricky to replace meat with reliable sources of protein

But there are many ways to approach flexitarianism.

A popular approach among celebrities and athletes is to eat meat in the morning and then eat plant-based after 12 p.m. That’s what NBA star Steph Curry does, his wife Ayesha Curry told him. bck online. Celebrity trainer Dalton Wong, whose clients include Zoe Kravitz and Amanda Seyfried, also follows that method, he said. healthist advised Jennifer Lawrence to eat meat but not after noon as a tip to improve digestion and sleep.

There are also other approaches that allow you to spread the meat out throughout the day. We asked three experts what they thought about the different opinions on the flexitarian trend and how they would do it.

Some dieticians consider a “flexitarian” diet to be the healthiest approach to eating

Fans of the flexitarian diet include NFL great Tom Brady, who spent the past several years eating primarily 80 percent plant-based foods and 20 percent meat and fish as he wrapped up a 22-year, seven-year NFL career. Super Bowl titles.

Registered dietitians Kris Sollid and Alix Turoff said they encourage patients to try it.

“The emphasis on plant foods in a flexitarian eating pattern is believed to contribute to the health benefits associated with a vegetarian diet without requiring adherence to a 100% vegetarian diet or

vegetarian diet

Sollid told Insider.

“A flexitarian diet, as the name implies, allows for flexibility while striving to slowly increase fruit and vegetable intake over time without eliminating animal foods to ensure people get enough protein, iron, and calcium.”

“Most people find it very difficult to put together a healthy, completely plant-based diet because most plant-based protein sources are also quite high in carbohydrates,” Turoff told Insider. “But incorporating more plants into our diet and working to choose lean, more sustainable animal protein sources is always a good goal.”

Why some dieticians recommend only eating meat in the morning and then switching to plant-based foods

wong said healthist that he believes that eating protein early in the morning will keep a person feeling full and reduce cravings throughout the day.

Eating it later, he said, will send the body into “overdrive” mode, as it takes more digestive effort to break down protein, which could affect a person’s sleep if they’re still digesting before bed. (There is something evidence to support that.)

Registered dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix, founder of Better than diet.comtold Insider that he is very much in favor of eating only meat in the morning, and recommends this version of flexitarianism to his clients.

Taub-Dix said that eating meat earlier in the day allows your body more time and energy to digest and process protein throughout the day. He added that eating lighter plant-based dishes will make things easier for your digestive system as the day goes on because the body is more rested in the morning and has more time and energy to break down protein.

Spreading protein throughout the day may be better for muscle growth

While saving meat for the morning may help improve energy and promote

weightloss

may be less effective for building musclesaccording to Sollid.

“The most important thing is to eat enough protein every day,” Sollid told Insider. “Research has shown that there may be benefits to our muscles when total adequate protein intake is more evenly distributed across three daily meals compared to getting most of our daily protein in one meal.”

Turoff also told Insider that getting enough protein in general should be your priority, rather than when you eat it. Turoff added that plant-based protein is just as difficult for the body to digest as animal protein, so eating plant-based protein later in the day may not be a safe way to aid digestion at night.