Best of Irish Cookbook Series Magazine - Flexitarian - Issue 1

In this issue

EASY RECIPES & GUIDES TO EATING LESS MEAT Flexitarianism is a lifestyle choice that focuses your eating patterns around healthy, sustainable and ethical decision making. Eating less meat has been proven to be one of the most easily adoptable and sustainable ways to reduce our carbon footprint on the environment, while also advocating for more ethical treatment of livestock. The healthy benefits of a flexitarian eating regimen are many, but inherently difficult to quantify: studies have shown that vegetarians report lower cholesterol levels, blood pressure and Body Mass Index results than those who eat a more animal-based diet, but it proves tricky to pin these same results on a diet that mostly follows the same guidelines, but not always. This, though, is the beauty of flexitarianism: you can reap the environmental, ethical and nutritional rewards of a vegetarian diet, while still allowing yourself the space to be flexible and incorporate meat and animal products when it suits. So whether you’re looking to be a little friendlier to our earth, do your bit to promote animal welfare, improve your health or just cut back on meat from time to time, flexitarian eating is a great place to start. Read on for a more in-depth analysis of why flexitarianism works, nutritional guides and — of course — plenty of tried-and-tested recipes that will help you on your way.