Dandelion Communitea Cafe

What the heck is a Flexitarian, you ask?

We loosely define it as: a person who makes conscious consumption decisions, but it usually entails a reduction in processed foods, meat and/or dairy consumption with an increase in whole foods, organics and local/seasonal ingredients.

Why Flexitarian?

In these changing times, sensible flexibility is the key to taking responsibility for any personal habits that may have contributed to the current environmental & social crisis of dis-ease and unhappiness our consumer culture has become accustomed to in recent years. Nothing has had more collective impact on our wellness than the food on our fork, and unbeknownst to many of us, we’ve been part of a large-scale experiment at the hands of efficiency-minded food manufacturers who are eyeing a bottom line with disregard for the side affects to human, animal and planetary well-being.

The mass production & processing of “foodstuff” has yielded highly subsidized, nutrient deficient and allergy prone foods that are typically loaded with chemicals, additives, preservatives and colorings that our bodies simply do not know what to do with. Diabetes, heart disease, obesity and hormone difficulties abound on this low nutrient, low cost fake food diet. In the process, animal husbandry practices have long strayed from the idyllic farm with healthy & happy cows at pasture to virtual overcrowded prisons wrought with disease and a quality of life that is next to none.

By making conscious consumption decisions one step at a time, you can change your eating habits by losing your addictions to sugar, unhealthy fats and reduce your exposure to toxins, antibiotics and other harmful ingredients that have infiltrated our mass produced food system.

Resources for Flexitarians

• Slow Food Orlando (local organization)
• Local Harvest (Find Local & Humanely Raised Animals)
• Are you a ‘flexitarian?’
• Eating for the Future
• Eat Well Guide
• The Flexitarian Diet (Book)
• The Flexitarian Table Cookboook
• Meatless Monday
• “Omnivore’s Dilema” and pretty much anything by Michael Pollan
• Recession Flexitarians
• Sustainable Table

Julie’s Journey through Flexitarianism

Once I discovered the truth about food manufacturing practices, I began a life-changing journey that has slowly broken down my deeply ingrained unhealthy food habits with the happy side affect of making me healthier, happier and more in love with REAL food than I ever thought possible.

The most empowering decisions I have made all center around what I put in and on my body, but I had to really educate myself first. Breaking personal habits, particularly FOOD habits, is one of the most challenging things to do and I recommend a “flexitarian” approach.

After continuous education on this topic, I have come to understand that we collectively need to curb our consumption of animal products dramatically, but that does not mean everyone needs to become a vegan overnight or at all. In the past, you were either a vegetarian or not, there was no in between. Today, thanks to documentaries like Food Inc., we can compare and contrast small scale artisan vs mass mechanized production and make empowered decisions about how we vote with our fork, three times a day. This means reducing our dependency on commodity crops, subsidized meat production and the over-processing of convenience foods. The resulting shift to locally grown, small- farm varieties of fruits, vegetables, grains and animal products will create a more secure community, a healthier connection to nature & each other, and a more delicious plate of food.

Interested in joining the flexitarian movement but confused about where to start? I’ve outlined the first ten steps of my flexitarian journey to help motivate you.