Flexitarianism and living between extremes

Sometimes I crave a thick, juicy steak. But I'm a vegetarian, so what do I do? I'll tell you what I do, I go out and eat a steak. And when I say eat I mean I totally savour that piece of cow flesh. That's how I roll as lax vegetarian, I eat meat when I want & still call myself a veggie.

Several times in the past people have challenged me on my vegetarian status as I've been mid-bite into a sneaky piece of Dan's hamburger. It used to make me defensive. Who sets the rules for dietetic self-labeling anyway?! Surely I can call myself whatever I want. And eating meat less than a handful of times per year has got to count for something. Plus, calling myself a vegetarian is more socially acceptable than saying at a dinner party, “I'm really picky about meat. Sorry.”

These days I call myself a flexitarian, meaning that I'm mostly veggie but I'm not going to deny myself some beef if my body is telling me to go for it. I like this attitude towards food because it flies in the face of extremist tendencies I'm prone to. I'm the type of person who, when I do something, I go all out, sometimes to my own detriment. Being flexitarian gives me freedom to be what I really want to be: an occasional meat eater.

Dan and I have been applying our newly-celebrated flexitarianism to other aspects of our life beyond the dinner table. When we first arrived in the States we had the idea to go completely carless in Seattle. We were going to milk the bus system for all it was worth and say no to cars. This plan lasted for one day, the day it took us an hour and a half to get a few miles east to Green Lake. We then decided that we definitely needed a car in Seattle, at least where we lived, but we could still take steps to not be completely car-dependent. For example, we'd only get one car. And if we were going downtown or somewhere convenient we'd try taking the bus.

In pursuing a simple life, flexitarianism is a huge thing for me. It can be overwhelming trying to scale back and live simply and to be honest, it's difficult to do it all at once. That's why I'm all about gateway actions that admit going cold-turkey is not sustainable but don't completely throw the intention out the window. I feel this way about a lot of good things that come at a cost: eating organic, living in community (why not just live down the street from good friends instead of sharing a house? It's great!) and even decorating a new apartment exactly the way I want it.

I've definitely chilled out about being an extremist black and white perfectionist in the last decade, and it's a huge change for the better -- so much less stress and guilt, greater contentment and satisfaction. And the occasional steak. Everybody wins.

Any other practicing flexitarians out there, with meat and beyond? Do spill...

P.S. We're all moved in to our new place and I love it! Will show some pics on Friday.


{Crocheted t-bone steak by deba822 on etsy}