Flex Plan

How being a part-time vegan makes you healthier.

- LISA TURNER

An eating plan without calorie counting, restrictions or rigid rules, that doesn't shun entire food groups and allows for the occasional bacon burger with extra cheese? It's like we've died and gone to diet heaven. Healthy, easy to follow and sustainable over the long term, the flexitarian diet consistently tops the list of the best dietary regimens. While it's the ultimate in flexibility (other than outright dietary abandon), it's not a free-for-all. Here's what you need to know, and how to make it easy.

The name itself is a merging of the words "flexible" and "vegetarian," coined in the early '90s and subsequently popularized by nutritionists, food bloggers and cookbook authors. While it's not meat-free, the diet limits animal products and encourages a mostly vegetarian meal plan. The emphasis is on whole, unprocessed fruits, vegetables, grains and plant-based proteins, with the occasional addition of animal products. There's no calorie counting, no excluded food groups and eating out is super easy. And while the flexitarian diet in its purest incarnation avoids fast foods, packaged foods and excess sugar, , the focus is on flexibility – which means the every-so-often burger and fries aren't off the menu.