Monday, September 8th, 2008...8:00 am
Meatless Monday – Using the Kitchen to Help our Health..and Our Planet
Meatless Monday is a national public health campaign in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to help prevent heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer – four of the leading causes of death in America. The goal of the campaign is to reduce consumption of saturated fat by at least 15% by 2010. This is consistent with the dietary recommendations of the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Department of Agriculture and the American Heart Association.
The Math Behind Meatless Monday
On average, Americans should reduce their saturated fat intake by 15% 1 day out of 7 = 15%
Meatless Monday and the American Diet
Meatless Monday is not a weight loss plan or a vegetarian campaign. Instead, Meatless Monday encourages Americans to adopt a more balanced approach to nutrition by:
- limiting meat and saturated fat intake
- incorporating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains – the foods that help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer – into their diets
Meatless Monday helps people start the week off right by encouraging them to take an approach of moderation in their eating and meal planning. The campaign defines “going meatless” as abstaining from red meat, poultry and high-fat dairy products. Fish and seafood, especially those high in omega-3 fatty acids, are encouraged. The campaign provides guidelines for safe fish consumption for women and children.
Practicing Meatless Monday is a great way for children to learn simple and healthy eating habits. MeatlessMonday.com provides fun ideas for helping children go meatless on Monday and make healthier decisions all week long.
Oh – and what about our planet? Meatless Monday has an even larger impact! The livestock industry is responsible for nearly one-fifth of all global greenhouse gas emissions— more than the entire transportation sector. So, by abstaining for just one night, you are acting with your fork!
9 Comments
September 9th, 2008 at 6:42 am
[...] realized after posting my Meatless Monday posting that I should have given you a recipe to help you do something meatless in your kitchen. [...]
September 9th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Hey, thanks for the plug! And please check out our recipe library. We’ve got lots of great suggestions to help you do something meatless in your kitchen. Visit http://www.MeatlessMonday.com/recipearchive for theme menus.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Hi Barbara,
Thank YOU! Meatless Monday is a great idea and one worth sharing. I’ll try to do a few yummy meatless recipes on Mondays, when I can… Good work to you and a great website, to boot!
Michelle
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:36 am
[...] my blog, I recently wrote about a great website called Meatless Monday . They challenge people to skip eating meat, just one night a week, to improve their [...]
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:25 am
This is a great positive way to get kids and paernets together and put kids on the path to a more healthy life style. Here’s a quote from a study on obesity published in the New England Journal of Medicine that should give everyone an incentive to do more of these kinds of Healthy Monday activities with our children.
“Obesity is such that this could the first generation of children could be the first in the history of the United States to live less healthful and shorter lives than their parents.”
Hank
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:50 am
Hi Hank,
Yes, I have seen this statistic, too. It is so scary – and makes me proud to do the work that I do to promote healthy eating in kids.
Michelle
November 26th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Great post, Where do I get ingredients? I especially like to eat local as much as possible. Here I intern with the Eat Well Guide, and we’ve teamed up with Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports) to issue the Local, Organic Thanksgiving Challenge this year. Will you join us? And share a recipe? Read more on the Green Fork http://www.blog.eatwellguide.org/2008/11/take-the-local-organic-thanksgiving-challenge
April 29th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I am also going meatless and posting recipes every Monday on my blog. I would like to invite you to stop by. There is a place to leave a link on my blog to promote your interest in Meatless Monday too.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Going meatless once a week is such a simple way to impact your health and the planet. I should post more Meatless Monday recipes too
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