Improve Your Health and Save the Earth - Go Meatless on Mondays
Improve Your Health . . . It Only Takes 1 Day a Week! What do the
following people and places have in common: Sir Paul McCartney;
Israel’s top restaurants; Kim O’Donnel of the Washington Post; Ghent,
Belgium; and Michael Pollan?
They’re all going meatless on Mondays!
Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative, in association with the
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which encourages people
to have one meat-free day a week.
Did you know . . .
-our modern food system contributes approximately 1/3 of all greenhouse gases to the atmosphere?
-our diets are bigger offenders to our carbon footprint than gas-guzzling cars?
-the climate cost of food production is worse than the distance traveled for food transportation?
-that reducing your meat intake also reduces your risk of preventable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease?
-that eating less meat can improve the quality of your diet and help
you maintain a healthy weight? Plant-based foods are full of fiber,
which helps to keep you full so you’ll consume fewer calories
throughout the day. Beans and legumes are also full of protein, without
the saturated fat and cholesterol found in meat.
-that the meat industry produces 1/5 of manmade greenhouse gas emissions?
-that 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce just one pound of beef?
In other words, cutting meat out of your diet just once a week will improve both your health and the health of the environment!
Now I know you’re just about sold, but maybe you’re wondering how to
replace the meat in your Monday diet with other protein sources. Here
are some ideas:
Breakfast: oatmeal with honey and slivered almonds, fruit salad, and a hardboiled egg.
Lunch: Hummus, sundried tomatoes, romaine lettuce, red onion, and
yellow bell pepper on multigrain bread with tomato soups on the side.
Snack: apple with peanut butter
Dinner: whole wheat linguine tossed in olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice with spinach, yellow squash, and navy beans.
Dessert: mango sorbet
For a bonus meatless recipe try my family’s favorite spinach lasagna.
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-our modern food system contributes approximately 1/3 of all greenhouse gases to the atmosphere?
This includes plant-based food, but you try to make it include meat -based food only.
-our diets are bigger offenders to our carbon footprint than gas-guzzling cars ?
This includes plant-based food, but you try to make it include meat-based food only.
-the climate cost of food production is worse than the distance traveled for food transportation ?
This includes plant-based food, but you try to make it include meat-based food only.
-that reducing your meat intake also reduces your risk of preventable diseases such as cancer , diabetes , and heart disease?
I want to see the study.
-that eating less meat can improve the quality of your diet and help you maintain a healthy weight? Plant-based foods are full of fiber, which helps to keep you full so you’ll consume fewer calories throughout the day. Beans and legumes are also full of protein, without the saturated fat and cholesterol found in meat.
Saying that meat-based food is more easily digested doesn't exactly help your cause...
-that the meat industry produces 1/5 of man made greenhouse gas emissions?
Caw farts are not "man made".
-that 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce just one pound of beef?
Good thing water is a 100% renewable resource, then.
Our bodies are designed to eat meat, fruit, and nuts. Why does it even make sense to claim that we would be healthier if we go against what our bodies are designed to do?
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
“In America, the Christian ceremony of marriage is sacred to Christians. I was looking at a cheapened version of a Christian marriage and I pointed out that it cheapened. This seems reasonable to me.”
I did not realize that all Christians were part of the same community. This marriage does not take place in a Church; it takes place in a drive through… by some random guy… how exactly is this a Christian marriage? Does getting married before a judge cheapen Christian marriage?
“Like I was saying above, American Christian culture has rules and norms when marriage is concerned. Just like any other religion have their own rituals, with their own rules. When a couple (drunk?) kids in Sin City have a sleazy wedding, it does indeed mar the ritual, because it disrespects it.”
Though I see where you are coming from I do not find myself agreeing with you.
As an anecdote consider this… I have a black belt in a martial art which I received in a very traditional Dojo. It took me five years to earn the belt, and I received it with great reverence. Does the fact that others can just buy a black belt, that there are dojos that just hand them out once enough money has been paid, cheapen my accomplishment at all?
Not to me it doesn’t. The ceremony by which I received it was between myself, Sensei, and the other members of the martial society .
“I am wondering if you are not promoting the devaluation of the sacred ritual of a Christian marriage out of ulterior motives.”
Did my twirling mustache alert you? What are my ulterior motives?
No, but I do know... (found under solar sanitizers profile)
I do largely agree with you on these points, however there are a few bits that I’d like to bring up.
“-that reducing your meat intake also reduces your risk of preventable diseases such as cancer , diabetes , and heart disease?
I want to see the study.”
They are quite common, reducing the intake of red meat does lead to reduced instances of heart disease. A healthy diet is not a meat heavy one, and a healthy diet helps control diabetes. The claim about cancer I cannot substantiate and would like to see the studies to that effect as well.
“-that eating less meat can improve the quality of your diet and help you maintain a healthy weight? Plant-based foods are full of fiber, which helps to keep you full so you’ll consume fewer calories throughout the day. Beans and legumes are also full of protein, without the saturated fat and cholesterol found in meat.
Saying that meat-based food is more easily digested doesn't exactly help your cause...”
Some more right and wrong here as well… Lowering meat consumption (when that consumption is at the average level for the US) does lead to reduced weight if one is overweight (in conjunction with a balanced diet and exercise ). I’m not sure about the plant fibers and keeping you full bit, but ‘filling up’ on veggies does leave less room for fatty meats.
“-that the meat industry produces 1/5 of man made greenhouse gas emissions?
Caw farts are not "man made". “
In the wild no… but in the case of farming, where cows are deliberately raised and fed in massive numbers I’d have to say that this is ‘man made’.
“-that 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce just one pound of beef?
Good thing water is a 100% renewable resource, then.”
Well largely… if you can expend the energy to purify it. There is an issue with us using large amounts of the naturally purified ones (aquifers and such).
“Our bodies are designed to eat meat, fruit, and nuts. Why does it even make sense to claim that we would be healthier if we go against what our bodies are designed to do?”
The article was asking people to go meatless one day a week… not forgo meat altogether. Meat tastes great, but it does not have to be part of every meal… and the production of meat does use up energy / resources.
And that lasagna recipe sounds quite delicious… I’m going to have to give it a try (after perking it up with some mushrooms and maybe some zucchini)
Most people can't grasp the idea of eating less meat , let alone figure out the reasons behind it. Our educational systems are not fitted with adequate information on this topic, so in effect our offspring is not getting taught how to deal with it. So they do what everyone else does. Monkey see, monkey do. Many people eat meat, but no-one can defend their motives behind it. They just do. If you confront them with their own misbehaviour, they get angry. People seldomly change. And everybody lies.
Monday without meat ? Oh my, I could not do that. Mondays are T-bone night. Oh, its Monday now, cant wait for dinner tonight.
So, make it another day. What's the effort? Meat isn't addictive you know.
You can choose any day you want, but not "when hell freezes over".
It is also possible to keep your T-bone night, but use all the other weekdays as meatless.