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Consider ‘Meatless Mondays' to reduce your animal-based consumption
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Building your diet around low glycemic index (GI) plant foods such as whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds gives you all the nutrients you need for long-term health and well-being along with plenty of protective antioxidants and phytochemicals. Not only that, there’s a wealth of evidence to support the fact that eating a vegetarian diet can reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.
Back in November, GI guru Prof. David Jenkins was asked about the benefits of going meatless. “I think the benefits are basically, on a humanitarian perspective,” he said. “I used to put that as a sort of rider at the end, but I think now it’s becoming the first issue as human beings. Second, I think one has to think of the environmental issues. They always say it’s a 10-to-1 ratio for plant-based diet vs. an animal-based diet in terms of land consumption, water usage (which is obviously a problem in many places) and basically environmental impact and environmental degradation. We cannot afford to have the whole planet geared to feeding cattle that feed us; this seems to be an insanity that we accept because it’s palatable. I think those are really strong reasons. I think that if one is sensible and one watches B12 and one’s diet, one can live very well on a vegetarian or vegan diet.”
For those of us who don’t want to go all the way, there’s the low GI “Meatless Mondays” option. This is simply making a commitment to going without meat 1 day a week for your and the planet’s health.
Where did the idea come from? It actually goes back nearly 100 years. The U.S. Meatless Monday organization (www.meatlessmonday.com) says that during World War I, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged families to reduce consumption of key staples to aid the war effort. The message was “Food will win the war,” and Meatless Monday and “Wheatless Wednesday” were introduced to encourage people to do their bit. The FDA, spearheaded by Herbert Hoover, published and distributed recipe booklets and menus. The effect was overwhelming, according to Meatless Mondays.
“Some 10 million families, 7,000 hotels and nearly 425,000 food dealers pledged to observe national meatless days. In November 1917, New York City hotels saved some 116 tons of meat over the course of just 1 week.”
Something to munch on while considering your New Year's resolutions.