Welcome back! In this week’s edition of Food Savvy Friday, we will be discussing the positive impact Meatless Mondays can have on your health and the environment. We also have a few recipe ideas to get you started!
What is Meatless Monday?
Meatless Mondays is an initiative that you may be familiar with: avoid eating meat on Mondays. Did you know that this originated during World War I as a way to get people to reduce their consumption of resources? It had a comeback in 2003 as a public health initiative to help people ease into a diet with more plant-based food in order to improve public health and help encourage more sustainable food choices.
How can Meatless Monday improve your health?
Higher intakes of meat, specifically red meat and processed meats, are correlated with risk factors such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cancer. While meat provides a good source of protein, it also contains saturated fats which can increase harmful LDL blood cholesterol leading to clogged arteries. Alternatively, plant food products can be rich in protein and also provide additional health promoting components such as fiber. The soluble fiber found in foods like beans and peas actually helps to lower your blood cholesterol, which protects your heart. It is a common misconception that meat is needed to consume enough protein in the diet. For example, consuming ½ cup of lentils provides 12 grams of protein. This equates to 25% of the recommended daily value of protein for women and 21% for men. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has published that a plant-based, vegetarian diet is healthy for people at all stages of life.
How can Meatless Monday support the environment?
Not only can reducing your intake of meat improve your health, but it can also reduce your impact on the environment. This is because raising livestock for human consumption requires an enormous amount of resources. Here are some facts:
- The production of livestock emits more greenhouse gases than the whole transportation sector—all the cars, trucks, planes and trains in the world.
- Livestock production uses 75% of the world’s agricultural land.
- The production of ¼ pound of beef uses 425 gallons of water and enough energy to power an iPhone for 6 months.
- Skipping just one serving of beef every Monday for a year has the impact equal to saving the emissions of driving a car 348 miles.
Skipping meat just one day a week is a pretty small change— but don’t worry, you won’t be skipping out on great tasting food! Here are some recipes to help you implement Meatless Mondays into your diet.
Recipe Ideas
Breakfast:
Oatmeal is filled with lots of soluble fiber that helps to lower LDL cholesterol, and you can make it just the way you like by adding nutritious toppings!
- Combine ½ cup of oats with 1 cup of water or milk of choice.
- Microwave for approximately 2 minutes (you can also make stove-top oats or refrigerated overnight oats).
- Add toppings like banana, berries, nuts, seeds, or peanut butter.
Lunch:
Burrito bowls are easy to put together, and you can personalize them by adding your favorite ingredients. Here are some ideas:
- Rice
- Black beans
- Tofu crumble
- Sautéed veggies
- Tomatoes
- Lettuce
- Guacamole
Dinner:
Pasta with lentil Bolognese is a protein-packed meal due to the nutrient-packed lentils, which serve as a great meat replacement in this recipe.
- Cook pasta as you normally would.
- While pasta is cooking, prepare green lentils (takes about 20 minutes).
- Mix cooked lentils with the marinara sauce of your choice and combine with the pasta.
How has the University of Michigan adopted Meatless Mondays?
Michigan Dining uses “Sustainable Mondays” to feature more plant-based menu items and educate students on all of the sustainable initiatives that help balance our environmental impact. Sustainable Mondays can be used as a resource for healthy eating as well as learning about our campus efforts.
Once you’ve started reaping the benefits of Meatless Mondays, try taking it to the next step by adding a second meatless day to your week. You can also cut down on the quantity of meat you consume at any meal and add more plant-based options. Lastly, be sure to share these ideas and try new meals with your family and roommates to get everyone on board with the movement.
To learn more about the Meatless Monday initiative and get additional recipes, check out the official site at www.mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday.