Meatless Monday

For Meatless Monday, people try not to eat meat on Monday. Well, it can really be any day of the week. Even three vegetarian meals a week is okay. To find out more about the environmental and health benefits, and the history of Meatless Monday, take a look at this article I wrote with some classmates for our social studies in fourth grade.

Meatless Monday          

                By Lizzie, Artun, and Alyssa

You probably know what Meatless Monday is, but why did it start? How did it start? Why should we do it? That’s what you’ll learn in this article. We chose this project because it helps the environment in several ways such as reducing deforestation and keeping our oceans healthier. We are trying to make a difference for our social studies service learning project. Of course, it would be hard for a whole class to write one article so there are other groups doing lots of other activities. Watch out for cook-books, posters, brochures, presentations, comics, and YouTube videos. (The video is called SAS Meatless Monday Debate.)

Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to eat healthier by not eating meat one day each week. During World War I Americans were encouraged to eat less meat, fats, sugar, and wheat to support the war effort. Meatless Monday was started back up in 2003 by a man named Sid Lerner. Countries such as Canada, Jamaica, Philippines, Australia, Israel and several others are now part of the Meatless Monday campaign. You might be wondering why it is on Monday. Monday is the beginning of the work week, the day when individuals settle back into their weekly routine.

 Meatless Monday has many health benefits. Hundreds of studies show that a diet high in fruit, whole grains, and vegetables can limit cancer risk, reduce heart disease, and fight diabetes. For some people though, it’s hard to go a whole day without meat. Does it HAVE to be a whole day? No! Why not try three meals a week without meat? It also doesn’t have to be Monday. Any day a week is fine. Still, it has to be three (or more) meals a week. This also means you can’t eat more meat than usual on other days to make up for the meat you don’t eat on Monday.  

              So if you aren’t eating as much meat, what can you eat instead? You’ve probably heard of tofu, possibly the most well known meat substitute. But what about tempeh, seitan, quorn, or textured vegetable protein? (Yes, that is the name of a food). Most of these foods are made of soy and grain, which you can get protein from and they also taste similar to meat. Textured vegetable protein is even made to mimic meat texture. If you are going to eat less meat you should probably eat a little more nuts, seeds, legumes, (dried beans, peas, or lentils) soy, grains, and dairy on Monday. Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, what if I don’t like these foods?” Have you tried them? You never know.

Our class chose to do this project because in our Social Studies we are learning about  environmental impact humans are having on oceans and rainforests. We wanted a project that could help both of these environments. After some research, we found out that eating less meat could do this. When there is less demand for meat there won’t need to be as many farms for cattle. This helps the rainforest because people won’t need to cut down trees to create farmland. Having less farms will help the ocean because it will reduce farm runoff. The fertilizers from farms gets washed into the ocean and kills the animals and coral. The chemicals that are washed into the ocean is also absorbed by the marine animals. Fishermen then catch the sick animal and sell the to markets for people to eat which can make them sick. If people eat less meat, they’ll be eating less fish. Therefore, it can also help reduce overfishing. Meatless Monday also helps to save water. Did you know it takes 441 gallons of water to produce just one pound of meat?

Many animals are losing their habitat and being killed. Eating less meat can help prevent this. People will ask why would you even want to do it? Well, think of it this way. Rainforests are being destroyed, coral is dying, are you asking “How can I help?” Simply by participating in Meatless Monday, or just eating less meat, you will be helping. If everybody went meatless one day every week, we could make the world a much better place.

Learn more on how Meatless Monday helps at

http://www.meatlessmonday.com/articles/a-letter-from-meatless-monday-israe/

(This is where the pictures are from)

Also try healthy vegetarian recipes at
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/vegetarian_recipes_you_must_try

Learn more about the environment and health at

http://www.theconsciousdietitian.com/foodsustainability/minimize-your-impact-on-meatless-monday/