If you haven’t heard of Meatless Monday yet, it is a non-profit initiative in association with Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal of the initiative is to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.
Meatless Monday has a simple premise: don’t eat meat on Monday and replace it with other sources of protein (beans, legumes, seeds, nuts, etc.). In addition to the many health and environmental benefits of going meatless, a diet without meat also allows the eater to try new foods.
Take for example, if you went out for lunch and looked at the menu of your favorite restaurant. You may usually order the burger and fries, but now it’s Monday, so you’re looking for other options. Go ahead and try the vegetable wrap (filled with sprouts, avocado, tomato, lettuce and hummus), the black bean soup (topped with scallions and a little sour cream) or the penne primavera (broccoli, carrot, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, and spinach in a white wine sauce). You might find that foods you usually don’t try turn out to be very delicious and satisfying. It’s small steps like this that will help improve your health and open the doors to new foods and flavors. You may even begin to expand your diet to include international fare (Indian, Korean, Chinese, Afghan, etc.) that offers vegetarian options. So, step outside of your food “comfort zone” and seek out that new restaurant or try a new recipe at home! Eat something adventurous today!
