Ok, I’ll admit it…I LOVE to eat! Those who know me joke that I plan my day
around eating. And it doesn’t help that
my lifestyle requires me to be on the go a lot…that means eating out all the
time! But now that I’m getting older and
much more conscious of my health, I’ve been making efforts to not let my love
of food and life-on-the-go be detrimental to me. So last year I took the Meatless Monday
pledge and agreed to give up meat on Mondays.
What a difference it has made! There are quite a few benefits to going
meatless, but here are my top three reasons to go meatless on Mondays:
1. It’s easy to
do! Think about how many diets or meal
plans you have started, and gave up on because it was just too complicated or
inconvenient to your lifestyle. With Meatless
Mondays, you’re cutting out meat just one day a week. How easy is that? In fact, most of the things you already eat
can be prepared without meat or with a substitute such as beans or tofu. Click
here for some easy recipes!
2. It’s good for my
heart! According to The Monday Campaigns, the global leader of the Meatless Monday movement, a recent study
done at Harvard University shows that by replacing meat, which is high in
saturated fat, with foods that are high in polyunsaturated fat can reduce your
risk of heart disease by as much as 19%.[1] That’s a lot! Can’t beat that, right? Adding more fruits and vegetables to your
diet also gives you more vitamins and minerals, and can mean fewer calories
too.
3. I’m learning about
new foods! As I’m on this Meatless
Monday journey, I’m taking the opportunity to try new recipes, and supplement
my meals on Mondays with fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and more that I
might have never tried if not for going meatless. I love that I have now widened my tastes and
have added some new favorites to my list!
One of my new favorite staples is kale.
It’s delicious, easy to prepare and can be used in a lot of different
dishes. Check out
these kale recipes for some ideas!
These are just a few of the many great reasons to go
meatless on Mondays. Don’t let a busy
lifestyle or a love of meat stop you from taking an easy step to improving your
health! For more information on Meatless Monday, recipes and more, follow us on
Facebook or Twitter!
[1] The Monday Campaigns. (2014). Meatless Monday: Why
Meatless? Retrieved January 2, 2014, from Meatless Monday:
http://www.meatlessmonday.com/about-us/why-meatless/
Akilah Webster, CWUW Interim Board of Directors Chair, Meatless Monday Committee Chair
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