One Monday in the year 2003, the Meatless Monday campaign began in the United States, in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It came about after the Surgeon General released the Healthy People 2010 report, in 2000, which outlined objectives for the nation’s health goals over the next decade. One of the health objectives was to decrease the intake of saturated fat by 15%. Since one day a week is approximately 15% of the week and saturated fat comes from animals, the campaign encouraged people to give up meat just one day per week.
The goal to decrease meat consumption is important for better health, reducing your carbon footprint, and improving the health of our planet. Maybe once you make Meatless Monday a habit, you will increase your vegetable intake by having one meatless meal per day, and so forth. Swapping out animal proteins with more vegetables, beans, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and fruit can decrease your risk for heart disease (the #1 killer in the U.S.) and greatly enhance your health and slow down the aging process!
We’re happy to report that the Meatless Monday campaign has gone global and is now in 35 countries!
For recipes and meal ideas please check out my recipes, labeled "Healthy Eats" in my blog and visit the Healthy 4 Life Nutrition page on Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/dorothybernet/
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