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Meatless Monday! What’s That All About?

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A little while ago, I asked TAPN’s friends on Facebook if they were vegetarian. I got quite a few responses and concluded that the vast majority of Africans (at least the ones that responded) were vegetarian for religious reasons. A handful were vegetarians for health or ethical reasons and a couple had been vegetarian for a short while but gave up the lifestyle due to cost contraints. I fall in the “tried it but could not” category. Many years ago, I went vegan. I cut out all traces of animal products from my diet and substituted meat with soya (soy), legumes, nuts and tempeh.  For a while, the diet was wonderful, then the meat cravings hit. Needless to say, I am no longer a vegan (or vegetarian). I still however believe in the benefits of  plant-based diets and so recently my family and I joined in the Meatless Monday campaign. It has been an exciting couple of months and the family has not complained. Hmmmm, perhaps we could go vegetarian on all days!

What is Meatless Monday?

Meatless Monday is part of the Healthy Monday Campaign which was is associated with the health professionals at John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in the USA. The campaign stems off the notion that if you start the week with healthy intentions, you are more likely to stick with them.  Monday as the first day of the week and therefore a great day to commit to health and start afresh. The guidelines are simple, give up meat on Monday.

What are the health benefits of going meatless?

According to the  Monday Campaign Organization, some of the health benefits of going meatless include:

  • Overall improved health:  Meatless diets contain less saturated fat and higher amounts of  fiber, magnesium , protein and folate than meat containing diets.
  • Lower cancer risk: both red meat and processed foods have been linked to cancer while diets high in fruits and vegetables have been demonstrated to reduce risk
  • Reduced risk for heart disease through the replacement of dsaturated fat in meat with polyunsaturated fat in nuts, vegetable oils and seeds. In  addition, meatless meals contain no cholesterol which is primarily found in meat and meat products.
  • Fights and controls diabetes: A high fiber diet helps control blood sugars and some research links diets high in red meat and processed foods with diabetes
  • Weight control: If vegetarian foods are cooked with reduced fat dairy products and without much added fat, they can be lower in calories (and more filling) than their meat containing couterparts
  • Non-health benefits:  include reduced carbon footprint, reduced water usage and reduced fossil fuel dependence.

I am ready to join in the Meatless Monday Campaign, what do I do?

It is very simple. Skip the meat on Monday. To clarify, “meat” means “all animal flesh.” That means no beef, chicken, turkey, goat, fish, lamb, rabbit etc on Monday. Animal products such as dairy and eggs are okay. If you choose not to consume animal products, be sure to include great vegetable protein sources such as soya (soy), beans, lentils and nuts. The beauty of the campaign is that you have 52 Monday’s to get one. If you eat meat on one Monday, there is always next week to try all over again.

Thinking about vegetarian? Here are some things you should consider as you embark on your lifestyle. Need some menu The International Vegetarian Union has a fairly large list of African options.  Please try some of them and let me know which ones you recommend.  TAPN will soon be starting a Meatless Monday section on the webpage. Here, we  will post recipes and pictures of a few of our dishes. Watch this space.

We want to hear from you, will you participate in the Meatless Monday Campaign and what dishes will you include?



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