Before you have a cow about this article—I should tell you that I am a vegetarian. But I’m not trying to push every hamburger-lover into a lettuce-only meal plan. Instead, I want to challenge preconceived notions about diet, and encourage you to make small changes with big results for your heath and the environment—such as going meatless on Mondays.
This idea isn’t new. In fact, the term “Meatless Monday” was coined during World War 1 by the FDA to reduce the use of staples and help the war effort. However, going meatless today is met with the fear of a protein deficiency. The average American eats over 100 grams of protein a day, while the US Department of Agriculture only recommends half of this amount for daily intake. This amount can be easily reached by eating nuts, greek yogurt, eggs, chia seeds, peanut butter, hummus, or quinoa.
The protein recommendation is easily met on this diet, but if that’s not enough, let’s talk health. According to meatlessmonday.com, a meatless diet will lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, limit cancer, curb diabetes, and improve the overall nutritional quality of ones’ diet. A plant based diet simply has more fiber and nutrient value, leading to feeling full faster, eating less, becoming healthier, and ultimately living longer.
If you’re still not convinced, eating meat has some rough consequences on the place that we call home. Just consider this—for every pound of beef produced, we need 1,850 gallons of water—for a pound of vegetables, we need only 39 gallons. Not only would going meatless prevent slaughter and killing, but going meatless for one day would reduce your water consumption by over 50% per day. You can also drastically reduce your carbon footprint. Greenhouse gas emissions from the animal agriculture industry are greater than emissions from cars, busses, and trains—combined.
This doesn’t even mention the fact that meat is pretty expensive.
If you need some inspiration of where to eat on a budget for some veggie options, try PieHole for some great pizza or Blue Plate Diner for lots of classic options! Lots of local restaurants such as Sage’s Café or Vertical Diner will offer a meatless Monday discount—just ask! Not to mention if you order vegetarian at chipotle, you get free guac!
If I can leave you with nothing else—in a world where we’ve grown up thinking that we’re going to be the generation to destroy the earth, every little change we can make helps. I’m not saying that being a vegetarian will save the planet, but I know that my generation is one of critical thinkers and open-minded activists—and in a community where going meatless one day a week could make huge changes in our heath, out planet’s welfare, and our wallets—it seems to be a simple choice. If you try this trend and decide that it’s not for you—power to ya. If it’s against your religion, or just doesn’t fit in with the practicality of everyday life, that’s fine. But I encourage you to try—it’s just one day. And who knows, you might like tofu.