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How to take part in Meatless Monday

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Meatless Monday is an international campaign that aims to teach people how to prepare and enjoy meals that are either vegetarian or vegan.

Its goal is to help reduce people’s consumption of meat, which would lead to a healthier lifestyle and help reduce our impact on the planet by relying less on the meat industry.

Founded in 2003, the initiative promotes healthy eating via advice from nutritional guidelines from the USDA.

The idea is to kick-start your week with good, healthy eating habits. The initiative has been shown to work as two-thirds of those who took part reported healthier habits with food, exercise, and overall living.

The campaign also led to lifestyle changes for one-third of those who took part, becoming vegetarian within five years of first starting the project, noting its health and planetary benefits.

How to take part in Meatless Monday?

There are no set rules for how you can take part in Meatless Monday except that everything you consume on the first day of the week should either be vegan or vegetarian. In addition, you should consume no meat products.

By forgoing meat on Mondays, you set a good precedent for the week ahead. But the great thing about the initiative is that you can make it work for you.

Although the official campaign follows the USDA’s nutritional guidelines, you can create your meals and recipes using ingredients you like to promote a balanced, healthy meat-free day.

You can either choose to make the change yourself or encourage your friends and family to take part and even take turns making meals for each other.

When choosing to participate in Meatless Monday, try to avoid eating meat and meat-based products and educate yourself on your choices, for example, the meat industry’s impact on the planet.

Educating yourself also about the components of your meals, such as their fat content and its impact on your body.

The point behind Meatless Monday is essentially education through practical tasks.

What should I eat for Meatless Monday?

The great thing about Meatless Monday is that there is no set list of meals that you can or should eat. The only thing you need to do is ensure that your meals are meat-free and ideally healthy and balanced.

If you are not too sure where to start, you can try writing down a list of all of the meals you enjoy eating and then making them meat-free.

For example, if one of your favorite meals is chili con Carne, you can use vegetarian mince instead of beef mince or replace the protein with extra beans and lentils. You can then customize the recipe as you like.

Vegetarian and vegan cookbooks are another great source of inspiration. They will often open your eyes to substitutes you may not have considered before and teach you new recipes.

Meatless Mondays allow you to truly experiment with your cooking and get to know your palette a little bit better. In addition, learning to season your dishes will help them be extra delicious.

Try to ensure that your meals are balanced. For example, try not to eat solely carbohydrates (think pasta) and balance your meals with meat-free protein and vegetables.

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