Join Meatless Monday and eat vegetarian once a week.
Selecting one day a week (it doesn’t have to be Monday) when you eliminate meat from your diet altogether helps reduce your carbon footprint and save resources like fresh water and fossil fuel. The more people having Meatless Mondays, the greater the eco-impact.
This is one of my favorite actions because with all the splendid plant-based recipes around it’s easy to do and so impactful: one day without meat every week = 20 points!
My family’s meatless discovery: Field Roast Grain Meat Company sausages….
I just now submitted this as a recommended product on Practically Green!!! You can do the same! *** ANY registered user can submit their favorites for our team’s consideration. (Click here to review Practically Green’s Recommended-Product Guidelines.)
*** To get ready for our Summer Yummers theme this week, we caught up with Meatless Monday impresarios Chris Elam and Tami O’Neill at the Monday Campaigns’ HQ in NYC. ***
1) Why Monday?
After we started Meatless Monday it became clear that there was more to it than simple alliteration! Monday is almost universally recognized as the beginning of the week; it’s the day we dust ourselves off after a weekend of indulgence and set our intentions for the next seven days. What better time to encourage people to work on healthier habits! Research has shown that people are not only open to health reminders on Monday, but that weekly prompts can lead to real, long-term change. 
In 2005 we saw the success of Meatless Monday and introduced Healthy Monday, which includes initiatives on fitness, nutrition, smoke cessation, childhood obesity and more. We also encourage bloggers, schools and organizations across the country to make Monday work for them by creating their own campaigns.
2) What’s the most fascinating/cool takeaway about a Monday’s potential for behavior change?
The common perception in our culture is that Mondays are something to dread, so it might come as a surprise that so many of us are open to a change in routine! It turns out that 70% of people like the idea of weekly health reminders and Monday is the day they’re most likely to take healthy steps like starting a diet, beginning an exercise regime or quitting smoking. {More: http://www.mondaycampaigns.org/home/about/our-research/}
3) What’s next? Do you have additional Monday campaigns planned?
The Monday Campaigns is ever expanding to suit all sorts of preventative health needs! We just launched The Kids Cook Monday, which focuses on getting families to cook and eat together once a week.
We’re also planning a new initiative called Caregiver’s Monday, encouraging those who care for others to take time for their own health.
As for Meatless Monday, we’re always working to spread the movement, so be on the lookout for new supporters near you! If you’d like to start a Meatless Monday in your school, workplace or community simply log onto www.MeatlessMonday.com for information, including toolkits to help you get started.
Check out the site for the MLM’s numerous partners — bloggers, restaurants, schools, colleges, companies and celebrities associated with Meatless Monday!
Tami O'Neill of Meatless Monday
The Monday Campaigns is a non-profit public health initiative encouraging individuals and organizations to start the week with a focus on health. To learn more about Meatless Monday, follow them on Twitter (@MeatlessMonday) or find them on Facebook (Facebook.com/MeatlessMonday).
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2 Comments to 'Meatless Monday makes Healthy Eating Easy & Fun for Millions of People!'
June 26, 2011
hey, thanks for giving me even more reasons to designate a specific day. tho’ I often serve meatless meals, I think you’re right about this concept making meatless meals more likely (despite the alliteration ;). Starting next week, I’ll do it; time for Meatless Mondays in our household.
June 28, 2011
Thanks for the great post. I love the idea of designating a specific day as I think it makes the idea more marketable to offices and schools. I think I’ll talk to my daughter’s pre-school about this.
We recently gave up meat on weekdays, which was also inspired by Practically Green. (They have some good content here!) Surprisingly, we didn’t find it that hard to let go of meat all week. You can check it out here if you like: http://talesofgoodness.com/2011/06/20/good-all-around-become-a-flexitarian-a-weekday-vegetarian/.
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