Meatless Mondays

Meatless Mondays have become a trend in recent years among health-conscious foodies. So where does this come from and why do it? If you don’t choose organic meat you are consuming hormones, pesticides, antibiotics and who knows what else big agriculture is feeding their livestock. As a pseudo-vegetarian (flexitarian!), I consider myself lucky that I do not have a taste for meat. As a nutritionist, I do not push this diet choice onto others but simply emphasize the importance of a plant-based diet. I recognize that humans are historically, carnivorous beings.

There is also a nutritional theory that holds that one should choose what macro-nutrient they eat more of, depending on metabolic type, of which there are three: protein-, carbohydrate-, and mixed type. While it is still a theory, the research is based on the fact that, for hereditary reasons, your metabolism is unique. I have mentioned this before: that no single diet works for everyone.

Okay, so the truth is that non-organic meat bought from a supermarket, contains lots of junk that is harmful to our health. Therefore, we can make one of three choices: choose organic meat or meat from a known local farmer (or go hunt it yourself!), limit your intake of meat, or eliminate it entirely. For protein types, the second option is the most common. Which leads to the idea of meatless Mondays.

In addition to avoiding the crap that is fed and injected into livestock, there is also the proposition that we as a culture consume far too much meat for our needs and our health. And this high demand has placed a heavy burden on the environment.

"If we would reduce meat consumption by just one day in a week, we could save some 9 million tons of CO2. We would need to reduce 75 billion kilometers driven by car to have the same effect," said Tanja Dräger de Teran who is responsible for WWF's climate protection and nutrition division.

Never mind the devastation to the forests and wildlands! No wonder big agriculture has the animals penned up feeding off scrap body parts of their own kind.

Perhaps this discussion will motivate some to consider eliminating meat from their diet one day (or more) a week – it doesn’t have to be Mondays! But it’s as good a day as any. So if we are not going to eat meat, what do we eat? Here is a list of high-protein foods that do not come from the flesh of an animal.

• Eggs 6 g
• Cottage cheese 13g/ ½ cup
• Quinoa 8 g / cup
• Beans 12 g / cup
• Legumes 9 g / 100 g
• Greek yogurt 15 g/ 6 oz
• Nuts 6 g / oz (almonds)
• Pumpkin seeds 7 g /oz
• Peanut butter 8g/ 2 tbsp
• Tempeh 19 g / 100 g

Try a vegetable stew with lentils, black bean chili, or if you don't feel like cooking, there's nothing wrong with a big green salad sprinkled with hemp and pumpkin seeds and sliced almonds for dinner. Will you consider going one day without eating meat?