Meatless Mondays is a global movement that is operating in numerous colleges and universities in 36 countries around the world. Our campus has adopted the policy after a student led iniatitive, and now most of the dining hall stations are featuring meatless options on Monday nights. It allows you to try unique, meat-free dishes that you might otherwise look past. By skipping meat just once a week, you are not only benefiting the environment, but also your health and animal welfare.

We encourage the students of F&M to open their minds to the benefits of Meatless Mondays before turning a blind eye. It can seem overwhelming to give up meat (even just for a day!) so we have compiled some of the science and advantages to Meatless Mondays below in an FAQ section, as well as some helpful suggestions on how to still maintain a protein-filled diet with F&M's options. If you want further information, you can follow the links listed below to learn more about the movement, to get tasty recipes, and more!

Where's the protein?

Probably one of the biggest concerns that comes with Meatless Mondays is that there won't be any way to get protein, but that actually isn't the case! Getting protein from other sources isn't hard -- if you know where to look. There are great sources of protein to be found in nuts, seeds, dairy (read: cheese!!), beans, soy, spinach, tofu, and quinoa, but the list doesn't stop there!

For an example of the protein levels, there are 6g of protein in one egg, 13g of protein in 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and 8g of protein in a cooked cup of quinoa.

All of these foods can be found throughout D-hall, and we hope for their to be even more options in the future.

If it is less about the protein, and more about the taste of meat, there are some different soy-protein "meat" products that are offered in KIVO. Yes, some will not be able to taste exactly like meat but you would be surprised by how close they can be. 

How is not eating meat supposed to help my health?

Meat is a staple for most meals, and so it can be hard to believe that it can be bad for our health. Unfortunately, science and reearch has shown links between cardiovascular disease and cancer with the over consumption of red meat, as well as other negative health effects. Research has been done showing that not only do individuals who eat diets based in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains have a smaller chance of developing cardiovascular disease, but it also increases their longevity of life. Cutting just one serving of meat a day is a step in a healthy direction. 

This transition will also help college students begin to realize how unbalanced their diet is. Most students agree that since entering college, their dietary habits have gone downhill, and there is evidence to show that they are right:

66% of freshman don't get their recommended 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day, 50% of students don't get enough fiber, and 60% eat too many artery-clogging saturated fat. 

Meatless Monday is the perfect opportunity to get back to a healthy, balanced diet.

How much is this really benefiting the environment?

Just one person cannot make a huge difference with her food choices, but our collective campus can do a lot! With each pound of beef we don't need processed and produced, tremendous strides for our environment are being made, illustrated in the picture below. 

Questions you don't see answers for?

The Meatless Mondays campaign has just started at F&M, and we are working hard to communicate how benefitial it can be for our campus. If you have any questions that you don't  already see answered, you can check out the links in the intro, or contact our student organization: Real Food F&M (ssawyer@fandm.edu).