Hi :) i found this article on US meat industy's response to meatless monday. Meatless monday is similar to VeggieThursday in Singapore. Honestly, I've tried VeggieThursday. I won't say that i've failed terribly but i think i've cut down on meat intake after trying VeggieThursday. Sometimes i choose to have my veggiedays on other days or i don't take meat for one meal or half day. You can be flexible and start small.
Back to the article, i've read about how business people are profit-driven and conveniently ignre the fact that there are also other non-meat protein sources. Basically, the article stated that
“Meat/animal protein is the one area that the consumers are not overeating.” Unfortunately, if schools promote this to students, students may buy in and they don’t understand the nutritional consequences if they are not including protein in the diet.
“We need farmers and ranchers to celebrate that animal protein is an important part of diet and provide information to their local schools and universities about the need for protein in the diet and making informed choices, not just buying into it because it sounds good or popular and trendy,”
Lastly, i post this article to highlight the point that we need to be careful and to discern what people post on the Internet. There are many misinformation out there and we cannot just buy what they wrote. Make sure we check on the sources and what we know about the topic. For me, i know that meat-free diet definitely has health and environment benefits. We can always obtain protein from plant sources as long as we manage our diet well.
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/bovine-vet/industry-news/Respond-to-Meatless-Mondays-129460288.html?ref=288
Hello!
ReplyDeleteYep! I definitely agree that many of us; especially those who consume large amount of meat products, need to cut down on our meat intake both for health's sake and to lower carbon footprint.
However, I also think that this message must be properly conveyed due to the fact and I also know of people with eating disorders who will use this excuse to avoid meat.
Therefore, while I agree that its a good move, I personally do not practice it after trying it once. To me, it is not practical because, firstly my meat consumption is very low and secondly I desperately need the iron from the meat. Hence, I am more likely to tell others (like myself) to watch their meat intake, rather than to follow the regime of a veggie Thursday.