Meatless Monday Helps Consumers Munch More Greens, Finds Survey

Meatless Monday helps people incorporate healthier alternatives into their weekly routine, finds recent survey.

The survey by Monday Campaigns and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future found that over one-third of people (36 percent) aware of Meatless Monday said that the campaign has influenced their decision to cut back or to consider cutting back on meat.

Overall, this group reported improvements in consumption of a range of healthy foods, with 73 percent saying that they eat more vegetables, 64 percent eating more fruits, 42 percent eating more beans and 47 percent eating more whole grains.

Perhaps most significantly, the results suggest that Meatless Monday is helping people create a habit of eating more meatless meals and is inspiring cooks and diners to experiment with new options.

62 percent of those influenced by Meatless Monday say they are working to incorporate Meatless Monday into their weekly routine.

Half of the respondents say they've experimented with new meatless recipes when they cook at home and 42 percent have tried more meatless meals when eating out.

"We started out with the simple goal of cutting back on meat and saturated fat and along the way found that Meatless Monday had become a way to get lots of delicious meatless alternatives on America's plates," Sid Lerner, chairman and founder of The Monday Campaigns, said.

"Meatless Monday gives chefs and home cooks a weekly opportunity to think creatively about what to cook instead of meat," he said.

Nutrition professionals can easily take advantage of Meatless Monday's simple message.

"In a clinical setting, dieticians can counsel patients on the benefits of eating weekly meatless meals and even send out pre-Monday reminders via e-newsletter or social media," Allison Righter, RD with the Center for a Livable Future, said.

"Dieticians working in food service, with community organizations, in education or research, or in a private practice can all adapt the campaign in their own way - through creating interactive and informational displays, developing and promoting healthy meatless options, leading cooking classes, or organizing consumer contests," Righter added.

The findings of the study were presented in Philadelphia during the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' 2012 Food and Nutrition Conference (FNCE).

Source: ANI