New Year’s Resolution | Meatless Monday

Happy New Year, everyone!

No.

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s 2013 and that means a new crop of New Year’s resolutions. So why not make one you will actually stick to this year? People around the world engage in Meatless Monday; it is a great way to both lose a few pounds AND do your part to save the environment – at the same time.

Replacing just one serving of meat per week with heart-healthy fruits, nuts, and seeds reduces your risk of heart disease by 19%, and cutting down on processed and red meats significantly reduces your risk of colon cancer. If you cut out a single pound of beef from your diet, you could save an estimated 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water, and if you drop a pound of chicken, you are doing your part to conserve more fossil fuels than you would by not driving for a day.

Not only that, but the legendary Paul McCartney also advocates for Meatless Monday to help the health of the planet. The former Beatle recently wrote to two leaders of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) asking them to “bring this issue to the attention of the conference and encourage the adoption of policy and individual actions, such as a weekly meat-free day.”

Since fad diets and goals to lose 50 pounds in 1 month are usually (read: always) doomed to fail, Meatless Monday is a great resolution to make if you are actually interested in keeping your New Year’s resolution for once. In fact, being overly optimistic and repeatedly holding unrealistically high expectations makes people much less likely to succeed.

“Hope is a good thing if it’s realistic,” says Dr. Polivy, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto who studies dieters. “But false hope, being promised something that can never be delivered, that’s the problem. People who make realistic changes should succeed.”

So instead of giving up on this year’s resolution after a month, why not spread those days out? Participating in Meatless Mondays only 52 days out of the 365 days in a year gives your New Year’s resolution a significantly better chance of succeeding.

What do you have to lose? (Besides a few pounds…)