I have often felt out-of-place, different, and just plain difficult when it comes to my healthy lifestyle.  For anyone with food allergies or a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, you know what I’m talking about.  The good news is times are changing.  Suddenly I feel more like people are watching more closely.  Perhaps because they are struggling with health challenges, or they suddenly feel indifferent about eating animals, or they hear about someone famous like Bill Clinton transforming their health on a plant diet. Whatever the reason, it brings me joy to know that we as a society are moving more toward nature in our dietary choices.

I recently heard that the Los Angles public school system is acting on the “Meatless Mondays” initiative (following several other school districts around the country since 2003 *).  Absolutely no meat is served on Mondays in the public schools here. This one brave act will not only raise awareness of health and environmental impacts of meat production, it will greatly impact our environment and the health of our children attending school in L.A. That is around 650,000 kids every Monday which comes out to around 30 million meatless lunches per year.

Meatless Mondays is an initiative I have supported. I have been doing monthly plant-based luncheons since October of 2011 on Mondays to raise awareness and support those wanting to live a healthier lifestyle. For more information on my luncheons and other food prep classes, please see www.meetup.com/plant-based-living

*Here is a list of school districts around the country that have implemented Meatless Mondays:

Albuquerque Public Schools, NM , Ann Arbor Public Schools, MI, Arlington County Schools, VA, Aspen School District, CO, Baltimore City Public Schools, MD, Bellevue School District, WA, Covington Ind. Public Schools, KY, Granite School District, UT, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, FL,
Oneida County Schools, NY, Randolph County Schools, NC, Savannah Chatham County, GA

If you’d like more information on the Los Angles initiative visit  http://www.meatlessmonday.com/los-angeles-public-schools-implement-meatless-mondays-for-student-health/