Several of my RD and foodie friends have been talking about the “Meatless Monday” movement.  This is a movement started by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to promote a reduction in meat consumption to improve public health and the health of the planet.   Reducing meat consumption can help lower your risk for several diseases including some cancers, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.  It also helps the planet by reducing the need to produce, process, and transport meat to stores.

What’s involved in “meatless Mondays”?  Simple, not eating meat on Monday.  The John Hopkins group has established a website where you can find recipes to help you go meatless on Monday.  You can also sign a pledge and sign up to receive weekly newsletters to help you have a meatless Monday.

I’ve signed the pledge and am looking at recipes for Monday.  I should also add it to my calendar to remind me until it becomes a habit.

Here’s to going meatless on Mondays!

In one of my graduate school classes – Individual Determinants of Obesity – we were talking about the prevalence of obesity and the food environment. The discussion came around to the question of “do food companies want people to be fat?” Well, lets think about this. . .

Food companies make, obviously, food! They make their food tasty. They make their food pretty to look at. They make food that smells good. They make food cheap and easy to eat. Yes, I’m thinking about processed foods – but those are the ones that tend to put on weight. Think the candy bars at the checkout, cake mixes, snack mixes, ice cream, mac and cheese and those sorts of foods. And, don’t forget all those fast foods and restaurants out there. Do they want you fat?

Honestly, I don’t think they want you, or me, or anyone else fat. But what they do want is for you to eat more of their food. The more of their food you eat, the more money they make. They entice you to eat more through commercials (food = love and acceptance, food = a treat or something you deserve), packaging, and product placements in movies and TV shows to name a few.

Restaurants get you to eat more by hiding calories in the food to make it taste good. Honestly, I don’t want to know how much butter they use. OK – I KNOW they use a lot of butter. I had the chance to work in a kitchen for a few months and discovered the secret of tasty food – BUTTER! The cooks had pitchers (yes, those iced tea pitchers) full of butter that went in and on everything. Next time you get a sandwich or hamburger, look at the bun. I’ll bet you it has butter on it. And, restaurants are good with add-ons. “Yeah, I’d like that dessert.” Sound familiar? It does to me, too.

It doesn’t take a lot of thought to see that if you eat more than your body needs – whether you know it or not -you’ll gain weight. Our bodies are not good at calculating calories as we eat. So, what can you do? Be an informed eater. Print out the nutrition information from all the restaurants that have them (I keep copies in my car for quick reference). Look at the book Eat This Not That or Dining Lean. Or, try Dr. Jo’s Eat Out and Lose Weight Diet Plan which is a deck of cards to keep with you to help make healthy choices.

Food companies can try to entice you to eat more, but you don’t have to. Remember – you are in control of what you eat. So, food companies may inadvertently want you fat – but you don’t have to be.

Recently, I had the opportunity to volunteer at a summer camp for children with diabetes. It was Camp Rainbow sponsored by the American Diabetes Association. This is a day camp for children from 4 to 13 who have either Type I or Type II diabetes and their siblings. I never realized (or honestly even thought about) the challenges children with diabetes face when doing what I’d consider every day things.

You may be asking “why a special camp for those children with diabetes?” Or, “isn’t camp like school, don’t they just need a nurse?” Good questions.

The main difference between camp and school is the amount of physical activity. At camp, the kids are outside almost all day running, swimming, riding horses, playing games, etc. These kinds of activities can cause a person’s (adult or child) blood sugar to fall dramatically. And, each person’s body is different. So, one child’s blood sugar may fall immediately after climbing the rock wall while it takes 30 minutes or so for another’s to fall. At this special camp, the children are broken into six groups based on age. For groups with diabetics, there is also a group of medical staff who are there to monitor the kids’ blood sugar throughout the day. The medical staff stays with the group all week and each med staff is assigned specific children so he/she can get to know each child. Additionally, snacks are provided and lunches (packed from home usually) are monitored to be sure they are eaten – another reason blood sugar may be off. May of the kids had insulin pumps (basically a constant infusion of insulin vs. having to take injections) while others had to do injections. I was amazed at how many of these kids took managing their diabetes in stride. It would come time to check blood sugars and they’d hold out the hand they weren’t using, let the med staff wipe it with an alcohol swab, and take the droplet of blood to check their blood sugar levels – all without stopping working on their craft. If their blood sugar is too low, they get glucose tablet(s). Too high, their pump gets adjusted or they get an injection. The camp also has an infirmary in case a child needed more than the med staff with the group could provide. All in all, a very safe place for a child with diabetes.

I had the opportunity to work in the Art Room. We saw five of the six groups each day and helped them complete crafts from tie-dying t-shirts to making super hero masks. We were the only inside activity (other than lunch for some of the groups). However, inside wasn’t air conditioned so there were times it was cooler outside than in our Art Room. Friday, the “Art Room Ladies” were sitting at our long table waiting for our first group to show up when a mother stopped by and thanked us for volunteering for camp. She said that if it weren’t for Camp Rainbow, her daughter wouldn’t be able to go to camp. She would return to school and not have anything to talk about while all the other kids talked about what they did at camp. That was one of those crystallizing moments for me that made me glad I had volunteered and thankful for my “normal” life.

Make time and volunteer with an organization that is special to you – or pick one at random and see what catches your interest. Just a couple of hours a month can make a difference to others – and to you. If you’re not sure where to start, check out Volunteer Match to see some opportunities in your area.

Enjoy!