Meatless Monday

Meatless Monday doesn’t mean you have to give up eating meat, but rather use Monday as a day to increase your intake of plant-based foods like fruits & vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds.  It’s a reminder to be mindful of the food you eat and the choices you make. Once a week, we give you an opportunity to get your daily nutrients and try a new food!

Meatless Monday Resources & Recipes

Don’t Let Diet Beat Us

An effective way to prevent or manage diabetes is through your diet. Our #Don’tLetDietBeatUs materials encourage healthy choices by highlighting “hero” foods shown to help reduce the risk of diabetes, and illustrating the benefits of starting the week with a Meatless Monday.

Start Every Week With a Healthy Activity to Help Prevent Diabetes

Learn a new Meatless Monday cooking hack with this Meatless Monday Cooking Tip Collection, featuring simple techniques that can transform your Meatless Monday meals into plant-based masterpieces.

Explore this collection of plant-based recipe ideas for delicious and easy Meatless Monday meals.

Check out these Meatless Monday resources for children:

For weekly recipes and resources, sign up for our Healthy Monday Syracuse Newsletter.

Why Meatless?

For Your Health

  • Adding more plant-based foods into your diet can add years onto your life
  • Meals rich is fruit, vegetables or legumes contain natural antioxidants that benefit cardio-health
  • Nuts are one of the richest sources of protein and can help to improve concentration
  • Most Americans eat more than 1.5 times their suggested meat serving every day, making a plant-based substitution can help to maintain a lower body weight

For the Planet

  • Global livestock production creates more greenhouse gases than all of the planes, trains, and cars on earth
  • Livestock production uses more than 75% of the world’s agricultural land
  • The energy it takes for a quarter-pound of beef to be produced is equivalent to that of your smartphone being charged for 6 months
  • It takes 425 gallons of water for one quarter-pound burger to be produced which is the equivalent of 1,700 people’s water intake for one day
  • The emissions produced from one quarter-pound burger is equivalent to the number of emissions released after driving 348 miles in a car

Syracuse University goes Meatless

We highlight the Meatless Monday meal in all of the dining halls and cafes. Look for this sticker (right) at the serving stations throughout campus!