LA Adopts 'Meatless Mondays' to Encourage Healthy Eating

'We've become disconnected from the truth that our health is affected by foods we eat'

Los Angeles is sinking its teeth into what it hopes will spark a citywide movement to reduce meat consumption, informs Business Insider.

The LA city council has voted to adopt "Meatless Mondays," in what appears to be a purely symbolic public education campaign to make the city's residents aware of the health and environmental impacts of meat consumption. Councilwoman Jan Perry, along with LA Councilman Ed Reyes, spearheaded the measure they hope will one day be more than a grand gesture.

"Eating less meat can prevent and even reverse some of our nation's most common illnesses," said Perry. "We've become disconnected from the simple truth that our health is affected by the foods we eat."

While "Meatless Mondays" comes with no real enforcement power to make LA eaters put down their cheeseburgers, the city is hardly reluctant to use more coercive means to tackle its obesity-related troubles. Last year the city banned the opening of new fast-food restaurants in an area of the city afflicted with especially high rates of obesity.

Via Business Insider.

Should other local governments encourage 'meatless Mondays'?

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

Very bad idea. VERY VERY BAD.

Oh, and elections have consequences.

[bsking]

they'll never go for this in san fran...

[mimi57]

LOL...I agree

[Thegrif]

Now that is funny :-) LMAO

[Clbraz78]

Hell no! It's just another way for big government to tell us what to do by telling us what we should do. We are not a country of morons! Stop treating us like we are!

[David944]

I have already stopped eating meat a couple of days a week, to maintain my food budget.

[bsking]

all you gotta do David is sell your soul to the government dole.... I see those people in in the grocery stores buying all kinds of meat steaks pork chops and the family packs too.... they don't even buy generic food ,it's all top shelf stuff.. and then they just wiped a little government " gift card" .

course we know they had to show ID to get that too.

[Zazziness]

@bsking Did you know that most people who use food stamps are working not one but two jobs each?

[jamie91]

@bsking wow, you have too much time on your hands if you examine people's purchases and watch how they pay. I wish I had that much spare time.

[Thegrif]

@bsking i see that too all the time. I see them getting soda and chips, all kinds if crap. I do see them buying prime freakin rib man. These EBT card holders eat better than any workin stiff I know, thats BS!!! We got people cutting meat out of their budget ( to make ends meet) on here and these people are eating like kings.
I also know of a guy that is very well off and he will have card holders gi buy steaks and prime rib with their card, when they come out he then buys meat from them at .50 cents on the dollar. I get that is a way to double your money, and a way to get cash for the card holder. But the guy paying .50 cents on the dollar is a serious P. O. S.
I can't wait till I actually see it happening in the parking lott, cause I am, loudly, going off and putting it out there for everyone to hear.
That will be so funny.

[Thegrif]

@Thegrif i apparently gots lits of time on my hands too. LOL

[AceLuby]

Who cares? It's a local solution to a local problem.

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

I care, because we have a rouge admin that will try to make it a federal solution.

[AceLuby]

@Neo_NtheMatrix See... I'm basing my opinion on facts, not what I want the world to be like so I can be angry.

[Zazziness]

@Neo_NtheMatrix Is a rouge administration prone to lipstick and mascara or did you mean something else? ;-)

[AbsoluteTruth]

@Neo_NtheMatrix I assume you meant rogue. However, rouge fits too. They should be red. With embarrassment.

[VladisGlad]

It's beneficial as it sheds light on an issue that is readily ignored. As to government controlled seeming from this that is pure paranoia, as this in no way forces anything, only support in a cause.

[Zoe2012]

How about the crime in LA? Crimeless Mondays would be nice!

[MongoAPillager]

@Zoe2012 sorry that might offend the criminal element which would hurt the 2016 election results,lets just stick to meaningless,waste of energy and $ programs

[Zoe2012]

@MongoAPillager Exactly, why would Obama address real problems here in the U.S. cities? Wouldn't want to lose a vote. It is amazing at how ignorant people in this country are, isn't it?

[thejimbo]

Tony Villar is at it again!:)

[Realthinker]

Please. Americans are never allowed to forget that what we eat affects our health! We are bombarded with this message. What the busybodies forget is that what I eat is nobody's business but mine. So far as I am concerned, vegans are forcing their religion on me and attempting to make vegetarianism the law of the land. My religion allows me to eat meat, and eat meat I shall, whenever I want.

[David944]

I agree. The problem will be politician using our communal health care to justify new laws to steer your behavior.

[Buzzfriendly]

Beef! It's whats for dinner!
If eating people were morally and socially acceptable, I would have a Vegan BBQ :-) Given the garbage bin of nuts and tree's they eat they may not taste all that good.

[martydotcom]

The consequence is we the people will continue to pay higher insurance premiums to cover the costs of your cholesterol meds, hypertension meds, by pass ops heart attacks, deal with diabetic epidemic, etc. Paying attention to what you and your children eat is just a step in preventive care, which is a whole lot less expensive than treating the illness.. just reality
You're free to eat what you want, just be use your brains and be aware of the impact of your decision on your children's health, your own health oand the cost to society. Eating a healthy diet costs no more

[Realthinker]

@martydotcom This is why Obama care is wrong. It gives the government and others both the right, and the opportunity to police others, all in the name of controlling costs. It is the opposite of liberty. BTW, you have no idea how healthy I am. It just so happens that both my best friend and one of my daughters are dietary techs. Lack of knowledge is not an issue. Factually, vegan diets are not the most healthful. They are too low in iron and B-complex vitamins, which is why every true vegan I know has dull skin and hair, and appear lacking in overall vitality. I could write an entire dissertation about how the USDA has created the obesity "epidemic" by instructing the people to eat far too many carbs.

[martydotcom]

@Realthinker I'd like to suggest you re-read what my post said:"You're free to eat whateveryou want "
No one is policing anyone, no one with half a brain denies that preventive care is far less expensive than treating the resulting disease - Government eduction: remeber how effective stop cigarette smoking advertising was and how lung cancer rates are dropping. Is this government policing or is it educating?? Whatever you call it, it's something the deep fat fried barbequed mind could use a little of. The overweight states of the deep south should learn everything in moderation: I don't deep fry pickles and I'm not promoting a vegan diet, although my grandparents did ok, living to 94 & 97 as life long vegitarians in an era when it was not fashionable. My parents brought us up on a normal diet. Vegan?? It's not for me as a rigid 7 day a week life style. Personally, I'm more of a "fins and feathers" type plus I exercise 5=6 days a week.

[Buzzfriendly]

If we all start eating the animals food then what are the animals going to eat?

[puppybrownie]

This reminds me of when Obama told the American people not to go to Las Vegas, with absolutely NO regard for the hard-working business owners who would be affected. I'm sure the steak and burger joints would appreciate having Mondays off though, since the economy is doing so well now!

[EveGem]

Personal responsibility is a horrible thing to waste. California no meat and NY no 16 oz soda's, kids are starving at school, parents pay more for lunches with less and so on. This is just sad. Obviously California thinks their state citizens are too stupid to make their own choices.

[MarkJM]

If my locality every tried to push a "Meatless Monday" or whatnot, I would be the first one to show up at a Checkers, Hardees, Burger King, etc. and probably order their biggest burger available w/all the fixings. I'm all for eating healthy but I like my burgers, steaks, chicken, fish, etc. Going Vegan or Vegetarian (whatever it is) is NOT for me.

[MongoAPillager]

the country is going to hell in a hand basket and these half-wits have nothing better to waste the taxpayers dime on?

[LGRepublican]

“Salad isn’t food—it’s what food eats” - Gordon Shumway (ALF) circa 1988

[MongoAPillager]

words to live by!!!

[dances-weebles]

oh, i don't know... i sort of like the way salad looks sitting there on the plate next to a nice juicy slab of sirloin of beef and a baked potato.

[Starsplash]

Got a better one. From a comedian thats just fucking funny to the core.

John Pinette

Context: John was making fun of what a nutritionist's advice about dieting and one of the ways of dieting. One was to eat salad.

"She wanted me to have salad as the food! No! Salad isn't food. Salad comes with the food. Salad is a promisary note that something good is going to happen... and I should just wait right here."

[IMAQT]

On issues that involve freedom, I side with freedom.

[Thunderchicken]

Ain't nobody's business but my own.

[tomincali]

what the heck are they trying do do ruin another U.S. market? thats like a boycott by the gov on butchers slaughterhouses and farmers.

[Zazziness]

I think it's great when government accumulates public health data and then attempts public education as a result. Afterall, free citizens make the best decisions for themselves when they're informed on a matter. I don't think government should cross the line and outlaw eating habits. If I want to eat potatoes deep-fried in lard with a nice juicy t-bone, I certainly should be able to. But if the government wants to help me out by letting me know that meal is clogging my arteries and polluting the planet, well, good. I'll consider it and maybe I'll do it less often.

[mimi57]

LA seems to have so many" bigger fish to fry", one might think they would concern themselves with more important issues..