Meatless Mondays in QC proposed

A Quezon City councilor wants the city hall’s 11,000 workers, and those from the city’s 142 barangays and public schools, to practice a meatless Monday to encourage the consumption of vegetables even once a week.

Councilor Jessica Castelo Daza of District 4, in a proposed resolution, has urged city employees to stay away from meat on Mondays.

She said she is pushing for a meatless Monday, or the so-called Luntiang Lunes, for health reasons over alarming studies that most Filipinos are meat-eaters and have the lowest capita intake of vegetables in the world.

She said there is a high prevalence of hypertension in adult Filipinos, and seven million Filipinos suffer from diabetes.

Less meat consumption would reduce the risk of various health problems, she added.

Scientific data suggest positive relationships between a vegetarian diet and reduced risk for several chronic degenerative diseases and conditions, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and some types of cancer, she said, citing the results of a study conducted by the American Dietetic Association.

She said if every resident of Quezon City would live without a meat for a day in a week, the city could be able to help bring down carbon footprint and save precious resources, like trees, water and fossil fuel in just a year.

By Rio N. Araja