Meatless Mondays - Oprah Madness

Yes, Oprah Meatless Madness has hit the airwaves and you know that anything she does will have a huge impact. This week she and 378 of her bravest staff members took a Vegan Challenge. No meat, no eggs, no dairy for seven days and there were some amazing results, not least of which was that her guest Kathy Freston's book, The Veganist, spent 48 hours at #1 on the Amazon.com bestseller list. So Meatless Mondays and More is all the talk this week thanks to the Media Maven and Mad Motivator, Ms. Oprah. 

Some of the participants said they'd stick with it; some couldn't wait to get back to their "normal" way of eating. But one great outcome was Oprah's commitment to always having a plant-based option on Mondays. She has also posted a Vegan Starter Kit on her website, which includes three weeks of meal plans, which might give you some great ideas for your next Meatless Monday. This is a great way to inspire her staff and her viewers. Although this next item might provide all the inspiration they need.

Living longer, feeling better, reducing your carbon footprint and being kind to animals are all great reasons to eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables, but this week's news might just be the tipping point for those resisting the magnificent Meatless Mondays movement (all right, that's enough alliteration for one week): eating fruits and veggies has been proven to make you better lookin' to boot! Yes, we have the evidence, now, thanks to the fine scientists at the University of Nottingham. The findings were released by the lead researcher (also known as the "Sheriff") and reported in such places as treehugger and Disease Proof. So the choice before us is stark: eat the traditional disease-promoting foods and look like this, or eat health-promoting fruits and vegetables and look like this.

In case you chose the latter, here is another great meatless recipe for your collection. I'm pressed for time this week as I was away all day yesterday at a writer's symposium and had a family party to go to today. This is a recipe the missus and I used to make when we were first married and in a rush for something easy and delicious. It's a complete meal in one pot. I also made it low sodium in view of our recent item on the negative impact of too much salt in the diet (which made the news again this week in an article submitted by a loyal reader in Fort Myers, Florida).

Thanks to all of you for your continued reading. Please keep the referrals coming--and a big shout out to all our new readers! Happy Monday!