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To Meet Guidelines Go Meatless Mondays
One of the simplest ways for Americans to prolong their lives would be to reduce their intake of saturated fat -- and one of the simplest ways to reduce saturated fat intake would be to set aside one day to consciously avoid its biggest sources: meat, cheese, full-fat dairy, etc. That's the idea behind Meatless Mondays, a national health campaign aimed at reducing heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer through a reduction of saturated fat intake.
On average, Americans consume about 27g of saturated fat per day. The 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends less than 22g per day for a 2,000-calorie diet. This represents a little over 15% reduction in saturated fat intake. As it happens, one day is also roughly 15% of the week. Therefore, if you made no other change than to simply swear off saturated fat on Mondays, you'd be on target to meet this dietary goal.
As previously mentioned in the Dole Nutrition News, there are multiple health rewards to reducing meat consumption. Excessive meat and dairy consumption has been linked to increased risk of prostate and colorectal cancer. Diets high in red meat may also increase the risk of endometriosis among women. Processed meats, also loaded with saturated fat, are particularly unhealthy, possibly increasing pancreatic cancer risk. Visitwww.meatlessmonday.com to learn more, and sign up for their weekly newsletter.
