Los Angeles City Council backs "Meatless Mondays"

Los Angeles city leaders have voted endorse "Meatless Mondays."

The City Council that had earlier declared war on trans fats and fast-food restaurants voted 14-0 on Friday to adopt a resolution urging residents to pledge they won't eat meat on the first day of the week.

• Senators protest call for "Meatless Mondays"

The Los Angeles Daily News says it doesn't make Monday meat consumption illegal and police won't be checking what you brought to work for lunch.

The resolution is simply designed to make residents healthier and reduce the impact on the environment.

CBS Los Angeles reported in September that the cafeteria at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has implemented "Meatless Mondays" once a month. Dana Hunnes a senior dietician at the medical center told the station that eating a vegan diet helps prevent weight gain and diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

In April 2010, San Francisco leaders approved a no-meat Monday measure. According to the Meatless Monday web site, other U.S. cities that have taken up the campaign include Washington, D.C., and Durham-Raleigh, N.C. Twenty-four countries also participate, the site reports.

But the campaign has been met with opposition.

In July, a newsletter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture encouraged diner's at the USDA's cafeteria to participate in a Meatless Monday initiative to reduce environmental waste.

The newsletter, which has since been removed and retracted by USDA once it had been criticized, said in addition to health concerns from excess meat consumption, animal agriculture contributes to greenhouse gases and climate change and requires lots of resources including water, grains and pesticides, for beef production.

CBSNews.com senior political reporter Brian Montopoli reported in July that two Republican senators met the USDA's call by ordering barbecue on Mondays, to show support for American agriculture.

[Balanceiscommonsense]

How ridiculous this meatless Monday campaign. Linking meat to obesity wow. Why is then the majority of diets and sports nutrition have protein as one of the main stays for muscle building and building metabolism? If they really want to go after obesity and I know its Los Angelos Mayor/Councils responsibility completely - build more fitness centers/parks and promote the heck out of physical activity. Why not go after the video game companies. Regulate the amount of video game time. But no take away something that has nothing to do with obesity causation.

[WarpedDimensions]

Hello,

I don't think that any government has the right to tell anyone what they should or should not be eating. We all have the right to make our own choices.

But I do believe that we all need to be making more informed choices. And I think that we need to seriously question what we are being told is good or not good for us to eat by the main stream media.

If you're interested, I suggest that you read "The China Study". And skim through the scientific papers which were cited by Dr. Campbell. These have been reviewed and approved by respected scholarly institutions like Cornell University and MIT. There is a lot of real scientific data out there which address this topic and I think that we all need to be aware of it.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[barbaram99]

Sunday is the first day of the week.

[996Ducati]

The Los Angeles City Council should take care of "real" issues facing the City instead of resorting to passing idiotic resolutions such as "Meatless Mondays". I recommend voting all 14 of these bums out of office as soon as possible!

[magnumdr]

I will eat whatever I want to eat whenever I choose to eat. These people are oversteping their boundries and should concentrate on their own personal problems. Stop trying to control others and mind your own buisness!

[klusk66]

Awesome. So now the kids can load up on pasta. Brilliant.

[donnalilly1]

talk about taking away your legal rights being taken. Shouldn't that fall under a religon status. I believe it is your right to eat what ever you want no matter the day of the week. I am not a over weight person. I jut think it is very wrong for councils decide.

[sabniz]

why not meatless everyday? i am all for it.

i quit eating meat a few years ago, now quit eating breads, and feel great!

[PlainTruthMatters]

The key here is personal choice. It is fine if you want to go meatless every day. However, when the government moves from making a suggestion to enforcing it through law, then they are taking away our personal freedom and that is unacceptable.

[PlainTruthMatters]

It's the tyranny of liberalism: pro-choice when it comes to stopping the beating heart of an unborn child, but anti-choice when it comes to what one can say or eat. Liberals are called "Progressives" for a reason. They use the government to progressively take more and more control of your life; telling you what you can and cannot say or do. It's called "forced freedom". Wake up America!

[kasjun]

You eat what you want and I'll eat what I want and we get along. You start telling me what to eat and we don't get along. Simple as that.

[BIGROBEMP]

Hahahaha you Peoples Republic of California Obama-fans are the biggest bunch of helpless sheep to cross the grassy side of North America. Now you can't even feed yourselves without the government telling you how to chew. Keep cheerleading for your socialist overlords.. easier than taking responsibility for your own lives I'd imagine.