Tiffany Beach

This blog will contain how our collaborative research is going so far!

So far our Collaborative Research Project seems to be coming along really well.  I have found a lot of interesting facts about this movement and I think it is a great topic to help implement within schools.  All of the work has been divided into sections where we are each going into detail about various celebrities and different grades creating our own lesson plans.  The celebrity that I chose to find a little more about is an advocate of the Meatless Monday, Gabe Canales.  He was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the age of 35, so after being the founder of the Blue Cure (which is like the male version of implementing breast cancer awareness for women).  Gabe had to change the way he ate, and Meatless Monday was a place he could start, he joined this movement along with creating the Blue Cure to help make awareness about things that can help prevent cancer.
                Also along with our project we have found meatless recipes from allrecipes.com where each of the kid-friendly recipes is less than 350 calories and less than 10 grams of fat per serving.  We felt this would be a fun, and healthy way to get children in the kitchen making food (with supervision) and making their own food without any meat products. 

                                           Meatless Monday

This past week, our class watched the award winning documentary, Food Inc. This documentary goes into detail about the growth in the United State’s food industry since the 1950’s. Needless to say, it was less than appetizing! For our Collaborative Research Project, we will be analyzing the grassroots movement of “Meatless Monday.” This global campaign encourages people to skip eating meat on Mondays to help our planet’s sustainability and to improve our health. One day a week is all this campaign is supporting to change our planet and improve our well-being.

This campaign was originally started back in 2003, by a non-profit group called “The Mondays Campaign Inc.” They work with the John Hopkins school of Public Health Center for a Livable Future. Guidelines set by the UDSA have been implemented nutritional guidelines. Together as a group:Melanie, Lauren,  Alexis and myself, will research why not eating meat just one day out of the week can improve our lifestyle and also help the planet. We will explore the various ways meat production has made an impact on our economy and the environment. We will also explore alternative ways of eating along with meatless recipes  that can kick start healthy habits and improve our longevity. Below are research questions we came up with individually that we’d be more interested in learning.


Alexis- Have schools implemented Meatless Monday into their lunch program, and have they been successful?
What are the long term effects of scaling back on eating meat?
How does the consumption of meat affect our planet?

Melanie- Is there a significance for Monday versus any other day of the week?
Who has implemented Meatless Mondays with success (companies, organizations, celebrities and families)?
What kinds of yummy meatless recipes are out there?
How can we start our own program and be successful?
Can I replace meat and still be satisfied (protein intake)?

*****Really great video I found on YouTube about Meatless Mondays.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bU8Gg6mRiU

Lauren-Why did The Mondays Campaign come up with the idea of having one day without meat?
What other foods can we intake that are meatless?
How can we implement this in our schools?
Why can't it be meatless everyday of the week by supplementing meatless recipes?
How can consumers benefit from going meatless?

Tiffany-What has caused this movement to be implemented in the first place?
How many people are participating in meatless Monday?
What positive or negative effects on Meatless Monday have individuals noticed?