‘Meatless Monday’ campaign gains int’l attention

The timing couldn’t have been better. As World Hearts Day on Sept. 26 approaches, a local movement now presents an opportunity for Filipinos to take care of their hearts via what they eat. The movement is called “Luntiang Lunes”. Barely two months old, this local version of the Meatless Monday is gaining momentum.

Meatless Monday is an international movement initiated by the Johns Hopkins and Columbia University Schools of Public Health to promote a once-a-week meat-free and dairy-free diet to mitigate the impact of climate change and address the epidemic of cardiovascular diseases.

In the Philippines, cardiovascular diseases are the top causes of mortality.

The “Luntiang Lunes” campaign is spearheaded by Dr. Custer C. Deocaris, a 2010 DOST (Department of Science and Technology) “Balik Scientist” specializing in neuroscience and biogerontology (the biology of aging). He has partnered with nongovernment organization Nurturers of the Earth Inc. and the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC)-World Vegetable Center to conduct the “Luntiang Lunes” campaign in schools and universities nationwide.

The campaign, begun just in August, has already been cited by Sid Lerner, founder and chair of the Meatless Monday advocacy based in New York City, as well as the Huffington Post’s Peggy Neu.

Increasing dietary intake

According to the World Health Organization, 31 percent of ischemic heart disease, 19 percent of stroke and 19 percent of stomach cancers could be prevented just by increasing the dietary intake of vegetables to just even the minimum recommended five daily servings.

“The ‘greening’ and indigenization of our people’s diet is therefore a major public health challenge and we are heeding the concerted support from all sectors,” Deocaris declared.

He observed that the consumption of fruits and vegetables among Filipinos was “very low,” even lower than that of Western populations. He said more than 50 percent of Filipinos, particularly in urban areas, regularly eat unhealthy fare from fast-food chains.

“As the Philippines is regarded as one of the world’s center for food biodiversity, strangely, our food insecurity rate has been pegged as high as 73 percent in 2008. We also have the lowest annual per capita vegetable intake in Asia—a measly 40 kg as compared to China’s 250 kg and well below the 146-182 kg recommended by the World Health Organization/Food and Agricultural Organization. It has been our culture to consider vegetables as the ‘poor man’s diet’ and ascribed to it a negative image. More than a quarter of our children are malnourished while 27 in every 100 Filipino adults are overweight and obese,” he explained.

Deocaris told Inquirer Health that the “Luntiang Lunes” advocacy urges all schools and offices to serve vegetarian meals using indigenous vegetables and brown rice at least once a week. This campaign is in response to the United Nation’s call for a global shift to a meat-free diet to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

Indigenization

“As a response to the alarming malnutrition and hunger rate in our country, we are also espousing the indigenization of our vegetarian diet in order to bring to focus our underutilized vegetables that make up our rich food biodiversity base,” he said.

“Luntiang Lunes” also aims to promote the vegetarian diet in hospitals every Monday through an info campaign.

The Meatless Monday movement has gained traction worldwide. In June 2009, ex-Beatles Sir Paul McCartney launched a Meat-Free Monday campaign in the United Kingdom. That same year, Australia started its Meatless Mondays, and the city of Ghent in Belgium became the first city with “official” weekly vegetarian days. In April 2010, San Francisco became the first US city to officially declare Mondays as “meat free.”