Westminster House has gone to Meatless Mondays!

With Vancouver being the first City in Canada to embrace the global wide Meatless Monday campaign, we thought we should jump on board!

The popular initiative led by Earth Save Canada has taken a rise across the globe. More and more people, schools, companies and communities are going meatless on Mondays.  For one day of the week the initiative requires you to consume all plant based, vegetarian food throughout the day. This helps not only prevent heart disease, obesity, diabetes and stroke but also helps save our planet. When we go meatless we are reducing the carbon footprint and saving our precious resources like fossil fuels and fresh water.

Meatless Mondays gives Westminster House an opportunity to encourage our clients, to learn about the importance of balanced eating without meat and eating more greens. It also allows clients and staff to reap health benefits while supporting the environment.

Many of the women come into our facility with minimum education, no knowledge or interest in food and balanced eating. Many of them have allowed substances to take over their every thought. Not allowing their body, health and mind to be a priority in their life. We see women come in who have gone weeks without eating or who have unhealthy eating patterns and extremes. Our meal planning and diet includes a wide spectrum of balanced meats, veggies, carbs, proteins and snacks. We create a warm and relaxed environment where Clients begin to adapt to a routine and structure of eating in a supportive environment.

Meatless Mondays is something we included in our meal planning not only to support the cause but to show our clients that going without meat for one day can be healthy and fun. We want to encourage other options of eating and also cater to Clients’ new interests around food.

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Claudette S the Kitchen Coordinator preparing Meatless Monday lunch

We make sure that we create healthy, fun and unique recipes for our Clients to enjoy and explore on Mondays. Some of them may have never enjoyed  vegetarian food. Some of our clients never been exposed to certain things that provide nutrients and vitamins. These are crucial in early recovery and to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Our Kitchen Coordinator pre-plans homemade salad dressings, salads, a variety of soups, vegetarian chili, shepherd’s pie, pastas, lasagna and fresh buns to name a few of the menu items.

Recovery at Westminster House is based around the social model of recovery. The model is based on how communities of people work together for one goal and succeed because of the way we relate and connect with one another.

The Meatless Mondays campaign aligns with the social model because when we work together as a community, city or on a global scale we are making a difference. Whether this difference is by decreased health risks or by decreased greenhouse gases from animal agriculture. This initiative helps teach our Staff and Clients the purpose of supporting a global cause greater then ourselves, and how working together as a team goes a long way in sustaining a lifestyle and greener environment for everyone.

To share your meatless Monday recipes with us find us on Facebook or send us an email at [email protected], we would love expand our creativity!

Happy Veggin Out!

meatless mondays