Los Angeles is trying to persuade more people to become vegetarian, or at least try it out. Last week, under a resolution approved by the city, all future Mondays in Los Angeles have been declared “Meatless Mondays.” Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to support the Meatless Monday campaign. The nonprofit initiative, started in 2003, is associated with Johns Hopkins University’s public health school.

Councilwoman Jan Perry, who introduced the motion with Councilman Ed Reyes, noted the environmental impacts of meat production, and she emphasized that a high-meat diet has been linked to health problems such as colon, prostate, kidney and breast cancers, as well as heart disease.

“Eating less meat can prevent and even reverse some of our nation’s most common illnesses,” Perry said. “We’ve become disconnected in some ways from the simple truth that our health is directly affected by the foods we eat,” she added.

The decision was made “in support of comprehensive sustainability efforts as well as to further encourage residents to eat a more varied plant-based diet to protect their health, protect animals and protect the environment.”

The resolution also pointed to statistics showing more than half of Los Angeles County residents are obese or overweight, and stated reduced meat consumption can lower health risks.

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