We are inviting residents of Northeast Florida to sign a 31-day pledge to be meat-free and enjoy all the wonderful benefits of filling up on healthy, nutrient-dense foods. 

It's an opportunity to explore questions surrounding a vegetarian lifestyle.  "What is there to eat?" "Is it difficult?" "How do I get proper nutrition?" "What will it do to my body?" We are making it easy to give peas a chance!

During the month, there will be a number of events and gatherings for participants to get together and enjoy community-related activities.  Participants will receive daily emails educating and supporting their commitment to No Meat March.  We have developed resources to foster community, allowing participants to communicate, ask questions and get feedback.  We will set up a supportive environment encouraging one another to go meat-free!

Planning Vegetarian Diets It’s easy to plan vegetarian diets that meet all your nutrient needs. Grains, beans, and vegetables are rich in protein and iron. Green leafy vegetables, beans, lentils, tofu, corn tortillas, and nuts are excellent sources of calcium, as are enriched soymilk and fortified juices.

Vitamin D is normally made in the body when sun shines on the skin. People who are dark-skinned or live at northern latitudes have some difficulty producing vitamin D year-round. Vitamin D can easily be obtained from fortified foods. Some sources are commercial breakfast cereals, soymilk, other supplemental products, and multivitamins.

Regular intake of vitamin B12 is important. Good sources include all common multiple vitamins (including vegetarian vitamins), fortified cereals, some brands of nutritional yeast, and fortified soymilk. It is especially important for pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers to get enough vitamin B12. When reading food labels, look for the word cyanocobalamin in the ingredient list. This is the form of vitamin B12 that is best absorbed.

No Meat March is a month-long event providing an opportunity for the community to join together for a greater good.  We seek to promote a healthier, more connected relationship with our planet and its inhabitants.  The challenge runs from March 1st to March 31st.  This amount of time is perfect to help detoxify your body, discover new foods and develop a healthy habit. 

While eating meat is a personal choice, we feel strongly that the consumption of meat is one of the root causes of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, environmental pollution, massive deforestation, and a host of other ails disrupting earth's equilibrium.  Our interconnected biosphere is reaching a critical mass, and the time has come for us to find effective solutions for this problem.

There is a direct connection between our personal health and the health of our environment.  Our health is a gift, and digestion of meat takes a heavy toll on our internal systems.  By reducing our meat intake, we allow our body a much-needed rest.  As we give our bodies a rest it also begins to affect our community and planet by slowing the excessive demand for meat products.

During the course of the month, The Girls Gone Green, Ananda Kula, Jacksonville Health and Wellness and Northeast Florida Vegetarian Society will hold space for speakers, films, classes, and a dialogue about the effects of a carnivorous life on our health and our planet.  We aim to educate while having fun.  Trips, fund raisers, potlucks, and a number of community-building events will allow for a deeper connection within our community,  promoting positivity, education, and health.

With sincerity, we hope you'll join us for our community experiment, No Meat March!

Remember it only takes about 30 days to break a habit.  According to the Self Improvement Mentor, "...complete abstinence of a habit for 21 to 30 days will be enough to break it. So, you don't have to worry about having to continuously struggle to not indulge in a habit for the rest of your life. After 21 to 30 days, you would have surpassed the required threshold."  Now keep in mind we said habit, not addiction.  By day 31 you will feel and look so good you won't want to go back to your old eating habits.