I just found a great new rule to add to my long and complicated list on how to be a good carnivore [0]: I am swearing off meat -- and other foods that are loaded with saturated fats -- on Mondays.

It's called the Meatless Monday Campaign [1], a national health initiative aimed at preventing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. It encourages people to cut back on burgers and pork chops in a realistic fashion, because even a modest reduction in fatty foods [2] can improve our health [3]. It can also get us back on track after an over-indulgent weekend.

Plus, thanks to the power of alliteration, it's easy to remember.

When my friends and family hear about Meatless Mondays, they're going to roll their eyes in my general direction. It's not that they aren't supportive. It's because they already know how weird I am about meat.

I've cycled between being a vegetarian or a carnivore [3] all my life—I switch off about every three years. Rather than thinking of myself as a failed vegetarian [3], I've settled on the flexitarian [4] label. Sadly, this term only seems to further confound the lovely and intrepid people who invite me over to dinner. Of course, at the heart of the matter isn't a label, but my nonsensical approach to the consumption of meat.

For example, I've never eaten chicken pieces if the bones are still intact, but lately and for inexplicable reasons, boneless chicken breasts have started to freak me out too. While it generally unnerves me to eat anything that still resembles whatever it looked like when it was alive (such as whole fish), I have no qualms cracking open a lobster.

Technically, I'm a carnivore these days, which usually means I get bacon on my veggie burger. I never cook red meat, but on a couple random occasions, I've had a baffling desire to whip up a hearty beef stew.

Oh, and when I'm a vegetarian, I reserve the right to eat hot dogs at baseball games.

I love the idea of Meatless Mondays because it's smart to cut back on unhealthy foods, like meat or -- for the flexitarians out there -- cheese and ice cream. Dedicating one day a week to this it makes a lot of sense to me.

Unlike my other dietary quirks, I suspect this one will actually make a lot of sense to other people too.