Your Diet and Our Planet

Did You Know?

Did you know every food that you eat has had some type of impact on our environment in order to get to your plate? Most of the time we focus on the quality of the foods we eat, but less so on how that food actually gets there. Higher quality diets, or those higher in fruits and vegetables, have a higher environmental impact in regard to waste and water than others. Food has to be grown or raised inside of an ecosystem, then transported (sometimes thousands of miles) to a place where it can be purchased by you, the consumer. The global population is rapidly increasing, and with that comes an increased demand for food. As consequence of this demand, the global food industry and our consumption are destroying ecosystems, contributing to massive CO2 release into our atmosphere, and damaging the oceans.

What to Do

Fortunately, taking care of our bodies by choosing healthy foods also benefits our planet. For example, shopping at your local farmer’s market for fresh produce and fruits not only benefits your health but also reduces the distance your food is traveling to you. Eating native produce grown locally by far has less of an environmental impact than transported foods. The growing of commercial crops, such as wheat and corn which are used in a great many processed food products, is destroying large patches of land by changing the structure of that individual ecosystem from its natural state. Avoiding products that are highly processed or contain crops cultivated in mass quantitates is both beneficial to your health and the environment.

Choosing Meat

You can also eat environmentally consciously by limiting the number of animal meats that you consume or finding sustainable sources. “Meatless Mondays”, for example, are an easy way to cut down on your animal product consumption. Like cash crops, large-scale animal farming is irreparably destroying individual ecosystems and requires an extremely large amount of fresh water. You can make choices such as buying sustainably caught, wild fish rather than farmed fish. Finding a local butchery that carries products from local farmers can also supply you with both more sustainable and better-quality meat products. Check the labels on the meat you purchase from grocery stores to see where the product is coming from. Hint: the closer, the better! Limiting dairy products, which contribute a high amount of greenhouse gases due to methane from cows, may also benefit your health and the environment.

You do not need to sacrifice your own health to have a positive impact on our planet. Reduce your food waste, buy locally, and take care when purchasing animal products and you will be supporting your internal health as well as the overall health of our environment.

References:

1. Conrad Z, Niles MT, Neher DA, Roy ED, Tichenor NE, Jahns L. Relationship between food waste, diet quality, and environmental sustainability. PLoS One. 2018;13(4):e0195405. Published 2018 Apr 18. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195405
2. Edwards-Jones G. Does eating local food reduce the environmental impact of food production and enhance consumer health?. Proc Nutr Soc. 2010;69(4):582-591. doi:10.1017/S0029665110002004
3. Richardson CM, Amer PR, Hely FS, van den Berg I, Pryce JE. Estimating methane coefficients to predict the environmental impact of traits in the Australian dairy breeding program. J Dairy Sci. 2021;104(10):10979-10990. doi:10.3168/jds.2021-20348