Taste or Health? (Part 5)
Written by Tanny PC
Can ‘sustainability’ be on our menu to preserve our ‘Terra Verde?’
Of course, yes! All we need is awareness of the consequences of our food choices and taking necessary actions. Have you wondered why there dwell thousands of edible plants on our planet waiting to occupy a place on our plate, every day? But still, instead of adopting ‘Food Forestry and Permaculture’ techniques, we are deliberately leaning toward ‘animal husbandry.’ Do you know we are straining our planet by reaping its benefits and exploiting its natural resources with our unsustainable food choices?
From farm to plate:
Well, we ‘Eat’ every day – ‘Food’ is a basic necessity for our survival. But, what are we feeding our planet to achieve our food? How long will our adaptive food choices help our planet to survive and sustain?
On pondering upon these questions – ‘What is our staple diet?’, ‘Is my food grown (on farms) or born (in a food industry)?’, ‘What are the effects of my food choices on our planet?’, ‘Will my food support a healthy lifestyle in the long run?’, ‘Is the food on my plate grown in sustainable, environmental conditions?’, ‘How much profit did the farmer and distributor earn from this food?’ (and many more) – I got to know about a few less-popular, yet evident and beneficial practices for our environmental sustainability. Let’s start with the starters.
Fast-food industries are unsustainable – believe it or not – right from the farm (animals and their products) to plate (steak, hamburgers, cheese), they come with their own complications and danger. Fast-food industries consume approximately 15–20% of Earth’s total energy production, which, combined with the production of restaurant materials and transportation, creates a large carbon footprint.
When our cavemen ancestors started to eat meat, it was out of sheer necessity as the plants started to deplete because of the climate changes on Earth, and meat bridged that gap. However, over the ages, meat-eaters often started to complain about various diseases such as cardiovascular issues, higher cholesterol levels, DNA damage, certain cancers, diabetes, and premature death.
The culture and farming of fish and meat, and eating animals and their products have devastating effects both on our health and the environment. Fast-food industries are struggling to provide (or rather ‘create’) sustainable food choices and eco-friendly packaging options for their products as consumer demand rises. Intensive livestock farming (or industrial livestock production) designed to maximize production while minimizing costs leads to restricted animal behavior and welfare. Large amounts of antibiotics are fed to livestock to prevent diseases spread antibiotic resistance. Overfishing causes the destruction of oceans. Chemical exposure to processed meat creates nutrient deficiency. Climate changes are predominant as meat production and consumption release greenhouse gases. Ultimately, deforestation, landfill, excessive water and food usage, and disruption of biodiversity and forest ecosystems are inevitable.
Our future is plant-based diets:
Earth has provided us with a lot of options to sustain our life on this planet. The more we stay close to nature for our diet and lifestyle, the better we live healthily, think smart, and look and feel good. And how to maintain sustainability in our food choices? The answer requires insights from experts in the fields such as nutrition, agriculture, and climate research.
“We need to produce food groups that are good for health in ways that are restorative to the planet, rather than extractive,” says Corinna Hawkes, Director of the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London. She adds, “The particular foods on the plate will vary from one place to another, but those meals need to add up to something more sustainable than society’s current fare.” (Nature)
Maybe, once in your lifetime, you must have followed a ‘strict diet’ based on your body types and food choices – low-fat diet, keto diet, paleo diet, vegetarian diet, and so on. Have you heard about the ‘Planetary Health Diet?’ The theory of eating a generalized healthy and nutritious diet that is sustainable and eco-friendly is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. Of course, it is a challenge to include nutrition in all sorts of food choices available for our growing population, keeping in mind all sorts of valid scientific targets are for us to achieve a healthy gut.
In 2019, Johan Rockström, Corinna Hawkes, and other members of an international group of scientists proposed a global meal plan, the EAT-Lancet diet, which could theoretically feed 2050’s estimated population of 10 billion people. This plan necessitated a drastic reduction in meat consumption and a much higher intake of fruits and vegetables. Rockström says, “We found that a healthy diet combined with sustainable agricultural practices would have positive impacts on biodiversity, land, water, nutrients, and climate.” (The Lancet) Their idea of a ‘Planetary Health Plate’ consists of fruits and vegetables occupying half the plate, and the other half is a combination of plant proteins, whole grains, and a small amount of animal protein (less red meat).
Although our food culture and traditions have variations all around the globe, we all can agree on one common thing – Sustainability! Plants provide us with all-rounded nutrition (complex carbs, good fats, high fiber, essential minerals and vitamins, and proteins) for our body; do we still need to kill animals (or use their products) to satisfy our demands. Well, of course, if you cannot completely omit animals or their products from your diet, reduce their consumption and check if they are sustainably sourced/farmed. We all can follow the path of ‘moderation’ and ‘awareness’ – and focusing on sustainable resources should be our last health resort. The most significant improvements for nature can be tied to a change in diet, which would come from a reduction in phosphorus and nitrogen pollution in waterways and greenhouse gas emissions.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” (Albert Einstein - German physicist)
To counteract, replenish, and save our only ‘Home planet – Earth’ for the present and future generations, agricultural researchers are developing many new practical theories to improve the productivity and capacity of the soil, increase the sustainability of field crops, and enhance biodiversity. A few, relatively new additional techniques to this field are ‘Food Forestry’ and ‘Permaculture’ – Plant Your Own Food! Sounds interesting, right? Click to read the next post…
