Eating a healthy, balanced diet is no longer just about getting the right mix of vitamins, minerals, protein and fat into your meals. Today, it can also mean balancing personal needs with the needs of the planet.
So, how do you do that? You could decide to go vegan. Research shows cutting out meat and dairy is one of the best ways to reduce your impact on the planet. Or there’s the ‘flexitarian’ approach – a flexible, veg-focused diet; or plant-based – any diet centred around food from plant sources. But what does that actually look like on your plate? What foods should you eat if you want to follow a sustainable diet?
1 Cereals & grains
Most of us know that cerea ls and grains should ma ke up a la rge part of a healthy, ba la nced diet, but the WWF warns that “there is a pressing need to var y the ty pes of cerea ls and grains grow n and eaten.” That ’s because rely ing on one or two crops has negative consequences for both the environment and our hea lth. From an environmental perspective, monoculture (only grow ing one crop) has an impact on soil hea lth, so farmers need to use ex tra fer tilisers, increasing the risk of disease and pest outbrea ks, which in turn mea ns that la rge amounts of pesticides and herbicides a re sprayed over the crop. Excess chemica ls in our food aren’t g reat, plus we’re not eating a wide enough ra nge of v itamins and minera ls. Tr y buck wheat, teff and spelt to var y your inta ke.
2 Pulses
Lentils, chickpeas, peas and bea ns a re examples of pulses, deemed one of the more climate-friendly foods by the UN. They are packed with protein, low in fat, rich in soluble fibre and have been found to help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesit y and heart disease.
Pulses a lso have an incredible ability to ‘self-fer tilise’ soil as their roots contain bacteria that conver t nitrogen in the air into a form that can be used by plants, reducing the need for ar tificial fer tilisers. Plus, when compa red to livestock , pulses use less land relative to the protein they offer. It ta kes nearly 100 times more land to produce a gram of protein from la mb or beef versus peas or tof u.
What is the definition of a sustainable food?
The World Health Orga nisation says susta inable diets “promote all dimensions of an individual’s hea lth and well-being [and] have low environmental pressure and impact.” In other words, they keep you and the planet healthy. We know not all vegan food is env ironmenta lly friendly (some plant milks and crops need huge amounts of water). Essentia lly, the food should have a low ca rbon footprint, and not contribute to deforestation, water scarcity, over fishing or loss of biodiversity. It should a lso prov ide plenty of nutrients.
What is the definition of a sustainable food?