What’s the best diet for your body and the earth?

Erin and her daughter walked through their neighborhood grocery store. Today was one day in many where Erin was trying to get through the store as quickly as possible, as her 7-year-old bounced around, easily distracted and always asking for more food than they needed to buy. Recently, Erin had been reassessing her family’s eating habits. She’d seen a documentary about how some of the foods they eat are contributing to climate change. She has also been growing concerned about the number of chemicals in some of the prepared foods her family consumes.

But as she glanced around the store, Erin felt overwhelmed. She only has so much time in a day, and she only has so much energy. How can she manage to keep her family happy while re-creating their diet around better foods? As Erin watched her daughter pick up a packaged item, she felt an urgency. If she started now, her daughter could grow up eating the best, most healthy, sustainable food she could offer. But where to start?

April 22 is Earth Day. This holiday offers a chance to reconsider what you are eating, and why. Sometimes it is hard to believe it or fully feel it, but all humans and nature are connected, all the time. So, when you make a healthy choice for yourself, that means you’re making a healthy choice for the world. Every little bit makes a difference!

Diet and how it impacts the environment

Both the types of food you eat and purchase, and the way you use, and dispose of foods impact the environment. It’s important to consider where food comes from, and how it’s produced, packaged, and transported. The Canadian Government’s Healthy Eating Guide and the Environment recommends a diet high in plant-based foods, and lower in animal-based foods. In general, plant-based foods use fewer resources, such as land and water, and are more environmentally friendly.

Food that is packaged and highly processed, such as deep-fried foods, sugary drinks, processed meats, cakes, and desserts, and packaged meals that are ready-to-heat add excess sodium, saturated fat, and sugars to people’s diets. These foods are not optimal for people’s health and are linked to greater disease and health risks. They don’t really fill up our bodies, and lead to people over-consuming. Plus, packaged and processed foods require more plastic and other packing materials, which go to landfills to create more waste.

However, a diet rich in fresh fruits and veggies has the opposite impact. Food waste, like apple cores, banana peels, and stems from vegetables you don’t want to eat, can easily be turned into compost and renew the earth. For more information, see our blog on Composting in the new year! Diets rich in whole foods, including whole grains and nuts, give the body the necessary nutrients it needs to stay healthy, nourished, and at an optimal weight.

Grocery shopping tips

First, plan ahead! Planning ahead saves both time and money, and it prioritizes healthy eating. Make a list of all the whole foods and fresh fruits and veggies you’ll need first, then list proteins, both plant-based and animal-based depending on your diet. Finally, if you need a little “extra,” fill in the end of the list with special crackers or other treats. Make sure you shop on a full stomach! It can be so easy to go overboard at the store when you shop hungry.

Look up healthy recipes ahead of time, so that the actual shopping trip can go smoother. Many people like to plan their whole week’s worth of meals in one weekly shopping trip, and there are plenty of food management applications that can help with meal planning.

While shopping, fill up your cart with colorful fruits and veggies first. Consider seasonable purchasing as well, buying produce that is grown close to where you live. This will cut down on transportation costs, and often it’s less expensive and better quality.

Eating out & food storage

It’s always fun to have a night out at a restaurant! Just keep in mind that portions are often far too large for one person. Consider splitting a meal with a friend or family member. Or, if you need to bring extra food home, consider bringing an empty container with you to the restaurant to transport leftovers so that you don’t have to use the plastic throwaway containers many restaurants still use.

Storing leftovers and other extra foods the right way will help them remain good to eat for a longer amount of time. Consider putting a date on containers, so you remember how long they’ve been in the refrigerator. And, think about freezing foods that you won’t be able to eat while they’re fresh.

On her next trip to the grocery store, Erin tried out a new way to list her foods. She put them into categories: Fruit, Vegetables, Grains, Frozen, Deli, and Drinks. She looked up two new vegetarian recipes, just to get a feel for what they’d be like to cook. The ingredients for each recipe were listed in order of where they are laid out in the store. One of the recipes was actually her mother’s, which made her happy. She vaguely remembered eating the meal as a child and was looking forward to trying it out again. As Erin watched her daughter once again grab a box of mac and cheese, and sighed, and gently told her to put it back. Slowly but surely, her family will be eating better!