You probably know that eating your veggies and avoiding too much red meat can help improve your health. But did you know that it can also help the planet’s health? A new study published in Science magazine shows that a shift in people’s diets could result in significant pollution reductions.
A new study shows that you can help the planet by changing your diet. It stemmed from the Planetary Health Diet and found that people who followed a planetary health diet had a lower carbon footprint than those who didn’t.
The Planetary Health Diet is a Mediterranean-style approach to eating that focuses on plant-based foods, fish, and nuts with little red meat or dairy products. The method reduces greenhouse gas emissions by almost 62 percent (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). That amount is increased when you evaluate the entire process from farm to market.
It’s not just a myth that what you eat affects the environment. For example, a recent study found that a Mediterranean-style diet—rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds—can hugely impact the environment.
The study showed that it would benefit the environment if people ate less red meat and dairy products (the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions). The researchers also examined how much carbon could be saved by switching from eating beef to poultry or pork; from cheese back to milk; from butter to margarine; from cream cheese back to natural yogurt; from eggs back to fish or chicken; from butter back to oils such as olive oil or sunflower oil (which are lower in saturated fats).
If everyone switched one of their meals each week according to these recommendations, they would save about 156g-170g of CO2e per person per day!
To determine which factors most influence the planet’s health, researchers at Oxford University created a diet based on the Mediterranean diet—which has been found to reduce chronic disease risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol—but with greater plant-based foods. They named it “the planetary health diet,” but you might also hear it referred to as the “blue zone” or “eco-atkins” diets.
It’s a simple concept: eat more plants, less meat and processed food, and choose natural fats over artificial ones. The plan cuts out red meat (including processed meats), dairy products (except butter), alcohol (except red wine in moderation), and starchy carbs like bread and pasta (except whole grains). In place of these foods are nuts and seeds; vegetables; legumes like beans; fruits; nuts; seeds; olive oil for cooking or dressing salads instead of mayo-based dressings made with vegetable oils that can be high in trans fats after hydrogenation is applied during processing; eggs from chickens raised on pasture land without growth hormones or antibiotics because they’re organic rather than factory-farmed birds fed grains rather than greens due to cost savings measures taken by large companies like Tyson Foods Inc.*
The diet is a Mediterranean-style approach in which people eat primarily fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.
But it’s not just any Mediterranean diet. Instead, the researchers chose to follow the “real food” version instead of the more processed “prudent” version of the traditional diet.
The researchers found that those who stuck with it lost an average of 6 pounds over the two years of the study—pretty significant when you consider that most people only lose about 3 pounds per year through conventional weight loss methods. What’s more impressive is that they didn’t have to count calories or restrict their portion sizes!
Some other foods you may want to include in your diet:
- Nuts (including peanuts) — Studies suggest that eating nuts regularly can lower your risk of heart disease. Nuts also contain phytosterols, which may help reduce cholesterol levels. According to the American Heart Association [5], people who eat nuts at least five times per week have a 20 percent lower risk of developing coronary artery disease than those who don’t eat them at all or just occasionally.
- Green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale — These foods are low in calories but high in vitamins A, C & K; folate; calcium; iron; magnesium; potassium & zinc.
- Fruits such as bananas — Bananas provide vitamin B6 which helps convert essential amino acids into energy for muscles during exercise.
- Beans (such as black beans) — Beans are a great source of protein as well as fiber which helps keep you full longer so you won’t overeat later on.”
Red meat and dairy products contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the amount of red meat and dairy you eat will benefit your health and the environment. It’s easy to replace red meat and dairy with plant-based foods like beans, legumes, rice, nuts, seeds, whole grains, vegetables, and fruit.
Changing your diet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can save more than just the earth. Researchers have calculated that if we all did this, it would save us money, too.
Researchers used a computer model to estimate how much this approach would save greenhouse gas. Then, they compared the results with data from previous studies and found them accurate; they also affirmed the idea that eating less meat has significant benefits for both our environment and our wallets.
To calculate how much money people will save by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, researchers looked at what portion of their income was spent on food each year—and then calculated how much less they’d spend on groceries if they ate less meat.
They estimate that if everyone made this change to their diet, the world would eliminate about 5 billion tons of greenhouse gasses every year. That’s equal to the total pollution from cars and other vehicles worldwide.
It reduces the amount of:
- greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere
- pollution in the atmosphere
- carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
- methane in the atmosphere
- nitrous oxide in the atmosphere
Greenhouse gasses are naturally occurring but also result from human activity like burning fossil fuels, growing food and raising animals.
Human activity is responsible for about 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gasses trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.
The most dangerous greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. It traps heat in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Burning fossil fuels, growing food, and raising animals release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Undoubtedly, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains is good for you.
- Reducing the amount of red meat and dairy products you eat will lower your cholesterol level and reduce your risk of heart disease.
- Eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes (dried beans), seeds and nuts will help you maintain a healthy weight by filling you up with fewer calories than other foods do.
Here are some steps for following this kind of eating plan:
- First, eat more fruits/vegetables/whole grains! This includes all kinds of veggies like carrots or broccoli and whole-grain pasta instead of white because it contains more fiber which helps your digestion process work better too!
- Eat less meat and dairy products because these contain saturated fats, which increase cholesterol levels in our bodies, causing problems like high blood pressure or heart disease later down the line when we get older. You can still have fish though as it contains omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for your heart health.
It seems as though this is one of the best ways to help the environment right now. It’s also good for your health!