Can a plant-based diet offer hope for reducing our carbon footprint?
The relationship between food and environment is quite complex. Does the diet matter, or the place from where ingredients come from? Learning about its consumption and impact on the entire ecosystem is the key to improve our health. As a by-product of this lifestyle environment, sustainability remains balanced.
Let’s check how altering our food habits make a big difference.
Overview of benefits of a plant-based die
- Conserving water
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Protecting animal habitats
- Raising live stock only for consumption
- Mitigating animal agriculture leading to water pollution and dead zones
- Clearing the air
- Banning industrial applications of animal farming
- Offering a healthier lifestyle
- Lesser usage of pesticides and fertilizers
- Lowering meat & dairy products is the single biggest way to save the environment
Need guidance to add your share in saving the environment?
Including greens in the diet can be a challenge for non-vegetarians. Food habits are changing across the globe to be gentler towards mama earth shifts. Reasonable diet options integrated with healthy meal plans are evident as celebrities and food influencers advocate.
A plant-based diet involves a combination of conscious actions:
Buying produce from farmer’s markets. Small vendors do not use high grade fertilizers to grow plants. It is also a wonderful way to support the local community to flourish and do business. Farmers use regenerative techniques to grow crops. It promotes biodiversity and ensures that the soil is healthy for future production.
Plant consumption is definitely cheaper than meat of any kind. If it is hard to stick to plant-based diets, then a flexitarian version balances the palate. Nuts, beans and soy have high traces of protein to keep you energetic.
Be hyper-local and eat plants based in your region. Organic feeds are equally good to reduce impact on the environment. Supporting local produce reduces fossil fuel emissions. When food travels from one part of the country to another it adds to the pollution and energy required to reach you.
Plant-based food and ingredients use minimal packaging. It contributes to sustaining the ecosystem in a big way. Recycling also puts less pressure on the environment. For this reason, edible wrapping is getting popular.
We also recommend you to create a nice little veggie garden. It is a perfect hack to save and get home-made produce. It will be the healthiest option.
Wasting food adds to the landfill and damages the environment. Hence, freeze the food, preserve it and eat it later. Each harvest is meant to add to your health and treating leftovers is another key to enjoy the best of planet earth’s bounty.
When you substitute ingredients it creates a balance in the ecosystem. Nuts and beans are better than fresh fish to add more taste to any salad dressing. Look out for new recipes to increase your food consumption habits.
You need to continuously care for the environment. Choosing the right diet with leafy veggies are the best habits to adopt. The planet of course has its own way to restore and energize itself, but as a species if we make a little contribution it helps.
Improve your waistline and prevent damage to the environment
Browse the following link to know how avoiding meat & dairy can prevent damage to the earth.
Many chefs, food influencers and cookbook authors give inspiring interviews. Documentaries create awareness of plant-based diets. The narrative followed by a documentary called Forks over Knives changed the lifestyle of many Americans in 2011. Since then, advocating plant-based diets by food authorities and influencers is increasing. The fact that many diseases can be controlled by using plant-based food sources is opening up the avenue to a better lifestyle.
The power of social media cannot be denied as many food influencers worldwide recommend plant-based diets to their followers. They are actually proving to us that a well balanced plant-based diet can reverse some chronic illnesses. It is sustainable and most climate friendly in comparison to other diets. Would you be surprised to know that young adults and millennials are turning vegan and influencing their tribe to switch to alternative food habits?
Ellie Bullen a nutritionist based in Australia is just 25 years old and she runs a blog and a food business. Her cookbooks are all about vegan cooking and so is her e-commerce store that sells eco-friendly produce. She is a huge influencer with a long list of Instafam. Thanks to the new breed of millennial there is a vast change in eating habits of the older generations.
Angela Liddon is yet another popular influencer who offers the perfect plant-based recipes to her jam-packed and die-hard followers. She focuses on picky kids and promotes comfort and easy to make meals. Her popularity grows with ‘Oh she glows’ as she routinely publishes material online.
Due to influencers like these ladies even celebrities have adopted plant-based diets to save the environment. Being ethical, cruelty free to animals and forsaking meat-based meals is becoming popular. They are creating the biggest awareness and pushing healthier alternatives to live. What can be more comforting and compassionate to watch well known people who add their weight behind plant-based foods. Some of them include actress Natalie Portman who is vegan. She read Jonthan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals. She understood the need to change immediately and go green for the sake of her health and the planet of course.
Alicia Silverstone, another actress and also an author of vegan cookbook (The Kind Diet) offers scientifically backed studies to this new life. Her work is only next to Forks Over Knives in creating the impact for turning away from meat and dairy products.
These are just a few growing tribes of eco-warriors making the difference. It is high time we stop hurting other species to survive. They share the planet with us and we need to be more compassionate towards them. There would be no harm in changing food habits that promote wellness.
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