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Holistic Living
Think Globally, Eat Consciously
by Marilyn Beidler
It’s Monday morning. With your alarm clock still ringing in your ears, you stumble into the kitchen, pour some corn flakes into a bowl, and douse them with soy milk. The last thing on your mind is clear-cutting in the Brazilian rainforest or the effect of interstate transportation on global warming. Yet there’s a very real connection between the foods you eat and the health of the planet.
From a shopper’s perspective, the local supermarket is a modern-day Aladdin’s lamp, effortlessly conjuring up an endless variety of groceries. When food seems to just magically appear, it’s easy to ignore the social, ethical, and environmental implications of our dietary choices. In reality, however, food production only seems effortless. There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes, and the price we pay at the checkout stand isn’t necessarily the biggest or most important cost.
To understand how our food choices affect the environment, we need to begin back at the farm. For many of us, the word “farm” still brings to mind images of red barns and roosters perched on picket fences. But today’s farm is a big, high-tech business. If you’re like most Americans, your humble breakfast was grown with the aid of synthetic chemicals used to boost crop yields and fend off pests. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that American farms use 700 to 800 million pounds of pesticides per year, accounting for up to 80 percent of total pesticide use in the United States.
Then there are chemical fertilizers, which American farmers use by the millions of tons. These fertilizers are loaded with nitrogen, which makes for bigger plants and richer harvests. But when nitrogen washes into rivers, lakes, and oceans, it can lead to the overgrowth of algae and bacteria. These tiny organisms then deplete the water of oxygen, resulting in an underwater wasteland devoid of fish and other life.
Even if your corn flakes and soy milk were conventionally grown, they at least have one thing going for them: they’re plant-based, and therefore much less resource-intensive than animal-based foods. If you had opted for bacon, eggs, and a dollop of cream cheese on your bagel, the environmental impact of your breakfast would have been dramatically higher. It takes up to 10 times as many natural resources to raise livestock as it does to grow plant foods.
If your corn flakes and soy milk were grown organically, give yourself another gold star. But you’re still not home free. Although it takes plenty of petroleum to manufacture pesticides and keep tractors running, food production accounts for only 10 to 20 percent of the energy that went into your breakfast. The other 80 to 90 percent was used to process the food, package it, ship it to your supermarket, and keep it cool until you brought it home. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, food travels an average of 1,500 miles before it reaches your kitchen table. And while it’s nice to have a year-round supply of Chilean grapes, Mexican tomatoes, Argentinean beef, and New Zealand lamb, this convenience comes with a hefty environmental price tag. When you add up the fuel consumed by tractors, big-rig trucks, cargo ships, and all the rest, you find that the food industry accounts for one-fifth of U.S. petroleum consumption.
If these facts have left you feeling discouraged, the good news is that changing the way you eat is one of the simplest and least expensive steps you can take to help the environment. Although you can’t eliminate your environmental footprint altogether, you can significantly reduce it. Eating sustainably means choosing organic foods whenever possible. It means eating more fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables. It’s eating lower on the food chain by going vegan, vegetarian, or using meat as a condiment, rather than the main course. It’s buying foods in bulk or in recyclable packaging. A good way to start is to shop regularly for fresh produce at your grocery store or farmer’s market. Bring a grocery list, but be flexible. Look for recipes that incorporate local ingredients, and adapt your favorite dishes to include whatever foods are in season at the moment.
By making these changes, you’ll not only be helping the environment, you’ll be doing your health a favor as well. A diet that emphasizes whole grains and legumes, along with fresh fruits and vegetables, can reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, Type II diabetes, and many other chronic ailments.
A sustainable diet also has its unexpected pleasures. A fresh, organic, locally-grown peach or tomato is a luscious treat—entirely different from its out-of-season counterpart, which was picked green and shipped hundreds, if not thousands of miles. Eating locally can help increase our awareness of the natural world and of the changing seasons. It’s also an invitation to expand our culinary horizons. As creatures of habit, many of us go on eating the same half-dozen foods, day in and day out. But when you eat locally, your menu is always changing. Spring brings an abundance of fresh greens. Salads and fresh fruit help us cool down during the balmy summer months. Then comes the autumn harvest of nuts, squash, and root vegetables, which provide hearty nourishment through the winter.
If you’re serious about living sustainably, it’s important to think about the way you eat. Fortunately, eating sustainably is good for you and the environment. Even if there isn’t room enough in your budget for a solar water heater or a new Prius, you can start eating more sustainably the next time you go to the supermarket.
Marilyn Beidler is the founder of La Jolla Health Coach and the author of Everyday Wellness: Fifty Simple Steps to Lifelong Health. To download her free e-book, “Nine Common Health Mistakes,” visit www.lajollahealthcoach.com/VE. You can also reach Marilyn by calling 858.429.5750 or e-mailing marilyn@lajollahealthcoach.com.