What is the most sustainable diet – When you decide to take your health seriously, often the first thing you will do is check your diet. After all, nutrition is the key that really unlocks the door to proper physical health.
Exercise is a necessary component, but exercise relies on good nutrition whereas nutrition doesn't necessarily rely on exercise for its effects to be harnessed.
When we look at good nutrition, we typically just look at 2 simple things with complex substructures. These things are quality and quantity of nutrition. Quality is a measure of the density and variety of nutrients and specifically the inclusion of essential nutrients
Quantity is both a measure of physical volume and energy value. But there is another factor that we really need to start considering when it comes to deciding on good nutrition, and that's cost.
The Cost Of Good Nutrition
Cost, in this case, isn't just the retail value of an individual food item. Cost is also the overall impact food has from the ground to the gut. What does it really take for a meal to arrive on your plate and the tradeoffs involved from a social, economic and environmental level?
This article will see, what is the most sustainable diet. What really goes into the food we put in our mouth and what to do to make better food choices, not just for our own improved health, but for the health of the world and people around us.
Before we get into that, maybe you’d like to take a look at our Life Renu Store. Here we have a selection of amazing health-boosting supplements, so please take a look. And without further ado, let's get into how we can sustain our sustenance.
What Is Sustainable Nutrition?
Sustainable nutrition is food whose production can be carried out continuously, without disruption or reinvestment of significant resources.
This would mean that it also has little impact on the environment and is a net positive for its economy.
Sustainable food production is aimed at limiting environmental and social impact through:
- Using organic fertilizers
- Seasonal crop rotation
- Use of nonindustrial, organic pesticides and herbicides
- Not compromising existing ecosystems and integrating with natural biomes
- Avoiding genetic modification
- Humane treatment of livestock
- Limiting carbon footprint of supply chain
- Ethical management of human resources (fair wages and benefits, health and safety, job security)
To be able to tell if these conditions are being met, you need to consider a few things.
What Is The Most Sustainable Diet
1. Where was it grown?
The area in which food is grown plays a major part in determining its cost and impact. Take, for example, the massive amount of deforestation that takes place in order to clear soy fields in the Amazon.
Good nutrition does not impact the environment in such a way. Sustainable growing spaces such as columnar greenhouses are a new way to improve the impact of agriculture on the environment.
2. How was it grown?
How something is grown is also a major factor. Allowing food to naturally germinate and mature or allowing animals to naturally grown and feed is ideal.
Unfortunately, a lot of the food we eat undergoes some form of short cut in production. Either through genetic modification before growing or manipulation during the growth phase. This can render food less nutritional and even harmful depending on what process was involved.
Gene splicing, use of hormones and antibiotics as well as various treatment chemicals can all play a role in declined quality. Try to go for organic and free-range. Make sure the foods you eat are certified and not just stated as free-range or organic.
3. Who grew and picked it for you?
The human impact of nutrition doesn't just count towards you. It's also all the people involved in getting that food on your plate. From the farmhands to the check out clerk.
How has the food you’re about to eat affected those responsible for producing it? What are their working conditions? Are they too old or too young to work? Do they get paid enough and have decent benefits?
Chocolate is an example of food whose production has had a negative social impact on locals in the West African region. Look for the Fair Trade certification as a good indicator.
4. How did it get to you?
Plane, train or truck, your food needs to be transported somehow. If its imported then it's sure to have some kind of negative environmental impact. Try and go directly from the source. Farmers markets are a great way to limit the impact food transportation has on the environment.
5. What steps did it take?
The steps it took for the food to be ready for you to eat it are an important consideration. Both for the impact those processes have on the environment, and how those processes will affect the nutrient quality.
Heavy processing techniques can leak a lot of pollution into the ecosystem as well as decrease the quality of the food you eat. You also need to consider packaging and storage techniques.
Conclusion
What we eat needs to ultimately keep us healthy, What is the most sustainable diet. sure you can get away with a cheat meal or two, but in general, your aim should be good nutrition.
This shouldn't come at the cost of the environment or other people, so the other aspect of nutritional goodness that we must always try to consider is what does this food means for everyone and everything else around me.
We hope you enjoyed that, but if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to hit us up in the comments section below.
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