Eco-friendly healthy eating and living top tips

We’re fast beginning to understand that we need to look after ourselves and our planet. But the two need not be mutually exclusive. 

Greenhouse gas emissions, food production, and consumption impact on the environment by contributing to water scarcity, food waste and pollution, reduced biodiversity, including declining fish stocks, and deforestation as a result of the way that crops such as soya and palm are grown. 

With this, global warming and rising sea levels, overflowing landfill sites and a scarily increasing fuel prices, it’ll benefit the planet and your wallet to live a little greener. If you’re not sure where to start here are our top tips for eco-friendly eating and living: 

1. Think global but act local

It’s definitely worth checking out your local farmers market for fresh, locally grown produce that isn’t swathed in plastic wrap and has travelled hundreds of miles by sea/air/road to get to you. Not only will you be supporting your local business, your food will be more nutritious as it’s had less time sitting around before it’s been eaten.

2. Go veggie a few times per week 

Meat production, unfortunately, costs the environment when it’s produced in vast quantities. Forests are being cut down to make space to raise cows for meat, vast quantities of water are needed to raise livestock, and many greenhouse gases are produced (by cows and man!) all to put meat on your plate. You don’t have to be vegan to help the planet, but by eating just a few more vegetarian meals each week, you’ll be doing the environment a big favour.

3. Eat with the seasons

It’s definitely worth getting to know what produce is in season and when in the country you live in. This minimises the emissions and environmental impact of buying imported food. If the food you want to buy isn’t readily available in the UK, it’s also worth only buying it when it’s in season in the country of origin. This reduces the environmental impact of growing food out of season (which might involve pesticides and even genetic modification).

4. Eat your beans 

Legumes take nitrogen gas from the atmosphere and produce ammonia, which is biologically useful for plants and other organisms. Beans (like peas, lentils and alfalfa) can convert up to 285kg of nitrogen per hectare planted, reducing or eliminating the need for fossil fuel-based fertilisers and saving up to 600kg of CO2 emissions per hectare. The higher the demand, the better it is for the planet.

5. Eat sustainably-sourced fish  

The appetite for fish has grown rapidly over the past 50 years, and the world has seen increased industrialisation of the fish industry. As a result, we’ve seen the bycatch of endangered, threatened and/or vulnerable species as well as young fish who haven’t had a chance to breed yet, and damage to marine habitats caused by certain types of fishing gear. 

The increased demand for fish has also seen an intensive growth in farmed fish (aquaculture), which has led to its own set of environmental issues: presence of diseases and parasites (i.e. sea lice) can as a result of a high concentration of fish in each pen (and can even affect wild fish), pollution can include fish faecal matter, antibiotics and toxic chemicals (used to keep netting and cages free of seaweed and barnacles). It’s important to buy fish that isn’t from over-fished stocks and fish farms. It’s worth taking a look at the Marine Stewardship Council’s website to check out which fish are good to eat and when.

6. Conserve water 

There’s lots you can do to conserve water. Consider watering your plants/garden at night when the plant will be able to absorb more water (losing less to evaporation). It’s also worth remembering to turn off your taps when you aren’t using the water (i.e. when washing your face, brushing your teeth, washing dishes), which will save many gallons of unused water (and money) from going down the drain.

7. Insects might be the future  

Still a relatively new and radical concept to the western world, insects are a staple food source in many cultures around the world (i.e. toasted grasshoppers in Mexico, fried tarantulas in Cambodia). They represent a credible, alternative source of protein for us in the future, as current livestock operations won’t be able to meet the demands of the growing population of the world. 1 pound of crickets, for example, requires 1 gallon of water, compared to 200 gallons required to produce every pound of beef. 

Whilst plant-based sources of protein offer a more environmentally sustainable source of this vital macronutrient, they are often incomplete (i.e. don’t contain all 9 essential amino acids). Crickets, however, provide more edible protein than beef jerky, require far less land (as they don’t need to roam) as well as micronutrients including iron and B12. To get around the ‘ick’ factor, some manufacturers have ground insects (i.e. crickets) down into a flour and put them into food either for human consumption (i.e. in the form of protein bars) or for consumption by livestock, supporting the healthy growth of chicken, pigs and even some species of fish.

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