By Amar Laila, Postdoctoral Fellow, EAT-Lancet 2.0 Commission, Stockholm Resilience Centre, University of Guelph, Alicia Martin, PhD Student, Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, Katherine Eckert, PhD Student, Applied Human Nutrition, University of Guelph, and Cristina Gago, Assistant Professor of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health.
This article was republished by The conversation Canada under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The systems that move food from production to fork are responsible for almost a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, significant biodiversity losses and global land and water degradation – with clear impacts on human health. Waste is a key step in global food systems and also has significant environmental impacts.
To be clear, achieving true sustainability in food systems is a challenge for producers, retailers and everyone involved in the global food system. It requires systemic change through policy and programmatic interventions to support the production and availability of plant-based foods, while placing greater emphasis on providing sustainable alternatives to the consumer.
While system-level changes are critical, individuals can be important players in mitigating ecological damage. The four steps in this article can help you live healthier while making a positive impact on the health of the planet.
Eating sustainably?
Sustainable nutrition takes into account all phases of the food system/cycle, from production to disposal.
An estimated 20 to 50 percent of annual food waste in Canada is consumer or household waste. That equates to approximately 79 kilograms (167 pounds) of food waste per year for each Canadian household.
The most shocking thing is that over 60 percent of this waste is avoidable food waste or food that could have been eaten but was thrown away for various reasons, such as spoilage.
Research from 2022 found that the average Canadian household’s food waste is about $1,300 per year – a figure that could be much higher by now. Worse still, most food waste consists of fruits and vegetables, which contain important nutrients like fiber and some vitamins that most Canadians don’t eat enough of anyway.
There is clear and conclusive evidence that including high levels of plant-based foods in our diets is both healthier for our bodies and better for the environment. But despite all this evidence, changing our diets can be difficult.
There are several factors that make sustainable eating difficult, including the cost of ingredients, issues with food availability and accessibility, lack of knowledge about preparing plant-based foods, and lack of time.
With rising food prices and the proliferation of highly processed junk food throughout the food sector, these challenges to sustainable nutrition are becoming increasingly greater.
Also, remember that sustainable plant-based meals can be significantly less expensive than takeout and expensive animal products, and with a little practice, they can be prepared much faster. While meal prep is time-consuming, there are ways to streamline the process and make it more enjoyable. These four tips can help.
Simple steps
So how can you incorporate sustainable eating into your life? To help you do this, we’ve used our expertise as researchers in food systems, behavioral nutrition, sustainable eating, and nutrition literacy to help you on your journey to a more sustainable diet.
- Plan your shopping and meals:
- Replace meat with plant-based proteins by trying new recipes. Below are some of our favorite websites and recipes:
- Use leftovers and reduce food waste:
- Letting go of guilt:
- We often put pressure on ourselves. But changing our habits takes time. Practice mindfulness and enjoy the flavors and smells of the new foods you try.
- While some of these resources and recipes are vegan, we, the authors, are not recommending that everyone adopt a completely vegan diet (none of us are vegan). Instead, we hope these resources will help you develop the habit of incorporating more plant-based meals into your diet, such as cutting out meat on Mondays, and developing a more flexitarian or vegetarian lifestyle.
In addition to systemic changes in our food systems, small, consistent individual changes – like the ones we’ve described above – can have large systemic impacts. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Knowing where to start to eat more sustainably can be challenging and anxiety-inducing. At its core, however, sustainable eating is about reducing our meat consumption and food waste in our households.
We can all make positive steps, but no one is perfect. Consider what changes fit your lifestyle and commit to doing your part wherever and whenever you can. We hope some of the recommendations and resources we’ve provided here will help you eat more sustainably.
The conversation Canada is always looking for new academic collaborators. University of Guelph researchers interested in writing articles should contact the U of G News Service.
