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What to Eat for Your Health and That of the Planet?
Why become a flexitarian and avoid ultra-processed foods?
Adopting a flexitarian diet, which is rich in plant-based foods and contains less animal-sourced foods, and limiting ultra-processed foods, can provide benefits both for your own health and that of the environment.
Current food trends around the world are based on a diet rich in calories, processed foods and animal-sourced foods. More than 2 billion adults worldwide are overweight or obese and the prevalence of diabetes has almost doubled in the last 30 years. On the other hand, although global food production has kept pace with population growth in terms of calories, more than 820 million people worldwide remain undernourished and more than 2 billion people are micro-nutrient deficient. A large part of the population is, therefore, not adequately nourished and suffers either from over-nutrition, under-nutrition or malnutrition.
Food production is also the biggest cause of environmental change, contributing to climate change and accounting for up to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and 70% use of resource-limited freshwater. Agriculture occupies about 40% of the world’s land, and the conversion of natural ecosystems to cropland and pastures is the main cause for the threat of extinction for species worldwide. Food production also interferes with global cycles of nitrogen and phosphorus, affects marine ecosystems and contributes to chemical pollution.
Thus, it has been concluded that current food trends combined with an estimated population growth of about 10 billion by 2050 will increase the risks to the planet and the health of populations worldwide.
How can you limit ultra-processed foods?
To limit processed foods, cook more with fresh, local produce whenever possible. Read the labels and avoid buying products that contain more than five ingredients. Avoid foods that contain a lot of added sugar or food additives in the first few ingredients. When you look at a food’s ingredient list, if you see a substance that is not usually used for cooking or an additive except those used to preserve foods (colorant, flavoring, emulsifier, etc.), then you should avoid that food. Here are a few other ingredients to avoid when you read the nutrition labels: palm oil and palm kernel oil, high fructose corn syrup, glucose-fructose syrup.
How to become a flexitarian?
To become a flexitarian, you can gradually reduce your consumption of animal-sourced products and integrate more plant-based foods into your diet. This may include trying a new vegetable each week, or getting into the habit of cooking a vegetarian meal at least once a week. SOS Cuisine offers a variety of vegetarian (semi-vegetarian, pescetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian) and vegan meal plans and recipes to help you make the transition to the type of vegetarianism of your choice, at your own pace, while giving you simple and delicious plant-based recipe ideas.
Reference
- Walter Willett et coll. (2019) Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet Commission; S0140-6736(18)31788-4.
Author
Kathryn holds a Bachelor Degree in Nutrition as well as a Bachelor and a Master Degree in Kinesiology, all from Laval University. She is a Registered Dietitian and active member of the Ordre professionnel des Diététistes Nutritionnistes du Québec (ODNQ) and of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She holds the Monash University's certification for the FODMAP diet and IBS, and has considerable clinical experience in that area. She is also an accomplished athlete, having ran track and cross-country at a national level. Kathryn specializes in sports nutrition, weight loss, diabetes, as well as heart and gastrointestinal health.
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