The Food Factor

How To Make Changes That Help Tip the Scale

There is no question that the meat industry takes the trophy as the biggest negative factor in the environment’s health. But packaged foods also have a complicated journey to reach us, and even the produce and raw ingredients at the store or farmer’s market have a story to tell about their role in environmental sustainability.

When taking into consideration how the overall food system is contributing to our environmental problems, there are two major things we can all do to help: diet changes and purchasing decisions.

Let’s pause here before you start trying to imagine a world without a holiday turkey, pepperoni pizza and sloppy hamburgers. There is no doubt that food holds emotional value and is a substantial part of our lives. Rest assured, you don’t have to become a vegan or vegetarian to make a positive contribution in the food factor.

Just like choosing to make purchases from eco-brands vs pollution-giants (for lack of a better term), there are small pivots we can all make throughout our chosen lifestyles that give the world a helping hand.

Choosing What We Eat

First, let’s take a look at diet choices starting with some helpful definitions. It may seem like a trivial thing to address what being a vegan or vegetarian means. But over the past few years since I became a vegetarian for environmental reasons, I have been surprised to learn that there are a number of perspectives, and assumptions, about these diets.

Vegan: One that abstains from consuming all animal flesh as well as animal products.

Vegetarian: Has a diet that excludes the consumption of all meat, poultry, fish and seafood.

Pescatarian: A person that has a vegetarian diet with the exception that they also eat fish and seafood.

Flexitarian: Yep, this is a real term. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (no this is not an affiliate link to sell dictionaries!): “one whose normally meatless diet occasionally includes meat or fish.”

Omnivore: This is a category where a majority of people live: a diet that contains foods from both animal and plant origin.

Carnivore: While this term is usually used to describe the diet of certain animals, it can be considered a human diet heavily focused on animal flesh.

According to a 2018 survey by a leading market research company, the following is a global breakdown of these diets:

• Omnivorous 73%
• Flexitarian 14%
• Vegetarian 5%
• Vegan 3%
• Pescatarian 3%

With the clear and direct link from our food consumption to the climate’s health, eating less meat will undoubtfully make the planet healthier. So, if you aren’t ready to switch over to portobello jerky (YUM, btw!) or bring a soyrizo pizza (also YUM) to your next hangout with friends, there are other options.

A lot of people have supported the movement by working in a few days a week of no-meat meals, cutting out red meat altogether or finding super-responsible and local ways to purchase the animal products they do choose to consume. This brings us to the second way to make a difference:

Choosing How We Obtain Food

ALL the food we eat comes from somewhere. Most of that “somewhere” is from factories that package foods. But did you ever wonder about where they get their ingredients? How far those ingredients had to travel to get to them? The amount of water used or pollution created to make the food, package it and ship it to your local store?

I know what you’re thinking: “Whoa! That’s a lot of heavy thinking needed for simple meal prep.” And it is.

The best way to simplify taking action is start by buying local produce and minimizing packaged food purchases. It doesn’t mean you have to drive the distance to hit your local farms every weekend or stop eating some of your favorite snacks. It is all about awareness and small changes where it makes sense.

If you live in an area within 100 miles of farmland, there is a good chance that those local farms have a weekly delivery option right to your front door. Opting to buy produce this way let’s you vet and choose your food source, eliminate processing and packing pollution and substantially lower that transportation-carbon-footprint of shipping.

For those that haven’t seen a farm in any direction near their home—ever—there are other options. You can reach out to your local grocery stores and ask where they source most of their produce. If super-local options aren’t available, finding a place that sources their produce from even US-based farms is a great start. Again, that means the food has a shorter journey from being picked to hitting your table.

The more stops that can be eliminated from the food-to-table journey, the better.

The same goes for other packaged foods. You’d be surprised how many packaged foods might be from a local business! And if you’re really out in a remote area, there are a number of online eco-brands that carry packaged foods sourced from environmentally-sound companies. And most of them offer offset carbon emissions shipping.

If common phrases like organic, natural, gluten-free, free-range, vegan and even local feel a little unauthentic to you though, well, that sounds about right. While these terms were originally created from a good place to assure people they were purchasing food that was good for them and the environment, the market has become oversaturated with these keywords. It doesn't mean the claims may not be true, but its always a best bet to review the nutritional label on the box and ingredients when purchasing packaged foods.

Bottom Line

Food is life! Whether your perspective on that is literal, or if you’re a foodie like me who also believes food is medicine, it is true—food is life. What better reason is there to invest a bit of your time making sure that food gives you the best fuel possible while being gentle on our planet?