Bananas? What’s that footprint?
1
Jane,
At this point in your life
Enjoy your ice cream!
Oh America, always everything to the enth degree. Never moderation, not even in moderation.
No fish is sustainable.
Farmed fish? One serving of dairy a day? I can cite multiple, well-publicized readily-available books, podcasts, research studies etc etc etc that all draw the same conclusion: animal protein is unhealthy, period, factory farms are killing the planet, period, the abuse animals suffer is horrific, period. Why is it so hard to report these simple truths, and then recommend changes in response? Telling people 'cut back on meat' sends the exact wrong message - like telling a smoker half a pack a day is OK. Will people listen to the truth? Maybe, maybe not, but don't dumb down the advice for crying out loud.
Do better NYT.
4
@SusinIndy Well said.
Even if people in the US eat less meat, the industry won’t produce less. The meat will simply be exported. The US‘ largest pig producer was purchased by a state-owned Chinese company. They are expanding operations in North Carolina to cater to the increased demand by the Chinese consumer for “clean“ American pork. At the same time, pig waste is accumulating in vast manure lakes that make life unbearable for the factories‘ neighbors. They can’t sue because the NC legislature exempted meat producers from claims due to pollution. Changing personal behavior is fine, but political solutions are needed too.
15
Promoting farmed fish is a very misguided piece of advice for those wishing to eat more sustainably. If you actually care, give up that farmed salmon and cheap frozen Trader Joe’s shrimp
9
This article started out being about sustainable eating but quickly devolved to a discussion of “good” and “bad” foods and suggesting that individual food choices are the cause of obesity. The influence of diet culture comes through strong in this article. It was somewhat informative but mostly the author came off as seeking praise for “healthy” eating.
2
seeded oils better than palm oil? I assume you must have read independent, reproducible medical studies, not reading the media. Would it even matter, whatever the oil used in the mass produced junk food,
And if the world were to produce any veg oil on the scale of palm oil, would the energy and impact be less, or that is just an assumption.
First world dictates to the developing world to do this and don't do that, but they have wasted away their forests. So the dev world must keep your forests. Oh it affects your economy, never mind, small matter, besides its your problem...
1
I live in a place where cattle grow on grass, outdoors all year, and unpolluted groundwater available all year - butternut squash as mentioned is imported on a long sea journey. There are no red vegetables in winter except imported, actually the same in summer. Growth is limited. We're now nearing midwinter with 7.5 hours of daylight daily.
I eat foods from this island, potato, carrot, onion, turnip are all that's available- meat is essential for healthy eating, it's traceable to the farm. what I do is I include lesser known cuts, to reduce waste, lamb, and goat when available.
this is sustainable, vegetables imported on a long sea voyage isn't sustainable long term, and they don't grow locally - the growing season is short.
worryingly, this year, there's grass growing in December, as there's been high temperatures 46f rather than the usual 33/4 with 28 overnight.
I'd argue that given the landscape, some meat is essential for survival and to use the land, the local breed isn't like continental American, but suits conditions, and there are no factory farms.
9
@Az We can do the math on that. The average footprint of beef is approximately 60kg of CO2 equivalents(CO2eq) per kg of beef. Grassfed beef is also not necessarily better for the environment in terms of CO2eq emissions so I'll stick with the 60kgCO2eq/kg of product.
Transporting the product on a boat emits only about 23 grams of CO2eq per tonne of product per kilometer. And that is temperature controlled transport, ambient is even less.
So even on a 9000 kilometer cross-ocean journey you'll only emit about 200g of CO2 equivalents for one kilogram of product. That barely puts a dent into the original 60kg. (9000km*23g/1000/1000)
If you take a low-CO2-impact food like Tomatoes(1.4kgCO2eq/kg of product) or Corn(1.0kgCO2eq/kg of product) you end up with a very different and way lower calculation.
5
@Dennis tomato doesn't grow here, 55.6°N
Give up driving, give up meat.Give up airplane trips and vacations in warm climates. Give up gas grills, tale gating at football games, snow mobiles, summer homes, motorboats, air conditioning, fast food, consumerism, let’s just say the American way of life. They tell us that it all has to go to stop global warming. And what will we get in return? Just saving the planets ability to support our civilization. Is it worth it? Most people don’t think so. But it’s not really about what we have to give up, it’s about what we will be able to keep.
4
A friend who suffers from depression constantly asks “What’s the point in all this”. What his harsh words have taught me is that if there is no “all this” to enjoy, to share with friends and family, to wonder about in awe (in respectful moderation) then maybe there is no point. Good for the folks who are vegan and enjoy the food, good for the person who loves a bowl of soup for breakfast. But if those people have lost the joy of making and enjoying a meal, then, what’s the point?
I used to feel so sorry for my friend, who is a millennial. More and more, I am understanding his perspective. If the only goal of edicts to individuals of strict diets, heightened exercise, and limited travel is to “save the planet” (which itself is a goal that even the most optimistic of strategists would find unattainable and unrealistic) and, thus, to ensure perpetuation of our species, then we have a bigger philosophical question to answer…What’s the point? If there is no joy, there is no wonder, there is no anticipation why push on to old age?
4
Plus - 40% of the food in the US goes to waste!
8
So it turns out that we - Homo sapiens sapiens - and chipmanzees - Pan troglodytes - both evolved to eat meat.
Chimps are ravenous for meat; unfortunately for them they don't have the same tools available and so don't get it as often.
Humans eat meat because it provides an essential nutritient not found anywhere but in meat. Look it up.
Go ahead, take a supplement to replace it. I don't care.
Most of us eat meat for no other reason that it tastes good and meets an essential need. And barbeques are social occasions. Or an excuse to drink beer. Or both.
I will not vegetarian or vegan in this lifetime, and I won't apologize for it. The earth will not care whether or not we exist or die. The earth can also support way more humans than currently exist. You may not like the diet of soy and yeast, but it can be done.
Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.
1
@Mark A human's digestive system is designed specifically to process plant material, that is why our intestinal tract is so long in comparison to other animals. Meat tends to rot as it makes the long journey through our digestion. High rates of colon cancer are a common result of consuming a meat based diet.
Cats, both large and small, must eat meat because they do not produce their own taurine (humans do) which can only be found in meat. Their intestinal tract is very short and designed specifically to digest meat.
12
Over the last year our family has become much better at climate friendly eating (like another commenter, I do all the grocery shopping and cooking, so I get to pick!). It's really easy actually and I have my kids to thank-- they think it's mean to kill animals to eat, they don't think humans should destroy the amazon or ruin the arctic, they think it's nuts scarce water is used to grow nuts in the desert to only then export them. So if I say we're having impossible chili and we saved a cow-- everyone cheers.
5
People usually thrive on diets based on what their DNA is used to digesting over the centuries -- such as corn&bean&squash&pepper as staples in Mexico, a rice-based vegetarianism in much of Asia, the meat-base of Aleutian, tubers, plants and seeds of Africa, European omnivorism. Many countries are largely homogenous and have maintained such diets until today.
Dietary choice in the USA is very different because of our multi-cultural heritage. We haven't one shared cuisine! and so we must, each individual by trial and error, figure out what digests well. We have many choices including many that are commercially altered or industrialized and do not reflect any heritage whatsoever. So let's be gentle with ourselves -- and do the best we can for ourselves and our planet. We all have a lot to learn.
3
if you (Jane Brody) & others are still consuming milk & ice cream you're contributing to the suffering of mother cows & their calves...the dairy industry is linked also to suffering & inhumane conditions to these gentle animals.
there is no need as an adult to drink milk, mucous producing & allergy & sinus conditions are a result of milk consumption.
there are many plant based (cashew milk based ice cream you can make at home) alternatives to milk & ice cream .
there is no reason to still continue to promote and consume dairy - even cheese and yogurt with bacteria needed for gut health can replace cow milk & eliminates not only the exploitation & emotional anguish of mother cows & their calves, but also can improve your physical as well as spiritual/emotional health -
by raising awareness of our consciousness & karmic responsibiltty of our Planet & all its inhabitants=
this in the NYTimes today:
We Will Look Back on This Age of Cruelty to Animals in Horror
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/opinion/factory-farming-animals.html?smid=em-share
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/opinion/factory-farming-animals.html?smid=em-share
6
Why isn't New York leading the way by stealthily allocating a portion of building space in restaurant/hotel buildings into indoor plant farms?
2
or we could, get this, work on reducing our population.
we can all eat as high on the hog as we like, so long as there aren't too many of us.
we're overpopulated as it is.
3
Good article, but no mention of ethical hunting for meat. I married a hunter (the first one I’d ever met!) 38 years ago and since then, we’ve eaten free-range, carefully managed (by the state wildlife department) respectfully “harvested” meat that never saw a factory farm fence. Yet my husband still gets occasional flack for killing our meat himself. Pointing to human history, he says, “when did it become wrong to hunt for your own food?”
6
But have you given serious thought to the planetary effects of what you eat and made changes that will protect not only terra firma and surrounding waters but also your health and the well-being of generations to come? Nope and I have no plans to do so.
1
In a world that is choking to death on people, this constant striving for longevity seems counter productive.
9
My wife and I ate some meat (very little red meat, mostly poultry and fish) for many years. In our mid-60s we decided to age in a healthy manner and help provide a healtyh planet for our children and granddaughter.
Within 30 days we had no need or craving for any meat (we do eat 4 ounces of fish every 2 weeks, all sustainably caught locally), we qre 95% plant-based, healtheir and with more energy than ever, now 7 years into this the meals we eat are fabulous, and all plant based. For personal and planetary health, I urge you to begin or accelerate your own journey to a plant-based diet and future.
My children and grandchild thank you.
8
I too rely heavily on dairy, especially whole-milk Greek yogurt, a major source of protein in my largely meat-free diet. I have yet to find a plant-based yogurt with comparable protein. Hope growing awareness will help improve the availability of plant-based protein sources.
3
@Anne Springhorn
You can easily meet and exceed your daily recommended protein requirement on a plant-based diet.
Besides, look up the scientific studies of populations that eat low protein diets - their health is better, and they live longer.
I have a PhD in Crop Sci and focus on sustainable agriculture research. There is scientific consensus that reducing meat consumption results in decreased greenhouse gas emissions and even can take carbon out of the atmosphere. I wanted to share a couple links to articles that describe this well:
--Climate benefits of changing diets
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-008-9534-6
--The importance of reduced meat and dairy consumption for meeting stringent climate change targets
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-014-1104-5?sa_campaign=email/event/articleAuthor/onlineFirst&error=cookies_not_supported&code=69712fa0-329b-4333-abc2-85ddccfe122d
16
"But even if environmental issues are not high on your list of concerns, health should be." At what point will major publications quit hedging like this? For those of us lucky enough to be able to pick and choose our diet based on preference alone, environmental concerns should be at least slightly above individual health concerns. The products we pick for our health will benefit us for the duration of our lives, but the environmental impact of those choices collectively will carry forward long after we are dead in the dirt.
8
@Mara
I think the author realizes/agrees with your point. She is just wisely trying to bring on board whomever she can, with whatever enticement she can, realizing that different people are currently at different levels of consciousness.
6
I cook dinner every night for my family of 5, and when I do my meal planning for the week my goal is always:
1 dinner + 1 leftovers dinner of "red meat" (beef or pork);
1 dinner + 1 leftover dinner of seafood or vegetarian;
and 1 dinner + 1 leftover dinner of poultry or vegetarian
plus 1 night where we order takeout
It's a conscious effort to limit the amount of beef we consume as a family, and to intentionally work in more plant-based options. And because I do the cooking, I have ultimate authority on what we eat!
3
Before consuming "farmed seafood," you may want to do a little research. Massive amounts of antibiotics and fish gill to gill swimming in their own feces is not very appetizing.
19
Not much good to eating meat. Humans were built to eat plants. There is no downside to becoming vegan or even vegetarian - though vegan is better for you. My wife and I switched our diet to a plant based, whole food diet about 2 1/2 years ago (I will be 70 at the end of this year) and we have seen continued improvement in many health markers. On occasion, we have some fish, mainly sardines and once in a while, salmon, but rarely. Dairy is also pretty much off the board. Frankly, we feel no loss, but that may be more difficult for some people. It is a choice. And it is the choice we made. No regrets.
29
@Christopher Glueck Where does your wife get the calcium she needs to prevent worsening osteoporosis ?
7
@Christopher Glueck
I agree about cutting back on eating meat and cutting out factory-raised meat and fish, but I think humans hunted, killed, and ate meat from the beginning.
12
@Bill Ah but it was the development of grains that allowed our brains to develop, form villages by remaining in one place to grow crops, and all that resulted from that.
1
I would be great if people would stop defending the consumption of animal products. Either admit you don’t care, or that you are doing the best you can in your circumstances. Justifying the destruction of ecosystems and torturing/murdering of animals is human privilege.
It is dumbfounding to see so many leftists confront their white, wealthy, cis, hetero, etc. privilege, but the moment that privilege weighs against animals or the planet instead of other humans, there is a free pass. Furthermore, climate change will impact the most marginalized human communities first.
13
@M
My belief is, because humans evolved into our present, large-brain, form from consumption of animal protein & fat, that specific type of food source is the basis of health and not a morality issue.
However, I do agree we must practice more humane animal husbandry, including slaughtering.
And confined animal feeding operations only are good for maximizing business profit.
But not all grazing pasture can support plant farming.
And climate change will not be turned around one bit if we suddenly stopped eating animals.
7
Most of us will not change our eating habits in a useless attempt to save this messed up planet, certainly not when larger things need to be done. Funny how vegans think they are saving the planet.
4
I don’t know of a vegetarian or vegan that thinks they’re saving the planet. We can really only worry about ourselves and perhaps provide information to those interested or willing to listen about the toxic and horrific processes that are factory farming.
13
Great article.
Ms. Brody omitted mention of the the fact that many people, including those who do not have celiac disease, have inflammatory responses to gluten, even in whole grains. Some also have inflammatory reactions to nightshades, eggs, dairy, alcohol, and other foods. Each of us must learn our unique epigenomic responses to the foods we ingest.
6
Thank you Jane Brody. An edition of your cookbook, worn and food stained, remains my main recipe guide.
2
I continue to see these discussions where the environmental cost of moving our food around is not counted as a cost. A good example is bread. I live in an area with at least three really good commercial bakeries, all of which make excellent whole-grain products, yet my local "sustainable" grocery is flooded with "cheaper" product from thousands of miles away because those manufacturers can pay the shelf space fees.
I don't buy it. But if I was less well off, I'd have to. If someone had to pay the carbon cost of moving loaves of bread 2,000 miles, maybe those economies of scale would disappear and we'd have local producers in more places, selling what local peoplecan afford.
19
@Lauren Bread choices are interesting, $6 for organic whole wheat vs $2 for Stroehmann. Some people are going to chose the less expensive option like you said. This comes down to three issues - knowledge of nutrition, priorities, and budget.
4
Climate change needs a professional marketing effort. I don't see the signs of any cohesive campaign in the reading I'm doing. Decide what we need to do based on the current science, create messaging, test it in focus groups across the world, and then start executing the campaign across the world.
The level of discussion is too complex for most people, terms are way above 6th grade reading level, and individual writers are making untested arguments that they themselves find compelling. This is not the way to save the world. I wish some organization would take the lead and get this effort on track.
20
@Tara
I agree. It wasn't eating animals that got us into trouble.
1
That marketing campaign needs to include a plea to limit family size- but no one’s in the land wants to say it. There are too many people on this planet, but that is an unpopular view.
Someone should gently point out to the author that if dairy products are a major part of her diet, she is supporting the very beef production that she claims to eschew. You don’t get milk from the [methane-producing] cows without first producing calves. And what do we do with all those calves? Why, raise ‘em for meat, of course.
20
@Sarah - Even worse, since Holsteins don't pack on as much meat as Herefords, those male dairy calves are raised for veal. Read up about that heinous process if you want to ruin your grilled cheese sandwich.
7
8 billion people are not sustainable no matter what they eat. Implying sustainability is do-able is a huge lie.
At this point irreversible climate change disaster is locked in. At this point you might as well eat anything you want. It will not make much difference anymore. And if you really parse it all out and following all the chains of production, land use, chemical use, packaging and distribution, it's not really all that great a difference. It's all bad, because, again, 8 billion people doing anything on a planet that cannot support that many people sustainably, is, um, unsustainable.
In any case, the luxury or even arguing what to eat will be entirely moot not too far off.
27
This mindset is why we’re in this problem to begin with. If no one is willing to change their lifestyle or fight for the future, there will be no future at all. Imagine if people and politicians 50 years ago, 30 years ago, even 10 years ago had truly thought their actions mattered in solving climate change: we may not be in our current situation. I, for one, am not giving up and will continue to do my personal part along with fighting for systems change.
3
Give up your suv, give up air travel, give up your gas grill, your winter home, your boat, your Winnebago. Give up your AC and your green lawn (at least you won’t need your riding mower any more) as well as your clothes dryer. Now give up meat? This is not the way to get Americans to act on combating global warming.
True if we don’t do all these things, soon it will be too late and we’ll loose everything as the new climate will be unable to support our civilization. But come on, how can we sell the importance of this to the masses if all we talk about is what people have to give up.
5
@Andy Morris-Friedman As long as cruise ships operate and wealthy people fly back and forth across the country or world small choices about food won't matter and food is something necessary and enjoyable. People aren't going to give up a nice steak etc for the goal of saving the planet.
5
Lose not loose.
2
It is a bit amusing to read comments stating no need to change meat based diet, just buying local will nullify the environmental impact or that vegetarian diet is gives rise to iron or other deficiencies. Vast number of Indians are vegetarians without the endemic deficiencies mentioned here, but some of the better off Indians overdo on food with milk fat or cooking with heavy use of vegetable oil that cause heart issues.
9
Incredible to me that the author is suggesting "You can be somewhat more generous with pork, poultry and fish."
Chicken - if nothing else, profound levels of animal suffering caused by inhumane factory farms
Pork - factory farms produce billions of gallons of water pollution, as well as human misery for the people who live nearby, in eastern North Carolina and elsewhere.
Fish - depleting the oceans of wildlife, killing imperiled species such as the almost-extinct Vaquita in the Gulf of California, and wrecking native mangrove habitat with "aquaculture" which almost sounds environmentally friendly until you read about the amount of feces produced.
Don't be "generous" with meat produced by the industrial food system - grow it yourself, buy it from someone you know, or don't eat it at all. You'll live - trust me.
42
@Alex - I know. I should only eat almonds which require massive amounts of water and start my morning with avocado toast which requires those tasty, fatty little green morsels to be transported several thousand miles using fossil fuels.
Vaquita? Never heard of it. Too busy eating Coho salmon, Dungeness crab, oysters, mussels, and other more local items. And please forgive me Planet Earth but I stopped with the local grass raised dairy products and just drink almond milk. But, I haven't bought a gallon of gas in over 10 years or been on a plane since 1991 so it will take a while for my carbon footprint to catch up to all of the vegans who drive to the store in their big SUVs.
1
I don’t know, I’ve been near carrot farms at harvest time and the screaming as they’re plucked from the ground can be unbearable. Don’t even get me going on the cruelty of salad bars.
Weighing in here again-
Cuisines world-wide, and over centuries and centuries were based on local plants, with animal protein for support. Fish if nearby. You ate local. You ate plants mainly.
Wealthy ate more animal protein, a “richer diet”.
There are really lots of recipes, dishes for plants mainly diets.
I don’t personally want to use a lot of packaging like aluminum. But the convenience helps. And recycling too.
7
When I travelled en route to the Grand Canyon, I saw a vast land of almond orchards, newly being built. Of course, the US is the big exporter of almonds and the demand is increasing as the almond milk consumption increases.
Can this almond, a water-thirsty nut tree, growing in a desert, harvested then sent all over the world to be manufactured as “milk” in a tetra pack, be really so much better for the environment than locally grown beef?
20
@Meinmunich
The almond trees don't emit methane.
10
No, but they require vast amounts of precious water and there isn’t much out here in the west where almonds are grown. I also wonder, when I see all the milk made from them, if all the pulp from the nuts goes to waste. Probably.
11
But almond growing is also hazardous to bee populations. And growing almonds in the desert makes absolutely no sense at all. Better to turn to other non-animal “milks” such as oat, although I haven’t investigated how oats are grown and harvested in regard to environmental damage….hey just eat cereal dry, no milk at all!
2
After reading Diet for a Small Planet in 1974 I’ve never eaten another piece of meat. Yes, I occasionally eat canned tuna , canned wild salmon and anchovies. But for most of the past forty seven years it’s been a life of fagiole and the Mediterranean diet . Not eating wheat or sugar is unrealistic for most so urge people to choose moderation in all things. A little sugar is ok. Bake from scratch. Grow or buy local veggies. Buy as much locally as possible including beer and wine .
It’s just as important to minimize packaging. If you can use dried beans over canned ; great. More importantly stop buying out of season fruit shipped from all over the world packaged in clamshells. Meat and fish packaged in styrofoam, prepared packaged foods. Buy wine in boxes and beer in cans and recycle.
We can choose to do what’s best for our planet. Each little act by all of us can help make our small planet a better place.
33
@Mb Oh yes I wish the global transport of food had been addressed. As a rule I don't buy produce that has travelled so far if only because it can't have been picked ripe. Also next time you're selecting frozen fruit check origin; I'm shocked as to how much is from Thailand, croatia, etc and I'm not only referring to mangos but cherries and berries.
8
This is ridiculous. In 50 years when our children and grandchildren ask us why they live in a world of dead oceans, no wildlife & constant food and water shortages we can tell them "Bacon tho" and "Chicken and fish are healthy." The only sustainable diet is wholly plant based and any study or media that suggests otherwise is very wrong and enabling the self destructive & destructive western addiction to cruel and unsustainable foods.
25
Farmed fish, GROSS!
12
Yep. Until the “farms” clean up their act. Who knows what the poor things are fed. Other than Antibiotics. I hear tilapia is the worst. Sustainable healthy fish farms are possible though! I am on the lookout.
4
No, and I have no intention of doing so because the author is a nag and makes no attempt to give individuals the benefit of the doubt.
I chose what is considered a sustainable lifestyle not because of trendy nags like this looking to make a name for themselves but because my choices were rooted in my family, my culture, and my taste.
Keep your controlling other people’s lifestyle impulses to yourself.
And please, all you people who feel so self important and get your jollies by demeaning people who don’t act as you do, stuff it..
3
@Rugger Yeah, don't tread on me! What really matters is FREEDOM! (to destroy the planet)
28
@Rugger Should we ask Rugger's vaccination status?
3
@Rugger Your family, your culture and your ability to indulge your tastes are dependent on having a sustainable Earth to support them. You are ignoring a whole lot of reality just to indulge some indignant feelings, and if you think this lady is a "nag", you haven't really met one.
3
Many heritage, traditional or related approaches to eating - used animal products in support roles.
Soups, salads, casseroles, gratins, pies so forth - there really are so many paths for centering the dish with grains or beans; then lots of vegetables; why not some chicken, beef whatever ( a little goes a long way). Herbs, sure. 4-5 ounces a week of meat, I could try that challenge
Thrifty too. Canned black beans, white beans, garbanzo so forth. Canned diced tomatoes. So forth. And frozen veges and fruits too. Convenience.
Farmers markets are great, of course bit expensive - and a good role in your cuisine. This weeks vegetable trimmings, frozen, can be next weeks quarts of vegetable stock.
3
It's likely that the real culprit is not the wrong kind of food but that we eat too much of it, and even then more than a third of what we buy gets thrown away. I've for a year cut my portions in half of what they were and can state with confidence: No damage done!
Maybe that's where we need to start.
11
Farmed shellfish and fish are horrible for the environment. Numerous studies have shown the damage done, not to mention the terrible feed that's used.
12
My husband and I have been eating a plant-based diet for 12+ years with an occasional sushi indulgence for a celebration - for example when he turned 70 this year. We both still run - he completed a 60 km trail run in the Colorado mountains in August and is preparing to run the Wasatch Front Trail 100 mile race in 10 days time. Not bad for an old man! He and I are both convinced that it is our plant-based eating that has allowed this.
20
US should cease subsidizing the meat and dairy industries.
44
@Michelle
Why?
Can I examine your lifestyle and demand you change what I personally don’t think benefits the planet?
Like, if you wear cotton, one of the most water wasting crops in the world, grown, harvested, spun and woven in underdeveloped countries where child labor and substandard wages are endemic?
5
@Rugger She's suggesting the gov't stop subsidizing industries that are bad for the environment and our health -- she doesn't say anything about you changing your behavior.
The way Americans typically eat is pretty terrible for both them and the planet. No matter how much someone loves eating cheeseburgers, this fact won't change. And to some degree, one's eating habits do affect other people--because when people on a typical American diet get diabetes, get cancer, get heart disease--diseases that have well-established links to obesity and the typical American diet--it raises healthcare costs for everyone, puts a strain on the system generally and has untold adverse affects on society and the economy (e.g. number of sick days taken by obese employees vs. those of healthy weight).
So nobody is telling you what you MUST do. But even if you conclude people are perfectly entitled to keep consuming what they want regardless of its consequences--they're not necessarily entitled to do it on the cheap. (The US already spends the smallest percentage of household income on food than any other country).
I will look into what you said about cotton. I hope you'll consider what I've written here just as respectfully.
14
Why are these types of articles not fact checked? Too many of her basic premises are just factually incorrect. Americans in 1900 got most of their protein from meat/fish/game
“Infants were fed beef even before their teeth had grown in. The English novelist Anthony Trollope reported, during a trip to the United States in 1861, that Americans ate twice as much beef as did Englishmen. Charles Dickens, when he visited, wrote that “no breakfast was breakfast” without a T-bone steak. Apparently, starting a day on puffed wheat and low-fat milk—our “Breakfast of Champions!”—would not have been considered adequate even for a servant.
Indeed, for the first 250 years of American history, even the poor in the United States could afford meat or fish for every meal. The fact that the workers had so much access to meat was precisely why observers regarded the diet of the New World to be superior to that of the Old.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/how-americans-used-to-eat/371895/
In addition, until the Depression, Americans were on average some of the tallest people on the planet.
Sustainability is a very important issue (really the most important issue) but it is not served well when people communicate false information.
12
@Dh Trollope and Dickens as sources for your info? Ask any tourist to tell us about diets of places they've visited and you will not get an accurate picture. My own family in the 1950-60's didn't eat meat daily - we couldn't afford it!
3
So again most of us know this, so when is the Action of a large amount of people going to change. I don’t mind the small meat raised beef, pork, etc, but no meat period otherwise.
1
I'm skeptical that market demand by consumers will drive the change needed to halt climate change effects. Firstly, because it takes more time than we have. Secondly, because the powers (mega-corporations) behind our reckless habits are unwilling to change while profits are still achievable. They will wage marketing campaigns to seduce consumers and lobbying campaigns to lure politicians to protect them.
The real solutions combine market demand, consumer expectations and education, and politicians with the courage to actually defend their constituents and the earth.
13
@Nancy
“Powers behind our reckless habits.”
Um didn’t we choose our reckless habits?
Isn’t that our right?
1
I compustopped eating pork and chicken at the age of 10 and red meat at 20 because I’d read about the impact of meat production on the earth. In the 1980s people laughed at vegetarians. I’m now 52 and except for a recent return to eating chicken and beef once a month or so I’ve stuck to fish and seafood a couple of times a week and a plant based diet. After reading this, I’m realizing it’s time to go back to the vegetarian/pescatarian way of eating. I’m curious about other readers - why are you still eating meat, now that we know how devastating it is to our climate and environment? Imagine stopping climate change entirely just by giving up the meat industry - or just drastically reducing it! Isn’t it worth it?
13
@Liv
Please don't call yourself a vegetarian if you consume anything from the animal kingdom. There is no such thing as a vegetarian/pescatarian unless you define your diet on a daily basis. You are properly known as a flexitarian - someone who eats both plants and animals.
No insinuation that one is superior to the other, just very tired of hearing people exclaim "I'm a vegetarian, but I still eat fish and chicken". It's as tiring as those who think vegan and vegetarian are interchangeable.
8
Eating ocean fish is one of the WORST things you can do for the environment
5
@Liv It wasn't climate change that lead me to a plant diet, it was my health and the idea of becoming a cog in the "elderly" medical wheel. I turned 65 (and on no meds) in January, and my "welcome to medicare" check up revealed that I had high cholesterol and was prediabetic. I was also somewhat overweight. Without one question about my lifestyle, my doctor wanted to prescribe statins. I declined and told her I'd try lifestyle changes first. I found Dr. Esselstyn's book (and then Dr. Campbell's, and so many more) and I went whole foods plant based with no oil, sugar, or salt. It has worked. Six months later I am 35 pounds lighter, my blood levels are well within normal range, and I feel better than I ever have. Since then I have learned just how destructive my SAD (standard American diet) had been to not just the health of ALL Americans, but also to our planet. I am gladly continuing to eat this way the rest of my life, for myself, my children, and my grandchildren.
3
Well….let’s not forget the animals (you know those sentient beings we share the earth with?). If you are unaware of the cruelty of “factory farming” animals and you care, educate yourself. Pigs and goats are as intelligent as our pet dogs and cats yet we treat them as “commodities”. I live in rural Montana where I can observe herds of cattle. They have friends, they play, cows are affectionate & protective of their calves and mourn when separated from them. And after a cow has given several calves but has become less “productive” she’s sent to a slaughterhouse as a reward for her service to humans.
How about we stop eating meat because we have protein choices and don’t NEED to eat meat?
30
@Kathleen Olivia
So how do you earn a living?
3
I think the message got lost in the article - is it about sustainability, or health? In trying to be both, I found it was very scattered and neither. I agree - we need to eat a more plant based diet for our own health and that of the planet - but spiraling to point out every 'evil' of our diet like white rice felt out of touch and detracted from the main point of the article. Plus, the consistent messaging about the evils of saturated fats throughout the article was distracting - there is not good evidence showing that saturated fat itself is the culprit of our health issues, and is in fact likely healthy in moderation. This subject is so important to educate our population about, and this delivery is really disappointing.
8
If farmed salmon are fed corn, they have omega-6 fat, not omega-3. Grass-fed beef has omega-3, not omega-6 fat, if it's cooked properly at low temperatures. Industrial farms are the problem, and they get subsidies. Crazy.
17
I’m not going to lose sleep over my grocery list when giant corporations are allowed to continue producing greenhouse gases with little-to-no accountability. Please stop writing these pieces that try to shift the blame onto individual consumers when the root cause is a failure to act by governments big and small.
26
@Bobby Z Well said. I agree completely. Corporate pollution, cruise ships, people who travel by plane, none of them have credibility telling us what groceries to buy.
3
OMG...the EAT-Lancet diet sounds like a health disaster...plant based diet with grains, legumes, potatoes, bread...all those carbs that turn into sugar (glucose). Grains, legumes, and potatoes contain lectins, which are toxins inherent in them to keep humans and other species from eating them. Cattle raised on grass is not bad for the earth. Cattle can sequester water and carbon in the soil when rotated from pasture to pasture. Think buffalo herds and tall prairie grass. It's the CAFO meats which are toxic to eat and bad for the Earth. Avoid CAFO (Confined Animal Factory Operations) eggs, meats, dairy to help the Earth. Eat organic vegetables and fruits grown on regenerative soil. Eat small amounts of grass finished, organic beef, pork, lamb, chicken, eggs, raw goat milk and cheeses. Grow your own veggies. Not all food is created equal. Be mindful of how you vote with your dollar; vote real food, vote organic, vote grass finished. Feed your cells, not your mouth. Don't eat anything with sugar in it or that turns into sugar.
11
This is misinformation - most of those foods containing lectins are foods that get cooked, and cooking temperatures break down and deactivate lectin.
14
Also need to stop eating factory farmed fish
2
I would recommend replacing "can of chickpeas" with homemade chickpeas in your earthy recipe and don't waste expensive aluminum.
11
@Soha don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!!
13
@Soha
You grow your own chick peas? Cool.
1
The world population in 20 years will need 70% more protein to survive. Think about it. We need more efficiency, broader points of distribution to meet this need. I suggest that there is a need to double check Lancet determination as there is conflicting evidence.
2
The missing link in all informative reports like this involves human population numbers. Just add "all human couples should be encouraged to have 2 or less biological children of their own during their lifetime." Why is it so difficult for people to think simple and long term?
28
Since we throw away a third of the food we produce I swallowed my pride (and and save a lot of money) sorting through dated and imperfect produce and other such items when food shopping. The
Diet for a Small Planet cook book by the way is more relevant than ever.
10
I've been eating mostly vegetarian with dairy consisting mostly of nonfat Greek yogurt for at least 20 years to help keep my cholesterol in check without statins. Once you get used to not planning meals around a meat, you will find the wide variety of delicious recipes astounding. One easy one I like: sauteed onion and garlic with spinach, cumin and black pepper mixed in(I don't cook with salt) topped with drained and rinsed canned chickpeas over brown rice or another whole grain. Tasty, healthy, filling and easy to make.
8
It is tricky since we spend a lot of the world’s energy (and other key resources) to produce meat. In developing countries, a society usually ‘feels’ that it is ‘doing better’ when people are eating more meat, and drinking more Coke.
Oddly, Mexico became the #1 country where people are more overweighted (source: the Economist). More and more, the pattern of eating more meat and drinking more carbonated drinks will repeat. Just as ‘investing in education’ pays off, being able to break this pattern also pays off.
A Brazilian (former) marathon runner once told me: ‘if you want less hospitals and jails, you should be building more stadiums and gyms’. I still wonder if that were true.
4
Please, don’t recommend farmed fish.
30
Government policy, influenced by the agribusiness industry, will have to change. As it is meat production is an environmental disaster and meat is cheap. Until this changes, our individual decisions will not make much difference. We need expensive meat to make a difference.
13
start by eliminating all the subsidies for beef production, then phase outhe dairy subsidies.
23
Maybe just eat what you like in moderation , enjoy your food , stop telling other how to live their lives and maybe everyone will stop being so angry. Life is meant to be enjoyed.
33
Let's abolish factory farms for animals. They're an abomination. We need small locally distributed organic farms.
71
It’s not just the impact of your food choices on the planet, it’s blowing up public and private healthcare budgets. You eat irresponsibly, get obese and diabetic and expect others to pay for the consequences of your bad nutrition. Get real folks. 70% of Chinese and Americans are overweight, obese or diabetic. Why should I pay for your irresponsible eating behavior?
13
@Charlie Chan Same thing done by people who smoke and drink, they drive up the prices of healthcare.
1
What is quite off about Jane Brody’s article and many of the responses is that sustainability of the earth can’t depend on everyone’s personal likes and dislikes.
14
@Kathy Barker - But it _will_ depend on everyone's personal likes and dislikes, information and imagination, regardless of what you or I want. We are in this boat together and there's no disembarking. Making it palatable has a roll to play unless we want to kill people in order to savoir them.
5
This information has been around a long time, since Diet for a Small Planet in the '60s, but thanks for reminding us, Jane. I look forward to reading the conference recipes.
I think more people would adhere to these principles if they knew an easy way to do it and were sure the result would be something they actually enjoyed. Many of us grew up with a meta-recipe: some kind of meat + some kind of starch + some vegetable = dinner. On a busy week night, this was relatively quick and easy. Take away the meat, and we're adrift. But I've come up with an equivalent: some whole grain (brown rice, bulgur, quinoa, buckwheat) topped with some cabbage-family veg (broccoli, Brussel sprouts, ...), some fat (avocado, nuts), and some high-flavor veg or cheese (sund-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, parmesan, feta, hummus), and you've got a one-dish meal. Add beans and/or a salad on the side if you wish. Make the whole grain and beans and roast some vegetables on the weekend, and you've got a week of meals that are flavorful and can be easily varied so you don't get tired of them. Make more time-consuming dishes (ratatouille, roasted root vegs) when you have the energy.
18
I tried your chickpea and butternut squash combo and it is delicious
Thank you for sharing!
This will now be in the regular rotation at my house
5
Eating meat, regardless of the type, has not created the obesity and Type 2 diabetes avalanche we now find ourselves buried in. The “low fat revolution” started 50 yrs ago did, largely based on bad, and cherrypicked studies. I realize that the focus of the article was to reinforce the notion of how unsustainable the current system of beef production is. True. But the real agenda behind the EAT Lancet report is a growing vegan movement that is really more like a religion or a cult. The simple fact is that there is no other source for Vitamin B-12, an essential vitamin, beyond meat or dairy of some type. Without supplementation, a strictly vegan diet is also not compatible with, or shall we say “sustainable” with human life.
27
Latest B12 research shows it is made by bacteria not animals. Association with meat comes from contamination in processing.
5
@Evan Jones Absolutely incorrect. Nutritional yeast easily provides all the vitamin B-12 necessary for health.
10
@Evan Jones I know numerous people/families who are completely vegan. They are healthy, athletic (hikers and bikers) and have perfectly healthy, smart kids.
As far as veganism being a religion, the vegans I know proselytize far less than some Christians I know.
37
One of the greatest obstacles to eating better is our cultural expectations and the fact that eating a calorie rich nutritionally deprived diet is usually cheaper. For most people that is a factor to reckon with.
You can now go to Burger King and get an Impossible Whopper but it costs more than the standard beef version. Yes, beans are dirt cheap but for many people who did not grow up them you run up against their cultural preferences-not to mention the misconception that beans invariably cause flatulence. Then there is the time stress factor. How does someone stringing together a couple of minimum wage jobs find the time to shop and prepare healthy nutritious meals even I they can afford the ingredients.
It's going to take a whole lot of socio-economic engineering before large scale adaptation of a sustainable and healthy diet can become reality.
18
@Brooklyncowgirl Canned beans are cheaper than beef.
6
@Dj - Beans are also really quick to cook in a pressure cooker.
3
@Brooklyncowgirl The fact is most people aren't going to choice beef over beans. And beef has less chemicals than these impossible "burgers".
1
yes, Miriam, it was 50 years ago that we were reading and living by Adelle Davis, Ellen Ewald (Small Planet), Frances Moore Lappe, Beverly White (beans for the ecogourmet), and Rose Eliot. Let's honor their contributions.
19
The first thing we need to do: stop wasting so much food! The amount of food we throw away is staggering.
34
@Mike
And restaurants nearly always should offer half portion sizes! Including smaller desserts.
15
@Jean I think this is up to consumers to speak up - if people complained portion sizes were too large perhaps restaurants would change, but it's also up to consumers to chose appetizers instead of entrees or split larger entrees with their guests.
1
@Jean Yes that is one of the reasons I dislike eating out - way too much food and waste is immoral. Bigger reasons are most is fried, cheesy and I don't eat meat.
Replacing meat protein with fish, especially tuna, is in no way better for the planet.
17
Just as unsustainable!
3
Good googly-moogly. I love Jane Brody, but how many more studies do we really need? Frances Moore Lappe wrote "Diet for a Small Planet" in ... wait for it ... 1971! That's FORTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO!!! Half a century, and we are still having this debate?
It all boils down to Michael Pollan: "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants." Why do we continue to make things more complicated than they have to be? The science is there; it is the will to change that is lacking.
29
Grow food on your deck or in your yard or on your roof or inside with lights. It's mostly free!
6
@john Oh yeah like that will see a family thru the year! And we're supposed to do it with artificial lights? Seriously? Save the planet by using more electricity - neighbors will think you're growing marijuana. LOL
1
encourage people to use dry beans, not canned and carrots, not baby carrots
15
Reading the comments below and other comments for similar articles, I have come to the conclusion that food and diet are the one topic on which there will never be agreement. Truly, there is something about food choices that turn the most polite, mild mannered person into a self-righteous jerk. I now have a policy that I refuse to discuss food choices and diets with anybody, It makes for a more peaceful existence.
15
In the past couple years, I've lurched from "veganish" to a more paleo diet, avoiding all wheat and gluten, but still eating other grains, mainly corn and some rice. My diet is heavy on veggies and fruit, meat, nuts/seeds, eggs, and some legumes, less so on dairy, and very very little in the way of sugar or juices. I've lost a bunch of weight and feel great.
8
Not everyone is cut out for a vegan diet. I have Hashimotos and avoid wheat and can’t digest beans or soy, so vegan is out. I haven’t eaten beef in 30 years, never ate pork. Yet I eat more vegetables than many vegans I know who live mostly on fake meat, fake cheese, and other highly processed “food.” I have offered my vegan neighbor roasted asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, sweet potatoes…he doesn’t like any of them! It is surely a balance between sustainability and one’s personal health.
1
To give people an idea of the cost of meat environmentally:
1)To create the meat in a hamburger, the total cost in water is around 2,000 liters (roughly 680 gallons). This includes what is used by the animal and in processing it, but also includes the water used to grow the corn that feeds most of the meat people eat
2)Despite claims to the contrary, the greenhouse footprint of raising animals for food is larger than all the transportation based greenhouse emissions combined. It isn't just the animals methane emissions, it is how much is created in growing the corn they eat, processing them, shipping them, etc.
3)Most meat is still routinely using hormones and worse, antibiotics. The anti biotic resistance we see, superbugs, is directly tied to the misuse of antibiotics.
I eat mostly a plant based diet (have meat or fish maybe a couple of times a month), but my point would be we are eating too much animal protein, that if you enjoy meat have it with less meals and when you do, eat a smaller portion of quality meat, not the huge steak for 20 bucks at a restaurant.
14
Fish, unless it’s locally sourced and not from the ocean, is just as bad for the environment as beef raised on cut rainforest
2
The portion size Americans consume of meat is way too large. And I have an ethical problem with buying meat that has shipped half way across the globe. Talk about an airplane carbon imprint!
I agree that the carbohydrate choices are often very poor, also. Sliced or spiralized beets are much better as a side to baked fish or roasted chicken! And there is such a wonderful and interesting variety of whole grain rices. ( They are more filling per bite, so smaller portion is adequate.)
Half the dinner plate should ideally be produce!
2
@Jean - I could ride my bike to dairy farms or to farms to get some grass fed beef. The bananas on my counter along with every other vegetable this time of year (except the lettuce growing in my closet) comes from another continent. I grew up in Indiana and have been to Ohio. There is very little growing around you right now, not even corn or soybeans. I doubt if anyone in Ohio grows avocadoes or citrus, olives, or most of the produce in your local market.
The planet seemed okay when millions of bison roamed our country. It was only when the number of humans exploded that things got out of control like airplanes, cars, coal-burning factories, electricity, and the like.
1
I had the impression that a lot of farmed fish was not a good choice. Can anyone speak to this?
2
@Susan Thanes
It really depends on how and where it is raised.
Atlantic salmon, farm raised in USA, is problematic. Especially when it is in West Coast salt water, and may result in escapes that affect the native wild salmon (or introduce diseases).
Tilapia is often farm raised in tanks in areas that are not near the ocean, and some of it is very responsibly raised.
Nearly all the fish you eat in the Czech Republic is farm raised on country ponds that are drained after each “harvest”. And it is healthful.
I believe the Norwegians have done excellent work on developing and managing responsibly their very large fish farming stations in salt water.
It certainly is better for environment and health than most of the farm raised beef of USA and some other nations.
Most of the commercially raised chicken in USA is more problematic and poorer in quality than the fish.
9
@Jean
It depends on the farming techniques. Farm raised fish from Vietnam and other countries is a disaster area, farm raised salmon done in the US is not only environmentally bad, but also lacks the nutrition of wild caught salmon (among other things, they have to die it pink, its color looks off), as opposed to salmon raised i farms in places like scotland. Farm raised shrimp from overseas is likely to be nasty, they generally like with fish have unsanitary conditions and they dump antibiotics in the water to try and prevent disease. Farm raised shellfish, on the other hand, is fine, most of the clams and oysters and the like are farm raised here. Catfish is problematic, some practice clean techniques, but a lot of it is done on farms growing things and insecticides and pesticides end up in the water.
7
@Jean
I'm not so sure about Norwegian salmon. A friend lived in Norway most of his adult life, and he said that the salmon farms badly fouled the fjords they were in and destroyed other fish there. And article I read by a nutritionist M.D. researcher said that those farmed fish developed a very nasty coating of fat in their environment and he wouldn't touch them.
2
I wish Ms Brody would get up to date on the current science. Observational studies no longer suffice. The big food and big pharma industries must and will yield to real science.
4
Beyond the usual advice we've heard before, this hits three important and rare chords: (1) the adjective "sustainable" in the title appropriately used;" (2) its major tenet present, the very blunt: “We simply cannot eat the amounts of beef that we’re now consuming and still have a future for our grandchildren;” (3) another tenet, the near-elevation to parity and inter-twining of human health with "the Earth" and "well-being of generations to come." Usually human health dominates the mindset, so this is a significant re-set of the usually unquestioned conventional goal posts. Also, it doesn't hurt that this noted author admits her own shortcomings, thus avoiding the "hectoring" response that would automatically induce some to reject her "guidance."
My only quibble is her quote from the Commission that these are "rather small changes for a large and positive impact.” While certainly small is psychologically and socially much easier than not small, and certainly small is better than nothing, these don't seem like small to me. But perhaps that's a definitional or transitional thing as we hopefully begin to get used to the kinds of changes we're going to have to face.
2
If you want to be truly sustainable, ditch the canned chickpeas and get the dried ones. The transport costs for the water weight and the can are extraordinarily wasteful. re-hydrating dried chickpeas is easy.
Also, just eating what we buy would go a long way toward more sustainable food consumption. Americans throw away a huge portion of the groceries they buy due to not using them before they go bad.
18
@Ben P Canned chickpeas are better than a McDonald’s hamburger. For some people, convenience is a necessity.
10
Now that I'm living in southern France I am hooked on shopping at our huge 'farmers' markets, buying from local producers. Granted this is way out of reach for most people, yet once-upon-a-time it was the traditional way of buying one's food. Here, it's very seasonal. I am sad when I see the last of the summer peaches disappear, let alone the strawberries, but ease into pears, apples/applesauce, grapes. No more summer vegetables, or a reduced number, segue into winter squashes, potatoes, root veggies. Soups (all vegetable or with a little meat) become a mainstay as the weather gets colder. I laughed when I realized that so many lovely sounding French 'meat' dishes were basically stews (coq au vin, blanquette de veau, boeuf bourguignon, etc.) Today, sadly, the super markets provide imported foods from all over and who can resist raspberries or a lettuce salad in mid-December? Yet--it's worth being a bit old-fashioned and buying more seasonally, relishing the arrival of spring and the ensuing availability of those peaches and strawberries.
20
There are numerous interesting comments here that call attention to economic inequities, unacknowledged costs financial and environmental (almond milk, flying açaí berries around the planet), commercial interests’ influence on research, differences in advice from experts, and the ways “woke” food choices may be offset by other choices to drive, travel, and so on.
We also would do well to acknowledge how micro-analysis of individual foods, compartmentalization of nutrients, unrealistic expectations in the face of contradictory goals, and willful ignorance of ultra-privileged notions of virtue may also foster disordered eating and warped thinking. Not to mention a lack of connection to and sympathy for individuals who are not lucky (?) enough to have a subscription to the Times on their ipad to read while waiting for Amazon to deliver from Whole Foods.
12
@Rose Liz
Isn’t there enough cynicism coming from the White House.Do we need to pile more on in the comments section?
Ms. Brody is just trying to provide some education.
2
Those darn hippies. We did it 50 years ago, with many of us going local, vegetarian, organic and growing our own. Many of us are still at it. Too bad the rest didn't follow our lead. You're welcome.
32
And there's the brutality of the meat industrial complex to think about.
21
Have to say I always enjoy Americans talking about food, it’s like the French talking about the economy; highly entertaining!
13
I think you should reconsider your recommend of a banana snack as sustainable eating.
Bananas should not belong in the category of environmentally sustainable - except in the latitudes where they grow. So: not for much of the northern hemisphere.
OK, everyone will protest, who wants to live without bananas? And they are "cheap", right? But from a sustainability standpoint bananas are very "expensive".
Nuts of all kinds are typical for northern climes. Plenty of peanut farms in North America, too. People might consider replacing that easy peanut butter-banana snack with an apple or pear-slice smeared with peanut butter. Or even better, cultivate the delight of eating nuts simply, in their natural state - one's chewing well renders into paste - much better for the digestive system. And enjoy an apple like Eve in the Garden - it stays freshest in its own skin.
Sustainability means to me: simplicity and local, as little processing as possible. And somehow you eat naturally less with time because you digest longer.
16
@cjb
I don't mind helping to support Central American banana farmers. A friend of mine worked for a regional bank that did a lot of business in Central America. When he retired, he moved down there and helped organise the farmers so that they could get better prices from United Fruit. Works for me.
2
The Coconut oil you mention comes from plantations which have been carved out forests to meet the increased demand. It has decimated the Orangutan populations over the last decade.
14
@Todd You're thinking of red palm oil.
The production of coconut oil does not involve environmental damage.
8
We spend millions of dollars annually on lawn maintenance. Chemicals, water, for a beautiful lawn. I have a 30x30 foot piece of lawn on my property mostly to keep my wife happy. The rest of my property is vegetable garden. We start harvesting food in March/April, and right now, October we have enough to feed ourselves for 3-4 more weeks. I understand that not everyone has property to be able to do what we do, but many have the ability. How many grade schools and high schools have programs on vegetable production, home gardens?
21
@Rizzo And what of the millions who just aren't interested in gardening, even if they own property? Like me! If you like go garden, by all means do it. But recognize it's not for everyone.
9
@john640 Right, most people don't want to be gardeners or farmers or they would have chosen that profession.
Eat food, not too much, mostly plants and always finish with ice cream.
16
I'd love if you put grams alongside ounces, liters alongside pints and so on. I've been in this country for 20 years and for the life of me I cannot understand Americans' units of measures.
11
Jane, it’s pieces like this that allow us to pat ourselves on the back for no real reason at all. There is little difference between any animal-derived food in terms of saturated fat, cholesterol, or protein content. Dairy is by far the worst offender, due to the additional hormones and growth factors it contains. Chicken is highest in salt content because it is typically pumped full of salt water to inflate its weight. And eggs are still concentrated sources of animal fat, hormones, cholesterol, and protein. All animal-derived foods trigger inflammatory responses and clog arteries and lead to diabetes when consumed in even small amounts. So let’s stop pretending that there is a better way to consume animals — for their sake, for our health, and for the planet.
16
The revolution should not only be demand driven, but supply based. The more good foods produced, the cheaper it should be. It will create a flywheel effect. The flywheel needs to be kickstarted by policy and investment... solar and wind are good examples... to level the playing field.
Until that happens, it’ll be too expensive relative to the alternatives.
5
The Lancet suggests that we limit to "one 3-ounce serving [of red meat] a week, or one 6-ounce serving every two weeks."
In 2017, the average American consumed 25.8 kg of beef and 0.4 kg of lamb. That averages out to almost 18 oz per week!! And that's not including pork, chicken ... which we actually now eat in *greater* quantities than beef.
Perhaps the Lancet needs to start where we are. These goals are not realistic.
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/meat-consumption-in-america.html
6
I went vegan in March, and I haven’t had a single ounce of meat since; it’s realistic.
23
@Nathan Letcher Obviously this can be done on an individual level. But as a nutritionist, I can tell you this: the surest way to get people to not even try is to suggest a colossal change.
Baby steps are where it's at. On a population level, a suggestion like this is a big fail, totally out of touch with human psychology.
5
I inadvertently eat a fairly “sustainable” diet as we have a very large vegetable garden and my husband hunts. But I am so sick of this type of nutritional advice. Nutritional science is in its infancy; most of what we’ve been told the last 70 years is based on pretty much nothing. And where is the mention of cost? Grass fed beef, wild caught fish, “fresh” vegetables? (Have you seen the latest evaluation of the nutritional value of widely sold produce?) maybe the NYT should provide estimated costs for their recipes and perhaps even target recipes towards a variety of incomes. That would be an eye opener. I can’t even imagine the monthly food budget for most of the commenters here.
It seems totally divorced from what reality is for most of us on the planet. Wait until the next sustainability movement says to take only one 3 minute shower a week. Now that would be good for the environment and your skin. I can hear the vegan outcry now.
16
@Chris You seem to make a lot of assumptions.
2
@Chris you can eat a plant-based diet on a very small budget. don't demonize all vegans because they are different from you.
2
Fish stocks are dwindling worldwide. Eating fish at all is not sustainable on the current trajectory. Once wild fish are gone, they are gone. Unfortunately land-based farm-raised fish like tilapia are unhealthy. But please do not promote eating fish - plucked from wild ecosystems already straining under the weight of overpopulation and associated over fishing, habitat destruction, and so on - as environmentally friendly.
22
Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. This is still true.
13
This will sound self-righteous, I know, but I'm still going to say it. My husband and I do a lot to minimize our impact on this planet. We began recycling very many years ago, before it was a thing, when you had to make the effort to load up all your stuff and take it to a recycling center. I often read articles like these that (try to) make me feel guilty that we're not doing enough. It takes effort, but I remind myself that my husband and I have not contributed any more humans to this planet, and I rest -- not exactly easy, but better, knowing we have not increased the demands on our world any further than our own existence.
12
Thank you for recycling, but I think you can go ahead and have kids without condemning the world to suffering as an aftermath.
2
That’s nice but without changes in governmental policy it’s of no importance. Kind of like being careful not to use extra water while brushing your teeth while all your neighbors are watering their huge lawns. Your efforts are hopelessly diluted.
Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun.
2
@Theresa - I agree, people are the most environmentally damaging invasive specie on the earth, and having children is the most ungreen act a person can do. I tell it to all new parents I meet. None the less, it would seem that asking people to self-regulate in this manner might be a little like asking people to deport themselves. This article is more like asking undocumented people to move to Texas. It's not an unbearable place.
1
If the EAT-Lancet Commission thinks the changes this diet recommendation calls for are "small" it is totally out of touch with reality.
9
@Joel
Maybe look outside your bubble? Other age groups, other countries?
For most people my age (late twenties), this is already their reality. I barely know anyone in this age range who eats meat more than max. 3 times a week. Plus a whole host of vegetarians and vegans. For environmental purposes, health, and cost.
Regarding cost: in Germany, it's a lot cheaper to eat plant based than to eat (high-quality, kept at humane farms) meat. Adding chicken to the curry I cooked last night, with a plethora of veggies, would've cost me an extra 8 euros, or ca. 11 dollars.
When I'm in the US, I keep being confused by the supermarket prices. Bizarrely expensive unprocessed food and produce, and cheap, processed stuff and meat.
Changes need to happen there, hmm?
19
I know this is beyond disgusting to most folks in “Western Diet” dominated regions, but insects are great protein sources, easily farmed, reproduce quickly and are available globally. Dried insects can be ground into flour or meal and used for baking, and many societies eat different insects fried or toasted like we might eat chips or popcorn. If we really want to think of ecologically sound ways to breed protein sources, we shouldn’t discount such an abundant and sensible option.
9
I can't digest lentils and chickpeas which cause GI distress. But I eat most of the other foods mentioned. I use a lot of coconut oil -- not convinced it's "bad." I'm confused about rice and potatoes which if soaked and fermented (the rice) I read weren't bad. Also if you refrigerate they become resistant starch, good for your gut.
3
Nice! Would love to see more of these for people with nut and chickpea allergies - a lot of protein/fat alternatives I've read about seem to involve nuts (milks, butters, etc), chickpeas (hummus, etc), and/or coconut. Do people have suggestions and recipes that don't contain these allergens that still taste just as good?
2
Hemp milk is delicious and has omega 3s, but is somehow very expensive. Trader Joe’s now has it at a more reasonable price than elsewhere
Nice article EXCEPT for 1 simple fact: pretty much all the poor, and a large percentage of the middle class CANNOT afford to pay for a 'balanced' diet anymore! Alleged 'nutritionists' say vitamin supplements are worthless if you consume 3 balanced meals a day, but just whom can afford to? Not many!
8
@Mike OD
Although diets in many of the poorer countries are primarily chickpea and lentil type legumes and grains with more vegetables, very little if any meat as it is very expensive.
Perhaps our methods of farming and marketing foods is skewed, but I think that a very healthy diet can be had for little money. I know because I have done it! Beans and rice are delicious!! And locally grown produce is very cost effective.
8
@barbara - Beans and rice are delicious and get old very fast plus rice is not locally grown. Locally grown produce is cost effective but I don't know about your garden but mine quit producing much of anything the first week of September when it started the other rainy season around here.
Thankfully, my years of indoor cannabis cultivation taught me how to use lights and now the front closet has a fresh crop of green beans and snap peas growing along with an orange Jalapeno, basil, cilantro, and lettuce. And the bedroom has four very large pepper bushes that I dragged inside that first week of September. This will now prompt a letter from my electric company telling me how much more electricity I use than my neighbors and offers to come to my home and teach me how to reduce my consumption with new-fangled LED lights. :)
4
@Mike OD
Indian food is by far the best choice in a healthy diet AND inexpensive since it is primarily vegetable-oriented--
the spices in every Indian meal also aid in digestion to promote complete metabolism of food (AGNI -similiar to a furnace that burns efficiently)
GHEE is also a very healthy fat in Indian diets and aids in creating warmth and satisfaction and lubricates internally - so the skin and muscles/bones, etc. are nourished from the inside out & create a healthy glow
It doesn't cost much in money or time to prepare a satisfying healthy Indian meal w/ a variety of vegetables- Ghee and spices are the key-
16
If ruminants such as cows cause global warming, why wasn't CO2 emissions a catastrophe for the Native Americans of The Great Plains a century ago? They ate buffalo and were lean and fit.
Farmers give grains (and antibiotics) to quickly fatten their animals. The same is true for humans.
Eat a meal of steak or fish and you'll eat to satiety. Eat a pizza or pasta and you'll likely suffer a carb coma.
6
@Michael Because the animals were grass fed and raised by the Native Americans. Now meat is mass produced and the way the animals are raised and manufactured is destructive to the environment.
29
@Michael
"If ruminants such as cows cause global warming, why wasn't CO2 emissions a catastrophe for the Native Americans of The Great Plains a century ago? They ate buffalo and were lean and fit."
The lean and fit came from eating far less than modern people and moving far more. And the number of buffalo was far less than the (very unfortunate) cows in the global meat and dairy production.
7
In addition to what has been mentioned by others, our modern ranching methods are not anything like the natural grazing of buffalo hundreds or years ago. Great portions of the Amazon have been “slashed and burned” to clear the rain forests for beef production, seriously impacting the amount of CO2 that would previously have been absorbed by the trees and dense foliage. Losing such huge swathes of rain forest has a devastating impact on the climate, as do other farming and ranching methods used to maximize products at the expense of the environment. It is a far cry from Native Americans following and hunting free-ranging buffalo.
6
People eat high energy foods (i.e., meats) because that is what is in our DNA to do.
10 billion people by 2050? That is a tripling of the population on our planet in 100 years. Triple that 10 billion figure by 2150 and you get 30 billion.
The problem is not what we eat. The underlying cause of many of our social problems and environmental problems is that we have given up on population control.
What happened to ZPG? You never read about population control in the NYT. Instead you read that all of us must eat only 3 ounces of meat PER WEEK. Get real.
I already ate more than 3 ounces for breakfast. My cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar are way within the normal ranges. Don't tell me what I need to do for my health. You can eat about whatever you want to eat as long as you exercise regularly, which we do for about two hours a day. Problem solved!
Advocating the kinds of changes to our diet being recommended here is like advocating world peace. It's easy to advocate, yet impossible to obtain.
Too many people. So we are seeing the presence of "super bugs" that will solve that problem for us. Yet we fail to see the forest for the trees. So with those super bugs many will blame over prescription of antibiotics, not seeing that the real problem is too many people. If it's not one bug it is going to be another one.
Meanwhile, I'm eating meat. Yum.
25
@Dan
I recently attended a small gathering to listen to climate change experts. It was enlightening. It did occur to me that they failed to mention overpopulation. Thank you for bringing that to the table. Maybe we need a refresher course on that topic.
32
@Dan
Dan, I agree that the rich countries of the world should do more to provide development aid to the poorest populations in the world, which will lead to further reductions in fertility; they should also support access to family planning. However, the rate of global population increase is declining. There will not be 30 billion by 2150. United Nations projections from 2017: "The current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100."
Fertility rates continue to fall:
"In recent years, fertility has declined in nearly all regions of the world. Even in Africa, where fertility levels are the highest of any region, total fertility has fallen from 5.1 births per woman in 2000-2005 to 4.7 in 2010-2015. Europe has been an exception to this trend in recent years, with total fertility increasing from 1.4 births per woman in 2000-2005 to 1.6 in 2010-2015. More and more countries now have fertility rates below the level required for the replacement of successive generations (roughly 2.1 births per woman), and some have been in this situation for several decades. During 2010-2015, fertility was below the replacement level in 83 countries comprising 46 % of the world’s population."
However, climate change may decimate our numbers long before 2150.
16
@Dan. Wow, you are such a rebel!
4
There is plenty of new and conflicting research that the Lancet report conventiently omitted. They are backed by researchers who are vegan and are promoting a vegan diet. The more grains, veggies, and seed oils in the food chain will continue to make people sick as we watch health care costs continue to rise. Please research who is backing the reports you use and you'll find out there are big grain companies who have much to gain. We need more investigative reporting with the courage to find the REAL STORY behind our food and optimal human nutrition. The concept of humans eating fruits, grains and veggies in the current quantities is relatively new. Humans evolved eating a meat-based diet. Why did obesity skyrocket since the 1980's? Sustainable farming is possible and it can help heal the earth from desertification, a leading cause of climate change. Ruminant animals eat grasses (not edible by humans) and in turn naturally fertilize the soil. Meat is the number one most nutritious food on the planet (except eggs). What is the cost of eating acai berries from central and south America? Think about it, shipping agriculture all over the planet has a huge impact on the enviornment.
Everyone has to figure out what works for themselves and many people are curing their GI disorders, depression, r. arthritis, eczema, reversing type 2 diabetes, psoriasis, MS, etc.. (the list goes on) on meat-based diets. Low carb diet - Ketogenic diet, Carnivore
10
@Patricia Helen thanks for your thoughtful response. Reading this article made me think it was written 20 years ago. Advocating the consumption of canola oil? No. You bring up several valid points. We must consider who is backing the studies- the sugar industry literally paid for studies that LIED to us about fat, and now we’re fatter than ever. Cattle are good for the land, crops, and environment if raised as historically raised. (The cattle industry today is abhorrent and is definitely bad for the environment, the cattle, and us.) Your point about the environmental effects of shipping food around the world is on point. Reminds me a dinner party when jet-setting friends admonished me for the roll of paper towels in my kitchen. Pretty sure their multiple trips to Europe every year is harder on the environment than my paper towels. I guess we care about what we want to care about.
11
@Patricia Helen
Even Adele Davis said cattle could be raised sustainably on grass on high ground east of the Rockies that was not useful for anything else.
We as a society have recognized that changing the way we generate electricity is necessary because we will never be able to eliminate the use of the energy. I would suggest that we look at food production in the same way. While we certainly consume too much beef it might be better to consider changing the way we produce it. Grass fed beef is much healthier for us and eliminates the grain production which is so environmentally damaging. Just like solar energy grass fed beef is more expensive but will be worth the cost for us and the world in the long run.
8
since when eating a banana for breakfast is sustainable?
9
Let's see, a top-down, one-size-fits all global food guideline, which is a re-hash of the same old low-fat, grain-based, dietary guidelines of the 1980s. Which was then and is still today based on weak epidemiology and self-reported food surveys. Isn't this the same approach that has already failed to prevent (and may have caused) tsunamis of obesity and type 2 diabetes?
Other than the glassy-eyed low fat vegan crowd, does anyone really think this will be the answer for health and sustainability? What about local food cultures and food sovereignty? What about the malnourished? What about people whose metabolisms are already damaged, who will get sicker and fatter on low fat, high carb diets?
If agriculture is to be sustainable, it has to be adaptable to local climate, soils, food cultures, etc. All traditional and sustainable forms of agriculture involved plants and animals together, in a coupled system.
17
I love Jane Brody!
3
Hello Ms. Brody,
Since you happened to mention using low-fat dairy products in the same article that states the negative impact of palm oil on our planet, I'm thinking you may not know that all low-fat and non-fat dairy products in the US (including organic) contain a palm oil derivative. I believe it's because the fat is the part of milk that contains vitamin A so it's a federal law that requires the vitamin to be added back and the palm oil derivative is what dairies use to do this. Knowing this has changed what dairy products I buy (non-homogenized whole milk where I can remove the fat on the top).
4
We all get a chance, three times a day, to make a difference in our carbon footprint.
"What's on your plate?
8
@SmartenUp - Well, let's see. I have not bought a gallon of gas in about 10 years now. I have not been on a plane since 1991. And in the last decade, I spent a year off the grid using a solar powered battery. I think that offsets quite a bit of bacon.
9
The other thing that occurs as I read Jane's article and reader's comments is that people worry way to much about protein, i.e. "getting" enough. Five days a week or more the only major protein foods in my diet are pinto beans and almond milk and I feel fine. I'm 67, live at 8000' and get 2 hours or more of mountain walking a day. I don't think of myself as an athlete, but I know some of the runners from Kenya do just fine on a simple low-protein diet.
11
@John - About a decade ago, doctors told me to double my protein intake because of HIV. Add to that not much appetite to begin with and I have to pick and choose carefully. I spent a year living in Central America once and could go the rest of my life without ever seeing rice and beans again.
Just because a diet works for you or a few runners from Kenya does not automatically mean it is best for me.
6
One thing I've noticed as I've made the dairy to almond milk transition, and also as I almost never eat beef anymore, is how much "taste" is really just habit. When I made the 2% to skim transition--which I did for health reasons, to lower my dairy-fat intake--an older sister who lives in a red state razzed me that I was being pretentious and sanctimonious (which she attributed to the famously health-conscious town I live in) and asked me how I could stand to drink "watery milk that doesn't even taste like milk". I said that at first, skim did taste a little wan, but that after a while I really preferred it and found it more refreshing, a response that drew laughter from her, She had already made the whole-to-2% transition--for health reasons--but that was as far as she would go, she said. And a year or so later she me told she secretly tried switching over to skim and lo and behold after drinking it for a very few months, she preferred skim! I used to put sucralose or honey in my smoothies, and lessened that down to nothing and don't crave it anymore. Same with meat. I think an important point is don't force a change of habit till you're ready and don't do it in an attempt to "reform" yourself.
9
@John,
Almond cultivation requires much more water than that of other nuts or most produce.
Over reliance on almonds exacerbates CA's water shortages.
26
I would have appreciated some informed discussion of the environmental sustainability of almond milk, about which I know nothing, but wonder as over the years I have made the transition from whole milk to 2% to skim to almond to organic almond. I guess this didn't get discussed because Jane is still "addicted" to milk.
3
@John - Sustainability - I am not aware of any commercial almond farms where I live. To get almond milk would require California almonds which require quite a bit of water. That water is shipped from the north of the state to the central part for irrigation but as the population grows, the demand for water increases. Then, it has to be shipped close to a thousand miles to get to me.
Or, I could get on my bike and peddle just outside the city limits to a small farm and get fresh milk there. No irrigation necessary. No middle eastern or fracked oil necessary for transporting.
Or better yet, I could peddle up to the neighborhood where I saw a couple that had a goat in the front yard in the middle of the city. The goat ate all of the weeds and they drank the milk.
6
Jane, not you too. We have relied on your common sense and thorough analysis for what, 40 years ?
Come on.....take off the hair shirt.
Everything in moderation.
Enjoyment of life means a variety of food with the freedom from a nanny state that dictates what we consume.
9
Love this! Thank you. But really, suggesting we use canned food? What about it's toxic lining and high carbon footprint?
6
My vegetarian diet has one gaping hole - cheese. Li have tried many non-milk cheeses and they all fail the taste/texture tests. Very sad. But at least it’s only 8 ounces a week of animal-derived product.
6
@kw, nurse
There are a # of nut based cultured 'cheeses' that anyone would find hard to tel the diff! Treeline" and "Myoko's" are two brands avaliable in a # of store's including Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Fairway in NY. "Myoko's" was originally only online and I assume they still are.
Also must say one's 'addiction' is very real. Evolution, God, or ??? created in ALL mammal babys a 'need' to stay close to the source of milk as it 'excites' the dopamine in our brains! We humans continue that 'addiction' by supplementing human milk early as it is 'inconvenient' to nurse for an extended time. Unfortunately this menas we are addicted to a milk that has MANY times the amount of fat in breastmilk......and of course cheese is simply concentrated milk, hence a stronger addiction!
5
@Karen
Have you looked into the carbon footprint and the water usage necessary to produce nut-based 'cheeses'? They're an excellent option for those who can't tolerate dairy, but they're far from ecologically friendly.
9
I want to transition to more plant-based protein but have been diagnosed with significant allergies to nuts, legumes, and soy. Most grains are also out except for wheat and rye. As is fish. Would love suggestions on how to approach this in a way that would allow me to be kinder to the planet while getting the protein I need. (I’m a recreational athlete.)
5
You might consider working with a registered dietitian as you have quite a few dietary needs which could impact your nutrition, and you may need to be extra careful as a competitive athlete. For non-legume/nut protein, generally, moderate consumption of eggs (1-2/d) and dairy products (few ounces per day), while still being animal products, are still less of a climate burden than meat. Wheat is also a grain with a higher protein profile. There are some plants that you can grow yourself which are high in omega 3’s, like purslane. Consider joining a CSA. Legumes and nuts also provide many other nutrients besides protein, like fiber, which are crucial to health. To get adequate fiber, you might consider eating whatever grains you can have in other, less refined forms, like finding recipes that incorporate soaking/sprouting the berries, which makes for less phytic acid, but more resistant fiber as it is a more minimally processed form. Finally, consider finding an allergist (perhaps at a research institution) who may be able to provide therapies which could increase your allergy tolerances.
8
@Christian Simamora, quinoa is a seed and very high in protein.
7
I think that Jane Brody’s arguments are not outdated at all, as some suggest in the comments on this article. I can’t believe some of the comments suggest that the author has diabetes because she eats too many legumes, vegetables and whole grains. Really, the Keto people have to understand that their diet is not well studied for long term health, just for short term weight loss and the accompanying improvements due to that.
Also, grass fed cows are not better for the environment, they produce just as much methane as any other cow, the meat is healthier though. You get more omega 3 fatty acids from grass fed cows, but the methane contributes significantly to global warming.
Plant based diets are the best for cancer and cardiovascular disease prevention, just read any long term large population studies, like NHANES. It doesn’t mean we can’t have a little meat, egg or fish here and there, but the majority of calories should come from plants.
24
@Kara Raising grass-fed animals helps to sequester carbon in the soil (as opposed to other kinds of farming). That's why it's very beneficial for the planet. Plus grass-fed cows produce less methane because they are eating what their bodies want -- grass -- as opposed to the grain-based diet that agri-business animals are raised on.
6
@Jane D
I myself eat grass fed beef when I eat some beef, which is rarely. However, if you look at studies done on methane emissions from cows, grazing cows still release a significant amount of greenhouse gasses which are not offset by the carbon sequestration of the plant growth. Methane comes from the burps and gas passed by the cows. Yes, grass is what cows are supposed to eat. We as humans need to just eat very little beef, if at all, and only grass fed kind. My point was that just switching to grass fed beef and eating a lot of it is still bad for the environment.
4
I switched to a mostly vegan whole food plant-based diet a year and a half ago when I retired from teaching. I am a diabetic and had hypertension. In the year and a half since my retirement I have lost 35 pounds, and am off both lantus and metformin for my diabetes. Life is way pleasanter without the terrible gastric side effects from the metformin. My blood pressure medication has been cut in half. I have more energy and with the weight loss I no longer have to deal with a painful knee and sciatica. I eat meat only if I am out for dinner with friends, about once every two weeks. I am a scientist by training, and I became convinced that moving to a vegan diet would do the most to lower my carbon footprint and help save the planet. I am staying vegan because the food tastes wonderful and is not masked by the heavy fats that come with animal-based food products.
44
@Georgia Fisanick Vegan for 8 years and it's a keeper! Since manufacturers (unnecessarily) stuff animal-derived ingredients into snacks, cookies, and candy products I'm also not eating highly processed foods. It's done wonders for my appearance. I see people shopping at the supermarkets and they mostly strike me as looking quite sick.
3
@pewter - You are shopping at the wrong supermarket. I shop at an Asian market and see plenty of healthy people.
1
The writer does not account for the extraordinary amount of water it takes to grow some fruits, like avocados and nuts like almonds. There is a growing list. Let's have an article stating those figures as well.
16
@Fred I live in California and I have an avocado tree that bears fruit. It does not require an "extraordinary" amount of water. I give it a few gallons once a week, if I remember, in the summer. The rest of the year it gets rain. Wasteful agricultural practices (and growing trees in the deserts, for example in Southern California) are more of what you're thinking of, I think. Really not a problem - CA is moving to meter that water, & so economics will sort that one out.
28
@Fred avocados and nuts do require a lot of water...for plants. Neither of those require anywhere near as much water per pound as beef.
20
Do remember though that accounting for water usage is complex. Plus, every species thrives on the oxygen produced by plants, and tree fruits and nuts have lots of benefits to the ecosystem.
6
I take issue with the author's statement that eating fish is less damaging. Since dead whales - that have starved to death - seem to be washing up on our shores about once a week, it's clear that overfishing is also an immediate problem. I've stopped eating fish. I still enjoy chicken & turkey, but no more fish, & steak is a rare occasion.
9
@Carol There is farmed fish- salmon and others- that is available and not in conflict with the whales.
1
@Carol in Alaska we are up to our ears in whales; humpback populations are increasing 6% pè year and predation by abundant sperm whales is a major problem for hook and line halibut and sablefish boats. All whales die; a few wash ashore.
2
@Carol She wrote 'farmed seafood'.
1
I must be in only person in the US who has to constantly remind myself to eat less vegetables. On average, I reckon I eat two cukes, dozen grape tomatoes, half avocado, one bell pepper, two sticks of celery, one beer and few handfuls of arugula- that’s usually breakfast/lunch. More beans/seeds/grains/veggies for dinner.. it’s exhausting to chew all that. It’s washed down with a glass or two of wine of course. It’s the way I grew up eating in a south Indian vegetarian household. It’s hard for me in my late forties to change that to a more American diet which my children have happily adopted. They find it hard to believe that after 25 years in the US, I’ve never eaten in any fast food restaurant and they incessantly tease me for hoarding Tupperware containers of grain salad and bags of nuts even on short flights and road trips.
33
One beet- not beer- ah the irony.
23
@Pb Your diet sounds great! Yes, I'm having a digestion problem and find myself happier with just snacking on salad and nuts, left over rice. Feels better.
1
The author and many commenters here seem to take for granted the ongoing success of 'annual agriculture' (e.g. cereal grains, legumes, vegetables etc.) despite accelerating climate instability. This assumption may prove wrong. In fact, the 'rise of civilization' in the Middle East is strongly correlated with a dramatic lessening of seasonal variability, which allowed the cultivation of cereal grains in the first place. (Remembering that the season must be long enough and mild enough to not only harvest crops to eat, but also to allow enough time for crops to set mature for seed for the following year.)
We may well be entering a period of increasing climate variability, where growing annual crops (especially to the seed-harvesting stage) becomes more difficult in many areas. Grasslands and their associated 'grazers' (cattle, yaks, sheep, etc.) are well adapted to such conditions. One bad hailstorm can wipe out a grain crop in a matter of minutes, one hard summer frost will do the same overnight, seasonal 'planting and harvesting windows' will shrink and may disappear, and so on. Well managed grasslands will remain stable and productive when annual crops fail. We need to recognize this and plan accordingly.
Recommended reading: "Cows Save The Planet and other improbably ways of restoring soil to Heal the Earth" by Judith Schwartz.
12
@irene
Seems like good advice.........keep doing what we are doing so that climate change is accelerated to the point you are correct and there is no turning back! Soon enough it will get so hot in some areas that humans can't live ( *120 was a reality in India last year) and then we can all kill ourselves overeating animals!
1
@irene:
Ann Coulter found her niche, and so has Judith Schwartz. You can make lots of money determining the way the wind blows and then oh so seriously going in the opposite direction. Cows will NOT save the planet! The only hope is if more people eat less beef.
6
It is unfortunate that the experts fail to mention the health and environmental benefits of grass-fed beef and lamb, which is after all what ruminants are supposed to be. Grass fed.
12
Aside from such basics as Vitamin C and scurvy, there is precious little evidence that eating any food cures any disease. A lot of things are associated with creating disease (such as sugar), but the idea that God will protect you if only you let Bessie live is absurd. Per capita meat consumption is lower than fifty years ago. Blame hamburgers, instead of having too many kids?
In our theocratic society, religion takes many forms. I think this one one of those.
9
@Charles Coughlin
“We simply cannot eat the amounts of beef that we’re now consuming and still have a future for our grandchildren,” says the article.
I thought for the moment I was reading The Onion.
2
@Charles Coughlin
Especially the one where personal responsibility is replaced with market analysis.
So tired of ragging on religion when the "free" people bow and pray to their secular indulgences with the same fervor. (BTW, not a churchgoer or even "believer")
By condescending to a living being calling it Bessie is to minimize the notion that it takes moral courage to realize a society built on destruction is not worthwhile, and that your diet is one of the most personal and deliberate choices you can make.
2
Wish you had added in the opening paragraph "perhaps your house is powered by renewable energy". Take coal offline first. It's easy to do. Then we can worry about meat.
16
The recipes in the link don't account for the food water footprint, an important issue as many of the foods come from California. For a larger view, sustainable eating needs to consider water use, transportation, agricultural runoff, feedlot contamination, fishing practices, and labor equity.
20
The environmental problems of grain fed beef cattle have another solution: eat grass fed beef. Not only is grass fed beef’s carbon footprint dramatically lower, its fat and cholesterol content are lower as well.
Better still, buy your grass fed beef from a local farmer and eliminate all of the carbon generated by moving beef cattle and finished beef through the supply chain. We are your neighbors - raising great beef that’s better for the planet and you too!
16
This is the worst article on a healthy diet I’ve ever read!
Did anyone see the pictures of the overflowing hog-waste ponds in the Carolinas after Hurricane Florence? Can anyone seriously suggest that pork is a happy choice for the Earth?
Except for the horrific time spent in “finishing” feedlots, before slaughter, beef cattle actually have a fairly natural life.
Chickens live a cramped, brutal, short life, and their concentrated waste is so toxic, it poisons the Earth.
Farmed fish swim in place in their own waste, and the pesticides and antibiotics they use to get them to slaughter are the fish eater’s reward, not to mention gross contamination of the water.
Never mind that these animals are living beings that feel pain and exhibit many of the same behaviors, desires, and affections as do your dogs and cats.
If I ever ate animals again, which I won’t, it would be beef.
39
Aquifers are drying up , to put soil is eroding, oceans are dying . Take action go vegan
14
How about the New York Times recipes.......I have suggested many times to feature more plant based, low fat,low salt meals.i will continue to comment.
68
@Adele. Hamilton Ontario Agree! Recipes is the only section of the NYT that ignores the discussion on the climate, despite the fact that it is well accepted that our food system is a major contributor to green house gasses.
While restaurants are lauded for 40oz. rib eyes and politicians use scare tactics about the left taking away your cows, these dietary changes will remain a hard sell.
5
This article is spot on, Jane. Thank you. Beef is simply not an option in a world of 7.5 Billion, on the way to 12 Billion people - it's way too resource intensive.
Per pound of protein produced, cattle require 370% more land, nearly 600% more feed and more than 1100% more water than poultry. That huge amount of water waste is of particular concern in the arid western US, where about half of America's beef cattle are raised.
In UT (typical of most western states) 82% of water is consumed by Big Ag. The vast majority of that is used for cattle, either directly or for growing forage crops, mainly water-hungry alfalfa. Huge center-pivot irrigators operate 24/7 throughout the growing season (or until the water runs out), spraying valuable water into the air (and losing much of it to evapotranspiration) with some of it landing on the hay. Because water is anywhere from cheap to free, Big Beef has no incentive to conserve.
As more and more people move to our high,dry western states, we'll eventually be forced to make a decision. Kids, or cows?
13
@Miss Anne Thrope
How about neither? Those human carbon footprints are far larger and more destructive than the cows'. I haven't seen too many cows driving an SUV and continually receiving Amazon shipments of the latest mindless shopping spree.
12
This piece by Ms. Brody reflects her personal opinions, personal preferences, and personal practices, as well as the opinions of a group of scientists who appear to be primarily concerned about global warming rather than health, nutrition, or honest reporting of scientific facts.
Ms. Brody is a newspaper reporter, not a scientist, and this piece is not a good source of knowledge about healthful eating.
My own opinion is that most readers would be better served by seeking a diet that is moderate and balanced. They should avoid extremes.
First and foremost, a diet should be sustainable for the individual. Climate change should not be of primary concern in personal eating choices. Personal health and personal preferences rightly take precedence.
Individuals may differ, but ideally, part of a good diet would include a variety of vegetables and fruits, and proteins from plant, animal, fish, and dairy sources.
I see no need to fear proteins, carbohydrates, or fats. Still, moderation is a good rule of thumb.
Avoid the dogma of vegans, vegetarians, faddists, and global warming alarmists. Prefer evidenced-based diets, such as the Mediterranean or DASH diets, or perhaps the Okinawan diet.
Do not pay too much heed to this opinion piece by Ms. Brody. Your health is more important than that.
4
@Clickman
What is interesting about your suggestion to recommend the Mediterranean diet is that it falls under what is called the Reference Diet in the EAT-Lancet report. In fact, the report, which the article refers to, allows for a broad range of options and respects cultural food traditions. Go check it out for yourself. While it is a long read, it is very interesting (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext).
6
@Clickman
The doctors who advocate for a plant based whole food diet usually do not refer to vegetarian or vegan diets. These doctors 'opinions' are based on the scientific evidence animal food causes a variety of inflammatory diseases, cardiovascular being the most notorious. Unsurprisingly, many animal food eaters exhibit a Chauvinism for the animal foods they were raised on. The animal food industry exploits this allegiance to family culture, and market societies allow competition between scientifically informed advice and capitalist interests.
11
@Clickman - Reread the article, my man. Plenty of facts, not opinions. You're concerned about "sustainability" of the individual. Odd, since none of us are sustainable as individuals - "No one here gets out alive", per Jim Morrison.
Sustainability of the our species is the issue and that sustainability is under existential and growing threat primarily via human overpopulation coupled with our overconsumption. If we can't reign in the primacy of the individual - future generations be damned - we're toast.
29
As the mother (and mother-in-law) of two hard-working certified organic farmers who sell their own produce and eggs but also cheese, meat, and fish from responsible small farmers, I’m distressed that so many people still don’t understand the critical importance of the small family farm.
We don’t have to give up meat. But we do have to be cognizant from whom we purchase that dairy and meat. Industrial farming is the problem. If people could simply buy from the dedicated, organic, small farmers who are barely surviving but do what they’re doing because they believe in the health of both the earth and it’s inhabitants, we could make a real difference.
No one works harder for less compensation than my daughter and son-in-law who founded Radical Root Organic Farm in 2008. And yet they persist. I guess doing the right thing is it’s own reward—until they have to give it up ...
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@Pkdessler
I have been a CSA (Consumer Supported Ag.) member on Long Island in NY for a decade! Unfortunatly w'our growing season I must depend on typical grocery stores for the other half of the year.
CSAs have flourished along w'the knowledge of a Whole Food, Plant Based, little or No Oil diet (WFPBNO) being far more healthy tha SAD or Standard American Diet but 'happy' animal products are even worse for the Environment than CAFOs! Check out the documentary "Cowspiracy" on NetFlex or @ your local Lib and check out the info on it's online 'Facts" page.
6
@Pkdessler
Agreed. And there is no realistic organic food production reasonably accessible within the NYC tri-state region that this paper mostly services. Precious little. And what does exist is not anywhere near able to provide what you describe for a population of 23 million people for NYC-metro. I assume it is similar in all urban metro areas.
And I did google small production "virtuous" food producers, and it would mean a Fed Ex delivery of a bulk order with tons of packaging so it stays cold. And no guarantee of what the actual product you dropped a couple hundred bucks on is going to end up being. At peak pandemic I was doing lots of food delivery orders - and the cost was huge and the waste stream was horrifying, and you ended up seeing a box sitting in the midday sun on the doorstep when the Fed Ex guy dropped and ran, or you ended up trying to figure out where the box was, showing up more that a day late, crushed, and clearly not at a safe temp.
So, yeah, if you can do it, you got a farm doing it nearby, go for it.
1
@Pkdessler Indeed, you can reduce emissions a lot by choosing responsible farmers.
But there's no getting around that cattle raising is extremely inefficient. A study published in Science of nearly 40,000 farms showed that the minimum emissions involved in producing meat and dairy protein were several times higher than the averages for beans, peas, nuts and tofu. The results are nicely visualized at:
https://ourworldindata.org/less-meat-or-sustainable-meat
2
How about ending government policies that promote meat and dairy production? Start with eliminating subsidized, below market rates for cattle grazing on public lands. Making meat expensive will reduce consumption.
271
@David
You are absolutely correct!
12
@David
Excellent comment! Thank you!
4
@David
The problem of Farm subsidies has existed at least since Catch 22 was written. Major Major's father found that The more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the government gave him, and he spent every penny he didn’t earn on new land to increase the amount of alfalfa he did not produce.
3
I've been asking the Times for years to take sustainability seriously, as it is now doing with climate change. So, huge kudos for using it as an adjective to this article and doing so credibly. The article makes some needed connections between personal health and the planet before backing off a bit, beginning the last paragraph with "even if environmental issues are not high on your list of concerns..." If we don't restore the planet, we're not going to be around to have to worry about personal health. Keep these two linked and expand the circle of their connections. Using the Search function, I see the Times has used sustainability as an adjective on topics a few times before. But we need much more of this--sector by sector; field by field; subject by subject; idea by idea; geographic area by geographic area. Keep taking it seriously, which includes some of the newer ideas in the field about the need to go beyond even sustainability to restoration. Perhaps we can build some momentum, so if the political winds change in two years we'll be primed for some accelerated large scale changes, and not just in the "eating" area.
16
If we are considering the health of the planet as well as our own well-being, why turn on the oven, heating that enormous empty space with fossil fuels, when the same results can be achieved on the top of the stove focusing much less fuel on a heavy-bottomed pot? And here in Florida we also consider that raising the temperature in the kitchen will probably result in increased run time for the whole-house A/C. Sheet pan cooking is not consistent with saving the planet.
5
@Janice March Two words: Toaster oven
6
@Janice March yes but if you live in winter wonderland the oven being on is a delight. Everything is relative.
2
@ Dr. J Best comment by far. Canada's food guide shows you what can happen when industry is removed from policy and health is the focus.
2
Another food-related concern: packaging. Why sell apples in plastic bags, rather than letting customers select the amount they need and carry them in a bag from home? Those orange plastic nets containing tangerines, mandarins, and other citrus fruits cannot be composted, and the teeny little flecks that fall off when you cut the bag are eventually getting into soil, water, and animals. Individual containers, individual wrappings (for tea bags, especially absurd and wasteful), all add up fast. I avoid buying these things as much as possible, but sometimes there is no alternative.
Our whole system of food distribution needs to be rethought and revamped.
212
@Sarah D. Yes, it is one of the biggest scandals in marketing history- Whole Foods was created by buying up markets like Bread and Circus- which were based on bulk purchase, low/no packaging model, allowing those who cared to purchase responsibly. Now everything there- literally everything, is covered in single use plastic. One more cut among the thousands to our planet.
6
Cheese! I love cheese, eat lots of cheese, it’s very satisfying. I think I’d find a diet that is healthiest for the planet to be most unsatisfying for my body. Though I do eat plentiful fruit and veg.
3
@Carol M. Cheese production is not healthy for the environment - dairy cows, like beef cattle, emit enormous amounts of greenhouse gases. Nor is cheese healthy to eat.
8
@Carol M
The casein protein in cheese acts as an opioid, which explains people's 'love' of this processed animal food and is also a major cause of constipation.
5
Loved the article. I tried the recipe last night and it was delicious. One other point to add... eating this way also benefits the ocean tremendously. So long as you buy loose fruit, veg and bulk lentils, you're throwing away very little.
8
Having worked on ag policy for many years, with a specialization in conversation, environment and sustainable agriculture, I can assure you that if you want to protect the environment, the only option is going vegan.
Fish (and fish farms) cause untold damage to the environment and ecosystems, as do dairy and eggs. Even organic production does not cut it - you still have environmental ramifications that are unnecessary.
When you consider the entire future of the planet is at stake, giving up animal products is not really a sacrifice, it's a necessity.
13
@BMD. Why does it have to be all or nothing? It's a lot easier to get people to cut back what they love than to give it up entirely. We don't need a perfect solution that is unpalatable to most people, we need one that works.
9
@BMD
Rabbits are an excellent, sustainable source of meat protein, easily raised in small spaces. Their droppings make great fertilizer, and some breeds can be used for meat, hides and fur. There's just that thing about eating them, in the US at least. So cute, so cuddly . . .
4
What are the considerations for clams and muscles? My understanding is that they are filter feeders so it’s generally not as bad to eat farmed clams. What are your thoughts? Thank you.
3
For information about sustainable seafood, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website is very helpful. https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations
I eat fish a few times a month, usually salmon, at a restaurant... and now realize that I don't know where that salmon is from. So, it might either be a good choice, or something to avoid.
My main sources of protein are Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, legumes, and occasionally eggs nuts, or seafood.
When I tried a vegan diet a few years ago, getting enough protein really wasn't a concern. Rather, I found I really missed Greek yogurt! While the vegan alternatives taste good, their nutrition profiles male them seem more like a dessert than a good substitute for dairy yogurt.
3
Jane, take a look at FastGoodEasy for fun vegetarian recipes.
I think one of the problems with getting more people to eat better is to convince them that a meatless meal can be really good. Not just adequate, but better than anything else.
It would be great if we made food choices from moral considerations. Some people do, but most of us follow our yens.
9
@Online Contributor
One of my 'moral considerations' as a grassland farmer, is maintaining some of the endangered 'heritage breeds' of cattle which are adapted to difficult conditions. In our case, that would be Galloways. The only way to maintain such breeds is -- to breed them. That always results in 'excess males'. (Sorry, guys but that's the reality of the pastoralist
lifestyle). It's my moral duty to gratefully eat them !
4
I'm sceptical about these recommendations.
Poultry and farmed fish better than lamb? Why? Environmental cost shouldn't be measured only in terms of grain consumption, though that is a significant metric. There is also the not-so-small matter of how animals are raised. If, say, lamb is produced in free-range herds and pork on intensive-production units, how is eating pork better? And is farmed fish really all that great for the environment or for health? Wild salmon doesn't have the same dietary profiile as farmed, which has more saturated fat, fewer Omega-3 acids and is only salmon-coloured thanks to food colouring.
I think it's best to focus on local sourcing and local food systems, as traditional diets tend to be restrictive. We've done away with rituals around food, and it turns out these were helpful both for the environment and for our health.
For instance, Eastern Orthodox fasting rituals meant that no animal products were consumed on about 120 days a year. (Try that and see whether you still need extra fibre.) So to a Greek in, say, the 50s, meat was at best a weekly treat and entirely prohibited during fast days along with cheese, butter and eggs (which meant no sweets). Now, veal is shipped in from France, consumers increasingly use industrially-produced and -packaged “convenience” foods and few observe fast days. No wonder obesity is rising.
34
@S North, those seem like great points!
and, as Mainiac noted, especially in the US, pork farming is predominantly done in high-intensity "farms", where the animals are kept in very close quarters and their waste is stored in "ponds" that are an environmental hazard of their own.
Here near the Chesapeake Bay, chicken farms are also a source of pollution. So, when I occasionally buy eggs, I get a carton that SAYS the chickens are 'pasture raised', and hope this means that they actually go outdoors rather than just having a door in the coop. The eggshells are quite thick, so hoping those chickens are happily foraging for bugs and such. The eggs are also fresher than ones I used to buy, which is perhaps due to smaller production volume and quicker sales. Or, it's just wishful thinking.
3
Reading Diet for a Small Planet in the 1970s, living near a Colorado feedlot for a year, and seeing pigs stacked 5 high in tiny cages on a truck en route to the slaughterhouse turned me into a vegetarian in 1978. I lasted until 2002 when my digestive system could no longer tolerate a grain and bean-based diet. With great reluctance I started eating small amounts of locally grown pastured meat and chicken, a lot of fruits and vegetables, local fish, eggs, and dairy. I am much healthier for it. Otherwise I would have been a vegetarian for life.
23
I follow a mostly vegetarian diet, something like the Mediterranean diet but with less animal protein and fat. If I eat flesh, it is usually fish, but generally wild caught, as I have concerns about the safety of farmed fish. It works for me; it's tasty, healthy, and sustainable.
10
"Chickpeas and lentils account for a large percentage of the protein in my current diet"
I don't care for the taste of cooked chickpeas or lentils, but I grow sprouts, and both are major portions of the sprouts. I also grow alfalfa and clover sprouts. It takes a few minutes each day for a continuous supply, but the result is the freshest food you can find.
7
@Frank
Chickpeas and lentils are seeds that contain a lot of protein. Once they are sprouted the protein content decreases dramatically. Sprouts are very good vegetables but cannot be considered a good source of protein.
8
Jane maybe your need for a statin which you discussed in an earlier column would be lower if you laid off all the carbs. Wow you are eating carbs upon carbs. I can't believe you suggest this dietary advice given all the type 2 diabetes in this country.
6
@Lori
I thought the very same.
Ms Brody seems to be a victim of unjustified scientific dogma.
Since most of the nutrition studies rely on self reported food diaries, that are notoriously inaccurate and deal with a large number of parameters, one should never use them as scientific proof for the benefits of a certain type of diet. Also very few studies have been done that consider genetic differences between individuals concerning digestive enzymes and rates of resorption of nutrients through intestinal walls into the bloodstream. To base general nutritional recommendations on flawed studies filled with statistical wizardry seems to me unwarranted.
As to the Lancet study, some posters have already pointed out, that the editorial comment and not the original study specified meat consumption as main environmental problem.
8
Yes, very good, but if you have arterial plaque - which nearly everyone does - oils and fat, including dairy, meat, and fish - are a problem. Please read Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn to have a balanced perspective.
11
The earth conscious "Healthy Foods" options must include more reasonable easy things as well, like ordering the Veggie burger at the fast food counter, asking for more lettuce and tomatoes rather than telling the person to "Hold the veggies." Recent studies show that 11M people die premature(more than tobacco smoking) each year because of bad things that they are eating; too much salt, too little veggies & fruit.
If you watch 2 hours of TV each day, it is inescapable that what you want to eat is being influenced by the ads on TV AND, more important, your kids are being permanently sold the "Big Mac/Whopper Deal" that they then 'have to have.' An obese weak person is not a competitive/productive member of society. You & your kids need to be mentally and physically productive in order to keep our Mother Earth healthy.
Eat "Earth Conscious" as well as "Health Conscious" because we all depend on each other. A healthy, mentally alert and informed/knowledgeable person is the best contributor the world can have. IMHO
6
I must respectfully submit that Jane Brody and Walter Willett seem to think that what's good for them personally is good for all the earth, when many others offer evidence that what's good for these two carbohydrate worshippers is not even good for other humans. In my humble opinion, the only way to succeed with diet is to start with our flawed, largely epidemiological nutrition science and experiment on yourself until you find what works for your own body. See Gary Taubes, Nina Teicholz, Stephen Phinney, Eric Westman, Georgia Ede, Shawn Baker, and so many others.
42
Ms. Brody,
I suppose it is of no particular use to have said it, but I do still wonder why you did not mention "Diet for a Small Planet," the cookbook written in the 70's with the same fundamental ideas.
24
Farmed seafood is a horrendous choice. The fish are packed in so tightly they have to use massive amounts or antimicrobials and antibiotics, plus the “food” they are fed isn’t food at all, it’s often chunks of ground up euthanized animals.
This is a very unenlightened article that perpetuates the sentimental myth that farmed food of any kind is ethical or anything other than a giant industrial factory operated at minimal cost, maximum output and oblivious to the cruelty and environmental damage they cause.
But I could go on and on... this article completely ignores the fact that anyone who eats animals at all has no right to call themselves an environmentalist. Hogs??? Is she serious???
54
When considering how what we eat affects our planet, I hope folks will look also at the packaging. Buy a reusable water bottle, not bottled water. Use a steel travel coffee mug to avoid plastic coffee lids. If meat is available in paper from the counter, don’t buy the prepackaged version in plastic. Look for the milk in cartons without the plastic spout. Avoid using plastic produce bags when possible (I bring most produce home bagless and put immediately into reusable containers as required). The point is to try and be mindful of our consumerism. Our choices can influence what and how products are produced and packaged. Do what you can. Some choices may require more effort, but you can do a lot.
79
I recently bought reusable mesh produce bags what have a drawstring. They are washable, vastly superior to the plastics produce bags that tear and, of course, eliminate that source of plastic use.
21
The government of NZ announced last year that there would be a ban (with a few exceptions) from the middle of this year on single-use plastic bags. A major supermarket chain, Countdown, decided not to wait for the ban to take effect but to get rid of these bags at the checkout pretty well straight away after this announcement, and posted employees at the entrances for a few weeks to explain the changes. Instead of supplying plastic bags at the checkout they sell sturdy reusable bags for a dollar with the offer to replace them for free when they wear out, which they never seem to. After this preemptive move by Countdown, other supermarkets like PaknSave first removed their checkout bags from view and put up a sign saying to ask for them if they were wanted. Sort of treating them like cigarettes are here, ie a bad habit but some people are addicted to them and have to be quietly supplied. (Cigarettes are kept locked in plain cupboards behind the checkout here at the shops and smokers must get the cashier to unlock the cabinet.) After a short while PaknSave announced that they too would no longer be supplying plastic bags at the checkout. They sell some attractive ones instead. For me this is all so inspiring. The ban isn't even in force yet but everyone takes it for granted now. We carry reusable bags in our cars and have a lightweight one popped into our handbag. It's turned out to be easy but it has taken political leadership (yes, by Jacinda Arden's government!) to achieve.
19
@Nancy, those are great suggestions!
I often have lunch at the Whole Foods on my block [yes, I know, a lot of people don't like Whole Foods]. They recently replaced their paper plates with giant plastic clamshells, with a lid attached. And, the next week I started bringing one of the thin cardboard boxes up to the deli counter, and using them at the salad bars even if I'm dining in. They are compostable and don't need a lid.
Seems like the best choice aside from bringing my own plate, which might be a health code violation. Of course, making lunch at home every day would be better still.
Our local farmers' markets, and Mom's Organic Market, are even better sources for LOCAL produce, though Whole Foods does have a pretty good selection.
4
I tried hard for several years to eat a plant-based diet and spent it in constant gastric pain. I had debilitating stomach cramps, threw up frequently, and endured unsolicited lectures from total strangers when I avoided veggie trays at parties and receptions. When I finally got insurance in 2016, my first visit was to a gastroenterologist, and after a simple test, he diagnosed me with gastroparesis. As a result, I can’t tolerate high-fiber foods (whole wheat or multi-grain bread is off-limits), high-fat meat (not a loss, as I’ve never been a big red meat consumer), most fresh fruits & vegetables (mine have to be cooked to mush) or brown rice. I’ve endured nasty stares from shoppers who see me putting Nature’s Own (white) Butterbread or jasmine rice in my cart, and I was even lectured at a natural food store where I took a knitting class that my snack (a corn muffin, coffee, and low-fat milk) would kill me. I asked this pious lady if she was a doctor or dietician, and when she started spluttering about her alternative medicine accreditations, I asked if she knew what gastroparesis was. She did not. I gave her a brief summary of my condition, along with my email address, and asked her to send me any tips. She emailed a gracious apology a few weeks later. I say all this because, Ms. Brody, not all of us can eat as you prescribe. I’m doing my best even though my diet is much whiter and processed than you’d prefer, but I’ve learned through experience I don’t have a choice.
51
Thank you for this comment. I have similar problems. I have an ileostoma & need a low fiber diet. I cannot eat nuts or any type of cabbage, including kale. When it comes to food, one size does not fit all.
36
@Frolicsome I know your gastro pain, and also had to use a low fiber diet & other unpleasant strategies to deal with gastroparesis until I discovered that the cause of my sudden adult onset issues was likely viral induced. After a 5 day water (only) fast, and a course of anti-virals, I now take 500mg of L-Lysine/day (a safe, cheap, essential amino acid & potent anti-viral), & I got my digestion and life back. The microbiome is barely known, but the virome is still almost utterly unknown. Give it a try-little to lose-lots to gain. (My top Gastroenterologist told me that no one would pay for the studies to verify this treatment method worked because no one could profit off of it, so no point in publishing it.)
2
It's possible the main problem with our diet is what we're NOT eating - that is, fruits and vegetables.
49
Cruelty to animals should get a mention...also the trend toward veggie alternatives to hamburgers. Now taste similarity is close.
35
Farmed seafood???
15
@Weimaraner I too am wondering why they would recommend farmed seafood as opposed to wild. Farmed has gotten a bad reputation for various good reasons. Now they're changing their tune? Maybe because so many people are turned off from the "farmed," they have a surplus that eventually needs to be thrown out. Did she mean to write "wild" instead of "farmed"?
5
@Weimaraner
My thoughts exactly!! Never farmed seafood.
5
@Weimaraner Probably recommended because of endangered species/limited wild fish supply. Agreed though, farmed fish is generally way less healthy.
2
In addition, most of us do not get the ideal amount of fiber in our diet - I think the average diet has about 15 gas of fiber, and for a woman we should be getting at least double that - more for men.
On a plant based diet I find it difficult to get 30 gms. of fiber daily unless I eat legumes that have about 14 gms. of fiber per cup.
6
@Pat Boice You said "On a plant based diet you find it difficult to get 30 gms of fiber unless I eat legumes." Legumes ARE plants! And on an animal based diet, you'd get even less fiber.
8
@Juliet Jones - Yes, I understand that. I should have been more specific....I didn't mean that legumes aren't plants, just that some people don't include beans etc. in their plant based diets. Difficult to get the 30 gms. w/o legumes.
5
@Pat Boice I, consume a mostly plant based diet and my daily fiber intake is 50 grams. I eat a lot of vegetables, beans twice a day, whole grains and fruit. In spite of all of this, I still have to take daily Miralax....go figure.
5
Just had a half an avocado sprinkled with pumpkin seeds for dinner. Absolute deliciousness!
20
@AW
I had half a small can of mixed nuts, an apple, and a small amount of whey protein milk for my dinner.
2
@AW and that was enough?
1
Please get with the times Jane, low fat diets went out with the new millennium. We now know that healthy fat is necessary and good for us. Also, all bread is sugar/ carbohydrate. It doesn’t matter if it’s wheat or white.
17
@Dana She is from the 60’s and has NO right to be advising anyone about nutrition, which she clearly knows nothing about, while completely ignoring the horrific environmental consequences of the diet she proposes and she is completely ignoring (or oblivious to) the enormous ethical issues on all fronts.
@Dana good insight, and while we're at it, farmed seafood is the most toxic thing you can eat
4
Thanks for covering this critical topic.
An easy way to offset our heavy beef diets is to view slightly under-cooked lentils as a ground beef alternative. See this post for a recipe for lentil tacos that taste incredibly similar to their beef alternative.
https://www.knowwattscooking.com/single-post/2019/04/08/Humanity-Saving-Beef-Reducing-Lentil-Taco-Recipe
5
@Carla,I just subscribed to this blog..thanks!
1
@Carla
Undercooked lentils? This would give most people indigestion and turn them into gas bombs!
6
I especially like the closing paragraph... "But even if environmental issues are not high on your list of concerns, health should be. As the commission concluded, “Today, over two billion adults are overweight and obese, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases including diabetes, cancer and heart diseases are among the leading causes of global deaths,” risks now being exported worldwide." I like the article for its balance... I have PhD in chemistry/engineering and MBA (Chicago) so I understand the limits of both science and policy making. I am concerned about the environment and I am especially concerned about government officials and political appointees making edicts that should be based on real science. Real science acknowledges the limits of our knowledge and understanding and bases decisions on what is known, what is supported by scientific data and not by politicians. Above all else, the Scientific Method rules, big decisions have to be supported by data and not by the counting of hands of experts -(who will be found to be on one kind of payroll or another, and, therefore, are are truly biased. Don't you believe in climate change ... well, um... yes but I do not believe in millennial - 100 or 200 year model forecasts of future climate for which there is no null hypothesis ... and statistics exist only for comparison of IPCC CMIP5 type models amongst them selves but not against actual physical data e.g., backcasting. That is not science, that is propaganda.
3
Beef or no beef??? The real crisis of this issue involves the rampant and recognized abuse of antibiotics and growth hormones.
Livestock raised for food in the US are dosed with five times as much antibiotic medicine as farm animals in the UK, new data has shown, raising questions about rules on meat imports under post-Brexit trade deals.
The difference in rates of dosage rises to at least nine times as much in the case of cattle raised for beef, and may be as high as 16 times the rate of dosage per cow in the UK. There is currently a ban on imports of American beef throughout Europe, owing mainly to the free use of growth hormones in the US.
Higher use of antibiotics, particularly those that are critical for human health – the medicines “of last resort”, which the World Health Organisation wants banned from use in animals – is associated with rising resistance to the drugs and the rapid evolution of “superbugs” that can kill or cause serious illness.
But let's get personal - There is a chunk of muscle in your mouth that dare we admit is the slave driver here - duly trained for years to crave that meaty taste. Who would admit to being in abject servitude to that tongue flapping around, and all the while ignoring the finer demands that this exquisite human body deserves? Wake up!
8
Many of these "good for the planet" diets seem deficient in calcium, with little or no dairy. How are we supposed to deal with osteoporosis?
3
@H I'm not convinced "good for the planet" foods are that deficient in absorbable calcium. The Dairy Industry has done a fantastic job of convincing people its product will prevent osteoporosis with almost no real evidence to back up this claim.
20
@H
Leafy greens is the best source of calcium.
30
@H. You may want to check out the sorry facts on milk. The need for milk products to avoid osteoporosis is just one of the myths the Milk Industry has perpetuated. In fact, check what the real science says here:
https://nutritionfacts.org/2017/01/31/why-is-milk-consumption-associated-with-more-bone-fractures/
11
"limit consumption of red meat — beef and lamb in particular — to one 3-ounce serving a week"
OK--so if I order the 40 oz. tomahawk steak, I can look forward to another in just three months. That works.
4
Jane Brody has been writing this column far too long. I'd like to have a fresh perspective on the topics she covers.
71
@Charlotte I couldn't agree more. She dates herself in every column.
9
@Charlotte K I respect the fact that is can be very difficult to write about such topics since each statement can introduce issues that deserve lengthly attention of their own and trigger readers' personal opinions. I do not think someone younger would find this any easier.
Perhaps it would be helpful is the NYT tied a discussion format for health topics, but I very much hope her voice remains.
I've been reading Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and Steven Stoll's "Ramp Hollow". It's about time we stopped hunting our food in plastic packets that are poisoning our hospitable home. There is no planet like it.
Please pay attention, this is important.
CAFOs are evil. Not apologizing for the stark characterization here, because the truth is a defense.
"A concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is an animal feeding operation (AFO) in which over 1000 animal units are confined for over 45 days a year. An animal unit is the equivalent of 1000 pounds of "live" animal weight. A thousand animal units equates to 1000 cows, 700 cows used for dairy purposes, 2500 pigs weighing more than 55 lbs, 125 thousand chickens, or 82 thousand egg laying hens or
pullets.
"For regulatory purposes a CAFO is also an animal feeding operation of any size that discharges its waste into a waterway. For the most part, there are regulations that restrict how much waste can be distributed and for what the quality of the materials has to be. As of 2016 there were around 212,000 AFOs in the United States, :1.2 19,496 of which were CAFOS. Livestock production has become increasingly dominated by CAFOs in the United States and other parts of the world. Most poultry was raised in CAFOs starting in the 1950s, and most cattle and pigs by the 1970s and 1980s."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_animal_feeding_operation
19
@Susan Anderson
I also abhor the perverse practices of raising animals. Since I don't eat much meat, I can afford grassfed beef and wild sea food. I noticed that Europeans, who still raise a lot of farm animals on pastures, pay comparatively less for grassfed beef and lamb.
7
In The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition (1992), published under the auspices of the superb Wellness Letter of the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley, in the chapters devoted to meat, poultry and fish, there are charts showing nutrition data, fat grams among them, for 100-gram (3.5 oz) portions of roughly two dozen of the most common cuts (or species for fish and game), respectively, of beef, chicken, duck, fish and shellfish, game, goose, lamb, pork and turkey. For beef, the fat-gram tally for the almost 30 cuts was overwhelmingly in the double digits at c. 10-30 grams (90-270 calories of fat alone, in other words) - the various rounds - bottom, eye, tip, top - were almost alone in the single digits. The range for chicken cuts was a notch lower in fat, especially when skinless and/or white, as was that for pork, especially with "-loin" in its descriptor.
The real winners in the low-fat stakes, overwhelmingly in the often-low single digits of grams per serving, were fish - with even the several fattier types rather healthier than not - game (almost all varieties, save for bear, if I recall, eye-openingly lean) and turkey. Two of the leanest meats known to science are water-packed canned tuna and skinless turkey breast. And just for reference, remember that the protein tally for the various meats is c. 23-30 (92-120 calories) grams protein per 100-gram serving.
@Scott Lahti
Why is there still this obsession with fat in food? A low fat diet is for many people sheer poison. There has never been any proof (and not just conjecture) that it prevents diseases!
And by the way, water packed canned tuna is a culinary abomination. There is a reason for eating tuna packed in olive oil: Fat soluble vitamins can be more easily absorbed.
3
I wonder how my meat consumption from hunting factors in to these equations. Typically in a season, I hunt deer, elk and antelope. I almost always have deer and antelope in the freezer, with it lasting us until next season (elk is no gimme so I don't count on it every year.)
9
@Tim
I wish I had your access to all these great meats!
Again Jan you encourage heavy carb ingestion. Diabetes is rampant. Whole grain are carbs, they aren’t healthier for you, they are slower to digest but in the end still have the effect of eating sugar, and white foods. Whole fat yogurt is good for you. Try it, but it comes from cows. In many healthy cultures, animal fats not from cows and plant oils like coconut nourished healthy people - look to
South Pacific. Also note in India where many are vegetarian diabetes is a real problem because of the sugars and carbs.
11
I would be a vegetarian if I wasn't quite so weak and unprincipled. That is why I can't wait to try the new meatless burgers at Burger King. Plant based "meat" that looks and tastes like the real thing has reportedly been achieved by two companies: Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. If this stuff tastes good and is healthy I don't see why it couldn't reduce our reliance on beef. I would certainly eat it and even pay extra.
I pay extra to buy organic, cage-free, humane everything to try to help animals and the earth. I would recycle but we have a terrible system here that doesn't work at all. I just read an article in this newspaper that said despite what everyone tells us, plastic bags are more environmentally friendly than paper bags OR cloth bags (I know, hard to believe) as long as they go into landfills and not in the ocean or blowing across the parking lot.
I had to learn the hard way that carbs are my enemy; I have to eat protein and fats. Many years of bad advice (thanks for nothing!) from authorities before I figured this out for myself. And sorry, Jane E. Brody, you are cutting back on your one big treat: LOWFAT ice cream?? That just sounds sad.
20
@Madeline Conant
I also thought it sounded sad that she is cutting back on her one big treat. What's the moral of that story: deprivation is virtuous?
3
@Madeline Conant: Common sense balks at the silliness of plastic bags being better than cloth ones. That does not compute.
3
@Madeline Conant
I use the same cloth bags for shopping over and over again- for years. It beats the weekly use of paper bags that get thrown out- recycled- not long after they have served their one time purpose- same with plastic bags that were handed out at supermarkets- they were either recycled or used for garbage.
1
After college, I switched to a vegetarian diet. I was a nutrition major, so I knew how to do it in a "healthy" way, and believed I was doing the right thing for myself and for animals. It never occurred to me that the allergies that plagued me were caused by this diet, but almost 20 years later when I tried the Atkins diet and my allergies completely disappeared, I saw the light. Vegetarianism is just not right for everyone, despite what those of you who preach it believe. We need to completely rework our agriculture system so that it is healthy for us and the planet. The giant dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is just one small indicator of how wrong our system is. The indiscriminate use of Roundup (glyphosate) is affecting our gut microbiomes and is likely a contributing cause of the obesity epidemic, among other things. Obviously none of the needed changes will happen under our current administration, but we the people need to push for changes.
54
@N equals 1
I'm similar to you. When I eat animal protein and vegetables, no carbs, dairy and no grains I breathe free.
6
Diet should not be guided by political ideology and the growing need to highlight your self defined superior virtue. Cows are well below the numbers of range animals 15,000 years ago roaming worldwide, so stop with the global warming angle.
Diet should reflect what is healthiest for you and plant based is surely not it. Obesity and Type II diabetes are the results from the fraudulent food pyramid that pushed the low fat high carb debacle of the last 50 years. Meat did not cause these problems, low nutrient carbs and sugars did.
29
@steve Where do you get your numbers for range animals on the planet 15,000 years ago? The ice age was just about to end.
Unsupported (one could use a stronger term), "superior science" is worse than "superior virtue"
11
@steve Humans and the mammals humans raise for food now make up 96% of the mammal biomass on the earth. There is nothing natural about our animal agriculture system, and the world we are living in now in no way resembles the world of 15,000 years ago.
And how is trying to preserve a habitable planet for future generations considered a “political ideology”?
8
My only “correction “ would be to prefer grass fed beef raised east of 100th meridian over CAFO raised pork or chicken.
Personally I’ve been a vegetarian for years. But I live in a state plagued by CAFO pollution which is only getting worse.
5
Any discussion about food security should start by addressing the incredible amount of food waste that goes to the landfill every day; about 40 to 50 percent of what is produced. It’s a shame that the self-righteous food dictators are OK with all of this waste while repeating propaganda from Kellogg, Archer Daniels, and other huge processed food and food commodity corporations interested in increasing sales and profits at the expense of population health. What is Ms. Brody doing to reduce waste of food and why does she not pass this information on? Is it because it would not please her sponsors?
13
Low-fat ice cream?
With all the research about how fat is good, why are we still eating low-fat anything??
83
@Sceptucal Sally
Some high fats are fine, but not when from dairy. That is a killer - in the truest sense of the word.
5
@Sceptucal Sally . Plant-based fats are good (olive oil, avocado, nuts). Dairy fat is lethal, from a cardiovascular health perspective. Ask your doctor.
2
@BMD It depends on the quality of the dairy. If the milk comes from conventional feed lot dairy cows, then that is going to be some of the least healthiest fat you can eat, with inappropriate ratios and proportions of fatty acids. Even if it's "organic" grain fed it's not much better for you. But if you can find products from 100% grass fed & finished cows, then you should have a very healthy full fat product. The Fins, Swedes and Netherlands know this...
6
Male life expectancy in 1900 was 46 years.
3
the average person at the time and previously died due to complications of acute diseases not heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. It was more lack of hygiene and sanitation then diet.
13
@joel the leading cause of death in the US in 1900 was influenza and TB.
My wife and I have been vegans since 1992 after we read the book "Diet for New America". One thing I've learned is that adults for the most part have absolutely no interest in changing their diet one bit. They feel entitled to stuff as much beef into their pie-hole as they believe is sufficient. I gieve daily for what this behaviour is doing to our planet. People would say "but, how do you get enough protein", to which I respond "have you ever known anyone with a protein deficiency?"
I firmly believe this will not change until the cattle industry is no longer subsidized and it simply becomes too expensive to eat such mass quantities of this stuff. I'm now 60, take no meds, regularly work out with 20 and 30 year olds with nothing slowing me down. The people in my age group are for some reason destined to kill themselves with food. Most are at least very obese or morbidly obese, and are on all kinds of meds. I just don't get it. 26 years into this and I'm completely baffled by the choices people make with regards to food.
187
Some vegetarians do have IRON deficiency, especially women if they are still menstruating.
12
@Sonia Jaffe Robbins
Deficiencies of Iron, B12, &D are frequently found in Omnivoers also, esp. older ones! We are a society whose greatest issues are degenerative diseases of old age ALL of which are caused by excessive protein & fat from too much animal product and lack of fiber, the results of SAD or Standard American Diet! Kaiser (biggest HMO in C'try) has been recommending a Whole Food, Plant Based, w'little or No added Oils for a (WFPBNO) a while now!
18
@Karen
No degenerative disease is caused by too much protein. This is vegan propaganda. "Too much protein" is not even a thing, because protein is so satiating to the appetite.
The SAD diet is relatively _low_ in protein, and high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, and refined seed oils. The dietary drivers of chronic disease are all plant-based.
Those deficiencies occur _more commonly_ in vegans than vegetarians, and more commonly in vegetarians than omnivores.
4
If you click on the article link Menus of Change 2018 conference recipes, the recipes start on page 51. Look at them before you criticize the information in the article.
Eating to become healthier takes time and effort. If you do it right, you feel better and become healther. That's a fine goal.
5
According to a recent issue of the British Medical Journal, the World Health Organization recently pulled its support for the EAT Lancet initiative.
9
Ms. Brody, I've been following your diet recommendations for years and I love the squash/chick pea combination. But I have to say, after checking the sodium content on canned bean/chickpeas/legumes/etc -- I buy bags of dried beans and cook them myself. I get the convenience of cans, but chickpeas cook up quickly -- can do it on a weekend or at night for the next day. It's cheaper and you avoid all that salt.
23
@Katherine
if one look there are low/no sodium beans ("Eden" is one brand) just as things like tomatoes can be purchased low/no salt.
I keep a few cans around for 'last min.' but as you said cooking beans is an easy thing to do when at home anyway. Cooking your own means adding garlic, bay leaves or ??? in the water for a subtle flavor enhancement and they also freeze very well. I keep a # of 1 & 2 cup pyrex lidded bowls in freezer w'many diff beans.
Also adding a stick of Kombu (a type of seaweed) to a lb. of dryed beans when cooking adds flavor w'out salt and is said to decreace the 'gas' factor.
7
@Karen
Also, there are plastic liners in cans and even if they don’t contain BHA - which shows up in our blood-, they may contain something similar.
9
@Katherine And they freeze well.
1
Grass fed lamb and beef have a zero level of grain to meat conversion. They also can live on land that is unsuitable for agriculture because of climate or water availability.
30
@Ceilidth Actually each pound of grass-fed beef produces 500 percent more greenhouse gases than grain-fed. Grain-fed cows also produce one-third the methane of grass-fed, partially due to their shorter life span, though both contribute to methane and nitrous oxide emissions. So eating red meat is extremely destructive to our environment, no matter what you feed the animal.
11
@Ceilidth
PLEASE do check out the documentary "Cowspiracy" and it's link for the relevant facts regarding CAFO vs 'grass fed'! In short it would take more than 4 Planet Earths as I recall to raise the amount of meat presently eaten world wide!
7
@Cecilia
Perhaps the 500% figure is technically 'correct', but does it factor in the petrochemicals used/ burned to grow, harvest, and transport the grain ? Including fertilizers. Grass fed beef is much healthier. But the most important point Cecilia makes, one not understood by most readers, is that grazing animals can utilize land that cannot, for any number of reasons, be used for annual agriculture. We are still assuming that our weather will be stable enough for growing cereal grains in the foreseeable future, but that may not be the case (for example in the now-flooded midwest). Extreme weather (think hard summer frost, or a devastating hailstorm) can easily destroy a cereal grain crop in short order; grasslands are much more resilient. Well managed grasslands populated by hardy grazing animals are an important ecosystem in their own right. And a much more diverse habitat than annual croplands !
Oh, and the 'thousand gallons of water' it takes to produce a 'pound of meat' ? For grass-fed cows, of course 99% of that water ends up back on the land as 'urea fertilizer'.
It's sort of silly to talk about belching cows while our freeways are clogged with vehicles, usually with only one occupant per car. We may eventually end up with the 'Tibet solution' of stripping vehicles down to their running gear and hitching them up to yaks . . .
4
It should be pointed out that cows do not normally eat grain. Only cattle finished on grain do so. This usually occurs in a feedlot where they remain for 2 to 12 months. Cattle are herbivores, their natural diet consists of almost entirely of grass. Grass fed beef have a different lipid profile, taste and texture from cattle finished on grain. Grass-fed beef necessarily has a lower energy/carbon dioxide profile than commercial beef finished on grain. As for carbon dioxide produced as the result of digestion, the Great Plains were estimated to have approximately 60M bison pre-contact versus 32M beef cattle in 2018 according to the USDA. Ultimately I think it becomes a question of how many people can the planet support not whether they are carnivores or herbivores.
34
@Bill Hunt
There are many factors to consider with respect to capacity of a given food-production system, not to mention its environmental impacts.
Corn, soy and other commodities grown on the Great Plains are produced in huge quantities, and are food sources for far more people than live in the U.S. Exports make up a significant percentage of production - about 50% for soybeans and 17% for corn.
Rate of production must be considered when comparing cattle with bison. Approximately ten steers meet their unnatural end for every bison that lives out its natural lifespan.
Here is an interesting article:
Grass-finished beef need high-energy forages
https://hayandforage.com/article-1363-grass-finished-beef-need-high-energy-forages.html
From reading this, it appears that a model of high beef availability and quality requires a feeding system that is unlike the natural grasslands which supported bison.
For Americans, the population argument is a convenient deflection from our real negative impacts. We're not producing many children, but we are producing outsized quantities of CO2 and methane through activities such as driving and eating large amounts of meat.
6
Quality grass fed, grass finished requires an advanced level of management plan. The article you referenced is very basic and does not support your conclusion about bison and the plains. Cattle could be grazed exactly like the bison... vast herds constantly moving. Read Alan Savory for the real knowledge on management intensive grazing, and Greg Judy for solutions to the issues brought up in the article you referenced... it is not necessary to make hay for instance, forage can be left standing, stored on pasture, through the winter. The strategy for advanced rotational grazing of ruminants (animals that can convert grass to protein and fat) depends entirely on the type of land, how much rain and soil conditions. The strategy is entirely different if you are on western brittle plains , eastern temperate pasture land or the midwestern plains, but very workable on all. The trick is to have the cattle move quickly and not revisit the same site for a while. When that is done correctly the soil sequesters carbon (greater root volume) and the health of the soil is greatly increased. The type of agriculture you refer to of corn, soy, wheat etc is a true disaster. It runs solely of fossil fuel based inputs and is absolutely destroying the soil every single day. It does not have to be done this way. Regenerative agriculture is the key to the future and intensive rotational grazing of ruminants is an important piece of the puzzle.
56
@WBA
There is no denying that industrial-scale agriculture has created serious environmental concerns. Animal feed accounts for a large percentage of the world's major food crops.
One question is: can beef production - whether range fed or not - supply an equivalent amount of food energy as other types of food production in the U.S.? This is why I brought up among other things, the life cycle of cattle compared with wild bison referenced by Bill Hunt. Describing problems with our modern food systems doesn't really answer the question.
The other question, relating to climate, is: Which types of food production create the least amount of greenhouse gases? The answer to that one is pretty clear.
3
You are worried about whether I eat a hamburger when Asia Pacific emissions of CO2 in 2017 were 1.5x the combined emissions of the US and Europe, and as recently as 1990 were a little more than half the combined total. (see the "BP Statistal Review of World Energy 2018"). Sustainable eating, while admirable, is like a pea shooter against an aircraft carrier when you consider the two billion plus people in India and China that want to be wealthy like Americans. US and Europe CO2 emissions are are declining. Asia Pacific emissions are continuing to increase, and China, for one, has not committed to reduce CO2 emissions until 2030. By that time, the INCREASE in Asia Pacific emissions will be more than the current TOTAL emissions of the US today.
If the world is in trouble because of increasing CO2 emissions, it is not because of what we eat.
Until we can figure out a way to tell China and India what to do, I am going to eat what I want.
7
Despite grocery stores loaded with healthful foods, the US diet remains deficient in many ways. The advent of fast food promoting sugar and fat set us up for an unhealthy lifestyle. Despite medical breakthroughs in pharmaceuticals, we're fatter and have more heart disease, diabetes, and food allergies than our grandparents had. Poor people in the West are not thin and emaciated, just the opposite, and that's partially due to a diet heavy in bad food choices. Salty canned foods. Fatty meats. Chips. Sweets. Soft drinks. It would be interesting to see a healthy weekly diet for a poor family based upon an income of $25,000 or less. Is it possible?
5
Dear Jane, very curious as to what diet you recommend for type 2 diabetics, who cannot metabolize carbohydrates without shooting plasma glucose levels to unhealthy range. The least invasive way to manage such diabetes is to avoid carbs, even low-glycemic ones, which still raise glucose levels.
12
The article advises: "farmed seafood as your primary animal food along with moderate amounts of poultry and eggs." So I'm happy for diabetics to eat my theoretical share of those things while I eat plant based protein, especially if it means, everyone, including future generations can thrive!
2
@Sassafras Have a look at this recommendation: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-best-diet-for-diabetes/
2
@Sassafras She will tell you that you got diabetes because you are fat (whether or not you are) and not consider that many Type 2 Diabetics have it because they have a genetic propensity for it. It's much more fun for her to point fingers. As for her recommendations, she has never gotten past the old time idea that fat is terrible and carbs are wonderful.
2
Somewhere probiotics deserve a mention. It is becoming more and more clear our gut bacteria play a role in our health maintenance so we should mention them, regardless if whether we consume vegan vegetarian carnivorous omnivorous diet.
12
I gave up meat in 2002 after educating myself on the science of meat production and climate change. 2002! That’s a long time ago, and there was ample evidence at that time.
Additionally, giving up or dramatically reducing meat conveys immediate benefits to one’s own health and to animal welfare. Longer term, giving it up mitigates other awful indirect effects such as rainforest deforestation and E. coli frequently on our fruits and veggies coming from animal waste runoff - blech! Every time I hear E. coli in the news it makes me mad at meat consumers.
The corporate meat industry and its lobby in Washington makes the situation even more vile just to turn a greater profit. And guess who is subsidizing it? That’s right! Is it April 15 yet?
“Why do you not eat meat?” people feel entitled to ask. “Better for the earth, better for me, and better for animals” is my standard answer.
The whole thing is just vile start to finish. I don’t judge, and I try not to sound judgy in my answer to their queries, but I do wonder how smart people can stomach it.
138
I support eating a mostly plant-based diet but you shouldn't be mad at meat eaters for e-coli. All it takes is some wild animals pooping in a field of lettuce to cause an e-coli outbreak. Remember the spinach outbreak? it was caused by wild hogs that got into a field of spinach.
5
If the Commission was charged with finding sustainable ways to preserve Earth, I'd like to see some humane suggestions on attriting the population or maybe that's for another article. I mean, it would be a lot easier, in the future, to house, feed, and otherwise care for a world population of 5 billion instead of 10.
I do agree with the food recommendations but cutting down to just 3 oz beef per week and one serving of dairy a day is too extreme at this time for the US. Besides, it may not even be necessary to have to do this if there weren't so many people making demands of the planet.
7
@Ron A
Ron, my dietary preferences probably conform to yours, but I think you may have fallen victim to the all or nothing fallacy. If the reductions in red meat and dairy are too radical to be practical for you, then aim to reduce to ( for example) 1 more day a week meat free than your current consumption. Then over time, keep going.
Barring a dreadful pandemic, reducing the world's population isn't going to happen in our lifetime. ( And if that's a goal, by far the best approach would be to limit lifetimes of first world seniors like me once they enter the hospital to nursing home treadmill, but that's another ,morally fraught , topic.) And even if the population drops soon, the science behind the general diet changes outlined in Ms Brody's article is quite firm, so altering dietary habits would be of great benefit too us personally.
17
@Ron A - "…cutting down to just 3 oz beef per week and one serving of dairy a day is too extreme at this time for the US."
Codswallop, Ron. Those of us who have considered the overall, long-term environmental impacts of meat consumption on our planet, our bodies, our kid's future and on the meat animals, consume no meat. I'm 74, haven't eaten beef since Hector was a pup and can outhike most folks, no matter what age.
I agree w/ your comment on over-population, but a world of 5 Billion peeps will only arrive catastrophically and may well take you along with it. Alternatively, we can each choose to be more responsible, reduce our obscenely wasteful consumption and maybe buy some more time to figure out how we can survive as a species.
2
I am one person. I weigh 160 lbs. and what I eat has no measurable effect on the earth. I consider my diet kind of personal. Telling me to change it is intrusive. My dog also eats meat as do countless other species. If you want to eat legumes, more power to you. If the government tells me I need to be a vegetarian, I will comply. But for now, I’d prefer that you consider my diet my business.
5
@michjas, when parents tell their children how to eat what to eat, they are receptive because they trust their parents. Over generations this trust has broken because somewhere along our parents lost their way and started eating like each meal was a Roman orgy, that no one need tell them, they could anything anytime anywhere any season. Our planet watched, with horror. The seasons watched, with horror. Our fellow animals and beings on the planet, watched with horror. These human beings, endowed with brains, are behaving so foolishly, like children, throwing tantrums. They gave up, threw up their hands. No physician doctor could treat the planet now...its gone beyond repair.
14
No one is telling you to give up your carnivorous habits. The article is just enlightening the reader. In college, Diet for a Small Planet was required reading in a nutrition class I took. Changed my perspective on diet, food politics and its impact on my personal health and the well being of the world’s population and ecosystems. I CHOSE to change my dietary habits knowing that will benefit me, my health and the health of the planet. Change was gradual and mindful. I encourage you to read that book. Although dated, it’s still a powerful read.
69
@LBQNY
Like you I read DfaSP by FMLappe in the '70s but have since learned that she did not go far enough. We need to ascribe her thoughts to the 'production' animals, ALL female as they sustain the worst effects on our planet, our health and their suffering!
Recently I had the oppertunity to talk w'FML and even she has not seen the error of her orginal thesis
1
Nothing new in the article but the most we spread the word the better, we need to make everyone aware of this. Thanks for the article Jane
3
For nearly ten years I have been asked why am I a 99% Vegetarian and 95% Vegan? My answer has always been the same. "For health and sustainability." Lancet is late by 10 years on this subject.
71
@Jaque, scientists are only just finding out that animals too have consciousness. They too have feeling emotions. So do plants, microbes. Thousands of years ago, the Buddha said even a blade of grass has consciousness. So did Mahavira Jain. Lancet is couple thousand years late on the subject.
24
If grain-fed cattle are contributing heavily to our high rates of chronic diseases, it's because these cattle are fed GMO grain grown with artificial pesticides, are given antibiotics, hormones and, to digest the corn, antacids.
You are what you eat, eats.
17
Even feeding organic grain to a ruminant is a colossal waste of resources. They can thrive off of grass, no reason to feed grain. Pigs and chickens cannot live from grass which is why they are very costly to produce in an unsubsidized way. GMO is no good but the feedlot system is the problem with beef production. Done correctly cattle harvest grass for themselves and do not require a tremendous amount of work or resources, other than observation and management strategy. Goats and sheep as well. 100% grass fed, grass finished made in the country where you live is a great way to help create the world you want to live in through your eating choices.
8
@WBA - The feedlot system exists because consumers demand the lowest prices for the largest quantities of beef. CAFOs shove unnatural foods and gobs of antibiotics through feedlot cattle in order to keep them alive and more or less healthy long enough to fatten them to market weight asap in order to create the most beef at the lowest possible price. Grassfed cattle fatten too slowly to be cost competitive w/ CAFOs.
Your comment that, "cattle… do not require a tremendous amount of work or resources" is flat-out wrong. Beef is far and away more resource consumptive - of feed, water and land - and produce far more waste and GHG than poultry, pork and fish - let alone vegetables.
3
I always conscious with my actions , I want to do my best to minimize my carbon footprint . After watching Our Planet , seeing animals suffer because of human irresponsible actions makes me wants to do more than what I am doing now . I stop eating meat unless someone dining with me choose to waste the meat . But I do eat salmon, which I only buy loose salmon which is the leftover salmon. And I have done some research, eating mussel is one of the most sustainable way.
22
I’m not sure it would be all that much better to convert all the corn fields to lentil fields for human consumption. I won’t go into all the details, but right now much animal waste from feedlots is used as fertilizer. That will need to be replaced.
Our problem with cattle is our insistence on eating “fatted calves”, which are fed lots of grain. Food animals don’t need to eat grain. Ruminants have an amazing ability to convert grasses into human edible food. Why not bring bison back to large stretches of the Great Plains? Goats will eat just about anything, as will pigs. By all means we should be eating much less meat, but the meat we do eat can be sustainably raised and much better for us at the same time. BTW, bison on a prairie is a fully sustainable system.
Ms. Brody, you should read about permaculture farming. It is the blending of animals and plants, essentially the way farming was done until a century ago. Feed the garden scraps to the pigs in the wallow, slaughter the pigs in the fall, move the wallow and plant the garden where the pigs were two years later. Chickens and ducks eat the bugs in the garden, provide eggs and a nice meal now and then. We can’t all live this close to the land, but we can buy from people who do.
116
@GiGi yes, regenerative ranching/farming!
7
Good points in general. Yes Ms. Brody please up on sustainable and regenerative agriculture if you care about this stuff. Read Bill Mollison the father of permaculture and please read Wendell Berry’s ‘the unsettling of America,’ marvelous book from one of America’s great writers and it will give you a real perspective on what has happened and what can be done. Unfortunately the simplicity of ‘eat chicken and farmed seafood over beef’ is really uninformed and simplistic advice and will not help anything. Industrial farming of poultry and pork is an unmitigated disaster and the food is nearly toxic. Look at what the pork farms have done to the Chesapeake. Same with most farmed seafood, huge environmental costs. The point is the specific type of agriculture. Industrial concentrated animal ‘farming’ of this type only rose up after ww2 and was partly modeled on German concentration camps (concentrated animal feeding operations, CAFO.) it is a blight on humanity and a shame to inflict that level of cruelty on our partner species, just to bring down prices. The only way it works is it’s out of sight and hidden and we are in denial. Buy direct from farmers as much as possible who are taking care of the land and animals they are farming. Buy only grass finished meat or meat from farmers who raise poultry or pork on pasture... very rare (white oak pastures in Georgia is amazing and they ship for free all over the place.) Lots of struggling farm businesses who need support from buyers..
13
lentils and other legumes pull their nitrogen from the soil which becomes part of their protein content. They require less fertilizer and sometimes are used to improve soils. Next!
3
If you want to eat healthy try wheat. No not the white paste that passes for bread today but go out and buy some organic wheat berries and grind them yourself into flour and bake your own bread.
But don't believe me, Try Piney the elder, or the ancient greeks, or the Egyptians, or even people from the 1800's. Wheat was the wonder food until our Supreme court said it was Ok to poison it. It was downhill from there.
8
@Allan: I also mill my own flour for my homemade sourdough bread. I don't just use wheat, but spelt, barley, rye, oats, buckwheat, quinoa, and millet, all of which are organic. I add ground chickpea and soy flour to my batter (mostly because I wrecked one mill trying to make my own bean flour).
Bread from freshly milled flour tastes fantastic. I tell guests, this is what they had in mind when they said "give us this day our daily bread".
13
@Allan We do the same. Ironically, one of the reasons we grind wheat berries is found on page 43 of Jane Brody's cookbook from the '80's, Good Food Book. Table 3 lists the nutrients lost when whole-wheat flour is refined. It's stunning what is lost. (One example: 77% of the potassium.)
7
One thing not mentioned in the article is the fact that 25% of greenhouse gases come from the way in which our farm-based products are grown and transported. As Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and other informative books about our agricultural industrial complex, has written, when you look at a field of such crops as corn or soybeans or wheat, you are really looking at a sea of oil. Between petroleum based fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, the fuel to run farm implements like tractors, the fuel to transport crops from field to market, the source of the plant based product matters greatly to human health and the health of the planet. Not all strawberries are created equal. Organic, local (or regional) crops are much less soaked in fossil fuels than those grown by Big Ag or shipped halfway across the globe. Choose wisely. Our future depends on it.
91
@Tom: You (and Pollan) are right about pesticides and herbicides being petroleum-derived, but not about fertilizer. The most widely used fertilizers are based on N-P-K (nitrogren - e.g., ammonium nitrate, phosphorus and potassium- chemical symbol K), while plants in the allium family require extra sulfur (as sulfates). Most plants require trace metals - notably magnesium (a constituent of chlorophyll) and iron. None of these derive from petroleum.
5
@PMN
All nitrogen fertilizers are produced by first synthesizing Ammonia from nitrogen in the air and methane with the help of catalysts at temperatures between 750 and 950 degrees F under pressure of 150 to 250 atmospheres. As you can see, there is quite a lot of fossil oil and gas involved in this energy consuming process!
The only other sources of nitrogen fertilizers are guano from the Andes, animal waste and compost.
The most energy efficient and less fossil fuel dependent form of agriculture therefore is age old permaculture that includes farm animals, as other posters already pointed out!
12
Nitrogen fertilizer is derived from fossil fuels. Specifically natural gas which is used to unbind nitrogen from the air. This requires quite a lot of fossil fuel to produce and is not going to last forever. Synthetic fertilizer is no real solution, taking care of the soil and building soil is the right thing to do. Take away the synthetic fertilizer on all these farms and their poor ruined soil could not grow anything but some scraggly weeds. Correctly managed grazing animals can help with this on a farm system as can many other techniques and natural processes.
8
The best way to combat climate change is engage often in local, state, and national politics. We need to write our legislators frequently about key environmental issues and legislation — from funding public transit and bike lanes to supporting the build out of alternative energy and a revamped electrical grid. If you compost but 99% neighbors don’t for lack of a mandatory municipal collection program, that is a big failure. Write your mayor about making your town or city carbon neutral. And please vote as if your children’s lives depended on stopping climate change, because they do.
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A plant-based diet is better for you, better for our planet, and better for animals. A trifecta of goodness. There are so many meat and dairy substitutes, cookbooks, and other people that have gone before you that it's easier than ever before to make the switch. I strongly encourage a plant-based food lifestyle. You'll be supporting better health for yourself and a healthier planet.
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@Richard - I was pleased to read about the oat milk shortage in last week's news -- yes, this is actually happening.
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Organisations engaged in the issue of palm oil and its negative impacts, such as Orangutan Land Trust, WWF and Greenpeace, do NOT call for a blanket boycott of palm oil. Instead, they call on consumers, manufacturers and retailers to demand deforestation-free sustainable palm oil.
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If anyone looks at the link to the conference it is sponsored by industrial food producers. The recipes are unappealing and not at all for the home cook. They use such environmentally friendly and healthy products such as cozy shack rice pudding and canned chicken broth.
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People can best help the planet, their health, and the animals by adopting a healthy animal-free diet. There are plenty of delicious animal-free foods available in supermarkets even in rural areas like ours on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. It's time to retire the falsehood that it is somehow environmentally better for the Earth to consume chickens instead of cows. For decade, the Chesapeake Bay has been poisoned by the pollution of the regional chicken industry, and poultry workers suffer from a plethora of ailments. The chickens are living in sheds tantamount to cesspools. They grow so fast and heavy and deformed they can barely, if at all, stand up let along walk which, in any case, is prevented by the fact that there is no room for them to move in the sheds. It is time that food writers develop a conscience and quit being shills for animal agribusiness. If you think I'm exaggerating, please get a job in the slaughterhouse and experience directly the misery you are blandly eating and promoting. www.upc-online.org/environment
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Jane, what are your plans for reducing your dairy consumption, as dairy farming contributes substantially to the environmental problems you discussed? There are many good-tasting calcium-fortified nondairy milks available, and the chickpeas that factor heavily in your current diet supply some also, along with dark leafy greens. Thanks.
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@A Reader
There are highly sustainable dairies. I’m fortunate to live close to one.
https://www.cornucopia.org/scorecard/dairy/
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The "EAT-Lancet" commission's recommendations are the same old failed low fat dietary guidelines, now re-packaged as "global guidelines." Because the national dietary guidelines have been so successful. /s
It allows calories from added sugars than from beef.
It requires supplementation to achieve adequate essential nutrition.
It erases local and traditional food cultures in favor of globalized low fat ideology.
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@The Pooch, none of what you write is correct.
One of the healthiest ways to eat, if not the healthiest, is plant based whole foods eating, which means no animal products and minimal to no processed foods. (Processed foods contain a lot of added oil, sugar, and salt, none of which is healthy.) The closer we come to that, the healthier we are. The only supplementation needed is vitamin B12 -- which we used to get from drinking untreated water.
In fact, vegetarians and vegans, as well as meat eaters, get about 70% more protein than they need. Only 3% of the US population is protein deficient. Yet, only about 3% of the population get enough of another vital nutrient: fiber. And fiber is not found in animal products.
And there are many, many different ways to eat veggies and fruits, beans and legumes, and nuts and seeds -- including lots of local and traditional food cultures.
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@Dr. J
Humans and human ancestors are adapted to eat an omnivorous diet, for literally millions of years. Humans are adapted to get B12 from animal foods, full stop. Nobody ever got sufficient B12 from eating contaminated water or dirty vegetables.
If a vegan diet works for _you_, as an individual, that's great. Honestly. But somehow vegans always feel the need to impose their narrow diet on everybody else.
Yes, almost everybody gets "enough" protein. Ignoring protein quality for a moment, the question is: How many calories of starch did you have to consume in order to get that protein?
Plenty of fiber in a whole foods omnivorous diet, and it's laughable for a vegan to indict other diets based on missing essential nutrients. No fiber? Put your meat/fish/eggs on top of a salad, problem solved.
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@The Pooch
It would be difficult to over-consume calories by eating the diet outlined by Dr J. The starch you like to disparage is found in foods such as oats, brown rice and vegetables; foods like these are not energy-dense and not so palatable that they lead to hedonic consumption. Starchy diets were the norm all over the world until recently. Obesity was not.
At some point one should realize that an appeal to nature argument is not valid when discussing nutrition and health. The question isn't whether humans evolved during the Paleolithic era eating meat; we know that they did. The question is: what is a health-promoting diet which also preserves our life-sustaining natural systems? The answer so far is: whole foods, mostly plants. This diet doesn't even have to be proven to be more healthful than a meat-heavy diet, although research to date suggests that it is. If this diet is equally healthful as a meat-heavy diet, then it is the clear winner because it has less harmful environmental effects.
Humans are highly adaptable and intelligent animals. We have the capacity to learn and to make adjustments to our lives as conditions warrant. Consuming B12 from non-meat sources is one example; bucking the (very recent) status quo and replacing some or all animal-based calories with plant-based calories is another.
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I am going to have a look at that The Lancet article. However, I suspect that it does what all similar analyses do: consider only emissions and ignore the fact that all animal carbon was already in the air. Animals -- including humans -- are made from atmospheric carbon, originally acquired by plants. The net increase in radiative forcing by livestock is thus much less than you might think if you only looked at emissions (as almost all studies do). We should of course all eat less meat for health reasons and because of the water, land, and energy costs of meat production. However, it is scientifically wrong to state that livestock are as culpable as fossil fuels for global warming. Fossil carbon would have stayed underground for millions of years if we had not dug/piped it out and burned it.
Another recent NYT article had this to say about free air carbon capture: "Burning Carbon Engineering’s fuel would release carbon dioxide, but it would not increase greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by much or at all because the process would be recycling carbon that was already in the air, executives said." Same goes for cows.
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@meltyman I had a look at the original, peer-reviewed Lancet article, Willett et al. (2019) "Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems". The "key messages" include "Moreover, global food production is the largest pressure caused by humans on Earth, threatening local ecosystems and the stability of the Earth system" -- but that is not at all the same as saying "intensive meat production is on an unstoppable trajectory comprising the single greatest contributor to climate change." (from the related Comment entitled "The 21st-century great food transformation"). A false equivalence between environmental degradation along a number of important axes and climate forcing was made in the Comment. This is an unfortunate mistranslation of what the original article conveyed. Lesson: it pays to read the primary source. Again: let's all eat less meat: it's better for us, for the water, soil, air, and yes, the planet (but not because cows are worse for warming that cars: you still have to go out and get your own EV... and you will love it).
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@meltyman After 200,000+ miles on my Honda Civic hybrid, I just bought a Honda Clarity Plug-in hybrid. 95% of my driving is local so I rarely need to use the gas engine. Plus in CA I got $7,050 in rebates and fed tax credits. So, I DO love it! I also eat vegetarian and have for the past several decades. (My current focus is reducing my dairy and eggs even more.) Trying to do my part for the planet . . . I've got a ways to go to shrink my eco footprint to the ideal size.
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I applaud Jane Brody, the leading voice on health matters in The Times, for this clear message. It serves up nutritious food for thought for those concerned about these issues.
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I believe the emphasis should be on local food sources. To me, sustainability means buy locally produced food, preferably from small farms who use cleaner production processes. This helps communities and reduces the reliance on large scale shipping practices, as well as enhancing one’s diet with the freshest ingredients possible.
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@Sharon ODonnell Thank you... I was about to give up reading comments looking for just what you have written.
Eating LOCAL means reversing what the last 75 years of industrial agriculture has done to rural communities, to our waistlines, our health, our farms and to farm families around the world (i.e. exposure to chemicals, dependence on expensive inputs and rising debt).
To the still-true adage about moderation and variety let's now add QUALITY (how food is grown, raised and processed/minimally), and location (as close to home as possible).
Meat vs vegetarian likely depend on INDIVIDUAL NEED (after 15 yrs a vegan I had to add some high quality meat to heal from mercury toxicity, being a blood type O).
'REAL' belongs in the discussion too... to replace all the processing, food additives and fake foods, including meat substitutes, alternative milks, etc. Our bodies know what is real and what is not.
Highly recommend Dr. Mark Hyman's Food: What the Heck Should I Eat?, and following how functional medicine physicians are reversing chronic disease, e.g. Cleveland Clinic's Center for Functional Medicine.
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@Sharon ODonnell Fact: factory farms more efficiently produce meat by not using a lot of land to produce protein than the local farms you think are the answer. There is not enough arable land to locally produce beef/pigs/chickens at the scale people are used to eating them. The key isn't local supply — it's less demand.
We each need to do our part in cutting back.
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@AmesNYC
I agree Local sources from trendy expensive sources is not the solution to the problem. Frankly IMHO it is pretty close to a “cop out” from accepting that a diet change is needed for the wealthy too.
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I recently started a no sugar, low carb diet. I have lost 14 pounds that I was unable to lose any other way. I don't have to watch my portions that much since I am eating mostly leafy greens, fruits and vegetables, protein, and lots of water. No alcohol, no cake, candy, pie, cereal, cookies, etc. (almost everything like a cracker has sugar in it too) no white rice, pasta, potatoes or bread. I use low carb bread, high in wheat germ, not too much dairy (cream for my coffee) and lots of low sugar fruit. It's not that hard. I need to introduce more legumes, beans etc. It's a bit labor intensive, and it can be expensive but the weight came off.
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@Meighan Corbett What are your current protein sources? Hopefully not much meat--per the findings of the study featured by Brody. The keto diet is great for short-term weight loss.
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@Deb
The low fat diet is great for long term, insidious weight gain and metabolic disease.
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@Meighan Corbett
I've made a lifestyle change (rather than gone on a diet), where I try to eat 25 grams of protein a day, at least 5 fruit and veg a day, and 30 different plant products a week (you think this last one is the hardest, but it is the easiest. A teaspoon of oregano in your stew counts as one, for instance). I still eat everything, but to be honest, there isn't room for a lot of meat if you aim for 25 grams of fibre.
The point of this is to reboot and maintain a healthy gut microbiome, and it works! I started July 11 this year, and before, I suffered from IBS, and pre-diabetic blood sugar levels. I had headaches, and I caught every infection that crossed my path. I suffer from PTSD. I was also overweight, but my doctor recommended I thought about my mental health first, and a big reason I changed my eating habits is that it is supposed to help improving mental health issues. I'm still overweight, but the scales are moving in the right direction, first slowly and now faster and faster.
One thing: you need to do this gradually, or the gas issues will be terrible.
When I found fitness it transformed my life, and I immediately converted to an ovolactovegetarian style, but it was also heavily influenced by the understanding that meat consumption was both wasteful and harmful. Back then, in the 80s and while living in the suburbs, it was very hard to maintain that food choice, and making food, bulghur, garbanzos, etc., was a time-consuming activity. I eventually loosened my diet although returned to a plant-based one living in New York. The biggest nagging issue is my consumption of milk-products because of its methane footprint and my spouse's preference for cooking pork and chicken, something that I been feeling the need to raise to her.
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