14 Tips To Eat More Sustainably

Food sustainability begins with making healthy choices…healthy for our bodies and for the environment. Many of us become very concerned with what we eat, but not so much with where it comes from or how it is prepared.

Many diets focus on weight loss and improving overall health, but have you ever considered adopting a diet that promotes environmental health too? Learning how to eat sustainably can benefit your health, your budget, and the planet.

You have probably heard of people and food products trying to be more sustainable, but you may also hear conflicting advice on what that means. We know it can be confusing to figure out exactly what a sustainable diet is, so we’ve created a simple sustainable eating starter guide.

What Is a Sustainable Diet?

Defining a sustainable diet can be complicated but generally sustainable diets are:

• Healthy and meet people’s nutrition needs
• Good for the environment
• Culturally acceptable
• Affordable and easy to access
• An effective way to reduce food waste
• Protective of biodiversity and ecosystems
• Produced in a way that is fair and equitable to workers in the food system

How can we eat sustainable food? Start by checking out our 14 tips for sustainable eating.

Avoid Highly Processed Foods

Ultra processed foods are typically high in fat, sugar, and various additives. Examples include sugar sweetened beverages, chips, pre-made desserts, and processed meats.

If a food product has been through many steps in manufacturing, with lots of ingredients coming from all corners of the world, the carbon footprint is higher for that product due to traveling, manufacturing, and distribution. Think about a nutrition bar with a long list of ingredients vs. a handful of nuts, which came from one source with minimal processing.

Select Nutritious Foods Not Junk Foods

Sweets and snacks have little nutritional value, but they have calories. As manufactured products they leave a large carbon footprint. Loading up on vitamin supplements does not make up for eating too much junk. Study after study finds that they don’t provide the nutritional value of real food.

Buy Local

Choosing locally grown food can potentially reduce energy usage, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and use fewer resources than typically expended to transport foods long distances. However, the benefits may be diminished if you have to drive a long distance to buy local products, so shop as close to home as possible.

Tips For Eating More Locally Grown Foods

• Look for signs in grocery stores that say “local”
• Visit a nearby farmers market
• If you live near a farm that offers a CSA (community supported agriculture) program, consider signing up
• If you enjoy gardening and have the space, consider growing your own fruits and vegetables. This is great for mental and physical health connecting you with nature. Plus, it’s as local as it gets.

Buy In-Season

Buying produce in season has many benefits! Seasonal produce usually travels shorter distances to grocery stores and therefore uses less fuel and creates less pollution than out-of-season produce.

Conversely, out-of-season produce may require special high energy heating and lighting to grow in unnatural conditions. In addition to having a lower environmental impact, in-season produce is often tastier and more affordable too.

Choose Organic And Non-GMO Foods When Possible

Organic agriculture is grown without the use of most synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, preservatives, irradiation, or genetic modification.

Organic farming practices aim to decrease negative environmental impacts by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring soil health, reducing groundwater pollution, increasing biodiversity, and improving crop disease resistance.

Choosing organic and non-GMO foods is another way to eat a more sustainable diet. Did you know that conventional farming practices can result in the loss of soil biodiversity and contribute to soil degradation? In fact it is estimated that the world’s soils have lost up to 60% of their original carbon content. By choosing organic and non-GMO foods we can support farming practices that promote soil health and reduce the use of harmful chemicals. In addition to promoting soil health, choosing organic and non-GMO foods can also have positive impacts on our health. Many studies have found that organic fruits and vegetables have higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of pesticides compared to conventionally grown produce. By choosing organic and non-GMO foods we can reduce our exposure to harmful chemicals and promote a healthier food system for ourselves and our environments.

Pro Tip: Don’t fall for packages of organic junk food in “health food” stores. Organic potato chips are still potato chips.

Avoid Over Buying Perishables

At almost any grocery store, you can find produce in bulk-sized bags. A three-pound bag of apples costs less than picking up three pounds of the same apples individually. Then, of course, you have to do something with the bag.

In the same way, large packages of meat can cost less per pound than smaller packages.

Who doesn’t make shopping choices based on what’s on sale? And it’s economical to stock up…usually. But it’s neither economical nor sustainable to buy more perishable food that you can eat before it goes bad (unless you have a plan to store it safely). A deal isn’t a deal if you end up tossing a lot of food.

Eat More Plants, Consume Less Meat and Dairy

Arguably, the most significant change you can make to your diet to make it more sustainable is to shift the focus away from animal products (such as meat, dairy and eggs) and towards plants. In other words, eat more plant-based foods.

Keep in mind, most health organizations already recommend filling at least half of your plate with fruits and vegetables for an optimal diet. And if the CDC is right, only 1 to 10 American adults meet the federal fruit and vegetable recommendations to begin with!

Now, we’re not suggesting everyone should go vegetarian or vegan, as we understand that’s not a feasible or desirable option for everyone. But even cutting meat consumption by 25% could significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions as found by a recent study.

It’s not just the emissions that have a negative effect on the environment, however. Other important environmental impacts on animal husbandry include water usage, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and more.

If you aren’t sure where to start, consider trying a Meatless Monday. If that seems doable, upgrade to two days a week, or more. To go the extra mile, try to focus as much as possible on whole foods, not processed foods. A french fry may be made from a potato, but it’s been processed and cooked in oil, so is it really good for you or the planet?

Support Sustainable Seafood

Overfishing and unsustainable fishing practices can have negative impacts on marine ecosystems. In fact, it is estimated that 90% of global fish stocks are either fully or partially overfished. By supporting sustainable seafood, like products that are certified by organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council or the Aqua-culture Stewardship Council, we can help protect our oceans and promote sustainable fishing practices.

Packages of seafood in grocery stores will claim they have been fished sustainably. It’s probably impossible to verify it even with the best efforts to certify sustainable seafood. Farmed fish has its own environmental problems, but at least you can know that criminals haven’t overfished it.

If you live in a fishing area on a coast or near the Great Lakes, get your seafood from a local shop. You can be sure that it’s sustainably produced and conforms to best practices.

Purchase Foods with the Least Packaging

Packaging is junk we buy and take home. The more packaging something has the less sustainable it is. And not all of it is recyclable. Did you know that in the United States only 9% of plastic waste is recycled? The rest ends up in landfills or the environment, contributing to pollution and waste.

So if you want two green peppers and the store provides two green peppers in a Styrofoam tray wrapped in plastic film, leave it right where it is. Purchase the loose peppers.

Use Reusable Bags

You can’t avoid all packaging but you can at least avoid disposable shopping bags. Take your cloth shopping bags with you. Oh, and your cloth produce bags. You can reuse them and launder them from time to time. There’s no sense in putting sustainable food in unsustainable disposable bags.

Buy in Bulk (When It Makes Sense)

By shopping the bulk section of a grocery store you can reduce excessive packaging waste and save the energy and resources used to make that packaging.

More and more grocery stores are including bulk sections where you can take as much (or as little) food as you want. As discussed earlier, don’t buy bulk in perishables if they might go to waste.

Drink Tap Water

Drinking tap water instead of bottled is an easy way to make an environmentally friendly choice. Not only will you be cutting back on single-use plastic, you will also be reducing the emissions that are used to transport heavy bottled liquids to the store.

Don’t like the taste of plain water? Try adding lemon, lime, or other fruits to add taste and a vitamin C boost while you’re at it.

Keep Your Freezer Stocked

Sometimes you really want that peach pie in January. That’s where freezing comes into play.

Unlike canning, freezing retains many of the nutrients in fresh produce and is a great way to maintain a varied diet when there are less seasonal options. For the ultimate sustainable kitchen, rather than buying pre-packaged frozen fruits and vegetables, buy your produce in bulk when it is in season and freeze it in batches.

Limit Your Number of Food Shopping Trips

Studies show that traveling to buy groceries may be very impactful in the total number of miles foods travel to get to your plate. So try limiting the number of trips you make, and condense your food travel trips to take advantage of your location. For example, if you’re headed to the farmers market, do all your food related trips in that nearby location for the week. And remember that food miles (the number of miles food travels to get to your plate) is an important part of sustainability, but the production of food has a potentially larger impact on sustainability.

Small Changes, Big Impact

By adopting a plant-based diet, choosing seasonal and local produce, choosing sustainable packing, reducing processed foods, supporting sustainable seafood, reducing single use plastics, and considering food miles we can all make small changes to our daily lives that have a positive impact on our health and the environment. It is important to educate ourselves on the impact of our food choices and make informed decisions when shopping for groceries. By making sustainable choices we can reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to a healthier planet for generations. You don’t necessarily need to make drastic changes; even implementing just a few of these suggestions can make a big impact.