Submitted By: Lisa Ota (www.sacredbite.com // lisa@sacredbite.com)
Challenge
As a nutritionist, I have a deep interest in health. As we continue to learn more and more about the threats facing our planet, it has become a primary challenge to determine what actions regarding food I and my family could take to reduce our impact on the environment.
Solution Details
What I have discovered is that just as our many meals add up to provide us with the nutrition we need, the many small actions that we take regarding food choices – how we shop for food, what we choose to eat, how we serve food, and how we clean up the dishes - add up to make a real difference for the environment, especially as more and more of us practice them.
Following are a number of small actions that we have tried to adopt at our house that have worked successfully.
Shopping For Food
• Keep a grocery list to help limit the number of times that I need to visit the supermarket.
• Choose foods low on the food chain; that is, eating more plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts and seeds -- and fewer animal foods which require dramatically more energy, land, and water to make. This could mean making meatless meals, like pasta with soybeans or vegetarian lasagnas, or making meals that include small portions of meat.
• Make weekly visits to the farmer’s market in Walnut Creek where we can buy foods grown locally which require less transportation, packaging, and refrigeration. This also supports our local farmers!
• Purchase foods with as little packaging as possible. For example, I purchase juices and sodas in large glass or recyclable plastic bottles instead of individual size cans or boxes.
• Purchase eggs in pressed fiber cartons instead of foam ones so they can be recycled.
• Purchase grains in bulk instead of separate boxes, cartons, or bags. You can find these at stores like Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl.
• Bring reusable cloth shopping bags to the market with me.
Serving Food
• Use ‘real’ plates, cups and
utensils instead of disposable ones.
• Use cloth towels and napkins instead of paper ones.
• Use reusable plastic containers instead of plastic
storage bags as much as possible.
Cleaning Up
• Run the dishwasher only when
it is full.
Benefits
& Payback
There are many benefits we’ve gained from exercising these
habits, both in terms of supporting the health of the
planet and in terms of supporting the health of our
families, especially our children. For example, my kids
enjoy telling the clerk at Trader Joe’s that we brought our
own bags. They receive the ‘reward’ of completing a raffle
ticket to win a gift card and then packing the bags with
groceries themselves. And by taking my boys with me to our
local Farmer’s Market, I am both supporting our local
farmers and planet while teaching them that their food does
not simply come from a can, jar, or even the grocery store.
It teaches them that food is grown from the earth by people
and requires time to grow and develop. It’s fun to find
brussel sprouts (which my boys actually like – perhaps
because I sauté them with a little margarine and soy sauce)
that are still on the stalk! I usually give my boys about
$20 each to spend at the market. While giving them the
opportunity to practice exchanging money, it also
reinforces their desire to eat fresh produce because they
are choosing it themselves. Further, many of the farmers
offer free samples of their produce, which allows children
to try new and different fruits and vegetables. The
children are our future and no good act is too small. And
when it comes to food – a lifelong activity – they have
numerous opportunities to participate in the healing of the
planet.
Informational
Links
To learn more about how to eat well for the planet, go to
www.SacredBite.com
