Healthy Diet for Healthy Environment

Our acts affect our surroundings. What we do has an impact on ourselves and our environment. There many things that influence our environment that we ignore. One of these things is the food we eat. We eat being ignorant about ourselves that’s why a large amount of world population is obese. Foods that are healthy for us like nuts, vegetables, fruits are also healthy for our environment. Whereas foods like red meat (that some experts believe is harmful to our health) damages the environment. A food product has similar outcomes for us as well as our environment. So we can say a person having a well-balanced diet also contributes towards a healthy environment. Eating carelessly both processed and unprocessed food may prove harmful to the environment.

Many experts in various parts of the world have shown how human diet much damage or contribute to environment unknowingly. Therefore, we must understand and know about how our food choices might have an adverse effect on the environment.

How foods damage the environment

Many types of research have shown that how foods in the western diet like chicken, potatoes, red meat, fish etc. are the cause of heart disease and cancer. These food products are hazardous to the environment as their manufacturing cause soil, air and water pollution. Method of production of meat products like beef, pork and fish emits greenhouse gases in the environment. Most of the unhealthy food products will be linked with environmental deterioration.

Junk foods:

Health disadvantages of junk food are known to everyone. Despite the fact that junk may lead to early death people keep on buying it. Here are some of the points in which junk food is not just unhealthy for humans but also for the environment.

1. A large amount of fuel is consumed in the production of junk food and most of this fuel comes from a non-renewable source of energy. Therefore, depleting the planet’s natural resources.
2. Tons of packing waste is added annually to our planet and a significant amount of it comes from junk food packages.
3. Fast food wastage is another problem. A large amount of food is wasted and cannot be used in other ways like compost. Therefore, food is wasted and is never completely utilized.
4. Greenhouse gases emitted in the production of foods like candy and chips harm the environment. Moreover, their leftovers are equally harmful to the environment.

A healthy diet for Healthy Environment After knowing about the harmful effects of unhealthy food, one must be willing to shift for the eco-friendly food diet. These foods will not only help our environment to flourish but also will prevent harmful chemicals to enter our body. Organic foods are largely consumed around the world but are not preferred enough as compared to junk food. Some of the benefits of organic foods are

1. Organic foods are chemical-free. Therefore, they eliminate soil and water contamination and keep the soil fertile by using pesticides.
2. Organic farming promotes biodiversity as all the products used are natural therefore it encourages a natural balance in the ecosystem.
3. Organic farming prevents soil erosion. As the more soil is covered with vegetation it becomes difficult for wind to carry away the top layer of soil.
4. Organic food does not require much transportation and is distributed. Therefore, it doesn’t require much energy for production, packing and transportation.

Conclusion

Seeing the present condition of the world now is the time to change. By consuming a healthy diet we won’t be just helping ourselves but also our environment. From the last few years, the environment has degraded a lot. Therefore, we must take active participation in this process to help the environment. Seeing the change in climate, the United Nations recommended earlier this year to reduce the consumption of meat products and adopt plant-based diets. Therefore, we must stand together in this movement of environment conservation.