Eating a healthy, balanced diet is no longer just about getting the right mix of vitamins, minerals, protein and fat into your meals. Today, it can also mean balancing personal needs with the needs of the planet. So, how do you do that? You could decide to go vegan. Research shows cutting out meat and dairy is one of the best ways to reduce your impact on the planet. Or there’s the ‘flexitarian’ approach – a flexible, veg-focused diet; or plant-based – any diet centred around food from plant sources. But what does that actually look like on your plate? What foods should you eat if you want to follow a sustainable diet?
1 Cereals & grains
Most of us know that cereals and grains should make up a large part of a healthy, balanced diet, but the WWF warns that “there is a pressing need to vary the types of cereals and grains grown and eaten.” That’s because relying on one or two crops has negative consequences for both the environment and our health. From an environmental perspective, monoculture (only growing one crop) has an impact on soil health, so farmers need to use extra fertilisers, increasing the risk of disease and pest outbreaks, which in turn means that large amounts of pesticides and herbicides are sprayed over the crop. Excess chemicals in our food aren’t great, plus we’re not eating a wide enough range of vitamins and minerals. Try buckwheat, teff and spelt to vary your intake.
2 Pulses
Lentils, chickpeas, peas and beans are examples of pulses, deemed one of the more
