[Article updated on 19/09/2023]
More and more in my daily life during my consultations, I notice that patients are more eco-responsible. In addition to expressing their desire to eat healthier, they wish to have more environmentally friendly habits.
Before reading on
I’m not an expert in this field, but I am passionate about nutrition and health.
The articles you’ll find on my site are the result of in-depth research that I’d like to share with you. However, I would like to stress that I am not a health professional and that my advice should in no way replace that of a qualified physician. I’m here to guide you, but it’s important that you consult a professional for specific questions or medical concerns. Your well-being is important. So be sure to consult the appropriate experts and take the best possible care of yourself.
Food pollutes, we will see the causes of this pollution, and the solutions that we can provide, obviously on our scale! The goal is not to change everything, but to eventually draw on advice that seems most suitable to you, or the most achievable on a daily basis.
Causes
Why does food pollute?
Agriculture
- Plants
Many fruits and vegetables are grown out of season, for this it is necessary to use very energy-intensive and polluting production techniques: Above-ground crops, in heated greenhouses, with the use of ever more pesticides and fertilizers. Also, in order to always be able to increase productivity, it is necessary to expand the agricultural area, the solution favored by manufacturers is therefore deforestation. This massive deforestation has serious consequences on biodiversity. A snowball effect begins: animals no longer have a habitat, flora is destroyed, animals can no longer feed themselves, insects can no longer play their role as pollinators…and biodiversity is abnormally destroyed.
- Meat, fish and dairy products
The consumption excessive animal protein has a considerable impact on the planet. Ruminants expel a lot of methane which causes a significant increase in greenhouse gases. It’s necessary also take into account all the agriculture necessary to feed these animals, and here again, deforestation will be the only solution for expanding cultivation areas.
Actor Joaquin PHOENIX recently gave a speech at the Oscars on animal welfare, which is quite remarkable about human nature: “imagine a species that artificially inseminates a cow, takes its baby away at birth to eat it and consumes it milk intended for babies for 10 months, this species is Man” I am not vegetarian but this speech is quite impactful!
Also, intensive fishing remains shocking. Fishing techniques cause the death of many fish which end up in the nets and, being unsaleable or prohibited for sale, are returned to the water, dead or injured.
Ultra-processed and processed products
This family of products include foods that differ from the basic product. Like mashed potatoes VS potatoes, or cream “tarte tatin” flavor dessert VS yogurt…
To produce them, the agri-food industries will consume an enormous amount of energy and water. The energy required for transport and storage (such as refrigeration, freezing etc.) is also considerable.
The packages
In front of the rays supermarkets, it is almost rare to find foods that do not are not packaged in one or more layers of plastic or cardboard. A French person throws away on average 130kg of packaging food per year.
The packaging and waste causes the formation of methane in the atmosphere during their degradation and release toxic fumes when they are cremated. Although the packaging may be recycled, this requires still using energy.
To act
How has on the individual scale can we reduce the ecological impact?
I will now offer you solutions to possibly change small things that will improve our carbon footprint!
Seasonal and local
Common sense is to choose seasonal foods and as local as possible. Eating raspberries at Christmas is not very logical…ditto for exotic fruits that cross the planet by plane… To guide you, numerous lists of seasonal plants are available on the internet.
Also reduce your consumption of animal proteins, less but of better quality. The proteins in dried vegetables (such as lentils, chickpeas, red beans, etc.) are of good nutritional quality, which allows you to alternate protein intake.
Organic
Food labeled “organic agriculture”, at the level European or French, allow us to respect the environment.
This label imposes precise specifications which make it possible to avoid greenhouses heated, the use of fertilizers harmful to the water tables phreatic… Also the use of pesticides is extremely reduced, which is beneficial for health and our basements.
However, be careful: organic does not take the season into account! it will be a matter of being vigilant.
Waste
On average, a French person throws away 1 meal per week. To avoid this waste, do not hesitate to freeze your food which is close to its expiry date. Make your menus as much as possible, in order to evaluate quantities and be better organized. In many cities, “solidarity fridges” are set up in the streets, so that you can drop off food that you will not eat, and that it does not end up in the trash. The locations of these fridges are available on the “frigosolidaire” website.
The packages
According to Joan Gussow, who is one of the first nutritionists, over several decades we have seen the appearance of supermarkets and especially the explosion of ultra-processed products. Supermarkets offer more than 8,000 references on average. All of these foods are energy-intensive to produce, very often come from abroad, and are over-packaged. Joan Gussow advises not to buy in supermarkets but at the market or from small traders. Indeed, this purchasing method makes it possible to move towards products sold in bulk and to limit single-use packaging. To limit single-use packaging, you can bring back washable fabric bags and food boxes. Prefer inert materials which are less polluting and more durable, such as stainless steel, glass or fabric.
The recycling
Sort your waste, reuse containers, put glass in dumpsters to glass… all this remains relatively accessible to everyone. THE compostable is also a great solution to reduce considerably your waste. With this solution, you can reduce the volume of your waste by almost a third. The sites town halls offer composting and vermicomposting, can offer the sale of composters, or you possibly indicates shared composters in your city.
Here are some ideas to preserve the planet. In just two generations, we have polluted more than in the last 5,000 years… it gives food for thought.