Changing our eating habits: A simple solution to help the world

The question of the earth’s health has changed face over the years. In the 1980s, the term ’acid rain’ was often heard on the radio and television.

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In the 1990s, the common phrase became ’the hole in the ozone layer’ leading to the much discussed consequent expression ’greenhouse effect’. Anyway we put it, we have a problem regarding our relationship as a human race with our planet.

It is quite evident that as time hasngone by, the problem has got worse with catastrophic weather events happening more and more often and the latest forecasts for ournearth’s future predicting the ’6th extinction’ to take place within 50 years. All of this should make us realize that we really do have to do something to at least try to prevent that the health of our planet gets worse before it is too late for all living beings.

Over the past few decades, many people have made important changes in their lives to try to reduce their personal, as well as their family’s, negative impact on the environment. From the installment of various types of solar panels to the more recent increase in sales of electric or hybrid automobiles, there has been a change in the way people are thinking about the situation. Even companies are now starting to rethink their production lines aiming at reducing their environmental impact to as close to zero as possible.

All this is very important, but perhaps the most significant way to reduce our impact on the environment can be found right inside our houses, in particular in our kitchens. It may be surprising, but the choices we make every day when we choose what food to eat can have a profound impact on our world’s environment. In fact, there is a strict relationship between the foods listed in the ’The Food Pyramid’, and the effect they have on the environment when they are produced.This is exactly where we can make the difference. If we use more of the foods that are listed at the bottom of The Food Pyramid, which has been a guide to healthy eating all over the world for over the past 40 years, we can easily see that this same food has the lowest negative impact on the environment. The opposite can be said for the foods at the top of the pyramid. The relationship is evident in the chart below.

Making a few important changes in our eating habits can possibly be the most effective way that each one of us has to reduce the damage that our industrialized lifestyle has done to our environment. It is a simple, inexpensive way to help our planet that each of us can choose to make at least three times a day. Our bodies would definitely feel the benefits of a healthier diet but perhaps more importantly, our world would start feeling much better, too!