5 Tips for Sustainable Eating with Local Foods

The environment needs our help! Everyone must do their part for the environment including watching what they are eating. Sustainable eating is the consumption of food that is both healthy for your body and environment. You need to eat more food that does not put a large demand on the environment.

Changing to a More Plant Enriched Diet

Eating healthy is a challenge. But, studies show that we need to include more fruits and vegetables in our diet. You need to divide your plate in half. One half is for fruits and vegetables. The other half is for your meat, grains, and dairy.

Reduce Your Meat Intake

The raising of livestock puts a large demand on the environment. Raising livestock requires the following:

• Feeding the animals
• Providing water to the animals
• Allocating land for animals to live, roam, and graze
• Energy to transport the animals

If you shift your consumption of meat to plant proteins, you reduce the need for environmental resources on the production of meats.

A Seafood Alternative

Instead of choosing beef or another livestock meat, try another seafood. Seafood is another great way to get the protein you need from meat but does not put as big of a demand on the environment. You just need to know the production of your favorite seafood. Even though it’s seafood, it may not have an environmentally friendly production.

Check Out Your Local Markets

Your local markets are a great source of vegetables. Your local market can also provide you with a fresher pick of the local produce. If you have a connection to your local grower, you can find out the harvesting schedule and the methods the farmer uses to grow it.

Be Aware

Before you do your shopping and cooking consider what and how much your body needs? If you can reduce wasting food it helps save the environment. You may also want to consider where your food is coming from. Again, if you can buy local you can help reduce the energy of transporting food.

Locally Grown Hawaiian Food

When you think of Hawaii, you think pineapple. But, that’s not the only local food. Hawaii has several locally grown foods like coffee, bananas, tomatoes, papayas, corn, lettuce, potatoes, and others.

Remember, sustainable eating means you need to keep in mind not only the needs of your body but the needs of the environment. The biggest help you can give to the environment is eating locally grown food.