How you can eat for better health, and the planet too
Did you know, a climate-friendly diet also happens to be a longevity diet?
Just look at several of the largest population studies examining how the food we eat can help us live longer, healthier lives. One of the most famous of these is the Global Burden of Disease study, which has been running since 1990 in 204 countries around the world, involving more than 9000 researchers.
It is THE largest study of human nutrition and disease in existence.
Their findings were impressive. If we follow an 'optimal' diet from age 20, we can expect to live an average of 10 years longer than people who don't.
Changing to a healthy diet at age 60 can increase our life expectancy by eight years, and even changing at age 80 can increase it by three-and-a-half years.
What is this diet?
Whole foods, mostly plants such as whole grains, seeds, legumes, fruit, and vegetables, with minimal animal products. You can choose not to be vegetarian if you wish. In fact, most traditional diets contain small amounts of animal products. But to eat for longevity, aim to include as many whole plant foods in your diet as you're able.
Another large study called the EPIC-Greece cohort evaluated which changes in diet provide the biggest health benefits. Again, they found eating more plants and less meat had the most impact on health and disease.
These findings are mirrored in other large studies such as the Nurses’ Health Study, the Health Professionals Follow Up Study and the Adventist Health Study.
And they're backed up in real life by the “blue zones”. These are areas around the world where people on average live long and healthy lives. In places such as Okinawa Japan, Sardinia Italy and Ikaria Greece, living to 100 is not uncommon!
The blue zones have several common features, but from a diet perspective, they follow the same pattern of more plants, less meat. Worth noting, is that 95 percent of those living to 100 eat a mostly vegetarian diet.
And fortunately, from a climate perspective, this is also what is good for our planet!
Research consistently shows that eating more plants, and less meat and dairy, benefits our environment too - and it's what leading scientists worldwide recommend to prevent disease, early death, and further damage to our world.
So exactly how can we eat to help our health and wellbeing, live longer, and look after our planet?
From a practical perspective, aim to make whole plant foods the main focus of your diet, rather than the afterthought, with animal foods occasionally added if desired.
Fill up your plate with vegetables and some fruit and whole grains.
Try to eat at least one meat-free day per week, and experiment with beans, legumes, and whole grains for protein.
Think of cheese, butter, meat and foods with added sugar as occasional foods, rather than everyday foods.
Bulk out meat-based meals with legumes. This not only reduces your meat consumption, it also boosts the nutritional content of your meals and costs less too.
Snack on nuts and fruit rather than processed foods or cheese and meat.
You don't have to change everything at once, but every little step counts!
As author Michael Pollan famously said, 'Eat whole foods, mostly plants, not too much'
Why not give it a go. Your body and planet will thank you for it.
https://www.thelancet.com/pb-assets/Lancet/gbd/summaries/risks/dietary-risks.pdf
https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/EAT
https://nurseshealthstudy.org/
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hpfs/
https://epic.iarc.fr/