Wellness Tip: Ways to have a healthy body & healthy environment

Helpful Tips for Meat Eaters - 2011 Meat Eaters Guide | Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change + Health | Environmental Working Group:

"When you buy less meat overall, you can afford healthier, greener meat.

If you can’t find healthier products, ask your grocer to carry them.

EAT MORE PLANTS
Good, low-impact protein foods include grains, legumes, nuts and tofu. Choose organic when possible.

WASTE LESS MEAT
Buy right-size portions and eat what you buy. On average, uneaten meat accounts for more than twenty percent of meat’s greenhouse gas emissions!

EAT LOWER-FAT DAIRY PRODUCTS
Choose cream cheese, part-skim or fresh mozzarella, gouda, feta, muenster, cottage cheese and non-fat yogurt. Choose organic when possible.

SPEAK OUT
Ask your representatives to change policies, such as:

Strengthening regulation of concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFOs) to prevent pollution and unnecessary use of antibiotics and hormones.

Cutting taxpayer subsidies for animal feed and funding programs that support pasture-raised livestock and diversified, organic crop production.

Strengthening conservation requirements on farms that collect subsidies.

Serving less meat and more fresh fruits and vegetable in school lunch programs.

Enacting comprehensive energy and climate policies."

Wellness Tip: Be Climate Change Ready: Helpful Tips for Meat Eaters

Helpful Tips for Meat Eaters - 2011 Meat Eaters Guide | Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change + Health | Environmental Working Group: "EAT LESS MEAT AND DAIRY
Make meatless and cheese-less Mondays part of your life; on at least two other days, make meat a side dish, not a main course. For more information, visit: meatlessmonday.com

EAT “GREENER” MEAT WHEN YOU DO EAT IT
When shopping, look for:

Grass fed or pasture-raised meat has fewer antibiotics and hormones and in some cases may have more nutrients and less fat; livestock live in more humane, open, sanitary conditions.
Lean cuts: less fat will likely mean fewer cancer-causing toxins in your body.

No antibiotics or hormones: reduces unnecessary exposure and helps keep human medicines effective.

Certified organic: keeps pesticides, chemical fertilizers and genetically modified foods off the land, out of the water and out of our bodies.

Certified humane: means no growth hormones or antibiotics were used and ensures that animals were raised with enough space and no cages or crates.

Unprocessed, nitrite-free and low-sodium: avoid lunchmeats, hot dogs, prepackaged smoked meats and chicken nuggets.

Sustainable Seafood: avoid airfreighted fish and farmed salmon; consult Monterey Bay Aquarium’s list of the most sustainable seafood choices at montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx"

Climate Change Update: "Meat Eater's Guide" Your Food Choices Affect the Climate

Eat Smart - 2011 Meat Eaters Guide | Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change + Health | Environmental Working Group: "Eat Smart. Your Food Choices Affect the Climate" (click to get the complete carbon footprint)

Climate Change Update: Your Food Choices Affect the Climate"

Eat Smart - 2011 Meat Eaters Guide | Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change + Health | Environmental Working Group: "Eat Smart. Your Food Choices Affect the Climate" (pls click for complete article on carbon footprint)

Wellness Tip: Healthy Body is Healthy Environment: Eat less meat!

How much protein do you really need? on Shine:

"Your protein choices can have a substantial impact on the environment. Meat and dairy production requires tremendous amounts of fuel, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, and generates greenhouse gases. The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) recently published Meat Eater’s Guide points out that if you ate once less burger a week it would be the environmentally-positive equivalent of taking your car off the road for 320 miles.

Meat is also expensive. Not all proteins are created equal -- neither at the doctor’s office, nor the cash register. Here’s a comparison of three typical proteins:

Porterhouse steak
Serving size: 4 ounces
Protein: 22 grams
EWG carbon footprint rating: 2 nd worst out of 20 analyzed
Cost: 4 dollars
Fat: 22 grams
Saturated fat: 9 grams"

Farm-raised salmon
Serving size: 4 ounces
Protein: 22 grams
EWG carbon footprint rating: 5th worst
Cost: 3 dollars
Fat: 10 grams
Saturated fat: 2 grams

Lentils
Serving size: 1 cup
Protein: 17.9 grams
EWG carbon footprint rating: best
Cost: 20 cents
Fat: zero
Saturated fat: zero

Many people find meat to be a delicious and satisfying component of their diet that they don’t want to sacrifice. But if you want to save money, eat a nutritionally sound diet, and are concerned about the impact meat and dairy production has on the planet, consider reducing your consumption.