It’s easy to feel like you cannot make a positive impact on the world. There are so many environmental, humanitarian, and animal cruelty issues, you are sometimes left wondering where to begin. However, herein lies the truth… you can never underestimate the power of one person. You, as an individual, can influence others and you alone can create change. Simply making more conscious eating decisions can be the beginning of sustainable change.
Getting Started With Conscious Eating
Conscious eating can have a positive influence on your health as much as it can improve the state of our planet and inhabitants. Ultimately, eating more plants and plant-based foods has the least impact on animals and the planet, but it’s understandable that not everyone is vegan or vegetarian. Even so, choosing to rather eat ethically sourced meat, eggs, dairy, and fish and then eating more plants in addition is a huge step in the right direction.
Conscious Eating Choices
Here are a few options that you can consider for positive, sustainable change to your diet and the way that you impact the world around you:
- Eggs – choose free-range eggs from pasture-raised chickens
- Chicken – choose free-range chicken that has been raised in a pasture
- Meat – choose beef from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows. Choose pork from sow stall-free pigs, or free-range pork
- Fish – choose fish farmed in sustainable fisheries. Make sure you only eat fish from the green SASSI list. These are fish that are not under threat. Fish on the orange list are a “think twice” option, whereas fish on the red list are a no-go
- Dairy – choose dairy that has been produced on a sustainable farm where cows are allowed to roam free and bond with their babies
Eating consciously can come at an additional cost in terms of monetary value, but the converse can have far-reaching costs on the planet and potentially even your health. From when you shop in the grocery store to the restaurants you choose to eat at, make conscious
choices. Don’t be afraid to avoid restaurants that make use of supply chains that use unsustainably sourced ingredients. Shop somewhere else if your local grocery store doesn’t supply the options that resonate with your choices.
Change begins with you. If every person on the planet knew that, and they acted on it,
imagine the positive ripple effect it would have. (Consciously chosen) food for thought.
